Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE HARE AND THE FOX
The hare said to the fox, 'They say you are very artful, fox. What art is it
that you practice exactly?' The fox replied, 'If you don't know my arts, I will
have you to dinner so that you can get a taste of my art.' The hare followed
the fox to her den but the fox had nothing there to eat except for the hare
himself. The hare exclaimed, 'I have learned to my cost that your name does
not derive from any kind of artistry but from fraud!'
The fable shows that overly curious people often pay a very high price for
recklessly indulging their curiosity. |
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 333: Gibbs (Oxford) 596 [English]
Perry 333: Chambry 192 [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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