The Shepherds, the Lamb, and the Wolf
This is one of Aesop’s fables. A wolf saw some shepherds eating a lamb in their tent. He approached the shepherds and said, ‘Why, what a great uproar there would be if I were to do the same thing!’
Fable 393 (Babrius 110 = Perry 330)
The Dog and Her Master
A man who was about to go on a journey said to his dog, who was standing beside him, ‘Why are you just standing there with your mouth hanging open? Get yourself ready, you’re going to go with me.’ The dog wagged her tail, fawning on her master as she said, ‘I am all ready to go; you are the one who’s delaying!’
Fable 394 (Phaedrus App. 17 = Perry 545)
Aesop and His Ugly Mistress
Aesop was once the slave of an ugly woman who wasted entire days adorning herself with make-up, but even with all her fancy clothes and pearls and silver and gold she still could not find anyone who would so much as touch her. ‘Might I say a few words?’ asked Aesop. ‘Go ahead’, she replied. ‘I think that you could achieve all your hopes and dreams,’ said Aesop, ‘if only you would put aside this finery.’ ‘Do you really find me so much more attractive when I’m just my sweet little old self?’ she asked. ‘Quite the opposite,’ said Aesop, ‘but if you stopped giving your jewellery away, you could give your bedsprings a break.’ ‘I’m going to break every bone in your body!’ she answered back, and ordered them to beat the indiscreet slave with whips. Shortly thereafter, a thief stole one of the mistress’s silver bracelets. When she was told that the bracelet was nowhere to be found, the mistress was enraged and summoned all the slaves, threatening them with painful punishments if they didn’t tell the truth. ‘Threaten the others,’ said Aesop, ‘but you aren’t going to fool me, my mistress: it’s because I told the truth just now that you had me whipped and beaten!’
NOTE: For another fable about the dangers of telling the truth, see Fable 108.
FABLES ABOUT SELF-INTEREST
Fable 395 (Chambry 310* = Perry 205)
The Daughter and the Hired Mourners
There was a rich man who had two daughters, but one of his daughters died. He hired some women to do the mourning and they let loose a whole chorus of weeping. The other daughter remarked to her mother, ‘We are surely wretched women if we cannot come up with a lament for our own loss, while these women, who are not even members of the family, beat their breasts and grieve so deeply.’ The mother replied, ‘Don’t be surprised, my child: they do it for the money!’
Fable 396 (Babrius 69 = Perry 331)
The Dog, the Hare, and the Goatherd
A dog who was not unwise in the ways of the hunt had stirred up a furry-footed hare from behind a bush. He set off in pursuit of the hare, but the hare outran him. One of the goatherds scoffed at the dog and said, ‘That hare’s only a little fellow, but he turned out to be faster than you.’ The dog replied, ‘It’s one thing if you are running in a hurry because you want to catch someone, but it’s another thing entirely if you are running for your life!’
Fable 397 (Aphthonius 30 = Perry 85)
The Sheep, the Goat, and the Sow
A story about a sow, teaching us to give each man his due.
A man had rounded up a sow, a goat, and a sheep from his farm. While the donkey carried them all to the city, the goat and the sheep settled down quietly, but the sow’s screams bothered their chauffeur, so the donkey said to the sow, ‘Why on earth can’t you go along quietly like the others?’ The sow replied, ‘The goat is being brought here for her milk, the sheep for his wool, but for me this is a matter of life and death!’
Each man has his own reason for acting as he does.
NOTE: There is a similar observation in the Life of Aesop 48, when Aesop explains why the sheep is silent when being led to slaughter but the pig squeals: the sheep is accustomed to being milked or being sheared, so she does not expect the fate that awaits her, while the pig knows only one reason for being taken away.
