The Heron and the Fish is a situational fable constructed to illustrate the moral that one should not be over-fastidious in making choices since, as the ancient proverb proposes, 'He that will not when he may, when he will he shall have nay'. [1] Of ancient but uncertain origin, it gained popularity after appearing among La Fontaine's Fables.
The first occurrence of the fable about the fastidious heron occurs in a late Mediaeval manuscript of Latin prose fables called Opusculum fabularum (little collection of fables), which claims to have rendered them from the Greek. [2] A heron stands by the waterside one morning, surrounded by a rich choice of fish which it ignores since it is not ready to eat. During the afternoon it rejects humbler types of fish as unworthy, hoping for better pickings but, by evening, is so hungry that it settles for a snail.
The Italian fabulist Laurentius Abstemius seems to have imitated the theme in his story of the Fowler and the Chaffinch (De aucupe et fringilla), included in his Hecatomythium as fable 39. [3] A bird-catcher who has waited all day, hoping for a larger catch, comes away in the end with no more than a chaffinch. Roger L'Estrange included a translation of it in his 1692 fable collection, drawing the moral that '‘Men are so greedy after what’s to come, which is uncertain, that they slip present Opportunities, which are never to be recover’d’. [4]
The fable of the heron was given popularity in France at a slightly earlier date than in England by being included in the second edition of La Fontaine's Fables, (VII.4). [5] There it is given a certain intertextuality when the heron's 'disdainful choice' is compared to that of the town mouse visiting his country cousin in the tale of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse. La Fontaine is referring to Horace's version of that fable, but then proposes to give a human example of the situation he describes and proceeds straight away to tell the fable of a fastidious beauty (VII.5) who turns down all suitors when she is young and has to take what she can get after her looks fade. [6]
In the 18th century there was an English imitation of La Fontaine's fable of the heron in Rowland Rugeley's "The Heron: a fable for young maids". [7] But it was often the later application to human conduct that was preferred by La Fontaine's imitators. Charles Denis gave that a lively recreation as "The Old Maid" who eventually married her footman in his Selected Fables (1754). [8] The same situation was adapted as "The Dainty Spinster" by Ivan Krylov in 1806 and later included among his fables. [9]
The fable of the heron is not ascribed to any author in the Opusculum fabularum, although it appears there among others reckoned as Aesop's. It was La Fontaine who was responsible for changing the utilitarian lesson of seizing the opportunity while it is there to an examination of the heron's motives for passing it up. The bird is too fussy and full of self-regard. These qualities were emphasised when the fable first appeared in English during the 19th century as a translation of La Fontaine's version.
However, a French version of the fable was put into the mouth of Aesop by Edmé Boursault in his play Esope à la Cour at the start of the 18th century, although the telling is placed in the context of making a marriage choice, following La Fontaine. [10] When the story appears in the American Aesop for Children (1919), it is still clearly La Fontaine's fable that is being retold. [11] But by the time the fable reappears in Arin Murphy-Hiscock's Birds, A Spiritual Field Guide (2012), she asserts there that it is "one of Aesop’s fables [and] tells of a heron that strolled next to a river in shadow, watching for food. It passed up several small fish and ended up going hungry when the fish moved to cooler water, out of the heron’s reach". [12] The telling too has travelled some distance away from the lakeside heron described in the Opusculum fabularum.
Other versions for children claim Aesop as original author and spin out the detail of the original pithy fable. They include Tony Payne's "The Heron and the Fish" (UK 1993), [13] Graham Percy's "The Heron and the Fish" (UK 2009), [14] and Gwen Petreman's "The Blue Heron". [15] However, the fable is not included as Aesop's in the Perry Index.
