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Perry's Index to the Aesopica

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

THE TWO FROGS BY THE ROAD

There were two frogs who lived near one another. One lived in a deep pond that was far away from the road, but the other lived near the road where there was only a small amount of water. The frog who lived in the deep pond advised the other frog to move in with him so that they could share the pond between them and live a life that was less fraught with danger. The roadside frog refused the offer, saying that he had become accustomed to his home and couldn't tear himself away. Not long afterwards, he was crushed under the wheel of a passing wagon.
The same is true of people who persist in some worthless activity: before they know it, they've lost everything.

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 69: Gibbs (Oxford) 490 [English]
Perry 69: L'Estrange 164 [English]
Perry 69: Townsend 187 [English]
Perry 69: Chambry 67 [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.