Aesop's Fables (Chambry edition)
Chambry 174 = Perry 233
Κύκνος καὶ δεσπότης.
Τοὺς κύκνους φασὶ παρὰ τὸν θάνατον
ᾄδειν. Καὶ δή τις περιτυχὼν κύκνῳ πωλουμένῳ καὶ ἀκούσας ὅτι εὐμελέστατόν
ἐστι ζῷον, ἠγόρασε. Καὶ ἔχων ποτὲ συνδείπνους προσελθὼν παρεκάλει αὐτὸν
ᾆσαι ἐν τῷ πότῳ. Τοῦ δὲ τότε μὲν ἡσυχάζοντος, ὕστερον δέ ποτε, ὡς ἐνόησεν
ὅτι ἀποθνῄσκειν ἔμελλεν, ἑαυτὸν θρηνοῦντος, ὁ δεσπότης αὐτοῦ ἀκούσας ἔφη·
"Ἀλλ' εἰ σὺ οὐκ ἄλλως ᾄδεις, ἐὰν μὴ ἀποθνῄσκῃς, ἐγὼ μάταιος ἦν, ὃς τότε
σε παρεκαλουν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔθυον."
Οὕτως ἔνιοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἅ μὴ ἐκόντες χαρίσασθαι βούλονται, ταῦτα ἄκοντες
ἐπιτελοῦσιν.
Chambry published a multivolume edition of the fables for the Belles Lettres
series in 1925/6 (Paris). He later revised this into a single volume, omitting
hundreds of the fable variants. In addition, the numeration between these two
volumes is not consistent. The texts here are taken from the 1925/6 edition, but
the numeration follows the stanard single volume edition. |