The Complete Fables Read online

  NOTE: This fable is another version of 135, ‘The Kite and the Snake’.

  168

  The Sick Raven

  A sick raven said to its mother:

  ‘Pray to the gods, Mother, and don’t weep.’

  The mother said:

  ‘My child, which of the gods would take pity on you? Is there one among them from whom you have not stolen food?’

  This fable shows that those who make many enemies in life will not find friends in their hour of need.

  NOTE: The theft of food refers to ravens stealing pieces of the offerings left on altars and in temples, or even taking bits during actual sacrificial ceremonies.

  169

  The Crested Lark

  A crested lark, caught in a snare, lamented:

  ‘Alas! What an unlucky bird I am! I have not stolen anything from anyone, neither money nor gold nor anything precious. It is only a little grain of wheat that has caused my death.’

  This fable applies to those people who, for the sake of a paltry profit, expose themselves to a great danger.

  NOTE: We have evidence from Aristophanes in The Birds (471) that there was another Aesop fable about the crested lark, which is lost. In that strange mythological fable, the crested lark was said to have been created before anything else, and when her father died she could find no burial place because the Earth did not yet exist, so ‘on the fifth day’ she buried him in her head – i.e. her crest – as there was nowhere else available. Unfortunately, this bizarre tale is known only from the cursory remarks of Aristophanes and has not otherwise been preserved, so that we cannot make proper sense of it.

  170

  The Chough and the Raven

  The chough became envious of the raven because he gave presages and omens to men, being a bird of augury who foretold things to come. He resolved to attain the same status. So, seeing some travellers pass by, he went and perched on a nearby tree and let out great cries. Hearing this, the travellers turned round, startled. But one of them spoke up:

  ‘Come on, friends. Let’s continue our journey. It’s only a chough. His cries are not an omen.’

  It is also like this with men: those who compete with rivals stronger than themselves will not only be unequal to them, but they will also become a laughing stock.

  171

  The Chough and the Dog

  A chough offered up a sacrifice to Athena and invited a dog to the sacrificial banquet. The dog said to him:

  ‘Why are you so lavish with these useless sacrifices? The goddess actually detests you and is on the point of discrediting your omens and portents.’

  To which the chough replied:

  ‘But it is precisely because of this that I offer sacrifice to her: I know she is badly disposed to me in this way and I want to be reconciled with her.’

  Likewise, many people don’t hesitate to help their enemies because they are afraid of them.

  172

  The Snails

  A ploughman’s child was baking some snails. Hearing them sputtering, he said:

  ‘Stupid creatures! Your houses are on fire yet you sing!’

  This fable shows that everything one does inopportunely is reprehensible.

  173

  The Swan Mistaken for a Goose

  A wealthy man kept a goose and a swan together, not for the same purpose, but the one for his voice and the other destined for the table. When the time came for the goose to meet his fate it was night and it became impossible to distinguish between the two birds. But the swan, who had been caught by mistake instead of the goose, began to sing as a prelude to his own demise. His voice was recognized and the song saved his life.

  This fable demonstrates how music can cause death to be delayed.

  NOTE: The premise of this fable is the odd tradition of the swan song’ -the ancient belief that a swan about to die ended its life with a baleful song. At some point in the unknown past, some such strange incident must have happened and the story was repeated until it became a legend. See also the next fable, 174. Which is stranger – that this story came to be believed by everyone in ancient Greece or that we still use the expression ‘swan song’ today?

  174

  The Swan and His Owner

  It is said that swans sing when they are about to die. Now, a man came across a swan for sale and, knowing by hearsay that this was a very melodious creature, he bought it. One day, when he was giving a dinner, he went and fetched the swan and urged it to sing during the feast. The swan remained silent. But soon after, sensing that he was going to die, he sang a dirge to himself. His master, upon hearing this, said to him:

  ‘If you will only sing when you are about to die, I was a fool to request you to sing before; I should have prepared to sacrifice you and then you would have sung!’

  Thus it happens sometimes that what we don’t wish to do out of good grace we do under compulsion.

  175

  The Two Dogs

  A man owned two dogs. The first he trained to hunt and the second he ordered to guard the house. Now when the one went hunting and caught some game, the master threw a piece of it to the other dog as well. The hunting dog was aggrieved at this and reproached his friend, saying that it was he who had gone out and had a hard time of it on every occasion, while his comrade did nothing yet enjoyed the fruits of his labour. The guard dog replied:

  ‘Ah! You should not blame me but our master, for it was he who taught me not to work and to live instead from the work of others.’

  Thus, lazy children are not to blame when their parents have brought them up to be idle.

  176

  The Starving Dogs

  Some starving dogs saw some hides soaking in a river. Unable to reach them, they agreed that between them they would drink up all the water to reach the skins. But it happened that before they reached the skins the dogs burst from the force of the water they had drunk.

