Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE DONKEY AND THE OX
A donkey and an ox had been yoked together to pull a single load. The ox was
making a great effort, even though he had an injury to his horn, while the donkey
was doing nothing to help. As the ox struggled to pull the load by himself,
he soon died. The driver then loaded the ox's carcass upon the donkey and began
beating him mercilessly. The donkey broke down and collapsed under the weight,
dropping dead in the middle of the road. A flock of birds flew up and alighted
on the donkey's carcass. 'If only you had been kind enough to help the ox pull
the load,' they said, 'you would not have died this untimely death, with carrion
birds feasting on your flesh.' |
 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.
| Babrius and Chambry
tell the story of a horse and a donkey; Ademar
tells the story of a horse and an ox. |
Perry 181: Gibbs (Oxford) 65 [English]
Perry 181: L'Estrange 64 [English]
Perry 181: Townsend 50 [English]
Perry 181: Babrius 7 [Greek]
Perry 181: Chambry 141 [Greek]
Perry 181: Ademar 34 [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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