Part 10

TWO MULES well-laden with packs were trudging along. One carried panniers filled with money, the other sacks weighted with grain. The Mule carrying the treasure walked with head erect, as if conscious of the value of his burden, and tossed up and down the clear-toned bells fastened to his neck. His companion followed with quiet and easy step. All of a sudden Robbers rushed upon them from their hiding-places, and in the scuffle with their owners, wounded with a sword the Mule carrying the treasure, which they greedily seized while taking no notice of the grain. The Mule which had been robbed and wounded bewailed his misfortunes. The other replied, “I am indeed glad that I was thought so little of, for I have lost nothing, nor am I hurt with any wound.”

The Lamb and the Wolf

A WOLF pursued a Lamb, which fled for refuge to a certain Temple. The Wolf called out to him and said, “The Priest will slay you in sacrifice, if he should catch you.” On which the Lamb replied, “It would be better for me to be sacrificed in the Temple than to be eaten by you.”

The Partridge and the Fowler

A FOWLER caught a Partridge and was about to kill it. The Partridge earnestly begged him to spare his life, saying, “Pray, master, permit me to live and I will entice many Partridges to you in recompense for your mercy to me.” The Fowler replied, “I shall now with less scruple take your life, because you are willing to save it at the cost of betraying your friends and relations.”

The Flea and the Man

A MAN, very much annoyed with a Flea, caught him at last, and said, “Who are you who dare to feed on my limbs, and to cost me so much trouble in catching you?” The Flea replied, “O my dear sir, pray spare my life, and destroy me not, for I cannot possibly do you much harm.” The Man, laughing, replied, “Now you shall certainly die by mine own hands, for no evil, whether it be small or large, ought to be tolerated.”

The Rich Man and the Tanner

A RICH MAN lived near a Tanner, and not being able to bear the unpleasant smell of the tan-yard, he pressed his neighbor to go away. The Tanner put off his departure from time to time, saying that he would leave soon. But as he still continued to stay, as time went on, the rich man became accustomed to the smell, and feeling no manner of inconvenience, made no further complaints.

The Viper and the File

A VIPER, entering the workshop of a smith, sought from the tools the means of satisfying his hunger. He more particularly addressed himself to a File, and asked of him the favour of a meal. The File replied, “You must indeed be a simple-minded fellow if you expect to get anything from me, who am accustomed to take from everyone, and never to give anything in return.”

The covetous are poor givers.

The Lion and the Shepherd

A LION, roaming through a forest, trod upon a thorn. Soon afterward he came up to a Shepherd and fawned upon him, wagging his tail as if to say, “I am a suppliant, and seek your aid.” The Shepherd boldly examined the beast, discovered the thorn, and placing his paw upon his lap, pulled it out; thus relieved of his pain, the Lion returned into the forest. Some time after, the Shepherd, being imprisoned on a false accusation, was condemned “to be cast to the Lions” as the punishment for his imputed crime. But when the Lion was released from his cage, he recognized the Shepherd as the man who healed him, and instead of attacking him, approached and placed his foot upon his lap. The King, as soon as he heard the tale, ordered the Lion to be set free again in the forest, and the Shepherd to be pardoned and restored to his friends.

The Camel and Jupiter

THE CAMEL, when he saw the Bull adorned with horns, envied him and wished that he himself could obtain the same honours. He went to Jupiter, and besought him to give him horns. Jupiter, vexed at his request because he was not satisfied with his size and strength of body, and desired yet more, not only refused to give him horns, but even deprived him of a portion of his ears.

The Panther and the Shepherds

A PANTHER, by some mischance, fell into a pit. The Shepherds discovered him, and some threw sticks at him and pelted him with stones, while others, moved with compassion towards one about to die even though no one should hurt him, threw in some food to prolong his life. At night they returned home, not dreaming of any danger, but supposing that on the morrow they would find him dead. The Panther, however, when he had recruited his feeble strength, freed himself with a sudden bound from the pit, and hastened to his den with rapid steps. After a few days he came forth and slaughtered the cattle, and, killing the Shepherds who had attacked him, raged with angry fury. Then they who had spared his life, fearing for their safety, surrendered to him their flocks and begged only for their lives. To them the Panther made this reply: “I remember alike those who sought my life with stones, and those who gave me food aside, therefore, your fears. I return as an enemy only to those who injured me.”

