Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE KITE AND HIS MOTHER
If someone is always blaspheming, what can he expect in times
of trouble? Let us consider the fable on this subject proposed
by our author.
The kite was sick and had spent many months in bed. When there was no longer
any hope of his recovery, he tearfully asked his mother to make the rounds of
all the shrines and to offer great vows for his recovery. 'I will do what you
want, my son, but I am afraid that I will not succeed. It scares and worries
me, my child: since you pillaged all the temples and polluted all the altars,
showing no reverence for the holy sacrifices, what can I pray for now on your
behalf?'
This is a fable that should be heeded by those criminals who dare to visit
the holy shrines while still bearing the stains of their sin. They need to busy
themselves with good works, making every effort to efface their evil deeds. |
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 324: Caxton 1.19 [English]
Perry 324: Gibbs (Oxford) 370 [English]
Perry 324: L'Estrange 18 [English]
Perry 324: Townsend 102 [English]
Perry 324: Steinhowel 1.19 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim
University Library
Perry 324: Babrius 78 [Greek]
Perry 324: Chambry 168 [Greek]
Perry 324: Rom. Anglicus 71 [Latin]
Perry 324: Walter of England 19 [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.
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