Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE FOX, THE BOAR AND HIS TUSKS
The wild boar was standing beside a tree, sharpening his tusks. The fox asked
him why he was sharpening his tusks now, when there was no immediate need for
him to do so. The wild boar replied, 'I have my reasons! This way, when danger
threatens, I won't have to take time to whet my tusks but will instead have
them ready for use.'
The fable shows that we need to prepare ourselves before danger strikes. |
 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 224: Gibbs (Oxford) 449 [English]
Perry 224: Townsend 130 [English]
Perry 224: Chambry 327 [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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