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

564. HERMES AND THE DOG
Perry 308 (Babrius 48)

There was a four-cornered statue of Hermes by the side of the road, with a heap of stones piled at its base. A dog approached the statue and said to it, 'To begin with, Hermes, I salute you! And now I am going to anoint you, since I cannot let a god go by without anointing him, much less a god of the athletes.' Hermes said to the dog, 'If you can just leave the oil alone and not pee on me, I shall be grateful enough; you do not need to honour me in any other way!'

Note: The 'four-cornered statue' was a herm, a rectangular or square pillar decorated with the head of Hermes on top and with male genitalia below which was supposed to bring fertility and good luck. Herms could be found at crossroads and also in the gymnasia, where the athletes trained.


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.