The earliest known appearance of this fable is in the 1933 Russian novel, The German Quarter by Lev Nitoburg. The fable also appears in the 1944 novel, The Hunter of the Pamirs, and this is the earliest known appearance of the fable in English.
The first documented instance of this fable was found in the 1933 Russian novel "The German Quarter" by Lev Nitoburg. It also appeared in the 1944 novel "The Hunter of the Pamirs," marking its earliest known appearance in English.