A few months ago, we had a stimulating thread on shells in literature.
Maybe people have found some new quotations since then. I just ran across a
cruel little tale in:
 
Aesop, 1998, The complete fables (translated by Olivia and Robert Temple):
New York, etc., Penguin Books, xxv + 262 p.
 
Aesop lived in the 6th century BCE, before the ameliorating influence of
Christianity on Greek culture. The original fables were intended as party
jokes and as witticisms in lawcourt, and the famous "morals" were written
later as a sort of index. Most of the original morals don't make much sense
to modern people. The ancient Greeks were fond of making jokes at others'
expense, as the following fable shows. Remember, the Greeks thought this
was funny enough to write down and tell at parties, and copyists preserved
it for 2500 years.
 
"The Snails
 
A ploughman's child was baking some snails. Hearing them sputtering, he
said:
        'Stupid creatures! Your houses are on fire yet you sing!'
 
This fable shows that everything one does inopportunely is reprehensive."
 
Aesop, fable 127, p. 172
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama