Fable 54 (Chambry 117 = Perry 90)
The Water-snake, the Viper, and the Frogs
There was a viper who used to go to a certain spring in order to drink, but he was driven away by a water-snake who was furious that the viper would not just stay on his own turf instead of encroaching on the water-snake’s territory. Their dispute grew more and more fierce and finally the two of them decided to fight it out, agreeing that both the water and the land would be awarded to the winner. When the day for the fight had been decided, the frogs came to the viper and, since they hated the water-snake, they offered to be his allies and come to his aid during the battle. But when the battle began and the viper grappled with the water-snake, the frogs just sat there croaking, since they were not able to do anything else. In the end, the viper was victorious but he was furious with the frogs since they had failed to come to his aid as they had promised and, what was worse, they had sat there singing songs while he was doing battle. The frogs then said to the viper, ‘But you should have known that we had nothing to offer you except the sound of our voices!’
The fable shows that when you need someone to lend a hand, mere words are no help at all.
NOTE: For a fable about the enmity between the frogs and the water-snake, see Fable 27.
Fable 55 (Chambry 202 = Perry 145)
The Dolphin and the Lion
A lion was wandering on the seashore when he saw a dolphin stick his head out of the water. The lion invited the dolphin to become his ally, explaining that they were perfectly suited to befriend and assist one another, given that the dolphin was the king of the sea creatures, while the lion ruled all the animals of the land. The dolphin agreed. Later on, the lion, who had long been at war with the wild bull, asked the dolphin for help. Although he wanted to help, the dolphin was unable to come out of the sea. The lion then reproached the dolphin for having betrayed him. The dolphin said in reply, ‘I am not to blame! My nature is that of a sea creature, and it means that I cannot come out onto the land.’
The same is true of people. When we form friendships with one another, we must choose allies who can come to our aid in moments of peril.
Fable 56 (Ignatius Diaconus, Tetrasticha 2.7 = Perry 416)
The Bear, the Lion, and the Fox Go Hunting
The bear, the lion, and the fox went hunting together. While the lion and the bear tracked down their prey by their own efforts, the fox instead found a camel who had been tied to a post. She then went and told her companions that this was something they could catch.
NOTE: These tetrasticha, or ‘four-line’ poems, were composed by Ignatius the Deacon and his imitators in ninth-century Byzantium.
Fable 57 (Ademar 67 = Perry 574)
The Eagle and the Kite
An eagle was sitting sadly in her tree when she was joined by a kite. The kite said to the eagle, ‘Why do I see you looking so sad?’ The eagle replied, ‘I cannot help but be sad at heart, since I need a mate who is my equal but I cannot find one anywhere.’ The kite then said to the eagle, ‘You should marry me! I am even stronger than you are, which makes me the ideal bird for you.’ The eagle asked him, ‘Just what kinds of prey are you able to catch?’ The kite said, ‘Well, on several occasions I have managed to capture an ostrich in my talons and eat it.’ When she heard this, the eagle accepted the kite’s proposal and married him. After the wedding ceremony and festivities were finished, the eagle said to the kite, ‘Go and get us some of that prey which you promised.’ The high-flying kite was only able to offer the eagle a nasty little mouse whose flesh was all putrid and rotten. The eagle said, ‘Is this what you promised?’ The kite replied, ‘In order to make this most eminent match with you, I had no choice but to agree to anything you asked, even if it meant promising something impossible.’
For women who want to marry men who are richer than they are and who find out afterwards that their husbands are worthless.
NOTE: Compare the medieval English proverb, c.1300: ‘Nultow never, late ne skete | A goshawk maken of a Kete, | No faucon maken of busard, | no Hardy knyht mak of coward’ (cited in The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs).
FABLES ABOUT SOLIDARITY
Fable 58 (Romulus 4.6 = Perry 575)
The Butcher and the Flock
Relatives and fiends who cannot agree with one another will come to a bad end, as the following fable tells us.
Some castrated sheep had been gathered together in a flock with the rams. Although the sheep realized that the butcher had come into the flock, they pretended not to see him. Even when they saw one of their own seized by the butcher’s deadly hands and taken away to be slaughtered, still the sheep were not afraid. Foolishly, they said to one another, ‘He keeps his hands off me, he keeps his hands off you; let him take whom he takes.’ In the end, there was only one sheep left. This is what he reportedly said to the butcher when he saw that he too was about to be taken away: ‘We deserve to be slaughtered one after another since we didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. The fact is, as soon as we saw you here in our midst, back when we were all together, we should have killed you at once by smashing you between our horns.’
This fable shows that people who do not keep an eye out for their own safety will be utterly destroyed by evil.
NOTE: This fable is strikingly similar to the ‘first they came’ parable of Pastor Martin Niemoeller (1892–1984): ‘First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.’
Fable 59 (Syntipas 13 = Perry 372)
The Two Bulls and the Lion
A lion was attacking two bulls, hoping to make a meal of them. The bulls, however, both opposed the lion with their horns. Once they had taken their stand, the bulls did not allow the lion to come between them. When the lion saw that he was powerless against the two bulls together, he slyly spoke to one of them and said, ‘If you hand your partner over to me, I will keep you safe from harm.’ In this way, he was able to seize both of the bulls.
