The Fox and the Stork, also known as The Fox and the Crane, is one of Aesop's fables and is first recorded in the collection of Phaedrus. It is numbered 426 in the Perry Index. [1]
The Fox and the Stork, also known as The Fox and the Crane, is one of Aesop's fables and is first recorded in the collection of Phaedrus. It is numbered 426 in the Perry Index. [1]
![The 1884 fountain design by Catalan sculptor Eduard Batiste Alentorn [es] in Barcelona Font de la Cigonya i de la Guineu (parc de la Ciutadella).JPG](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Font_de_la_Cigonya_i_de_la_Guineu_%28parc_de_la_Ciutadella%29.JPG/220px-Font_de_la_Cigonya_i_de_la_Guineu_%28parc_de_la_Ciutadella%29.JPG)
A fox invites a stork to eat with him and provides soup in a bowl, which the fox can lap up easily; however, the stork cannot drink it with its beak. The stork then invites the fox to a meal, which is served in a narrow-necked vessel. It is easy for the stork to access but impossible for the fox. The moral drawn is that the trickster must expect trickery in return and that the golden rule of conduct is for one to do to others what one would wish for oneself.
The fable has been illustrated since the Middle Ages in Europe. One of the earliest depictions is on the top of a column on the north side of the cloisters in the Collegiate church of Saint Ursus in Aosta, Italy. In the Romanesque style of the 12th century, both the fox's [2] and the stork's [3] tricks are shown on different sides. While medieval and early Renaissance pictorial convention allowed composite designs the episodes of the two meals both appeared in the same design. Thereafter, only one could appear, and it was usually the stork's revenge that was depicted. However, since the 19th century some artists have been returning to composite designs. [4]
One exception in the applied arts occurred when both episodes were included among the 39 hydraulic statues built for the Versailles labyrinth that was constructed for Louis XIV to further the Dauphin's education. [5] A similar solution is provided by the suggestive sculptures in the square of Barzy-sur-Marne, where the two animals are juxtaposed at right angles and the meal is left to the viewer's imagination. [6] A different solution was chosen by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in his depiction of Netherlandish Proverbs (1559). The saying 'The fox and the crane entertain each other' had come to mean that tricksters look out for their own advantage, so the two are pictured at the centre of the painting seated before their preferred receptacle.
The story's popularity was further assured after it appeared in La Fontaine's Fables (I.18). [7] It then began to be applied on a number of domestic items, including buttons, [8] firebacks, [9] snuff graters, household china and tiles, [10] and on wallpaper. [11] Among the artists who have chosen it as a subject are Frans Snyders (about 1650), [12] Jan van Kessel, senior (1661), [13] Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1747) [14] and his son Jacques-Charles, [15] Hippolyte Lecomte, [16] and Philippe Rousseau (1816–1887). [17] It also features on the right-hand side of Gustav Klimt's "The Fable" (1883). There the fox is accompanied by two storks, one of which has a frog in its beak – in reference to the fable of The Frogs Who Desired a King. [18] In the contemporary fountain sculpture by the Catalan Eduard Batiste Alentorn (1855–1920) in Barcelona's Parc de la Ciutadella, the frustrated fox kicks over the tall vessel, from which the fountain's water pours.
In the 20th century, Le Renard et la Cigogne figured in the series of medals illustrating La Fontaine's fables cast by Jean Vernon (1940) [19] and Marc Chagall made it Plate 9 in his etchings of them (1952). [20] Among European musical settings was one by Louis Lacombe (op. 72, 1875). Later it appeared as the first piece in Andre Asriel's 6 Fabeln nach Aesop (1972). [21] In 1995 it was among the seven in Catalan translation that the composer Xavier Benguerel i Godó set for recitation with orchestral accompaniment. [22]
The fable has also appeared on postage stamps illustrating La Fontaine's fables. These include in the 11 franc commemorative set of 1977 from Burundi; [23] the 35 franc stamp issued by Dahomey in 1972, [24] later overprinted as a 50 franc value for Benin; [25] the 170 forint stamp issued as part of a set by Hungary in 1960; [26] and a 1972 Monaco commemoration of the 350th anniversary of the fabulist's birth. [27]
Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to modern times through a number of sources and continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media.
"The Tortoise and the Hare" is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 226 in the Perry Index. The account of a race between unequal partners has attracted conflicting interpretations. The fable itself is a variant of a common folktale theme in which ingenuity and trickery are employed to overcome a stronger opponent.
The Fox and the Grapes is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 15 in the Perry Index. The narration is concise and subsequent retellings have often been equally so. The story concerns a fox that tries to eat grapes from a vine but cannot reach them. Rather than admit defeat, he states they are undesirable. The expression "sour grapes" originated from this fable.
