Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE MAN AND THE WEASEL
A man caught a weasel but the weasel, hoping to escape her imminent demise,
pleaded with the man. 'Spare me, please,' she said, 'since I am the creature
who rids your house of pesky mice.' 'If you chased those mice on my behalf,'
replied the man, 'I would be grateful indeed and would spare you. But the fact
is that you do the work in order to enjoy the remains of what the mice are going
to nibble, and also eat the mice themselves. So don't expect any gratitude from
me for your so-called favours!' With these words, the man consigned the treacherous
creature to her doom.
You should recognize that this is a story about you, if you are the sort
of person who takes care of your own private business while vainly boasting
to gullible people that you are doing them a favour. |
 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 293: Caxton 2.19 [English]
Perry 293: Gibbs (Oxford) 378 [English]
Perry 293: Steinhowel 2.19 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim
University Library
Perry 293: Babrius 27 [Greek]
Perry 293: Phaedrus 1.22 [Latin]
Perry 293: Walter of England 39 [Latin]
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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