The Eagle and the Kite

AN EAGLE, overwhelmed with sorrow, sat upon the branches of a tree in company with a Kite. “Why,” said the Kite, “do I see you with such a rueful look?” “I seek,” she replied, “a mate suitable for me, and am not able to find one.” “Take me,” returned the Kite, “I am much stronger than you are.” “Why, are you able to secure the means of living by your plunder?” “Well, I have often caught and carried away an ostrich in my talons.” The Eagle, persuaded by these words, accepted him as her mate. Shortly after the nuptials, the Eagle said, “Fly off and bring me back the ostrich you promised me.” The Kite, soaring aloft into the air, brought back the shabbiest possible mouse, stinking from the length of time it had lain about the fields. “Is this,” said the Eagle, “the faithful fulfillment of your promise to me?” The Kite replied, “That I might attain your royal hand, there is nothing that I would not have promised, however much I knew that I must fail in the performance.”

The Eagle and His Captor

AN EAGLE was once captured by a man, who immediately clipped his wings and put him into his poultry-yard with the other birds, at which treatment the Eagle was weighed down with grief. Later, another neighbor purchased him and allowed his feathers to grow again. The Eagle took flight, and pouncing upon a hare, brought it at once as an offering to his benefactor. A Fox, seeing this, exclaimed, “Do not cultivate the favour of this man, but of your former owner, lest he should again hunt for you and deprive you a second time of your wings.”

The King’s Son and the Painted Lion

A KING, whose only son was fond of martial exercises, had a dream in which he was warned that his son would be killed by a lion. Afraid the dream should prove true, he built for his son a pleasant palace and adorned its walls for his amusement with all kinds of life-sized animals, among which was the picture of a lion. When the young Prince saw this, his grief at being thus confined burst out afresh, and, standing near the lion, he said: “O you most detestable of animals! through a lying dream of my father’s, which he saw in his sleep, I am shut up on your account in this palace as if I had been a girl: what shall I now do to you?” With these words he stretched out his hands toward a thorn-tree, meaning to cut a stick from its branches so that he might beat the lion. But one of the tree’s prickles pierced his finger and caused great pain and inflammation, so that the young Prince fell down in a fainting fit. A violent fever suddenly set in, from which he died not many days later.

We had better bear our troubles bravely than try to escape them.

The Cat and Venus

A CAT fell in love with a handsome young man, and entreated Venus to change her into the form of a woman. Venus consented to her request and transformed her into a beautiful damsel, so that the youth saw her and loved her, and took her home as his bride. While the two were reclining in their chamber, Venus wishing to discover if the Cat in her change of shape had also altered her habits of life, let down a mouse in the middle of the room. The Cat, quite forgetting her present condition, started up from the couch and pursued the mouse, wishing to eat it. Venus was much disappointed and again caused her to return to her former shape.

Nature exceeds nurture.

The Eagle and the Beetle

THE EAGLE and the Beetle were at enmity together, and they destroyed one another’s nests. The Eagle gave the first provocation in seizing upon and in eating the young ones of the Beetle. The Beetle got by stealth at the Eagle’s eggs, and rolled them out of the nest, and followed the Eagle even into the presence of Jupiter. On the Eagle making his complaint, Jupiter ordered him to make his nest in his lap; and while Jupiter had the eggs in his lap, the Beetle came flying about him, and Jupiter rising up unawares, to drive him away from his head, threw down the eggs, and broke them.

The weak often revenge themselves on those who use them ill, even though they be more powerful.

The She-Goats and Their Beards

THE SHE-GOATS having obtained a beard by request to Jupiter, the He-Goats were sorely displeased and made complaint that the females equaled them in dignity. “Allow them,” said Jupiter, “to enjoy an empty honour and to assume the badge of your nobler sex, so long as they are not your equals in strength or courage.”

It matters little if those who are inferior to us in merit should be like us in outside appearances.

The Bald Man and the Fly

A FLY bit the bare head of a Bald Man who, endeavoring to destroy it, gave himself a heavy slap. Escaping, the Fly said mockingly, “You who have wished to revenge, even with death, the Prick of a tiny insect, see what you have done to yourself to add insult to injury?” The Bald Man replied, “I can easily make peace with myself, because I know there was no intention to hurt. But you, an ill-favoured and contemptible insect who delights in sucking human blood, I wish that I could have killed you even if I had incurred a heavier penalty.”

