Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE BAT AND THE WEASELS
A bat had fallen to the ground where a weasel grabbed her and was ready to kill
her. The bat begged for mercy but the weasel refused, since weasels are the
natural enemies of every kind of bird. The bat insisted that she was not a bird
at all, but only a mouse, so the weasel let her go. Later on, the bat fell to
the ground again and was seized by another weasel. The bat also begged this
weasel not to kill her, but the weasel refused, since there was a war between
the mice and the weasels. The bat denied that she was a mouse, but only a bat,
so once again the weasel let her go. As a result, the bat was able to save herself
twice by changing her name.
Clearly we must not always stick to the same course all the time since people
who change with the times are often able to escape even the greatest dangers. |
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.
Perry 172: Gibbs (Oxford) 364 [English]
Perry 172: L'Estrange 40 [English]
Perry 172: Chambry 251 [Greek]
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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