Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE PIGEON AND THE PAINTING
A pigeon had grown very thirsty, so she flew from place to place looking for
some water to drink. She saw a water jar painted on a wall and thought that
it was actually full of water, so she flew right into the wall in order to take
a drink. As the pigeon collided with the wall, she brought her life abruptly
to an end. As she drew her last breath, the pigeon said to herself, 'What a
wretched and unlucky creature I am! I didn't even suspect that looking for something
to drink could bring about my own demise.'
The fable shows that caution is far superior to reckless haste and hurry. |
 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 201: Gibbs (Oxford) 431 [English]
Perry 201: L'Estrange 197 [English]
Perry 201: Townsend 35 [English]
Perry 201: Chambry 301 [Greek]
Perry 201: Syntipas 8 [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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