The Shipwrecked Man and the Sea

A SHIPWRECKED MAN, having been cast upon a certain shore, slept after his buffetings with the deep. After a while he awoke, and looking upon the Sea, loaded it with reproaches. He argued that it enticed men with the calmness of its looks, but when it had induced them to plow its waters, it grew rough and destroyed them. The Sea, assuming the form of a woman, replied to him: “Blame not me, my good sir, but the winds, for I am by my own nature as calm and firm even as this earth; but the winds suddenly falling on me create these waves, and lash me into fury.”

The Buffoon and the Countryman

A RICH NOBLEMAN once opened the theaters without charge to the people, and gave a public notice that he would handsomely reward any person who invented a new amusement for the occasion. Various public performers contended for the prize. Among them came a Buffoon well known among the populace for his jokes, and said that he had a kind of entertainment which had never been brought out on any stage before. This report being spread about made a great stir, and the theater was crowded in every part. The Buffoon appeared alone upon the platform, without any apparatus or confederates, and the very sense of expectation caused an intense silence. He suddenly bent his head towards his bosom and imitated the squeaking of a little pig so admirably with his voice that the audience declared he had a porker under his cloak, and demanded that it should be shaken out. When that was done and nothing was found, they cheered the actor, and loaded him with the loudest applause. A Countryman in the crowd, observing all that has passed, said, “So help me, Hercules, he shall not beat me at that trick!” and at once proclaimed that he would do the same thing on the next day, though in a much more natural way. On the morrow a still larger crowd assembled in the theater, but now partiality for their favourite actor very generally prevailed, and the audience came rather to ridicule the Countryman than to see the spectacle. Both of the performers appeared on the stage. The Buffoon grunted and squeaked away first, and obtained, as on the preceding day, the applause and cheers of the spectators. Next the Countryman commenced, and pretending that he concealed a little pig beneath his clothes (which in truth he did, but not suspected by the audience ) contrived to take hold of and to pull his ear causing the pig to squeak. The Crowd, however, cried out with one consent that the Buffoon had given a far more exact imitation, and clamored for the Countryman to be kicked out of the theater. On this the rustic produced the little pig from his cloak and showed by the most positive proof the greatness of their mistake. “Look here,” he said, “this shows what sort of judges you are.”

The Crow and the Serpent

A CROW in great want of food saw a Serpent asleep in a sunny nook, and flying down, greedily seized him. The Serpent, turning about, bit the Crow with a mortal wound. In the agony of death, the bird exclaimed: “O unhappy me! who have found in that which I deemed a happy windfall the source of my destruction.”

The Hunter and the Horseman

A CERTAIN HUNTER, having snared a hare, placed it upon his shoulders and set out homewards. On his way he met a man on horseback who begged the hare of him, under the pretense of purchasing it. However, when the Horseman got the hare, he rode off as fast as he could. The Hunter ran after him, as if he was sure of overtaking him, but the Horseman increased more and more the distance between them. The Hunter, sorely against his will, called out to him and said, “Get along with you! for I will now make you a present of the hare.”

The Olive-Tree and the Fig-Tree

THE OLIVE-TREE ridiculed the Fig-Tree because, while she was green all the year round, the Fig-Tree changed its leaves with the seasons. A shower of snow fell upon them, and, finding the Olive full of foliage, it settled upon its branches and broke them down with its weight, at once despoiling it of its beauty and killing the tree. But finding the Fig-Tree denuded of leaves, the snow fell through to the ground, and did not injure it at all.

The Frogs’ Complaint Against the Sun

ONCE UPON A TIME, when the Sun announced his intention to take a wife, the Frogs lifted up their voices in clamor to the sky. Jupiter, disturbed by the noise of their croaking, inquired the cause of their complaint. One of them said, “The Sun, now while he is single, parches up the marsh, and compels us to die miserably in our arid homes. What will be our future condition if he should beget other suns?”

