Friday, June 06, 2008

Perry 82: Rooster, Donkey and Lion

Today's fable is Perry #82, the story of the rooster who scared away the lion and the donkey who fatally misunderstood the entire situation! At the Aesopus wiki, you can see a complete list of the versions of this fable that I have collected. This is a fable from the Greek tradition, not well attested in the Latin tradition. Luckily, however, I was able to find this simple prose version in de Furia's Latin Aesop:

In stabulo quodam gallus et Asinus commorabantur. Leo, fame actus, ut Asinum vidit, extemplo ingressus, eum iam iam erat devoraturus. Verum ad Galli cantum metu correptus (aiunt enim leones ad gallorum vocem perterrefieri), in fugam repente se vertit. Tum Asinus, animo elatus, quod Leo nimirum vel Gallum pertimuisset, confestim ad eum insequendum egreditur. Sed ubi longius praecessit, a leone devoratus fuit. Ita nonnulli homines, inimicos suos depressos videntes atque propterea audaciores facti, saepe ab illis ex improviso opprimuntur.

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

In stabulo quodam
gallus et Asinus commorabantur.
Leo, fame actus,
ut Asinum vidit,
extemplo ingressus,
eum iam iam erat devoraturus.
Verum ad Galli cantum metu correptus
(aiunt enim leones
ad gallorum vocem perterrefieri),
in fugam repente se vertit.
Tum Asinus, animo elatus,
quod Leo nimirum vel Gallum pertimuisset,
confestim ad eum insequendum egreditur.
Sed ubi longius praecessit,
a leone devoratus fuit.
Ita nonnulli homines,
inimicos suos depressos videntes
atque propterea audaciores facti,
saepe ab illis ex improviso opprimuntur.
For an image of the story, here is an illustration from Walter Crane's Aesop which shows the donkey braying loudly as the rooster crows:




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