Fable 398 (Chambry 41* = Perry 17)
The Foxes and Their Tails
A fox got caught in a trap and part of her tail was cut off as she escaped. She was so ashamed that she didn’t think life was worth living. Then she realized that if she could persuade the other foxes to do the same thing her own shame would be hidden, as it would be shared by all the foxes. Accordingly, she summoned the other foxes and asked them to cut off their tails, maintaining that this was the one part of their body that was unseemly, nothing but an extra appendage which they had to carry around. One of the other foxes scoffed in reply, ‘If it weren’t for the fact that it is in your interest to do this thing, you never would have proposed it!’
The story shows that wicked people do not give advice to their neighbours about what to do because of good-will, but because of their own self-interest.
NOTE: The story of the fox with the docked tail is alluded to by Plutarch, Life of Themistocks 1.
Fable 399 (Chambry 225 = Perry 154)
The Wolf, the Horse, and the Barley
As he was crossing through a field, a wolf found some barley. Since wolves don’t eat barley, he ignored it and continued on his way. The wolf then ran into a horse. He led the horse into the field and showed him the barley, saying that instead of eating the barley himself, he had saved it for the horse, since he liked to hear the sound of the horse’s teeth grinding together. The horse then said to the wolf, ‘Look here, if you wolves ate barley, you would never have put the pleasure of your ears before your stomach!’
The fable shows that nobody believes people who are inherently wicked, even if they pretend to be good-natured.
Fable 400 (Chambry 276 = Perry 264)
The Donkey, the Dog, and the Letter
A donkey and a dog were journeying together when they found a sealed letter on the ground. The donkey took the letter, broke the seals, and opened it. The donkey then began to read the letter aloud, while the dog sat there listening. The letter happened to be about food, that is, about barley and straw and hay. As the donkey was reading, the dog grew impatient, and finally he said to the donkey, ‘You can skip that part, my dear; perhaps further down you will find some information about meat and bones.’ The donkey scanned the rest of the letter but he didn’t find what the dog was looking for. The dog then said to the donkey, ‘Throw it back on the ground; it has nothing to offer!’
The story shows that different people are interested in different things.
NOTE: Compare the Greek proverb ‘to give straw to a dog, bones to a donkey’ (see Erasmus, Adages 3.5.14).
Fable 401 (Odo 32)
The Bees and the Beetles
Against people who enjoy only carnal pleasures.
Once upon a time, the bees invited the beetles to dinner. The beetles arrived, and when dinner was served the bees offered the beetles some honey and honeycomb. The beetles barely ate anything and then flew away. Next the beetles invited the bees, and when dinner was served, they offered the bees a plate full of dung. The bees wouldn’t eat even a single bite and instead they flew straight back home.
NOTE: For the proverbial opposition between beetles and honey, see Erasmus, Adages 4.8.17: ‘faster than a beetle makes honey.’
Fable 402 (Odo 30a)
The Pig and the Wolf
Once upon a time, the lion held a banquet for all the other animals. He invited every possible creature and gave them all kinds of meat dishes to eat and many other fine foods. When the party was over, the animals went back to their homes. Along the way, the wolf Ysengrimus found the pig eating some swill. The pig said, ‘Where have you been, wolf?’ The wolf said, ‘I’m on my way home from the lion’s royal banquet. And what about you: weren’t you there too?’ The pig asked, ‘Were there nice things to eat and many fine foods?’ The wolf replied, ‘Yes indeed: there were many wonderful dishes, very well prepared.’ The pig asked, ‘Was there swill to eat? And chaff?’ The wolf exclaimed, ‘What are you talking about, you wretched creature! God forbid there would be
such vile stuff placed on the table at a banquet like that!’
NOTE: The name of the wolf, Ysengrimus, is taken from the medieval beast epic tradition (in other fables, Odo uses beast-epic names for the fox, Reinardus, and the cat, Tebertus).