The Brazier and His Dog

A BRAZIER had a little Dog, which was a great favourite with his master, and his constant companion. While he hammered away at his metals the Dog slept; but when, on the other hand, he went to dinner and began to eat, the Dog woke up and wagged his tail, as if he would ask for a share of his meal. His master one day, pretending to be angry and shaking his stick at him, said, “You wretched little sluggard! what shall I do to you? While I am hammering on the anvil, you sleep on the mat; and when I begin to eat after my toil, you wake up and wag your tail for food. Do you not know that labor is the source of every blessing, and that none but those who work are entitled to eat?”

FOOTNOTES

1 (return) [ A History of the Literature of Ancient Greece, by K. O. Mueller. Vol. i, p. 191. _London_, Parker, 1858.]

2 (return) [ Select Fables of Æsop, and other Fabulists. In three books, translated by Robert Dodsley, accompanied with a selection of notes, and an Essay on Fable. _Birmingham_, 1864. P. 60.]

3 (return) [ Some of these fables had, no doubt, in the first instance, a primary and private interpretation. On the first occasion of their being composed they were intended to refer to some passing event, or to some individual acts of wrong-doing. Thus, the fables of the “Eagle and the Fox” and of the “Fox and Monkey” are supposed to have been written by Archilochus, to avenge the injuries done him by Lycambes. So also the fables of the “Swollen Fox” and of the “Frogs asking a King” were spoken by Æsop for the immediate purpose of reconciling the inhabitants of Samos and Athens to their respective rulers, Periander and Pisistratus; while the fable of the “Horse and Stag” was composed to caution the inhabitants of Himera against granting a bodyguard to Phalaris. In a similar manner, the fable from Phædrus, the “Marriage of the Sun,” is supposed to have reference to the contemplated union of Livia, the daughter of Drusus, with Sejanus the favourite, and minister of Trajan. These fables, however, though thus originating in special events, and designed at first to meet special circumstances, are so admirably constructed as to be fraught with lessons of general utility, and of universal application.]

4 (return) [ Hesiod. Opera et Dies, verse 202.]

5 (return) [ Æschylus. Fragment of the Myrmidons. Æschylus speaks of this fable as existing before his day. ὡς δ’ ἐστὶ μύθων τῶν Διβυστικῶν λογος. See Scholiast on the Aves of Aristophanes, line 808.]

6 (return) [ Fragment. 38, ed. Gaisford. See also Mueller’s History of the Literature of Ancient Greece, vol. i. pp. 190–193.]

7 (return) [ M. Bayle has well put this in his account of Æsop. “Il n’y a point d’apparence que les fables qui portent aujourd’hui son nom soient les mêmes qu’il avait faites; elles viennent bien de lui pour la plupart, quant à la matière et la pensée; mais les paroles sont d’un autre.” And again, “C’est donc à Hésiode, que j’aimerais mieux attribuer la gloire de l’invention; mais sans doute il laissa la chose très imparfaite. Esope la perfectionne si heureusement, qu’on l’a regarde comme le vrai père de cette sorte de production.”—_Bayle. Dictionnaire Historique_.]

8 (return) [ Plato in Phædone.]

9 (return) [ Apologos en! misit tibi Ab usque Rheni limite Ausonius nomen Italum Præceptor Augusti tui Æsopiam trimetriam; Quam vertit exili stylo Pedestre concinnans opus Fandi Titianus artifex.

_Ausonii Epistola_, xvi. 75–80.]

10 (return) [ Both these publications are in the British Museum, and are placed in the library in cases under glass, for the inspection of the curious.]

11 (return) [ Fables may possibly have been not entirely unknown to the mediæval scholars. There are two celebrated works which might by some be classed amongst works of this description. The one is the “Speculum Sapientiæ,” attributed to St. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, but of a considerably later origin, and existing only in Latin. It is divided into four books, and consists of long conversations conducted by fictitious characters under the figures the beasts of the field and forest, and aimed at the rebuke of particular classes of men, the boastful, the proud, the luxurious, the wrathful, &c. None of the stories are precisely those of Æsop, and none have the concinnity, terseness, and unmistakable deduction of the lesson intended to be taught by the fable, so conspicuous in the great Greek fabulist. The exact title of the book is this: “Speculum Sapientiæ, B. Cyrilli Episcopi: alias quadripartitus apologeticus vocatus, in cujus quidem proverbiis omnis et totius sapientiæ speculum claret et feliciter incipit.” The other is a larger work in two volumes, published in the fourteenth century by Cæsar Heisterbach, a Cistercian monk, under the title of “Dialogus Miraculorum,” reprinted in 1851. This work consists of conversations in which many stories are interwoven on all kinds of subjects. It has no correspondence with the pure Æsopian fable.]