  Thus some men, in the hope of a profit, submit to dangerous work but lose it before having obtained the object of their desires.

  177

  The Man Bitten by a Dog

  A man who had been bitten by a dog roamed far and wide, looking for someone to heal his wound. Someone told him all he had to do was wipe the blood from his wound with some bread and throw the bread to the dog which had bitten him. To this the injured man replied:

  ‘But if I did that, every dog in the city would bite me.’

  Similarly, if you indulge someone’s wickedness, you provoke him to do even more harm.

  178

  The Dog Entertained as a Guest (or The Man and His Dog)

  A man prepared a dinner to entertain a family friend. His dog invited another dog.

  ‘Friend,’ the dog said, ‘come to the house to dine with me.’

  His guest arrived full of joy and stopped to have a look at all the food laid out, muttering to himself:

  ‘Oh! What a godsend for me! I am going to guzzle and give myself such a bellyful that I won’t be hungry all day tomorrow!’

  All the while he said this his tail wagged as he showed his trust in his friend.

  The cook, seeing his tail go to and fro, seized him by the paws and hurled him out of the window. The dog went home howling. Along the way he met some other dogs. One of them asked him:

  ‘How was your dinner?’

  The dog replied:

  ‘I had so many drinks I became completely drunk. I don’t even know how I got out of the house.’

  This fable shows that you shouldn’t trust those who are generous with other people’s fare.

  179

  The Hunting Hound and the Dogs

  A dog reared in a house was trained to fight wild beasts. One day, when he saw several of them lined up in battle array, he broke loose from the dog collar round his throat and ran off through the streets. Other dogs, seeing him as bulky as a bull, said to him:

  ‘Why are you running away?’

  ‘I know well,’ he replied, ‘that I live amid plenty an
d have more than enough to eat, but I am always close to death, fighting as I do with bears and lions.’

  Then the other dogs said to each other:

  ‘Although poor, we have a good life for we don’t have to fight with lions or bears.’

  It is not necessary to court danger for sumptuous living or vainglory but, on the contrary, to shun it.

  NOTE: Dogs were often trained to fight wild beasts to provide entertainment for people living in towns.

  180

  The Dog, the Cock and the Fox

  A dog and a cockerel, having made friends, were strolling along a road together. As evening fell, the cockerel flew up into a tree to sleep there, and the dog went to sleep at the foot of the tree, which was hollow.

  According to his habit, the cockerel crowed just before daybreak. This alerted a fox nearby, who ran up to the tree and called up to the cockerel:

  ‘Do come down, sir, for I dearly wish to embrace a creature who could have such a beautiful voice as you!’

  The cockerel said:

  ‘I shall come down as soon as you awaken the doorkeeper who is asleep at the foot of the tree.’

  Then, as the fox went to look for the ‘doorkeeper’, the dog pounced briskly on him and tore him to pieces.

  This fable teaches us that sensible men, when their enemies attack them, divert them to someone better able to defend them than they are themselves.

  181

  The Dog and the Shellfish

  There was a dog who used to swallow eggs. One day he saw a shellfish. He opened his mouth and snapped his jaws shut again violently, swallowing it, because he thought it was an egg. But, feeling a heaviness in his bowels, he became ill and said:

  ‘I only got what I deserve – I, who assume that everything round is an egg.’

  This fable teaches us that those who undertake things recklessly get themselves into strange predicaments.

  182

  The Dog and the Hare

  A hunting hound seized a hare and attempted both to bite it and lick its chops at the same time. The hare tired of this and said:

  ‘Hey you, either bite me or kiss me, so that I can know whether you are enemy or friend.’

  This fable applies to an ambiguous man.

  183

  The Dog and the Butcher

  A dog bounded into a butcher’s shop and seized a heart while the butcher was busy, and then made his getaway. Turning round, the butcher saw him flee with it and shouted:

  ‘Hey, you! Wherever you may run to, I’ll have my eye on you. For you haven’t made me lose heart but caused me to take heart.’

  This fable shows that accidents are often an education for men.

  NOTE: The Greek double entendre can fortunately be preserved in English, which has the same idiomatic usages for the word ‘heart’.

  184

  The Sleeping Dog and the Wolf

  A dog lay asleep in front of a farm building. A wolf pounced on him and was going to make a meal of him, when the dog begged him not to eat him straight away:

  ‘At the moment,’ he said, ‘I am thin and lean. But wait a little while; my masters will be celebrating a wedding feast. I will get some good mouthfuls and will fatten up and will be a much better meal for you.’

  The wolf believed him and went on his way. A little while later he came back and found the dog asleep on top of the house. He stopped below and shouted up to him, reminding him of their agreement. Then the dog said:

  ‘Oh, wolf! If you ever see me asleep in front of the farm again, don’t wait for the wedding banquet!’

