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Perry's Index to the Aesopica

Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:

THE WAR BETWEEN THE BEASTS AND THE BIRDS

The birds were at war with the beasts, and it was impossible to tell which side was winning and which was losing. Afraid to find himself on the losing side, the bat kept switching to the other side as soon as he thought it was going to prevail. Peace was eventually restored, and both the birds and the beasts realized that the bat had been a traitor. Found guilty of such a dastardly crime, the bat fled from the light and concealed himself in the dark shadows of the night.
People who try to take both sides in a dispute will be shamefully rejected by both of them; it is better not to make any enemies at all than to lose the battle.

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 566: Caxton 3.4 [English]
Perry 566: Gibbs (Oxford) 363 [English]
Perry 566: Jacobs 24 [English]
Perry 566: L'Estrange 41 [English]
Perry 566: Townsend 239 [English]
Perry 566: Steinhowel 3.4 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim University Library
Perry 566: Ademar 38 [Latin]
Perry 566: Rom. Anglicus 27 [Latin]
Perry 566: Rom. Nil. (metrica) 26 [Latin]
Perry 566: Rom. Nil. (rhythmica) 2.10 [Latin]
Perry 566: Walter of England 44 [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.