The stag (hart, hind or deer) and the vine is a formerly popular and widely translated fable by Aesop. It is numbered 77 in the Perry Index. [1]
The stag (hart, hind or deer) and the vine is a formerly popular and widely translated fable by Aesop. It is numbered 77 in the Perry Index. [1]
A deer pursued by hunters hides among the vines. While there, it nibbles the leaves of the plant and so betrays its presence to the hunters, who return and kill it. The dying deer acknowledges the righteousness of the divine punishment for ingratitude to its benefactor. The fable has remained more or less unchanged in form since its first appearance in Greek sources. [2]
From the 16th century the fable was frequently retold in Europe. Gabriele Faerno included a Latin poetic version titled Cerva et vitis in his Centum Fabulae (1563), a work that soon became a widely distributed school textbook with a French verse translation. [3] In that century too the fable was taken to Mexico by Spanish colonialists, who translated it into the Aztec language and had to coin the word for 'vineyard' specially from Nahuatl, since plantations had only recently been introduced by the European invaders. [4] Later in the Far East, Portuguese priests related the story in their Japanese compilation of Aesop's Fables, Esopo no Fabulas (1593). [5]
In 1666 La Fontaine included the story in the first volume of his fables under the title Le cerf et la vigne, [6] and the story was translated back into Latin verse by J. B. Giraud in his schoolbook of 1775. [7] Then in the following century, another Latin poetic version of the original fable was published in a schoolbook "intended as a help towards original composition". [8]
One of the earliest English prose versions of the story was titled "The Hind and the Vine" and included in Charles Hoole's Aesop's Fables English and Latin (1700). [9] Shortly afterwards it was retold in verse at the end of an essay on ingratitude by Arthur Maynwaring. [10] 18th century compilers of fables retitled the story "The Hart and the Vine" and accompanied it with lengthy moral commentaries. [11] By the 19th century that title had become "The Stag and the Vine" in a short poem by Brooke Boothby [12] and in Elizur Wright's US translation of La Fontaine's fables. [13]
Much earlier, Roger L'Estrange had included the fable in his collection of 1692, accompanied by a political reflexion that alluded to the civil conflicts between monarch and parliament in which he had participated earlier in the century. [14] However, the title of "The Goat and the Vine" that he gave it properly belongs to a completely different fable by Aesop in which retribution is threatened but is slower to follow.
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.
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 Miser and his Gold is one of Aesop's Fables that deals directly with human weaknesses, in this case the wrong use of possessions. Since this is a story dealing only with humans, it allows the point to be made directly through the medium of speech rather than be surmised from the situation. It is numbered 225 in the Perry Index.
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.
The Dog and Its Reflection is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 133 in the Perry Index. The Greek language original was retold in Latin and in this way was spread across Europe, teaching the lesson to be contented with what one has and not to relinquish substance for shadow. There also exist Indian variants of the story. The morals at the end of the fable have provided both English and French with proverbs and the story has been applied to a variety of social situations.
Zeus and the Tortoise appears among Aesop’s Fables and explains how the tortoise got her shell. It is numbered 106 in the Perry Index. From it derives the proverbial sentiment that ‘There’s no place like home’.
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, 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 drowned woman and her husband is a story found in Mediaeval jest-books that entered the fable tradition in the 16th century. It was occasionally included in collections of Aesop's Fables but never became established as such and has no number in the Perry Index. Folk variants in which a contrary wife is sought upstream by her husband after she drowns are catalogued under the Aarne-Thompson classification system as type 1365A.
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 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 Astrologer who Fell into a Well" is a fable based on a Greek anecdote concerning the pre-Socratic philosopher Thales of Miletus. It was one of several ancient jokes that were absorbed into Aesop's Fables and is now numbered 40 in the Perry Index. During the scientific attack on astrology in the 16th–17th centuries, the story again became very popular.
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 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 Farmer and his Sons is a story of Greek origin that is included among Aesop's Fables and is listed as 42 in the Perry Index. It illustrates both the value of hard work and the need to temper parental advice with practicality.
There are five fables of ancient Greek origin that deal with the statue of Hermes. All have been classed as burlesques that show disrespect to the god involved and some scepticism concerning the efficacy of religious statues as objects of worship. Statues of Hermes differed according to function and several are referenced in these stories. Only one fable became generally retold in later times, although two others also achieved some currency.
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. As well as having an Asian analogue, there have been variant versions over the centuries.
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 the Eel and the Snake was originated by Laurentius Abstemius in his Hecatomythium (1490). Versions of it appeared in several European languages afterwards and in collections associated with Aesop’s Fables.
The story of the fly that fell into the soup while it was cooking was a Greek fable recorded in both verse and prose and is numbered 167 in the Perry Index. Its lesson was to meet adverse circumstances with equanimity, but it was little recorded after Classical times.