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Perry's Index to the Aesopica

Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:

THE DOVES AND THE KITE

The person who turns to a dishonest scoundrel for help in times of trouble will be ruined, not rescued.
The doves kept having to run away from the kite, eluding death on the swiftness of their wings. The rapacious kite then decided to try some deceptive advice, fooling the defenceless flock by means of a trick. 'Why do you prefer this anxious way of life,' he asked, 'when instead you could strike up an agreement with me and make me your king, so that I would keep you safe from all possible danger?' The doves were persuaded by the kite's advice and turned themselves over to his care. But as soon as he was made king, the kite began to feast on his subjects one by one, wielding supreme authority with the fierceness of his talons. Then one of the survivors said, 'This is the punishment we deserve, since we put our lives in the hands of this thieving villain!'

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 486: Caxton 2.2 [English]
Perry 486: Gibbs (Oxford) 25 [English]
Perry 486: L'Estrange 19 [English]
Perry 486: Townsend 98 [English]
Perry 486: Steinhowel 2.2 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim University Library
Perry 486: Ademar 22 [Latin]
Perry 486: Odo 1c [Latin]
Perry 486: Phaedrus 1.31 [Latin]
Perry 486: Rom. Anglicus 20 [Latin]
Perry 486: Rom. Nil. (metrica) 18 [Latin]
Perry 486: Rom. Nil. (rhythmica) 2.2 [Latin]
Perry 486: Walter of England 22 [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.