The Frog and the Ox appears among Aesop's Fables and is numbered 376 in the Perry Index. The story concerns a frog that tries to inflate itself to the size of an ox, but bursts in the attempt. It has usually been applied to socio-economic relations.
The Ant and the Grasshopper, alternatively titled The Grasshopper and the Ant, is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 373 in the Perry Index. The fable describes how a hungry grasshopper begs for food from an ant when winter comes and is refused. The situation sums up moral lessons about the virtues of hard work and planning for the future.
The North Wind and the Sun is one of Aesop's Fables. It is type 298 in the Aarne–Thompson folktale classification. The moral it teaches about the superiority of persuasion over force has made the story widely known. It has also become a chosen text for phonetic transcriptions.
The Frogs Who Desired a King is one of Aesop's Fables and numbered 44 in the Perry Index. Throughout its history, the story has been given a political application.
"The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs" is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 87 in the Perry Index, a story that also has a number of Eastern analogues. Many other stories contain geese that lay golden eggs, though certain versions change them for hens or other birds that lay golden eggs. The tale has given rise to the idiom 'killing the goose that lays the golden eggs', which refers to the short-sighted destruction of a valuable resource, or to an unprofitable action motivated by greed.
The Farmer and the Stork is one of Aesop's Fables which appears in Greek in the collections of both Babrius and Aphthonius and has differed little in the telling over the centuries. The story relates how a farmer plants traps in his field to catch the cranes and geese that are stealing the seeds he has sown. When he checks the traps, he finds among the other birds a stork, who pleads to be spared because it is harmless and has taken no part in the theft. The farmer replies that since it has been caught in the company of thieves, it must suffer the same fate. The moral of the story, which is announced beforehand in the oldest texts, is that associating with bad companions will lead to bad consequences.
The Fox and the Crow is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 124 in the Perry Index. There are early Latin and Greek versions and the fable may even have been portrayed on an ancient Greek vase. The story is used as a warning against listening to flattery.
The Tortoise and the Birds is a fable of probable folk origin, early versions of which are found in both India and Greece. There are also African variants. The moral lessons to be learned from these differ and depend on the context in which they are told.
The Wolf and the Crane is a fable attributed to Aesop that has several eastern analogues. Similar stories have a lion instead of a wolf, and a stork, heron or partridge takes the place of the crane.
The Wolf and the Lamb is a well-known fable of Aesop and is numbered 155 in the Perry Index. There are several variant stories of tyrannical injustice in which a victim is falsely accused and killed despite a reasonable defence.
The Cock, the Dog and the Fox is one of Aesop's Fables and appears as number 252 in the Perry Index. Although it has similarities with other fables where a predator flatters a bird, such as The Fox and the Crow and Chanticleer and the Fox, in this one the cock is the victor rather than victim. There are also Eastern variants of this story.
The labyrinth of Versailles was a hedge maze in the Gardens of Versailles with groups of fountains and sculptures depicting Aesop's fables. André Le Nôtre initially planned a maze of unadorned paths in 1665, but in 1669, Charles Perrault advised Louis XIV to include thirty-nine fountains, each representing one of the fables of Aesop. The work was carried out between 1672 and 1677. Water jets spurting from the animals mouths were conceived to give the impression of speech between the creatures. There was a plaque with a caption and a quatrain written by the poet Isaac de Benserade next to each fountain. A detailed description of the labyrinth, its fables and sculptures is given in Perrault's Labyrinte de Versailles, illustrated with engravings by Sébastien Leclerc.
The Fox and the Cat is an ancient fable, with both Eastern and Western analogues involving different animals, that addresses the difference between resourceful expediency and a master stratagem. Included in collections of Aesop's fables since the start of printing in Europe, it is number 605 in the Perry Index. In the basic story a cat and a fox discuss how many tricks and dodges they have. The fox boasts that he has many; the cat confesses to having only one. When hunters arrive with their dogs, the cat climbs a tree, but the fox thinks of many ways without acting and is caught by the hounds. Many morals have been drawn from the fable's presentations through history and, as Isaiah Berlin's use of it in his essay "The Hedgehog and the Fox" shows, it continues to be interpreted anew.
The Man with Two Mistresses is one of Aesop's Fables that deals directly with human foibles. It is numbered 31 in the Perry Index.
The Fox and the Weasel is a title used to cover a complex of fables in which a number of other animals figure in a story with the same basic situation involving the unfortunate effects of greed. Of Greek origin, it is counted as one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 24 in the Perry Index.
The Ass and his Masters is a fable that has also gone by the alternative titles The ass and the gardener and Jupiter and the ass. Included among Aesop's Fables, it is numbered 179 in the Perry Index.
The Frog and the Fox is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 289 in the Perry Index. It takes the form of a humorous anecdote told against quack doctors.
Media related to The fox and the stork at Wikimedia Commons
