Fable 266 (Romulus Mon. 32 = Perry 695)
The Goat and His Reflection
It often happens that the weak and the poor try to rebel against the high and mighty. Listen to a fable about such an event.
A wolf was chasing the billy-goat of the herd, intending to capture him. The goat climbed up on a tall cliff where he was safe, so the wolf besieged the goat from the bottom of the cliff. After two or three days, when the wolf had grown hungry and the goat had grown thirsty, they each went away: the wolf left first in order to look for food and then the goat went away to find a drink of water. When he had quenched his thirst, the goat noticed his reflection in the water and said, ‘Oh what fine legs I have and what a beautiful beard and what great horns! Just let that wolf try to make me run away: this time I will defend myself! I will not let that wolf have any power over me!’ Behind the goat’s back, the wolf had been listening in silence to every word the goat said. Then, as he plunged his teeth deep into the goat’s flank, the wolf asked, ‘What is this you are saying, brother goat?’ The goat, when he realized he was trapped, said, ‘O my lord wolf, I admit my mistake and beg your forgiveness! After a goat has something to drink, he says things he shouldn’t.’ But the wolf showed no mercy and devoured the goat.
The fable warns us that weak and poor people should not try to rebel against the high and mighty.
Fable 267 (Plutarch, Banquet of the Seven Sages 14.157b = Perry 449)
The Dog in Winter and Summer
It was winter time and the dog was lying all curled up in a ball because of the cold. This made him think about building a house, but when summer came, he was once again able to sleep stretched out at full length. In fact, the dog was so impressed by his own size that he decided not to build himself a house after all, seeing as it would be no small job to make a house big enough to fit him.
NOTE: This same fable is found in Rumi, Mathnawi 3.2885 ff.
FABLES ABOUT MISLEADING APPEARANCES
Fable 268 (Chambry 148 = Perry 195)
The Camel and the People
The first time that they saw the camel, the people were afraid and ran away, awestruck by her immense size. Yet as time went by, they recognized the camel’s gentle nature and grew bold enough to approach her. Gradually they realized that this was a creature who was incapable of anger. Their contempt for the camel finally reached the point that they placed a bridle on the camel and allowed their children to ride her.
The fable shows that familiarity mollifies even the most terrifying things.
Fable 269 (Chambry 42* = Perry 10)
The Fox and the Lion
The fox had never seen a lion before, so when she happened to meet the lion for the first time she all but died of fright. The second time she saw him, she was still afraid, but not as much as before. The third time, the fox was bold enough to go right up to the lion and speak to him.
The fable shows that familiarity makes it easy to confront even frightening situations.
Fable 270 (Chambry 201* = Perry 141)
The Lion and the Frog
A lion heard a frog croaking loudly and turned towards the sound, thinking that this must be the voice of some huge beast. After a while, the lion saw the frog come up out of the swamp. He went over to the frog and, as he crushed him underfoot, the lion said, ‘No one should be worried about a sound before the thing itself has been examined.’
This fable is for a man with a big mouth who talks and talks without accomplishing anything.
NOTE: For another fable about noisy frogs, see Fable 54.
Fable 271 (Aphthonius 4 = Perry 397)
The Bird-catcher and the Cricket
A story about a bird catcher, exhorting us to pay attention to deeds, not words.
A bird-catcher heard a cricket and thought he was going to make a big catch, estimating its size by the volume of its song. But when he walked up and seized his prey, he discovered that it was worthless. The bird-catcher then denounced the whole process of deducing from appearances, since it often leads people to make mistaken judgements.
The fable shows that persons of no value can seem to be greater than they really are.
Fable 272 (Syntipas 62 = Perry 387)
The Man and the Insect
A cicada saw that a man was trying to capture him, so he said, ‘Why don’t you go and hunt those birds instead? They would actually be useful to you! You don’t stand to gain anything by catching me.’