Fable 403 (Phaedrus 3.12 = Perry 503)
The Rooster and the Pearl
A young rooster was looking for food in the manure when he found a pearl. ‘What a fine thing you are,’ he exclaimed, ‘and in what an unfortunate situation! If a person longing to possess something of such value had found you, you would have been restored to your original splendour. Yet it is I who have found you, when I would have much preferred to find some food instead. So this isn’t going to do you any good, and it doesn’t do me any good either!’
This is a story I tell for people who do not know how to appreciate me.
NOTE: Erasmus (Adages 4.8.38) notes the similarity between this fable and a saying attributed to Heraclitus by Aristotle: ‘as Heraclitus says, a donkey would prefer chaff to gold since donkeys get more pleasure from food than from gold’ (Nicomachean Ethics 1176a).
Fable 404 (Phaedrus App. 14 = Perry 542)
The Donkey and the Lyre
A donkey saw a lyre lying in a field. He approached the instrument, and as he tried to strum it with his hoof, the strings resounded at his touch. ‘What a beautiful thing,’ said the donkey, ‘but completely inappropriate, since I don’t know anything about music. If only someone better equipped than myself had found it, my ears would have been delighted by heavenly melodies!’
So it is that talents often go to waste because of some misfortune.
NOTE: It seems likely that Phaedrus invented this fable based on the widely known Greek proverb: onos luras, ‘the donkey, the lyre’. The abbreviated proverb has the donkey as the subject of the verb and the lyre as the object, and it is usually assumed that the donkey is ‘listening’ to the lyre (for example, Lucian, Against the Unlearned 4: ‘you listen to the lyre like a donkey, moving your ears’). In this case, however, Phaedrus’ donkey wants to play the lyre (compare Lucian, Dialogues of the Courtesans 14: onos autolurizon, ‘a donkey playing the lyre’).
FABLES ABOUT WEALTH AND RICHES
Fable 405 (Phaedrus 1.27 = Perry 483)
The Dog and the Treasure
This is a story that can be applied to greedy people and to people who badly want to join the upper classes despite their humble origins.
While digging up dead people’s bones, a dog uncovered a treasure. This outraged the spirits of the dead, and the dog was punished for his sacrilege by being stricken with a desire for wealth. Thus, while the dog stood there guarding the treasure, he took no thought for food and wasted away from starvation. A vulture perched above him is rumoured to have said, ‘O you dog, you deserve to die, since all of a sudden you began to crave the wealth of a king even though you were conceived in the gutter and were raised on a dungheap!’
Fable 406 (Phaedrus 4.21 = Perry 518)
The Fox and the Dragon
While excavating her den, a fox dug a hole in the earth, and as she made deeper and deeper tunnels in the ground, she finally reached the cave of a dragon who was guarding a hidden treasure. When the fox saw the dragon, she said, ‘First of all, I beg your pardon for this carelessness on my part; second, you no doubt realize that gold means nothing to me, so I hope that you will be so kind as to explain to me what profit you gain from this work, and what reward could be so great that you would forgo the pleasure of sleep and live out your life here in the dark?’ ‘I have no reward,’ the dragon replied, ‘but this task was assigned to me by Jupiter on high.’ ‘Does that mean you take nothing for yourself and do not give anything to anyone?’ ‘That is what the Fates have decreed.’ ‘Please don’t be angry then if I speak freely,’ concluded the fox, ‘but someone who lives like this must have been born under an unlucky star!’
Since you will soon depart to that place where those before you have gone, why do you miserably torment yourself, blind to the truth? Yes, I am speaking to you, you miser, who make your future heirs rejoice while depriving the gods of incense and depriving yourself of food, you who are gloomy when you hear the melody of the lyre, in agony when you hear the joyful sounds of the flute, groaning at the cost of food. You stingy man, you save every penny for your estate, burdening heaven with promises you do not mean to keep, while you cut back on every possible funeral expense so that not even Libitina, the goddess of undertakers, will profit from your death!
NOTE: Libitina was the Roman goddess of corpses, funerals, and undertakers, and death certificates were kept in her temples.
