Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE RIVERS AND THE SEA
The rivers came together in order to make a complaint against the sea. They
told her, 'Why is it that we come to you with waters that are sweet and fit
to drink, but you change them into something salty and undrinkable?' In response
to the rivers' criticism, the sea replied, 'Don't come, and you won't get salty!'
This fable depicts people who criticize someone inappropriately even though
that person is actually helping 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.
Perry 412: Gibbs (Oxford) 258 [English]
Perry 412: Townsend 111 [English]
Perry 412: Syntipas 4 [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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