This fable shows that we should not go chasing after things that are useless and unprofitable.
NOTE: In the Life of Aesop (99), Aesop tells a more elaborate version of this story in which the man does eventually let the insect go.
Fable 273 (Phaedrus App. 23 = Perry 551)
The Raven and the Traveller
A man was making his way through the countryside off the beaten track when he heard the word ‘Hel-lo!’ He halted for a moment and then, when he saw that there was nobody there, he quickened his pace. Out of nowhere he heard the same greeting a second time. Reassured by the friendly voice, he came to a stop, hoping to meet the person who had spoken to him, whoever it was. The traveller stood there for a while in confusion, when he could have walked another mile or more in the time he spent looking around for the source of the voice. Finally the raven came out into the open, flying overhead and continuing to croak ‘Hel-lo! Hel-lo!’ When the man understood that he had been tricked, he said, ‘Damn you, you worthless bird: you made me slow down when I was really in a hurry!’
NOTE: The Latin ave ave (‘ah way! ah way!’) sounds more like the cawing of a raven than does the English ‘hello’.
Fable 274 (Babrius 131 = Perry 169)
The Young Man and the Swallow
There was a young man who had lost all his possessions while gambling. He had only one piece of clothing left to keep him warm until the end of winter (although a throw of the dice was going to take this away from him too). Spring had not yet arrived but a swallow had already appeared, having left her home down in Thebes out of season. When the young man heard the tiny chirping of the swallow, he said, ‘What do I need all this clothing for? That swallow means spring is just around the corner.’ The man then went and joined another game. After just a few rolls of the dice, he lost his only cloak. A snowstorm blew up, accompanied by enough hail to make a body shiver, so that everyone needed an extra layer of clothing. The young man, now naked, peeped out of the doorway and saw the chattering swallow once again, lying dead on the ground like a little sparrow stricken by the cold. ‘You miserable creature,’ he said, ‘I wish I had never laid eyes on you! You deceived yourself, and me as well.’
NOTE: This fable is based on the Greek proverb ‘one swallow does not make a spring’ (see, for example, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1098a), much like the English proverb ‘one swallow does not make a summer’. The Thebes referred to here is the ancient capital of the Egyptian empire.
Fable 275 (Chambry 311* = Perry 207)
The Shepherd and the Sea
There was a shepherd tending his flocks in a place beside the sea. When he saw that the sea was calm and mild, he decided that he wanted to make a voyage. He sold his flocks and bought some dates which he loaded onto a ship. He then set sail, but a fierce storm blew up and capsized the ship. The shepherd lost everything and barely managed to get to shore. Later on, when the sea had grown calm once again, the shepherd saw a man on the beach praising the sea for her tranquillity. The shepherd remarked, ‘That’s just because she’s after your dates!’
Fable 276 (Babrius 71 = Perry 168)
The Farmer and the Sea
A farmer saw a ship and her crew about to sink into the sea as the ship’s prow disappeared beneath the curl of a wave. The farmer said, ‘O sea, it would have been better if no one had ever set sail on you! You are a pitiless element of nature and an enemy to mankind.’ When she heard this, the sea took on the shape of a woman and said in reply, ‘Do not spread such evil stories about me! I am not the cause of any of
these things that happen to you; the winds to which I am exposed are the cause of them all. If you look at me when the winds are gone, and sail upon me then, you will admit that I am even more gentle than that dry land of yours.’
NOTE: An epimythium probably added by a later editor reads: ‘This fable shows that the wrong application can often turn things which are useful by nature into something worse, so that they seem to be useless.’
Fable 277 (Chambry 337 = Perry 270)
The Stake and the Wall
A wall who was being gouged by a stake exclaimed, ‘Hey! Why are you making this gash in me, when I never did you any harm?’ The stake answered, ‘It’s not my fault! Blame the man who is pounding me so hard from behind.’
