Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE SHEPHERD AND THE SEA
There was a shepherd tending his flocks in a place beside the sea. When he saw
that the sea was calm and mild, he decided that he wanted to make a voyage.
He sold his flocks and bought some dates which he loaded onto a ship. He then
set sail, but a fierce storm blew up and capsized the ship. The shepherd lost
everything and barely managed to get to shore. Later on, when the sea had grown
calm again, the shepherd saw a man on the beach praising the sea for her tranquillity.
The shepherd remarked, 'That's just because she's after your dates!' |
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 207: Gibbs (Oxford) 275 [English]
Perry 207: L'Estrange 98 [English]
Perry 207: Townsend 106 [English]
Perry 207: Chambry 311 [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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