Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE WOLF, THE FOX
AND THE SHEPHERD
A wolf had assembled an immense store of booty in his den so that he could feast
on all sorts of delicacies for months into the future. When the fox found out
about this she paid a visit to the wolf and spoke to him in anxious tones, 'Why
should I be deprived of your company these many days? I've been in tears since
you have not come outside.' The wolf replied spitefully, 'You didn't come here
out of any concern for me; you're just hoping to get something. I know you must
have had some reason for coming here: you are trying to trick me!' This made
the fox extremely angry, so she went to the shepherd and said to him, 'Would
you like it if I turned the enemy of your flock over to you today so that you
wouldn't have to worry about him anymore? The shepherd replied, 'I will be at
your service and will give you whatever you want.' The fox immediately led the
shepherd to where the wolf was hiding and the shepherd killed the wolf with
his lance. He then let the spiteful fox eat her fill of someone else's larder.
Eventually the fox fell foul of hunters and was caught by their hounds. As she
was being torn to pieces, the fox exclaimed, 'Just as I committed a serious
crime, now I am going to die, since I brought about someone else's death.'
If you injure other people, you need to watch out, or somebody else will
injure you too. |
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 568: Caxton 3.6 [English]
Perry 568: Gibbs (Oxford) 146 [English]
Perry 568: L'Estrange 39 [English]
Perry 568: Steinhowel 3.6 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim
University Library
Perry 568: Ademar 40 [Latin]
Perry 568: Rom. Anglicus 98 [Latin]
Perry 568: Walter of England 46 [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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