Fable 278 (Chambry 266* = Perry 182)
The Donkey Who Carried the God
A man had placed a carved image on his donkey and was leading him along. Many people bowed down when they met them along the way. The donkey grew arrogant, thinking that the country-folk were bowing down before him, so he began to leap and prance. As he did so, the donkey almost threw the image of the god from his back. The donkey’s master beat him with a stick and said, ‘You are a donkey carrying a god on your back, but that does not mean you deserve to be worshipped as a god!’
This fable can be used for vulgar people who attribute to themselves the honour that is paid to others.
NOTE: This image was proverbial (e.g. Aristophanes, Frogs 160: ‘I am the donkey bearing the divine mysteries’), and provides a comic scene in Apuleius, The Golden Ass 8.24, when the donkey Lucius is travelling with the priests of Cybele, bearing the goddess’s image on his back. For another donkey in the service of these priests, see Fable 6.
FABLES ABOUT FOOLISH EXPECTATIONS
Fable 279 (Chambry 258* = Perry 177)
The Piece of Driftwood
Some men were making their way along the beach and reached a lookout point. From there, they could see a piece of driftwood floating far off in the distance, and they thought that it must be an enormous ship. They waited for a long time, thinking that the ship would put in to shore nearby. As the driftwood was blown closer to shore by the wind, they kept on waiting, but they no longer thought it was a great ship as before; they were now expecting some kind of smaller boat. As it was carried in even closer, they saw that it was just a piece of driftwood. The men then said to one another, ‘How foolish of us! We had high expectations for something that was actually nothing.’
The same is true of people. Often we are in awe of someone whom we have never even seen, but when we get to know him, we realize that he is really not important at all.
Fable 280 (Phaedrus 4.24 = Perry 520)
The Mountain in Labour
A mountain had gone into labour and was groaning terribly. Such rumours excited great expectations all over the country. In the end, however, the mountain gave birth to a mouse.
This is a fable written for people who make serious-sounding threats but who actually accomplish nothing.
NOTE: Thanks to its citation by Horace, Art of Poetry 139, this proverbial saying has enjoyed a long-lived popularity.
Fable 281 (Chambry 160 = Perry 126)
The Jackdaw and the Figs
A hungry jackdaw alighted on a fig tree. He discovered that the figs were still not ripe, so he decided to wait until they were ready. A fox saw the jackdaw loitering there and asked him what he was waiting for. The fox then offered the jackdaw this piece of advice: ‘It is a big mistake to entertain such expectations: hope will lead you on at first but then leave you empty-handed.’
Fable 282 (Aphthonius 39 = Perry 158)
The Wolf and the Nurse
A story about a wolf and a nurse, exhorting us not to count on our hopes in advance of the outcome.
A nurse was annoyed because her infant charge kept crying. When he refused to be quiet, she said that if he didn’t stop bawling, she would throw him to the wolf. A wolf just happened to be passing by and he waited for the nurse to carry out her threat. But the child fell asleep, so the wolf went away bereft of the gain he could have obtained on his own, as well as the gain he had hoped to acquire elsewhere.
There is no point in hoping for things that are not going to happen.
NOTE: For a misogynistic moral to this same story, see Fable 283 (following).
Fable 283 (Babrius 16 = Perry 158)
The Wolf and the Nurse
There was a rustic nurse whose baby kept on crying, so she made the following threat: ‘Be quiet, or else I will throw you to the wolf!’ A wolf heard this and took the woman’s words literally, so he sat there, waiting as if dinner were about to be served. At evening time the baby finally fell asleep, so the wolf went away hungry, his mouth gaping open, after having waited with high hopes for something that was never going to happen. When he got home, the she-wolf asked him, ‘Why have you come back home without bringing anything? You always used to bring something with you!’ The wolf said in reply, ‘How could it be otherwise, since I believed the words of a woman?’
NOTE: The ‘wolf who gaped like a fool’ or the ‘gaping wolf’ was a proverbial figure in ancient Greece (e.g. Aristophanes, Lysistrata 629).
