Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE KID, THE WOLF AND THE FLUTE
A kid had wandered off from the flock and was being chased by a wolf. Unable
to get away, the kid fell into the wolf's clutches so she turned to him and
said, 'I know for a fact that I am about to become your dinner, but I would
like to die with dignity: please play the flute for me so that I can do a little
dance.' The wolf played the flute and the kid danced to the music. The sound
alerted the shepherd's dogs who attacked the wolf and chased him away. As the
wolf ran off he said to himself, 'It serves me right for trying to be a musician
instead of a butcher!'
The story shows that being bested in a contest of words can induce bewilderment
even in persons who are wicked by nature. |
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 97: Gibbs (Oxford) 356 [English]
Perry 97: L'Estrange 174 [English]
Perry 97: Townsend 194 [English]
Perry 97: Chambry 107 [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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