<< Home Page | Oxford (Gibbs) Index

Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

163. THE DOG IN THE MANGER
Perry 702 (Steinhowel, Fab. Ext. 11)

People frequently begrudge something to others that they themselves cannot enjoy. Even though it does them no good, they won't let others have it. Listen to a fable about such an event.
There was a wicked dog lying in a manger full of hay. When the cattle came and wanted to eat, the dog barred their way, baring his teeth. The cattle said to the dog, 'You are being very unfair by begrudging us something we need which is useless to you. Dogs don't eat hay, but you will not let us near it.' The same thing happened when a dog was holding a bone in his mouth: the dog couldn't chew on the bone that way, but no other dog was able to chew on it either.
The fable shows that it is not easy to avoid envy: with some effort you can try to escape its effects, but it never goes away entirely.

Note: Although this story is not attested in the ancient Greek and Roman fables, the proverbial 'dog in the manger' makes his appearance in Lucian, Against the Unlearned 30: 'There was a dog lying in a manger who did not eat the grain but who nevertheless prevented the horse from being able to eat anything either.'


Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.