Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
AESOP AND THE HOOLIGAN
Success has been the ruin of many a man.
There was a hooligan who struck Aesop with a stone. Aesop said, 'Well done!'
and he even gave the boy a coin. Then he added, 'Confound it, that's all the
cash I've got, but I'll show you more where that came from. Look, the man coming
this way is a wealthy and important person; if you can hit him with a stone the
same way you hit me, you'll get the reward you deserve.' The hooligan was convinced
and did as Aesop told him, but his hope for a reward brought his reckless daring
to ruin: he was arrested and paid the price for his crime on the cross. |
 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 497: Gibbs (Oxford) 158 [English]
Perry 497: Phaedrus 3.5 [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.
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