Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE SHEPHERD AND THE HONEYBEES
A story about honeybees and a shepherd, urging us not to
set our hearts on wicked gains.
Some honeybees were making honey in the hollow of an oak tree. A shepherd discovered
the bees' work and attempted to carry away some of the honey. The honeybees flew
all around him, stinging the man with their stings. In the end the shepherd exclaimed,
'I give up! I don't need the honey if it means dealing with the bees.'
Trouble awaits you if you pursue ill-gotten gains. |
 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 400: Gibbs (Oxford) 144 [English]
Perry 400: Aphthonius 27 [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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