Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE LION AND THE BOAR AT THE SPRING
In summertime, when the heat makes everyone thirsty, a lion and a wild boar
had come to drink from the same small spring. They began to argue about who
was going to take the first drink, and their argument escalated into a duel
to the death. When they momentarily paused to catch their breath, the lion and
the boar saw that vultures were waiting to snatch and devour the one who was
killed. At that point, the lion and the boar put their hatred aside and said,
'It is better for us to befriend one another than to be eaten by vultures and
ravens!'
The story teaches us that it is good to set aside our deadly disputes and
conflicts, since they put everyone's lives in jeopardy. |
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 338: Gibbs (Oxford) 61 [English]
Perry 338: Townsend 104 [English]
Perry 338: Chambry 203 [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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