Perry 613: Belling the Cat

The Aesopic fable of "belling the cat" is a very famous fable - but it is not attested in the ancient Greek or Roman tradition. There are many fables about the cat and the mice, but for the fable of "who will bell the cat?" we must turn to the medieval author of fables, Odo of Cheriton, a preacher and scholar of the 13th century. You can read more about Odo in the Catholic Encyclopedia online.

The Latin text of Odo shown here is taken from Léopold Hervieux, Les fabulistes latins depuis le siècle d'Auguste jusqu'à la. fin du Moyen-Age (1893-1899). There is a delightful English translation of Odo by John Jacobs, which is still in print. It's a lovely book - highly recommended!

Here is the text of Odo's version of the story in Latin:

Mures habuerunt semel consilium qualiter se a Catto possent praemunire. Et ait quidam Mus sapiens: Ligetur campanella in collo Catti, et tunc poterimus ipsum, quocumque perrexerit, audire et insidias eius praecauere. Placuit omnibus hoc consilium. Et ait Mus unus: Quis ligabit campanellam in collo Catti? Respondit Mus unus: Certo non ego. Respondit alius: Nec ego pro toto mundo ei vellem tantum appropinquare.

Here it is in segments, to make the phrase boundaries more clear:

Mures
habuerunt semel consilium
qualiter se a Catto possent praemunire.
Et ait quidam Mus sapiens:
Ligetur campanella in collo Catti,
et tunc
poterimus ipsum, quocumque perrexerit, audire
et insidias eius praecauere.
Placuit omnibus hoc consilium.
Et ait Mus unus:
Quis ligabit campanellam in collo Catti?
Respondit Mus unus:
Certo non ego.
Respondit alius:
Nec ego
pro toto mundo
ei vellem tantum appropinquare.

That's a fine use of the passive voice as a means to avoid the question of agency: ligetur campanella allows you to propose the solution without saying who will carry it out!

For an image to accompany the story, here is Barlow's depiction of the cat, and the mice, and - if you look closely enough - the bell! (It's there where the mice are scurrying about.)



Here's another charming illustration, this time from Joseph Jacobs's edition of the fables:



Finally, here is a picture of the mice in deliberation - note the cat lurking around the corner!

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