Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE SWANS AND THE GEESE
Some swans and some geese became friends and went out onto the meadows. As they
were feeding contentedly together, they were discovered by hunters. The swans,
owing to the swiftness of their bodies, were immediately able to take wing and
fly away. The geese, however, were naturally more heavy and so they were left
behind and caught by the hunters.
The fable represents people who are not whole-heartedly devoted to their
friends but instead abandon them at the critical moment. |
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 228: Gibbs (Oxford) 49 [English]
Perry 228: Townsend 224 [English]
Perry 228: Chambry 353 [Greek]
Perry 228: Syntipas 60 [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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