Fable 284 (Chambry 174 = Perry 233)
The Swan and His Owner
They say that swans sing when they are about to die. A certain man chanced upon a swan that was for sale and bought him, since he had heard that swans sing very beautifully. At the man’s next dinner party, he came and got the swan, expecting that the bird would serenade his guests at dinner. The swan, however, was completely silent. Later on, when the swan realized that he was about to die, he began to sing his funeral dirge. When his owner heard him, he said, ‘Well, if you are going to sing this song only at the moment of your death, then I was a fool for having commanded you to do it. I should have ordered you to be butchered instead!’
Some people are the same way: they will agree to do things under compulsion that they are not willing to do as a favour.
NOTE: The ‘swan song’ was a famous legend of ancient Greece and Rome (Plato, Phaedo 85a, contains a discussion of the reason why swans supposedly sing at the moment of their death; Pliny, Natural History 10.32, claims to have conducted certain ‘experiments’ disproving this phenomenon). For another fable with the swan-song motif, see Fable 303.
Fable 285 (Odo 38 = Perry 604)
The Kite and the Partridges
How earthly prosperity can be deceptive, and so on.
One day the kite happened to consider his wings and feet and talons. ‘Indeed,’ he exclaimed, ‘am I not just as well armed as the hawk and the falcon? Look at what wings and what feet and what talons I have! Why shouldn’t I go and catch some partridges?’ The kite knew a place where he could find many partridges so he went there and launched his attack: he seized one partridge with his beak, another with his wings, and one more in each foot. But the kite couldn’t keep hold of that many partridges, so in the end he had none. Hence the saying: Seize all, lose all. From then on, the kite never tried to hunt wild birds again.
NOTE: Compare the Roman proverb, ‘the man who chases two hares does not catch either one’ (e.g. Publilius Syrus 186).
Fable 286 (Chambry 204 = Perry 148)
The Lion, the Hare, and the Deer
A lion had found a hare as he was sleeping. But just as he was about to devour the creature, the lion happened to catch sight of a passing deer whereupon he abruptly abandoned the hare and ran off chasing after the deer. Awakened by the noise, the hare leaped up and bounded away. Meanwhile, the lion spent a long time chasing the deer but in the end he didn’t catch her. He came back to where he had left the hare and discovered that the hare had also slipped away. At this point, the lion exclaimed, ‘It serves me right! Since I preferred the possibility of something more, I lost the food that was already within my grasp.’
This is how some people behave: not satisfied with their moderate profits, they instead chase after the chance of something better and as a resu
lt they unwittingly lose what they previously had in their possession.
NOTE: The ‘sleeping hare’ was proverbial (see Erasmus, Adages 1.10.57). For another sleeping hare, see Fable 237, the story of the tortoise and the hare.
Fable 287 (Avianus 20 = Perry 18)
The Fisherman and the Fish
There was a fisherman who was in the habit of catching his prey on the hook of his fishing line. One time he reeled in the trifling weight of a tiny fish which he had snagged. He lifted the fish up into the air and stabbed it with a piercing wound through its gaping mouth. The fish then burst into tears and pleaded with the man. ‘Please spare me,’ he said. ‘After all, what sort of profit will you get from my body? My fertile mother just now spawned me down in the rocky caves, sending me to play in the waters that are the fishes’ domain. Put aside this threat, and allow my slender young body to grow fat for your table. This same strand of the shore will give me back to you again, and I will voluntarily return to your fishing rod a little while from now, fatter for having fed on the blue waters of the boundless sea.’ The fisherman said that it was absolutely forbidden to let a fish go once it had been caught, and he complained that good deeds are often not rewarded when left up to chance. Finally the man concluded, ‘It’s bad business to ever surrender any possible gain, and even more foolish to start over again in hopes of greater profits.’
Aesop's Fables Page 19
