Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE EAGLE AND THE FOX
The eagle befriended the fox but he later devoured the fox's pups. Since she
had no power over the eagle, the fox prayed to the gods for justice. Then one
day when a sacrifice was burning upon an altar, the eagle flew down and grabbed
the sizzling meat to carry it off to his chicks. The meat was so hot that as
soon as the chicks ate it, they died.
This fable shows that even if the victims of powerful and wicked people
cannot get revenge directly, the gods will nevertheless inflict a punishment
on them in response to their victims' prayers. |
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.
The endings of the stories varies. Sometimes the fox retrieves her
pups, as in Phaedrus and stories
derived from Phaedrus (including Caxton,
In other versions, the fox loses her pups but gets her revenge by
destroying the eagle's chicks, as in the Greek tradition represented
by Chambry and Syntipas.
The ending in L'Estrange is especially
gruesome: "The Birds were not as yet fledged enough to shift
for themselves, but upon sprawling and struggling to get clear of
the Flame, down they tumbled, half-roasted, into the very Mouth of
the Fox." |
Perry 1: Caxton 1.13 [English]
Perry 1: Gibbs (Oxford) 155 [English]
Perry 1: Gibbs (Oxford) 154 [English]
Perry 1: L'Estrange 72 [English]
Perry 1: Townsend 253 [English]
Perry 1: Steinhowel 1.13 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim
University Library
Perry 1: Chambry 3 [Greek]
Perry 1: Syntipas [Greek]
Perry 1: Ademar 14 [Latin]
Perry 1: Phaedrus 1.28 [Latin]
Perry 1: Rom. Anglicus 12 [Latin]
Perry 1: Rom. Nil. (metrica) 10 [Latin]
Perry 1: Rom. Nil. (rhythmica) 1.12
[Latin]
Perry 1: Walter of England 13 [Latin]
You can find a compilation of Perry's index to the Aesopica in the gigantic appendix to his
edition of Babrius and Phaedrus for the Loeb Classical Library
(Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1965). This book is an absolute must for anyone interested
in the Aesopic fable tradition. Invaluable.
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