Several artists from the 17th century onwards have provided woodcuts for the whole run of La Fontaine's fables, most of which go little beyond illustrating the bird standing beside the water. The most original was J.J.Grandville's transposition of the characters into contemporary terms. The heron is on the left, gazing askance at the fish which impertinently peep at him from the shallows. To the right, the old maid of La Fontaine's parallel fable hangs on the arm of a bloated individual. To drive the lesson home, the slug soon to be devoured crawls through the grass at the feet of both. [16] There was also an English set of illustrations of La Fontaine's fables issued on the Staffordshire pottery of Brown, Westhead & Moore in 1880 which included an attractive design of the fable under the title "The Proud Heron". [17]
Two 19th century painters provided oil panels now in the collection of the Musée Jean de La Fontaine. Both represent the bird standing by the waterside. Léon Rousseau's was part of a set painted in 1853, [18] while that of Louis-Emile Villa (1836-1900) is undated. [19] In the 20th century, the fable was the subject of one of Jean Vernon's medallions. The heron faces right and looks down from the bank at fishes swimming in the water. It is faced by a smaller figure on the right that is about to swallow a snail. [20]
There have also been musical interpretations. Maurice Thiriet included it as the first piece in his Trois fables de La Fontaine for a capella children's voices, [21] and in 2014 Eric Saint-Marc set it for women's choir, piano and string quartet. [22] In addition it was included in Annie Sellem's ballet project Les fables à la Fontaine (2004), where it was choreographed by Satchie Noro [23] and included among the four segments in the film version directed by Marie-Hélène Rebois. [24]
Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson, which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise maxim or saying.
Ivan Andreyevich Krylov is Russia's best-known fabulist and probably the most epigrammatic of all Russian authors. Formerly a dramatist and journalist, he only discovered his true genre at the age of 40. While many of his earlier fables were loosely based on Aesop's and La Fontaine's, later fables were original work, often with a satirical bent.
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 Lion and the Mouse is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 150 in the Perry Index. There are also Eastern variants of the story, all of which demonstrate mutual dependence regardless of size or status. In the Renaissance the fable was provided with a sequel condemning social ambition.
The Farmer and the Viper is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 176 in the Perry Index. It has the moral that kindness to evil will be met by betrayal and is the source of the idiom "to nourish a viper in one's bosom". The fable is not to be confused with The Snake and the Farmer, which looks back to a situation when friendship was possible between the two.
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 Ass in the Lion's Skin is one of Aesop's Fables, of which there are two distinct versions. There are also several Eastern variants, and the story's interpretation varies accordingly.
The Mouse Turned into a Maid is an ancient fable of Indian origin that travelled westwards to Europe during the Middle Ages and also exists in the Far East. The story is Aarne-Thompson type 2031C in his list of cumulative tales, another example of which is The Husband of the Rat's Daughter. It concerns a search for a partner through a succession of more powerful forces, resolved only by choosing an equal.
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 Mountain in Labour is one of Aesop's Fables and appears as number 520 in the Perry Index. The story became proverbial in Classical times and was applied to a variety of situations. It refers to speech acts which promise much but deliver little, especially in literary and political contexts. In more modern times the satirical intention behind the fable was given greater emphasis following Jean de la Fontaine's interpretation of it. Illustrations to the text underlined its ironical application particularly and went on to influence cartoons referring to the fable elsewhere in Europe and America.
The Bird in Borrowed Feathers is a fable of Classical Greek origin usually ascribed to Aesop. It has existed in numerous different versions between that time and the Middle Ages, going by various titles and generally involving members of the corvid family. The lesson to be learned from it has also varied, depending on the context in which it was told. Several idioms derive from the fable.
Speaking of The Snake and the Crab in Ancient Greece was the equivalent of the modern idiom, 'Pot calling the kettle black'. A fable attributed to Aesop was eventually created about the two creatures and later still yet another fable concerning a crab and its offspring was developed to make the same point.
Jean de La Fontaine collected fables from a wide variety of sources, both Western and Eastern, and adapted them into French free verse. They were issued under the general title of Fables in several volumes from 1668 to 1694 and are considered classics of French literature. Humorous, nuanced and ironical, they were originally aimed at adults but then entered the educational system and were required learning for school children.
The Dog and the Wolf is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 346 in the Perry Index. It has been popular since antiquity as an object lesson of how freedom should not be exchanged for comfort or financial gain. An alternative fable with the same moral concerning different animals is less well known.
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 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.
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.
The situation of the Eagle Wounded by an Arrow vaned with its own feathers is referred to in several ancient Greek sources and is listed as fable 276 in the Perry Index. It is generally applied to the misery of realising that one has contributed to one's own injury but also as a warning against self-reliant pride.
The Fisherman and his Flute appears among Aesop’s Fables and is numbered 11 in the Perry Index. Wide variations on the theme have existed over the centuries.
The Weasel and Aphrodite, also known as Venus and the Cat is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 50 in the Perry Index. A fable on the cynic theme of the constancy of one's nature, it serves as a cautionary tale against trusting those with evil temper, for even if they might change their body, they will not change their mind.
