Hares are proverbially timid and a number of fables have been based on this behaviour. The best known, often titled "The Hares and the Frogs", appears among Aesop's Fables and is numbered 138 in the Perry Index. [1] As well as having an Asian analogue, there have been variant versions over the centuries.
The oldest form of a fable involving a stampede started by a hare appears in the form of a cumulative tale known in the Buddhist scriptures as the Duddubha Jataka (332). [2] On hearing the sound of a falling fruit, a hare sets all the other animals fleeing in the belief that the earth was collapsing. There the story is associated with the Indian idiom 'the sound the hare heard', meaning an impossibility. A much later Western equivalent is the folk tale of Henny Penny, where the associated idiom is 'the sky is falling'.
In the Aesopic fable of "The Hares and the Frogs" the stampede is more limited. There are several versions in both Greek and Latin. In some the hares are set in motion by the sound of wind in the leaves; in others they call a meeting in which they come to the conclusion that their lives are so perpetually under threat that they may as well fling themselves into the river. As they are dashing towards it, however, they disturb the frogs on the bank who all leap into the water. Seeing this, a more thoughtful hare calls off the decision to kill themselves; if there are some creatures who can be frightened by hares, then their own lot cannot be as bad as they imagined.
In the story retold about 1190 in Marie de France's Ysopet, the hares have decided to move to another land but halt when they see frogs leaping into a pond to escape them and come to the conclusion that "never will they find a kingdom, or come to a place on this earth, where everyone may live without fear, work or sorrow". [3] The Jewish version of Marie's near contemporary, Berechiah ha-Nakdan, makes the band of emigrants terrified even of the croaking of frogs at night before deciding to return home. [4]
Two Neo-Latin poems are dedicated to the fable by Hieronymus Osius in his collection of 1564. In the first of these, he draws a parallel with human suffering and remarks that no-one really wishes to die; [5] in the shorter poem that follows, the conclusion is that learning to overcome our fears is part of growing up. [6] Eduard de Dene's Dutch version of the tale makes an emblematic appearance under the title "A stout heart is the remedy for fear", where it is given a religious interpretation. [7] The illustrator of that book was Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, who eventually fled to England. His woodcut of the subject was to be reproduced there as a trencher, about the edge of which the gist of its moral is epitomised as needing to fear destruction of the soul rather than of the body. [8] A century later, in 1668, the Classical story was told with stylish panache of a single hare in La Fontaine's Fables (II.14).
During mediaeval times, some commentaries on the fable underlined the necessity of remaining philosophically contented. This theme was also taken up when the fable was included in Robert Dodsley's collection and subsequently reprinted in Thomas Bewick's illustrated edition of The Fables of Aesop in 1818. There it ends with the verse reflection,
The same conclusion, that one should commiserate with the sufferings of others, was also the conclusion of the Neo-Latin retelling by Pantaleon Candidus at the start of the 17th century. [10]
Under the Latin title of Lepores et ranae a Czech translation by Pavel Jurkovic was set by Ilja Hurník as the final piece in his Ezop for mixed choir and orchestra (1964); [11] and under the title "The Rabbits and the Frogs" the story was set by Howard J. Buss as the fifth item in his "Fables from Aesop" (2002). [12]
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 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.
Belling the Cat is a fable also known under the titles The Bell and the Cat and The Mice in Council. In the story, a group of mice agree to attach a bell to a cat's neck to warn of its approach in the future, but they fail to find a volunteer to perform the job. The term has become an idiom describing a group agreeing to perform an impossibly difficult task.
The Cock and the Jewel is a fable attributed to Aesop and is numbered 503 in the Perry Index. As a trope in literature, the fable is reminiscent of stories used in Zen such as the kōan. It presents, in effect, a riddle on relative values and is capable of different interpretations, depending on the point of view from which it is regarded.
The Lion, the Bear and the Fox is one of Aesop's Fables that is numbered 147 in the Perry Index. There are similar story types of both eastern and western origin in which two disputants lose the object of their dispute to a third.
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 title of The Woodcutter and the Trees covers a complex of fables that are of West Asian and Greek origins, the latter ascribed to Aesop. All of them concern the need to be wary of harming oneself through misplaced generosity.
The Goat and the Vine is counted as one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 374 in the Perry Index. There is also a West Asian variant.
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 Woodman is a cautionary story against hypocrisy included among Aesop's Fables and is numbered 22 in the Perry Index. Although the same basic plot recurs, different versions have included a variety of participants.
The Assand 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 Dove and the Ant is a story about the reward of compassionate behaviour. Included among Aesop's Fables, it is numbered 235 in the Perry Index.
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.
The Trumpeter Taken Captive is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 370 in the Perry Index. One of the rare tales in which only human beings figure, it teaches that association with wrongdoers makes one equally culpable.
The Frogs and the Sun is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 314 in the Perry Index. It has been given political applications since Classical times.
The Ape and the Fox is a fable credited to Aesop and is numbered 81 in the Perry Index. However, the story goes back before Aesop’s time and an alternative variant may even be of Asian origin.
The reason for the hare to be in flight is that it is an item of prey for many animals and also subject to hunting by humans. There are three fables of ancient Greek origin that refer to hare chasing, each of which also exemplifies a popular idiom or proverb.
"The Hare and many friends" was the final fable in John Gay's first collection of 1727. It concerns the inconstancy of friendship as exemplified by a hare that lives on friendly terms with the farm animals. When the horns of the hunt are heard, she panics and eventually collapses exhausted, begging each of her acquaintances to help her escape. All give her different excuses, the last being a "trotting calf" who bids her "Adieu" as the hunters burst onto the scene. The poem won widespread popularity for some 150 years afterwards but, on a prose version appearing in a collection of Aesop's Fables, Gay's original authorship has gradually become forgotten.
"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.
