The Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus briefly mentioned the fable in his Discourses as an analogy of man's getting less as a result of believing he needs more. The earliest English appearance of the story is in a translation of Antoine Houdar de la Motte's One Hundred New Court Fables (1721), where it is credited to Epictetus and illustrates the proposition that one should 'be contented with the middle state'. A boy puts his hand into a pitcher of figs and filberts and grasps so many that he cannot withdraw his fist through the narrow opening. When he bursts into tears of frustration, a bystander advises him to take only half the quantity.