Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE BIRD-CATCHER AND THE LARK
A bird-catcher had set up his snare for the birds. A lark observed these preparations
and asked the bird-catcher what he was doing. The man said to the lark that
he was founding a city. The man then moved away from the snare. The bird, believing
what the man had said, approached and ate some of the bait. Then, without realizing
it, he was trapped in the snare. As the bird-catcher ran up and grabbed hold
of the lark, the bird said to him, 'Look here, if this is the sort of city you
are founding, you won't find many inhabitants for it!'
The story shows that households and cities are most likely to be deserted
when there are harsh people in charge. |
 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 193: Gibbs (Oxford) 87 [English]
Perry 193: L'Estrange 97 [English]
Perry 193: Chambry 283 [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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