Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE STAG AND HIS
REFLECTION
A stag had grown thirsty and went to a spring in order to drink some water.
When he saw the reflection of his body in the water, he disparaged the slenderness
of his legs but revelled in the shape and size of his horns. All of a sudden,
some hunters appeared and began to chase him. As the stag ran along the level
ground of the plain, he outdistanced his pursuers and beat them to the marsh
by the river. Without thinking about what he was doing, the stag kept on going,
but his horns became tangled in the overhanging branches and he was captured
by the hunters. The stag groaned and said, 'Woe is me, wretched creature that
I am! The thing that I disparaged could have saved me while I have been destroyed
by the very thing I boasted about.'
This fable shows people should not praise themselves for something unless
it is useful and beneficial. |
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 74: Caxton 3.7 [English]
Perry 74: Gibbs (Oxford) 262 [English]
Perry 74: Jacobs 25 [English]
Perry 74: L'Estrange 44 [English]
Perry 74: Townsend 257 [English]
Perry 74: Steinhowel 3.7 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim
University Library
Perry 74: Aphthonius 18 [Greek]
Perry 74: Babrius 43 [Greek]
Perry 74: Chambry 102 [Greek]
Perry 74: Syntipas 15 [Greek]
Perry 74: Ademar 41 [Latin]
Perry 74: Phaedrus 1.12 [Latin]
Perry 74: Rom. Anglicus 28 [Latin]
Perry 74: Rom. Nil. (metrica) 28 [Latin]
Perry 74: Rom. Nil. (rhythmica) 2.12
[Latin]
Perry 74: Walter of England 47 [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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