Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE MONKEY AND HER TWO CHILDREN
The monkey gives birth to two babies, but after giving birth she does not mother
them equally. She comforts one of them with cruel embraces, choking him with
her unfortunate affection; meanwhile, she casts the other child away as superfluous
and unimportant. This is the one who goes off into the wilds and is able to
survive.
The same thing can be said about certain people: in such cases, it is better
to be their enemy than their friend. |
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 218: Caxton Avyan 25 [English]
Perry 218: Gibbs (Oxford) 497 [English]
Perry 218: Townsend 153 [English]
Perry 218: Steinhowel Avyan 25 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim
University Library
Perry 218: Babrius 35 [Greek]
Perry 218: Chambry 307 [Greek]
Perry 218: Avianus 35 [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.
|