Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE BIRD CATCHER AND THE VIPER
The bird catcher took his birdlime and reeds and went out to catch some birds.
When he saw a thrush perched up high in a tree, he set up his reeds, attaching
them one to another until they were fully extended. He then stared up into the
tree, intent on catching the bird, while unawares he stepped on top of a viper
that was lying at his feet. The viper was enraged and bit the man. As he breathed
his last, the bird catcher said, 'Woe is me! I was intent on stalking someone
else, while I myself have been hunted to death by another.'
The story shows that when people plot against their neighbours, they fall
victim to the same sort of plot themselves. |
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.
Perry 115: Gibbs (Oxford) 138 [English]
Perry 115: L'Estrange 65 [English]
Perry 115: Townsend 221 [English]
Perry 115: Chambry 137 [Greek]
You can find a compilation of Perry's index to the Aesopica in the gigantic appendix to his
edition of Babrius and Phaedrus for the Loeb Classical Library
(Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1965). This book is an absolute must for anyone interested
in the Aesopic fable tradition. Invaluable.
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