This fable shows that the same is true of cities and people: when they are in agreement with one another, they do not allow their enemies to defeat them, but if they refuse to co-operate, it is an easy matter for their enemies to destroy them.
Fable 60 (Babrius 85 = Perry 343)
The Dogs and Their Commander
During the war of the dogs and the wolves, the dog-assembly chose an Achaean to be their commander. Although he was an expert in the art of war, the commander waited and delayed. With fierce threats, the dogs urged him to advance and to engage in battle but the commander explained, ‘Here is the reason why I delay and act with caution! One must always make plans with an eye to the future. All of the enemy whom I have seen are wolves, members of the same breed, whereas some of us are dogs from Crete, some are Molossian hounds, some are Acarnanians, others are Dolopians, while others boast of being from Cyprus or Thrace. Still others come from other places—what need is there to go on at length? We are not even the same colour, as the wolves are: some of us are black, some are grey, some are red with white-spotted chests, and some of us are white all over. How can I lead troops who are so lacking in unity to fight against an enemy who all resemble each other in every possible way?’
NOTE: An epimythium probably added by a later editor reads: ‘Unity is mankind’s greatest good, while dissension is a weak and slavish thing.’ Molossians and the other dogs listed here were breeds who took their name from their place of origin (like German shepherds, Rhodesian ridgebacks, etc. today).
Fable 61 (Chambry 203 = Perry 338)
The Lion and the Boar at the Spring
In summertime, when the heat makes everyone thirsty, a lion and a wild boar had come to drink from the same small spring. They began to argue about who was going to take the first drink
, and their argument escalated into a duel to the death. When they momentarily paused to catch their breath, the lion and the boar saw that vultures were waiting to snatch and devour the one who was killed. At that point, the lion and the boar put their hatred aside and said, ‘It is better for us to befriend one another than to be eaten by vultures and ravens!’
The story teaches us that it is good to set aside our deadly disputes and conflicts, since they put everyone’s lives in jeopardy.
Fable 62 (Chambry 200* = Perry 147)
The Lion and the Bear
A lion and a bear had found a fawn and were fighting to see who would keep it. In the protracted violence of the battle they had both grown faint from fighting, so they called a truce in order to rest. Meanwhile, there was a fox who had been pacing around them in circles. When she saw that they had fallen to the ground with the fawn lying between them, she dashed up, grabbed the fawn, and took off at a run. The lion and the bear were not even able to get to their feet, so they sat there watching the fox disappear. ‘What fools we are,’ they said, ‘for having gone to so much trouble on that fox’s behalf!’
The fable shows that while some people do all the work, others make off with the profit.
NOTE: L’Estrange’s epimythium associates this fable with the land of Gotham, the traditional abode of fools: ‘’Tis the Fate of all Gotham Quarrels, when Fools go together by the Ears, to have Knaves run away with the Stakes.’
Fable 63 (Chambry 289 = Perry 197)
The Snake, the Weasel, and the Mice
A snake and a weasel were fighting with one another inside a house. The mice who lived in the house were always being hunted down by either the snake or the weasel, so when they saw the snake and the weasel fighting with each other, they emerged from their holes and scurried around. When the weasel and the snake saw what was happening, they stopped fighting with each other and turned their attention to the mice.
The same is true in a city: if you recklessly get involved in a political dispute, you will become an incidental casualty of the quarrel.
NOTE: The Greeks and Romans used weasels (not cats) to keep their houses free of vermin.
Fable 64 (Chambry 272 = Perry 263)
The Donkey and the Mule
A donkey and a mule were walking along together. When the donkey saw that they were carrying equal loads, he got angry and complained that the mule was awarded a double portion of food even though she carried a load that was no bigger than his own. After they had journeyed a little further down the road, the driver saw that the donkey could not hold up under the weight, so he took part of the donkey’s load and placed it on the mule. Later, when the driver saw that the donkey had grown even more tired, he again transferred some of the donkey’s load to the mule, and so on. Finally the driver took the entire load and shifted it from the donkey to the mule. At that point the mule glanced over at the donkey and said, ‘What do you say now: don’t I deserve a double portion of food?’
It is the same when we pass judgement on one another’s situations: instead of looking at how things start, we should look instead at how they turn out in the end.
Fable 65 (Ademar 34 = Perry 181)
The Donkey and the Ox
A donkey and an ox had been yoked together to pull a single load. The ox was making a great effort, even though he had an injury to his horn, while the donkey was doing nothing to help. As the ox struggled to pull the load by himself, he soon died. The driver then loaded the ox’s carcass upon the donkey and began beating him mercilessly. The donkey broke down and collapsed under the weight, dropping dead in the middle of the road. A flock of birds flew up and alighted on the donkey’s carcass. ‘If only you had been kind enough to help the ox pull the load,’ they said, ‘you would not have died this untimely death, with carrion birds feasting on your flesh.’
