An ass eating thistles

Last updated August 25, 2023

Developed by authors during Renaissance times, the story of an ass eating thistles was a late addition to collections of Aesop's Fables. Beginning as a condemnation of miserly behaviour, it eventually was taken to demonstrate how preferences differ.

An image for misers

Two Greek poems from the 2nd century CE seem to have contributed to the making of the modern fable. One is the four-line poem of Babrius about a fox who asks an ass how it can eat thorns with such a soft mouth and is numbered 360 in the Perry Index.^[1] The other is a simile in a short poem by Lucian in the Greek Anthology (XI.397) in which he likens the behaviour of a miser to 'the life of mules, who often, carrying on their backs a heavy and precious load of gold, only eat hay'.^[2]

Based on these, the Renaissance author Andrea Alciato created the image for misers in his Emblemata (1531). Below the picture of a loaded donkey that is stooping to eat a thistle he adds a Latin poem likening a rich man to an ass that, though it 'bears on its back costly victuals, he's a pauper who feeds himself on brambles and tough reeds'.^[3] The English emblem-writer Geoffrey Whitney was later to use the same illustration provided with a 12-line epigram based on Alciato's in his Choice of Emblemes (1586).^[4]

Alciato's book was influential all over Europe and fathered many similar works. One of these was Joost van den Vondel's De Vorstelijke Warande der Dieren (1617), which raised Aesop's fables to emblematic status. Among them, however, is a poem about "The ass carrying food", the first four lines of which use the same likeness before continuing to a much longer consideration of human meanness.^[5] That the situation was already well known in the Netherlands is suggested by the engraver Rafael I Sadeler's emblematic "Landscape with ass eating thistle".^[6] Dating from 1598/9, it is based on an earlier design by Matthijs Bril. Earlier still, the Flemish engraver Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder had been involved in illustrating a similar emblem book based on fables, De warachtighe fabulen der dieren, 1567. Some of his designs were adapted by his son, by then a religious refugee in England, as rondels for trenchers. Included there was the picture of an ass laden with rich foods and cropping a thistle, surrounding which is the quatrain:

The Asse which dainty meates doth beare

And feedes on thistles all the yeare

Is like the wretch that hourds up gold

And yet for want doth suffer cold.^[7]

From emblem to fable

In the previous century, Christopher Marlowe had identified the image without evidence as Aesop's in his play The Jew of Malta (first performed in 1592):

For he that liveth in Authority,

And neither gets him friends, nor fils his bags,

Lives like the Asse that Aesope speaketh of,

That labours with a load of bread and wine,

And leaves it off to snap on Thistle tops.^[8]

In this case, however, it was being quoted in an almost opposite sense to the emblematic usage, criticizing those who neglect the opportunity to amass wealth.

A very similar emblematic design was used in Francis Barlow's illustrated volume of Aesop's Fables in 1687, where a final couplet of the short poetical commentary is applied to the miserly behaviour of "They that by brooding on their wealth are poore/ Without injoyment amidst all theyr store".^[9] However, the Latin description tells a very different story of the laden donkey being asked by a dog why it prefers the roadside thistles. His reply is that to his taste "the thistles which I am eating are more pleasing to me and suit my palate better than all the meat in the butchers' and all the confections in the bakers' shops".

Now that the situation was accepted as connected with Aesop, another writer set out to recreate the fable at greater length. The initiative of Samuel Croxall in his The Fables of Aesop and Others (1722), it was accompanied by much the same illustration and titled "The Ass eating Thistles". There an ass carrying all sorts of food to the harvesters himself chews on a thistle 'and while he was doing so he entered into this reflection: How many greedy epicures would think themselves happy, amidst such a variety of delicate viands as I now carry! But to me this bitter, prickly Thistle is more savory and relishing than the most exquisite and sumptuous banquet.' In addressing the moral lesson to be learned, Croxall quotes the English proverb 'One man's meat is another man's poison' and concludes 'he that expects all mankind should be of his opinion is much more stupid and unreasonable than the ass in the fable'.^[10]

More or less this wording was to be repeated from collection to collection for the next two centuries, while the former emblematic meaning was forgotten.

Related Research Articles

A miser is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities, in order to hoard money or other possessions. Although the word is sometimes used loosely to characterise anyone who is mean with their money, if such behaviour is not accompanied by taking delight in what is saved, it is not properly miserly.

The story and metaphor of The Dog in the Manger derives from an old Greek fable which has been transmitted in several different versions. Interpreted variously over the centuries, the metaphor is now used to speak of one who spitefully prevents others from having something for which one has no use. Although the story was ascribed to Aesop's Fables in the 15th century, there is no ancient source that does so.

The Miser and his Gold is one of Aesop's Fables that deals directly with human weaknesses, in this case the wrong use of possessions. Since this is a story dealing only with humans, it allows the point to be made directly through the medium of speech rather than be surmised from the situation. It is numbered 225 in the Perry Index.

