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. [1]
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. [1]
A middle-aged man had two mistresses, one of whom was older than him, and one younger. Under the pretence of dressing his hair, the younger plucked out his grey hairs so that he would look closer in age to her, while the older plucked out the dark hairs with the same motive. Between the two, he was left bald. Some later versions of the fable have translated the title as if the women were wives or even fiancées. However, Greek texts call them courtesans (ἑταίρας) or lovers (ἐρωμένας) [2] and the Neo-Latin poet Pantaleon Candidus refers to them as concubines in his version. [3]
Among the main sources of the fable, it is to be found in the Greek of Babrius and the Latin of Phaedrus, both of whom draw the moral that women are only out for what they can get from a man. Roger l'Estrange concludes that "‘Tis a much harder Thing to please two Wives, than two Masters" in his version while in La Fontaine's Fables the disabused lover renounces both women on the grounds that they wish to make him conform to their standards rather than adapt themselves to him ("The man between two ages and two mistresses" I.17). [4] Eschewing La Fontaine's pointed brevity, William Somervile adapted the Phaedrus account to a cautionary tale of inordinate length. Titled "The Bald Batchelor", it counsels the "batter’d Beau” to “marry in good time or not at all”. [5]
At the start of the 18th century in Britain, the fable was given a political interpretation. Matthew Prior's "A Fable" (1710) was applied to the situation of the reigning monarch, caught between the two political parties of the day. [6] The Scots poet Allan Ramsay adapted La Fontaine's fable into dialect as "The Man wi the Twa Wives" somewhere between 1722-9. In the wake of the widespread appropriation of fables to political ends in previous decades, he makes the two wives supporters of opposing parties in addition to hair-pluckers and draws the conclusion that truth is the victim of extreme opposing views. [7] At the other end of that century, the fable was adapted by F. G. Waldron (1744–1818) as "The man with two wives or, wigs for ever! A dramatick fable set to musick by Mr. Sanderson". It was first performed at the then Royalty Theatre in Tower Hamlets [8] on March 24, 1798, to such popular acclaim that copies of the piece soon appeared for sale there. The conclusion of this musical romp is that the trio finally order wigs 'from Britain' so that all may change the colour of their hair at will. [9]
In 20th century France, Francis Poulenc included La Fontaine's plot as an episode in his ballet Les Animaux modèles (1941). [10] Jean Françaix set it for voice, flute and string quintet in 1958. [11] Howard J. Buss set it for alto sax and voice under the title of "The Middle Aged Man with Two Mistresses" in his suite of "Sonic Fables: Lessons from Aesop" (1991) [12] and Vladimir Cosma made it the seventh piece in Eh bien ! Dansez maintenant (2006), a light-hearted interpretation for narrator and orchestra in the style of a Boston. [13] The artist Leonor Fini also made a print of the fable in 1961. [14]
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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.
Aesop was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales associated with him are characterized by anthropomorphic animal characters.
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.
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 Old Man and Death is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 60 in the Perry Index. Because this was one of the comparatively rare fables featuring humans, it was the subject of many paintings, especially in France, where Jean de la Fontaine's adaptation had made it popular.
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.
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.
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 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.
The Kite and the Doves is a political fable ascribed to Aesop that is numbered 486 in the Perry Index. During the Middle Ages the fable was modified by the introduction of a hawk as an additional character, followed by a change in the moral drawn from it.
The story of the bald man and the fly is found in the earliest collection of Aesop’s Fables and is numbered 525 in the Perry Index. Although it deals with the theme of just punishment, some later interpreters have used it as a counsel of restraint.
