Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE HAWK AND THE NIGHTINGALE
This is how the hawk addressed the dapple-throated nightingale as he carried
her high into the clouds, holding her tightly in his talons. As the nightingale
sobbed pitifully, pierced by the hawk's crooked talons, the hawk pronounced
these words of power, 'Wretched creature, what are you prattling about? You
are in the grip of one who is far stronger than you, and you will go wherever
I may lead you, even if you are a singer. You will be my dinner, if that's what
I want, or I might decide to let you go.'
It is a foolish man who thinks he can oppose people who are more powerful
he is: he will be defeated in the contest, suffering both pain and humiliation. |
 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 4: Gibbs (Oxford) 131 [English]
Perry 4: Townsend 211 [English]
Perry 4: Chambry 8 [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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