Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE WOLVES AND THE HIDES
Some wolves saw some cowhides in the river. They wanted to take the hides, but
the depth of the river in flood prevented them from doing so. The wolves therefore
decided to drink up all the water so that they could then reach the hides. A
man said to the wolves, 'If you try to drink up all that water, you will immediately
burst into pieces and die on the spot!'
The fable indicts people who recklessly embark on some senseless project. |
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 135: Gibbs (Oxford) 442 [English]
Perry 135: Townsend 262 [English]
Perry 135: Chambry 176 [Greek]
Perry 135: Syntipas 61 [Greek]
Perry 135: Ademar 2 [Latin]
Perry 135: Phaedrus 1.20 [Latin]
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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