Perry 302: Axe and Trees

As I'm gearing up for the publication of Aesop’s Fables in Latin: Ancient Wit and Wisdom from the Animal Kingdom (coming soon from Bolchazy-Carducci!), I'm reviewing the different Perry numbers that will be included in that book. For each of the fables, I'm posting here a Latin version of the fable along with an illustration that can be compared/contrasted with the version in Barlow's book.

Today's fable is Perry #302, the story of the trees who gave some wood to a man who used that wood to make a handle for his axe, and then chopped down the trees! At the Aesopus wiki, you can see a complete list of the versions of this fable that I have collected. There is another version of this fable in the Greek tradition, in which the trees go to Zeus to complain about the fact that men are using axes to chop them down, whereupon Zeus tells them it is their own fault for giving men wood to make axes with! (You can read a translation of that version of the fable at the Aesopica.net website.)

Here is the Latin version of the fable from Steinhowel's Aesop:

Auxilium hosti dare est suam necem facere. Sicut subiecta fabula probat. Secure facta homo postulabat ab arboribus, ut illi manubrium darent de ligno, quod esset firmum. Omnes oleastrum iusserunt. Sumpsit homo manubrium. Aptata autem secure ramos et robora magna ac omnia, quae voluit, cepit indubitanter incidere. Tunc quercus fraxino ait: Digne et bene patimur, quia roganti hosti nostro (ut caeci) manubria dedimus. Ideo quilibet homo ante praecogitare debet, ne hosti aliquod praestet auxilium.

Here it is written out in segmented style to make it easier to follow, while respecting the Latin word order:

Auxilium hosti dare
est
suam necem facere.
Sicut subiecta fabula probat.
Secure facta
homo
postulabat ab arboribus,
ut illi manubrium darent
de ligno,
quod esset firmum.
Omnes
oleastrum iusserunt.
Sumpsit homo
manubrium.
Aptata autem secure
ramos
et robora magna ac omnia,
quae voluit,
cepit indubitanter incidere.
Tunc quercus
fraxino ait:
Digne et bene patimur,
quia roganti hosti nostro
(ut caeci)
manubria dedimus.
Ideo
quilibet homo
ante praecogitare debet,
ne hosti aliquod praestet auxilium.

For an image of the story, here is an illustration from Walter Crane's Aesop which tells the story in limerick form!

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