Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
214. THE WEASEL AND THE PARTRIDGE
Perry 244 (Babrius
135)
A man bought a partridge and let him run loose in the house since he
liked the bird very much. The partridge immediately started squawking
his usual song, sauntering through every room in the house until he finally
perched himself on the steps. Meanwhile, the tricky weasel rushed upon
the partridge, asking, 'Who are you? Where have you come from?' The partridge
replied, 'The master bought me just today; I am a partridge.' The weasel
said, 'Well, I have lived here a long time! My mother, the mouser-slayer,
gave birth to me in this very house. Yet I keep quiet and sleep beside
the hearth. What gives you the right to speak so freely and cackle so
loudly if you have only just now become a member of the household?'
Note: In the Greek prose version of this fable (Chambry
355), the bird is a parrot, and retorts to the weasel that the master
prefers his voice to hers.
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.
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