12 (return) [ Post-mediæval Preachers, by S. Baring-Gould. Rivingtons, 1865.]

13 (return) [ For an account of this work see the Life of Poggio Bracciolini, by the Rev. William Shepherd. Liverpool, 1801.]

14 (return) [ Professor Theodore Bergh. See Classical Museum, No. viii. July, 1849.]

15 (return) [ Vavassor’s treatise, entitled “De Ludicrâ Dictione” was written A.D. 1658, at the request of the celebrated M. Balzac (though published after his death), for the purpose of showing that the burlesque style of writing adopted by Scarron and D’Assouci, and at that time so popular in France, had no sanction from the ancient classic writers. _Francisci Vavassoris opera omnia_. Amsterdam. 1709.]

16 (return) [ The claims of Babrias also found a warm advocate in the learned Frenchman, M. Bayle, who, in his admirable Dictionary, (_Dictionnaire Historique et Critique de Pierre Bayle_. Paris, 1820,) gives additional arguments in confirmation of the opinions of his learned predecessors, Nevelet and Vavassor.]

17 (return) [ Scazonic, or halting, iambics; a choliambic (a lame, halting iambic) differs from the iambic Senarius in always having a spondee or trochee for its last foot; the fifth foot, to avoid shortness of metre, being generally an iambic. See Fables of Babrias, translated by Rev. James Davies. Lockwood, 1860. Preface, p. 27.]

18 (return) [ See Dr. Bentley’s Dissertations upon the Epistles of Phalaris.]

19 (return) [ Dr. Bentley’s Dissertations on the Epistles of Phalaris, and Fables of Æsop examined. By the Honourable Charles Boyle.]

20 (return) [ M. Bayle thus characterises this Life of Æsop by Planudes, “Tous les habiles gens conviennent que c’est un roman, et que les absurdités grossières qui l’on y trouve le rendent indigne de toute créance.” _Dictionnaire Historique_. Art. _Esope_.]

INDEX

Æthiop The Ant and the Dove The Ants and the Grasshopper The Apes and the Two Travelers The Ass and the Charger The Ass and His Driver The Ass and the Frogs The Ass and the Grasshopper The Ass and his Masters The Ass and his Purchaser The Ass and his Shadow The Ass and the Horse The Ass and the Lapdog The Ass and the Mule The Ass and the Old Shepherd The Ass and the Wolf The Ass Carrying the Image The Ass, the Cock, and the Lion The Ass in the Lion’s Skin The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion The Astronomer

The Bald Man and the Fly The Bald Knight The Bat And The Weasels The Bear and the Fox The Bear and the Two Travelers The Bee and Jupiter The Belly and the Members The Birdcatcher, the Partridge, and the Cock The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat The Bitch and her Whelps The Blind Man and the Whelp The Boasting Traveler The Bowman and Lion The Boy and the Filberts The Boy and the Nettles The Boy Bathing The Boy hunting Locusts The Boys and the Frogs The Brazier and His Dog The Brother and the Sister The Buffoon and the Countryman The Bull and the Calf The Bull and the Goat The Bull, the Lioness, and the Wild-Boar Hunter

The Camel The Camel and the Arab The Camel and Jupiter The Cat and the Birds The Cat and the Cock The Cat and the Mice The Cat and Venus The Cobbler Turned Doctor The Cock and the Jewel The Charcoal-Burner and the Fuller The Charger and the Miller The Crab and the Fox The Crab and its Mother The Crow and Mercury The Crow and the Pitcher The Crow and the Raven The Crow and the Serpent The Crow and the Sheep

The Dancing Monkeys The Doe and the Lion The Dog and the Cook The Dog and the Hare The Dog and the Oyster The Dog and the Shadow The Dog, the Cock, and the Fox The Dog in the Manger The Dogs and the Fox The Dogs and the Hides The Dog’s House The Dolphins, the Whales, and the Sprat The Dove and the Crow

The Eagle and the Arrow The Eagle and the Beetle The Eagle and His Captor The Eagle and the Fox The Eagle and the Jackdaw The Eagle and the Kite The Eagle, the Cat, and the Wild Sow