Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE SNAKE, THE EAGLE AND THE FARMER
A story about an eagle and a snake, exhorting us to be the
first to grant a favour.
A snake and an eagle were grappling with one another as they fought. The snake
had tightened his hold on the eagle when a farmer saw them and freed the eagle
from the grip of the snake. The snake was angry about what had happened, so he
went and poisoned the man's drinking water. But just as the unsuspecting farmer
was about to take a drink, the eagle flew down and snatched the cup out of his
hands.
The man who treats others well is rewarded by gratitude. |
 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 395: Gibbs (Oxford) 72 [English]
Perry 395: Townsend 185 [English]
Perry 395: Aphthonius 28 [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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