Fable 407 (Chambry 344* = Perry 225)
The Man and His Gold
There was a miser who sold his property and bought a lump of gold. The man then buried his gold just outside the city walls, where he constantly went to visit and inspect it. One of the workmen noticed the man’s behaviour and suspected the truth. Accordingly, after the man had gone away, he took the gold. When the man came back and found that the hiding-place was empty, he began to cry and tear his hair. Someone saw the man’s extravagant grief and asked him what was wrong. Then he said to the man, ‘Enough of your grieving! Take a stone and put it where the gold was, and make believe the gold is still there: it’s not as if you ever made any use of it!’
The story shows that there is no point in owning something unless you put it to good use.
Fable 408 (Ademar 13 = Perry 352)
The City Mouse and the Country Mouse
A city mouse once happened to pay a visit to the house of a country mouse where he was served a humble meal of acorns. The city mouse finished his business in the country, and by means of insistent invitations he persuaded the country mouse to come pay him a visit. The city mouse then brought the country mouse into a room that was overflowing with food. As they were feasting on various delicacies, a butler opened the door. The city mouse quickly concealed himself in a familiar mouse-hole, but the poor country mouse was not acquainted with the house and frantically scurried around the floorboards, frightened out of his wits. When the butler had taken what he needed, he closed the door behind him. The city mouse then urged the country mouse to sit back down to dinner. The country mouse refused and said, ‘How could I possibly do that? Oh, how scared I am! Do you think that the man is going to come back?’ This was all that the terrified mouse was able to say. The city mouse insisted, ‘My dear fellow, you could never find such delicious food as this anywhere else in the world.’ ‘Acorns are enough for me,’ the country mouse maintained, ‘so long as I am secure in my freedom!’
It is better to live in self-sufficient poverty than to be tormented by the worries of wealth.
NOTE: There is a famous version of this fable in Horace, Satires 1.6.
Fable 409 (Charnbry 179* = Perry 329)
The Circus Dog and the Street Dogs
A dog who was being trained to fight in the public games snapped the collar around his neck and went dashing through the streets. The street dogs could tell that this fellow had been living the good life since he was as stout as a bull, so they asked him why he was running away. The runaway replied, ‘It’s true that I have been enjoying an abundance of food and living a comfortable life, but I am also forced to fight with lions and bears, risking my life in the arena.’ The other dogs then said to one another, ‘Our poor life must be very fine, because we don’t have to fight with lions and bears!’
Fable 410 (Syntipas 29 = Perry 357)
The Donkey, the Horse, and the War
A donkey and a horse belonged to the same man, and each of them did his duty. But the horse was granted many special privileges: he had plenty of food to eat, his flowing mane was braided and decorated, and his grooms washed him down with water each and every day. The donkey, on the other hand, was always bent down under the weight of the burdens he had to carry. Then one day the horse’s owner mounted him and rode off into battle. In the clash of opposing forces, the horse was wounded on more than o
ne occasion. When the donkey saw how the horse had been degraded, he congratulated himself on his hard-working life of labour.
The fable shows that an impoverished life free from fear is much to be preferred to wealth and all its dangers.
NOTE: This same fable appears in Rumi, Mathnawi 5.2361 ff.
Fable 411 (Phaedrus 2.7 = Perry 491)
The Two Mules
Two mules were walking along, weighed down by two different loads: one mule was laden with bags full of money, while the other mule was carrying sacks stuffed with barley. The mule who was flush with money proudly lifted his head, tossing the little bell on his neck back and forth, while his companion simply followed along at a calm and quiet pace. All of a sudden, the mules were set upon by robbers who attacked them from an ambush. In the violent struggle, the rich mule was slashed with a sword and the robbers stole his money, yet they paid no attention at all to the worthless barley. When the mule who had lost all his riches began to complain, the other mule declared, ‘As for me, I am quite content to have been treated with contempt: it means that I suffered no injury and lost none of my possessions!’
Aesop's Fables Page 25
