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Perry's Index to the Aesopica

Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:

THE FISHERMAN AND THE FISH

A fisherman was pulling in the net which he had just cast and, as luck would have it, the net was filled with all kinds of sea creatures. The little fish escaped to the bottom of the net and slipped out through its many holes, but the big fish was caught and lay stretched out flat aboard the boat.
To be small is a way to stay safe and avoid problems, whereas you rarely see a man with a big reputation who is able to keep out of danger.

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 282: Gibbs (Oxford) 240 [English]
Perry 282: Townsend 92 [English]
Perry 282: Babrius 4 [Greek]
Perry 282: Chambry 25 [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.