Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE HEN AND THE EGGS
A hen came across the eggs of a snake and devoted herself to them, settling
atop the eggs and brooding on them. A swallow saw what the hen was doing and
said, 'O you stupid, senseless creature! They will destroy you first of all
and then destroy everyone around you!'
The fable shows that we should never put our trust in a wicked man, even
if he seems to be completely innocuous. |
 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 192: Gibbs (Oxford) 441 [English]
Perry 192: L'Estrange 195 [English]
Perry 192: Townsend 275 [English]
Perry 192: Chambry 286 [Greek]
Perry 192: Syntipas 57 [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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