NOTE: The Greek versions of this fable are about a horse and a donkey (e.g. Chambry 141), and there is also a version about an ox and a camel (Plutarch, Preservation of Health 27).
Fable 66 (Livy, History 2.32.9 = Perry 130)
The Stomach and the Body
Back when all the parts of the human body did not function in unison as is the case today, each member of the body had its own opinion and was able to speak. The various members were offended that everything won by their hard work and diligent efforts was delivered to the stomach while he simply sat there in their midst, fully at ease and just enjoying the delights that were brought to him. Finally, the members of the body revolted: the hands refused to bring food to the mouth, the mouth refused to take in any food, and the teeth refused to chew anything. In their angry effort to subdue the stomach with hunger, the various parts of the body and the whole body itself completely wasted away. As a result, they realized that the work done by the stomach was no small matter, and that the food he consumed was no more than what he gave back to all the parts of the body in the form of blood which allows us to flourish and thrive, since the stomach enriches the blood with digested food and then distributes it equally throughout the veins.
NOTE: In Plutarch, Life of Coriolanus 6, the stomach puts a stop to the foolish body parts by laughing at them. There is nothing funny about the medieval Latin versions of the fable, in which the protest reaches its logical conclusion and the entire body dies of hunger. This story is perhaps best-known from the version found in the opening scene of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus.
Fable 67 (Babrius 128 = Perry 356)
The Sheep, the Shepherd, and the Dog
A sheep once said to the shepherd, ‘You shear us and keep all the wool for yourself; you like to take our milk and make it into cheese; thanks to our children, your flocks flourish and prosper. Yet there is no profit for us in these things. Everything we eat comes from the ground—and what kind of blossom is there to be found on the mountain sides? The grass is dry even when covered with dew. Meanwhile, you nourish this dog in our midst, feeding her on the same kind of hearty food that you yourself eat!’ When the dog heard this, she said, ‘If it weren’t for me protecting you on every side, you would not even manage to get enough grass to eat! By running all around you, I ward off the marauding thief and the prowling wolf.’
NOTE: There is a version of this fable in Xenophon, Memorabilia 2.7.
Fable 68 (Chambry 175* = Perry 92)
The Hunting-dog and the Watchdog
There was a man who had two dogs. He taught one to hunt and the other to be a watchdog. Whenever the hunting-dog caught something, the watchdog would also share in the spoils. This made the hunting-dog angry at the watchdog, since he had to work for everything he had while the watchdog lived off the fruits of his labour without doing anything. The watchdog retorted, ‘Don’t blame me! It’s our master’s fault. Since he didn’t teach me how to work, I only know how to eat the food that others earn.’
This fable shows that the same is true of children: it is not their fault if they don’t know how to do anything, since this is how their parents have raised them.
NOTE: A similar story is associated with the legendary Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus (in Plutarch, Sayings of the Spartans): Lycurgus took two dogs and raised them differently, one as a hunter and one as a house dog, in order to demonstrate the degree to which education determines excellence.
FABLES ABOUT FRIENDSHIP
Fable 69 (Ademar 35 = Perry 563)
The Shepherd and the Lion
While he was wandering in the fields, a lion got a thorn stuck in his paw. He immediately went to a shepherd, wagging his tail as he said, ‘Don’t be afraid! I have come to ask your help; I’m not looking for food.’ The lion then lifted his paw and placed it in the man’s lap. The shepherd pulled out the thorn from the lion’s paw and the lion went back into the woods. Later on, the shepherd was falsely accused of a crime and at the next public games he was released from jail and thrown to the beasts. As the wild animals rushed upon him from all sides, the lion recognized that this was the same man who had healed him. Once again the lion raised his paw
and placed it in the shepherd’s lap. When the king understood what had happened, he commanded that the lion be spared and that the gentle shepherd be sent back home to his family.
When a man acts righteously, he can never be defeated by the punishments inflicted on him by his enemies.
NOTE: The most famous version of this story is found in Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights 5.14, where the shepherd is named ‘Androcles’ (Latin ‘Androclus’). This is the only Aesopic fable that ever gave rise to a full-length Hollywood film: Androcles and the Lion, made in 1952 (based on a play of the same name by George Bernard Shaw).
Fable 70 (Ademar 18 = Perry 150)
The Lion and the Mouse
Some field-mice were playing in the woods where a lion was sleeping, when one of the mice accidentally ran over the lion. The lion woke up and immediately grabbed the wretched little mouse with his paw. The mouse begged for mercy, since he had not meant to do the lion any harm. The lion decided that to kill such a tiny creature would be a cause for reproach rather than glory, so he forgave the mouse and let him go. A few days later the lion fell into a pit and was trapped. He started to roar, and when the mouse heard him, he came running. Recognizing the lion in the trap, the mouse said to him, ‘I have not forgotten the kindness that you showed me!’ The mouse then began to gnaw at the cords binding the lion, cutting through the strands and undoing the clever ingenuity of the hunter’s art. The mouse was thus able to restore the lion to the woods, setting him free from his captivity.
Aesop's Fables Page 8
