Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE GODDESS FORTUNE AND THE MAN BY THE WELL
A workman had thoughtlessly fallen asleep one night next to a well. While he
slept, he seemed to hear the voice of Tyche, the goddess of fortune, as she
stood there beside him. 'Hey you,' the goddess said, 'you'd better wake up!
I am afraid that if you fall into the well, I will be the one that people blame,
giving me a bad reputation. In general, people blame me for everything that
happens to them, including the unfortunate events and tumbles for which a person
really has only himself to blame.' |
 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 174: Gibbs (Oxford) 470 [English]
Perry 174: Townsend 156 [English]
Perry 174: Babrius 49 [Greek]
Perry 174: Chambry 261 [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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