<< Home Page | Oxford (Gibbs) Index

Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

212. THE DOG AND HIS BELL
Perry 332 (Babrius 104)

There was a dog who used to sneak up and bite people. His master forged a bell for the dog and tied it onto him so that everyone would know when he was coming. The dog then paraded about the marketplace, shaking his bell back and forth. An old dog said to him, 'You wretched creature! Why are you so proud of yourself? This is not a decoration for bravery or good behaviour. You are shamefully beating the drum of your own evil deeds!'

Note: It is typically an older, wiser animal who gives advice the other animals advice that can save them from disaster (see Fable 31 for a wise old ram, Fable 248 for a wise old hare, etc.). This notion was itself proverbial: 'The old deer will recognize the snare from a distance' (Ovid, Art of Love 1.766).


Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.