The Monkey and the Cat is best known as a fable adapted by Jean de La Fontaine under the title Le Singe et le Chat that appeared in the second collection of his Fables in 1679 (IX.17). Although there is no evidence that the story existed before the 15th century, it began to appear in collections of Aesop's Fables from the 17th century but is not included in the Perry Index.

The Dog and Its Reflection is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 133 in the Perry Index. The Greek language original was retold in Latin and in this way was spread across Europe, teaching the lesson to be contented with what one has and not to relinquish substance for shadow. There also exist Indian variants of the story. The morals at the end of the fable have provided both English and French with proverbs and the story has been applied to a variety of social situations.

The Ass and the Pig is one of Aesop's Fables that was never adopted in the West but has Eastern variants that remain popular. Their general teaching is that the easy life and seeming good fortune of others conceal a threat to their welfare.

The Walnut Tree is one of Aesop's fables and numbered 250 in the Perry Index. It later served as a base for a misogynistic proverb, which encourages the violence against walnut trees, asses and women.

The Two Pots is one of Aesop's Fables and numbered 378 in the Perry Index. The fable may stem from proverbial sources.

The Fox and the Lion is one of Aesop's Fables and represents a comedy of manners. It is number 10 in the Perry Index.

The Crow or Raven and the Snake or Serpent is one of Aesop's Fables and numbered 128 in the Perry Index. Alternative Greek versions exist and two of these were adopted during the European Renaissance. The fable is not to be confused with the story of this title in the Panchatantra, which is completely different.

"The Astrologer who Fell into a Well" is a fable based on a Greek anecdote concerning the pre-Socratic philosopher Thales of Miletus. It was one of several ancient jokes that were absorbed into Aesop's Fables and is now numbered 40 in the Perry Index. During the scientific attack on astrology in the 16th–17th centuries, the story again became very popular.

The cautionary tale of The Mouse and the Oyster is rarely mentioned in Classical literature but is counted as one of Aesop's Fables and numbered 454 in the Perry Index. It has been variously interpreted, either as a warning against gluttony or as a caution against unwary behaviour.

The Fowler and the Snake is a story of Greek origin that demonstrates the fate of predators. It was counted as one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 115 in the Perry Index.

The Fox and the Mask is one of Aesop's Fables, of which there are both Greek and Latin variants. It is numbered 27 in the Perry Index.

The Ass Carrying an Image is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 182 in the Perry Index. It is directed against human conceit but at one period was also used to illustrate the argument in Canon Law that the sacramental act is not diminished by the priest's unworthiness.

The Frog and the Mouse is one of Aesop's Fables and exists in several versions. It is numbered 384 in the Perry Index. There are also Eastern versions of uncertain origin which are classified as Aarne-Thompson type 278, concerning unnatural relationships. The stories make the point that the treacherous are destroyed by their own actions.

Hercules and the Wagoner or Hercules and the Carter is a fable credited to Aesop. It is associated with the proverb "God helps those who help themselves", variations on which are found in other ancient Greek authors.

In ancient times, the beaver was hunted for its testicles, which it was thought had medicinal qualities. The story that the animal would gnaw these off to save itself when hunted was preserved by some ancient Greek naturalists and perpetuated into the Middle Ages. It also appeared as a Greek fable ascribed to Aesop and is numbered 118 in the Perry Index.

The Bear and the Bees is a fable of North Italian origin that became popular in other countries between the 16th - 19th centuries. There it has often been ascribed to Aesop's fables, although there is no evidence for this and it does not appear in the Perry Index. Various versions have been given different interpretations over time and artistic representations have been common.

"The Lion Grown Old" is counted among Aesop’s Fables and is numbered 481 in the Perry Index. It is used in illustration of the insults given those who have fallen from power and has a similar moral to the fable of The dogs and the lion's skin. Parallel proverbs of similar meaning were later associated with it.

References

↑ Aesopica site
↑ Memorial University of Newfoundland
↑ Emblem 86
↑ Emblem 18
↑ "Poem 116". Archived from the original on 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
↑ In the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
↑ British Museum
↑ The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe, ed. Fredson Bowers, Cambridge University Press 1973, Act V.ii, lines 38-42, Volume 1, p.327
↑ De Asino rubos comedente, Fable 5
↑ Fables of Aesop (1722), fable 163

External links

Illustrations from books between the 16th - 19th centuries

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Aesopica site

[2] Memorial University of Newfoundland

[3] Emblem 86

[4] Emblem 18

[5] "Poem 116". Archived from the original on 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-06-07.

[6] In the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

[7] British Museum

[8] The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe, ed. Fredson Bowers, Cambridge University Press 1973, Act V.ii, lines 38-42, Volume 1, p.327

[9] De Asino rubos comedente, Fable 5

[10] Fables of Aesop (1722), fable 163

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]