Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE SWALLOW AND THE NIGHTINGALE
A swallow once asked a nightingale why she didn't want to come and take up residence
with her. The nightingale wept and cried, 'No, it is impossible for me to do
that. It brings to mind the grief suffered by my ancestors, which is why I dwell
in the wilderness.'
The fable shows that when people feel grief for their misfortunes, they
avoid the place where that grief overtook them. |
 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.
| In Perry 437, the owl warns the birds about
various dangers: birdlime, flax, and archery, but the birds ignore
the owl every time; later they repent and worship the owl, but the
owl refuses to give them any more advice. In Perry
39, the swallow realizes that the mistletoe is dangerous and warns
the other birds, who ignore her advice so the swallow leaves the birds
and comes to live among people. (Perry 277 is
a dialogue between the nightingale and the swallow, which is explains
why the swallow dwells with people.) |
Perry 277: Gibbs (Oxford) 505 [English]
Perry 277: Babrius 12 [Greek]
Perry 277: Chambry 9 [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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