  This fable shows that wise people, when they get out of a fix, take care of themselves all the rest of their life.

  185

  The Dog Who Carried the Meat

  A dog was crossing a river holding a piece of meat in his mouth. Catching sight of his reflection in the water, he believed that it was another dog who was holding a bigger piece of meat. So, dropping his own piece, he leaped into the water to take the piece from the other dog. But the result was that he ended up with neither piece – one didn’t even exist and the other was swept away by the current.

  This fable applies to the covetous.

  186

  The Dog with a Bell

  A dog furtively bit people, so his master hung a bell on him to warn everyone he was coming. Then the dog, shaking his bell, swaggered about in the agora. An old bitch said to him:

  ‘What have you got to strut about? You don’t wear the bell as a result of any virtue, but to advertise your secret ill nature.’

  The secret spitefulness of boastful people is exposed by their vainglorious behaviour.

  187

  The Dog Who Chased a Lion, and the Fox

  A hunting hound, having spotted a lion, set off in pursuit of him. But the lion turned on him and began to roar. Then the dog took fright and turned back.

  A fox saw this and said to the dog:

  ‘My poor fellow, you chased a lion but you couldn’t even endure his roar!’

  One could relate this fable with regard to presumptuous people who mix with those more powerful than themselves in order to denigrate them, but then turn and run away when faced by them.

  188

  The Gnat and the Lion

  A gnat once approached a lion and said:

  ‘I’m not afraid of you because you’re not any stronger than me! And if you think otherwise, show me what you can do! You can scratch with your claws and bite with your teeth. But that’s no more than a woman can do to her husband. As for myself, I am more powerful than you, and if you don’t think so, let’s fight!’

  Sounding his horn, the gnat swooped down on the lion, flew into his nostrils, biting him there and on the hairless parts of his face. The lion tore himself with his own claws until, unable to get hold of the gnat, he was forced to give up. The gnat, having vanquished the lion, buzzed around sounding his horn, chanted a victory song and flew off.

  But, shortly afterwards, the gnat became entangled in a spider’s web and was eaten. As he was being devoured, he wailed:

  ‘I, who defeated the strongest of all creatures, am destroyed by a mere spider!’

  189

  The Gnat and the Bull

  A gnat had settled on a bull’s horn. After he had been there for a while and was about to fly off, he asked the bull whether he would, after all, like him to go away. The bull replied:

  ‘When you came, I didn’t feel you. And when you go I won’t feel you either.’

  One could apply this fable to the feeble person whose presence or absence is neither helpful nor harmful.

  NOTE: This same fable, but with an elephant instead of a bull, occurs in ancient Sumer and is at least 2,000 years earlier than classical Greece. The compiler of the Aesop collection may have changed the elephant to a bull because otherwise the point of 210, which features an elephant terrified of a gnat instead of indifferent to it, would have been wholly lost.

  190

  The Hares and the Foxes

  One day, the hares, being at war with the eagles, called the foxes to come to their aid.

  ‘We would come to help you,’ called the foxes, ‘if we didn’t know who you are and with whom you are fighting!’

  This fable shows that those who come into conflict with persons who are more powerful despise safety.

  191

  The Hares and the Frogs

  One day, the hares had a gathering to moan among themselves about having such a precarious and fearful existence. Were they not, in effect, the prey of men, of dogs, of eagles and of other animals as well? Would it not be better to perish once and for all than to live in terror?

  This resolution was taken, and they all dashed at once towards the pond in order to throw themselves in and drown there. But the frogs, who were squatting around the pond, had no sooner heard the noise of the hares running towards them than they leaped into the water. At this, one of the hares who was in the lead, said:

  ‘Stop, comrades! Do not do
yourselves harm! For come and see – there are some animals here who are even more fearful than we are!’

  This fable shows that the unfortunate console themselves by seeing people who are worse off than themselves.

  192

  The Hare and the Fox

  The hare, wishing to ingratiate himself with the fox to avoid trouble, said:

  ‘I know you are called wily. But I have heard it is really because you know how to while away the hours better than anybody else. Is that so?’

  ‘If you have any doubts,’ replied the fox, ‘come to my place and I will entertain you to dinner and show you how I pass an evening.’

  The hare followed him home. Once inside, the fox had nothing for dinner but the hare. As it realized its fate, the hare bewailed:

  ‘Oh, to learn by such misfortune! For I see that your name truly comes from your wiles.’

  Great misfortunes often happen to the curious who abandon themselves to a clumsy indiscretion.

  NOTE: The Greek original is based upon a non-translatable pun using the word kerdos, which means both ‘profit’ and ‘wily’. We have substituted an English pun which, although the meaning is not exact, gives some impression of the fable. In the original the hare ingratiatingly says he thinks the fox is really called wily only because he knows how to make a profit, but discovers how wrong he is!