Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE LION, THE ROOSTER AND THE DONKEY
A donkey and a rooster lived together on a farm. A lion who had noticed the
donkey crept up and was about to pounce when the rooster let loose a squawk.
This frightened the lion (for they say that lions are terrified of the rooster's
crowing) and he turned tail and ran. The donkey was elated at the thought of
the lion running away from a rooster. He took off in pursuit of the lion but
when the donkey had gone some distance away from the farm, the lion turned around
and ate him.
The same thing happens to people: when someone sees his enemies humbled,
he becomes presumptuous, and this makes it possible for his enemies to destroy
him before he even realizes what is happening. |
 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 82: Gibbs (Oxford) 235 [English]
Perry 82: L'Estrange 152 [English]
Perry 82: Townsend 107 [English]
Perry 82: Chambry 269 [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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