The Horse and the Donkey is one of a number of ancient animal fables that illustrate the importance of helping others and the consequences of neglecting that duty.
The Horse and the Donkey is one of a number of ancient animal fables that illustrate the importance of helping others and the consequences of neglecting that duty.
The fable is a variant of stories recorded since antiquity of which there is scarcely one version that concerns the same pair of animals. It is included as one of Aesop's Fables and numbered 181 in the Perry Index, [1] and other Greek sources also pair a donkey and a mule, while the story is told of an ox and a donkey in the Mediaeval Latin version of Ademar of Chabannes. In the former the overburdened donkey asks its companion for help in carrying its load and dies when this is refused; the other is then forced to carry not only the original load but the dead animal's skin as well. In Ademar's story the two animals are yoked together but the ass refuses to pull its weight; after the ox dies of the strain, the ass is forced to continue pulling and also dies.
There are references to the fable in two other texts six centuries apart. The Aramaic collection of wise sayings by Ahiqar, dating from 500 BCE, mentions that "An ass which leaves its load and does not carry it shall take a load from its companion and take the burden which is not its [own with its own] and shall be made to bear a camel's load". [2] The historian Plutarch has a version with an ox and a camel feature where "as the ox said to his fellow-servant the camel, when he refused to ease him of his burthen, It won't be long before you carry my burthen and me too: which fell out to be true, when the ox died". [3]
The fable does not appear in William Caxton's collection of Aesop's Fables although it does in later English compilations. La Fontaine's Fables further popularised the story as "The Horse and the Ass". [4] This begins with the moral that, in Classical versions, is usually put into the mouth of the remaining animal:
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 varied and unclear 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.
A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is a working animal used to transport goods or materials by carrying them, usually on its back.
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 lion's share is an idiomatic expression which now refers to the major share of something. The phrase derives from the plot of a number of fables ascribed to Aesop and is used here as their generic title. There are two main types of story, which exist in several different versions. Other fables exist in the East that feature division of prey in such a way that the divider gains the greater part - or even the whole. In English the phrase used in the sense of nearly all only appeared at the end of the 18th century; the French equivalent, le partage du lion, is recorded from the start of that century, following La Fontaine's version of the fable.
A talking donkey is a type of talking animal; in this case, the animal is a donkey. Examples include:
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 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 miller, his son and the donkey is a widely dispersed fable, number 721 in the Perry Index and number 1215 in the Aarne–Thompson classification systems of folklore narratives. Though it may have ancient analogues, the earliest extant version is in the work of the 13th-century Arab writer Ibn Said. There are many eastern versions of the tale and in Europe it was included in a number of Mediaeval collections. Since then it has been frequently included in collections of Aesop's fables as well as the influential Fables of Jean de la Fontaine.
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 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 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.
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.
There are no less than six fables concerning an impertinent insect, which is taken in general to refer to the kind of interfering person who makes himself out falsely to share in the enterprise of others or to be of greater importance than he is in reality. Some of these stories are included among Aesop's Fables, while others are of later origin, and from them have been derived idioms in several languages.
The fable of how the horse lost its liberty in the course of settling a petty conflict exists in two versions involving either a stag or a boar and is numbered 269 in the Perry Index. When the story is told in a political context, it warns against seeking a remedy that leaves one worse off than before. Where economic circumstances are involved, it teaches that independence is always better than compromised plenty.
The man and the lion (disputing) is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 284 in the Perry Index. An alternative title is The lion and the statue. The story's moral is that the source of evidence should be examined before it is accepted.
There are many cultural references to donkeys or asses, in myth, folklore and religion, in language and in literature.
The animals sick of the plague is a dark fable by Jean de la Fontaine about the inequality of justice. It was published in 1678 at the head of his second volume of Fables (VII.1) and is generally considered one of his best.
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