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The Wolf and the Lamb is a well-known fable of Aesop and is numbered 155 in the Perry Index. [1] There are several variant stories of tyrannical injustice in which a victim is falsely accused and killed despite a reasonable defence.
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The Wolf and the Lamb is a well-known fable of Aesop and is numbered 155 in the Perry Index. [1] There are several variant stories of tyrannical injustice in which a victim is falsely accused and killed despite a reasonable defence.
A wolf comes upon a lamb while both are drinking from a stream and, in order to justify taking its life, accuses it of various misdemeanours, all of which the lamb proves to be impossible. Losing patience, the wolf replies that the offences must have been committed by some other member of the lamb's family and that it does not propose to delay its meal by enquiring any further. There are versions of the fable in both the Greek of Babrius [2] and the Latin of Phaedrus, [3] and it was retold in Latin throughout the Middle Ages. The morals drawn there are that the tyrant can always find an excuse for his tyranny and that the unjust will not listen to the reasoning of the innocent. [4]
In his 1692 retelling of the fable, Roger L'Estrange used the English proverb "'Tis an easy Matter to find a Staff to beat a Dog" to sum up the sentiment that any arbitrary excuse will suit the powerful. [5] At a slightly earlier date, Jean de la Fontaine began his very similar version of the story with the moral summary of its meaning, La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure [6] (The strongest side always carries the argument). [7] The line eventually became proverbial in French and was glossed with the alternative English proverb, "Might makes right", as its equivalent. [8] Ivan Krylov's translation of the French [9] was likewise close and has given the Russian language two proverbs. The first, "The stronger always blames the weaker" ("У сильного всегда бессильный виноват"), is taken from the poem's first line. The second idiomatic usage is provided by the wolf's final reply to the lamb's reasoning, "My need of food is guilt enough of yours" ("Ты виноват уж тем, что хочется мне кушать"), and is used ironically of someone casting around to find blame, no matter what justice demands. [10]
A variant story attributed to Aesop exists in Greek sources. This is the fable of the cock and the cat, which is separately numbered 16 in the Perry Index. [11] Seeking a reasonable pretext to kill the cock, the cat accuses it of waking people early in the morning and then of incest with its sisters and daughters. In both cases, the cock answers that humanity benefits by its activities. But the cat ends the argument by remarking that it is now her breakfast time and "Cats don't live on dialogues". [12] Underlying both these fables is a Latin proverb, variously expressed, [13] that "an empty belly has no ears" or, as the Spanish equivalent has it, "Lobo hambriento no tiene asiento" (a hungry wolf doesn't hang about). [14]
The fable also has Eastern analogues. One of these is the Buddhist Dipi Jataka in which the protagonists are a panther and a goat. The goat has strayed into the presence of a panther and tries to avert its fate by greeting the predator politely. It is accused of treading on his tail and then of scaring off his prey, for which crime it is made to substitute. [15] A similar story involving birds is found among Bidpai's Persian fables as "The Partridge and the Hawk". [16] The unjust accusation there is that the partridge is taking up all the shade, leaving the hawk out in the hot sun. When the partridge points out that it is midnight, it is killed by the hawk for contradicting.
Down the centuries, interpreters of the fable have applied it to injustices prevalent in their own times. The 15th-century Moral Fables by Scottish poet Robert Henryson depict widespread social breakdown. The Lamb appeals to natural law, to Scripture, and to statutory law, and is answered by the Wolf with perversions of all these. Then Henryson in his own person comments that there are three kinds of contemporary wolves who oppress the poor: dishonest lawyers; landowners intent on extending their estates; and aristocrats who exploit their tenants. [17]
A political application of the fable to international relations is an 1893 Punch cartoon published when Britain and France were both thinking of extending their colonial influence into Thailand and were looking for excuses to do so. A wolf in French Army uniform eyes the Thai lamb across the Mekong River. Much earlier, the fable's presence in the borders of the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry (see above) has suggested a similar political comment being made by the English embroiderers to express their dissent and horror at the 1066 Norman invasion of Britain. [18]
The story was among those included in La Fontaine's Fables (I.10) [19] and was set to music by several French composers, including
La Fontaine's fable in Catalan translation is part of Xavier Benguerel i Godó’s Siete Fabulas de La Fontaine for recitation with orchestral accompaniment. [28] But it was Martin Luther's German translation, Fabel Vom Wolf und Lämmlein that Hans Poser set for male choir and accompaniment in his Die Fabeln des Äsop (0p.28, 1956). A ballet based upon the fable was choreographed in 2004 by Béatrice Massin for the composite presentation of Annie Sellem, Les Fables à La Fontaine. This was interpreted to the Baroque music of Marin Marais. [29]
The fable was also the subject of several paintings by Jean-Baptiste Oudry, including one over the door in the Grand Cabinet du Dauphin in the Palace of Versailles (1747) and a canvas currently held in the Museums of Metz. [30] In the 19th century it was made the subject of a statue by Hippolyte Heizler (1828-71), currently in the Le Mans botanical garden, in which the wolf looks down threateningly at the diminutive lamb. [31] Later the fable figured on two French stamps: first was a 1938 portrait of La Fontaine with the tale illustrated in a panel below it; [32] there was also a six-stamp strip issued in 1995 to commemorate the third centenary of La Fontaine's death, in which the lamb is shown as startled by the wolf's reflection in the water. [33] In 1977 Burundi issued a four-stamp block of fables where the designs are based on Gustave Doré's illustrations, of which this fable is one. [34]
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.
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The Cat and the Mice is a fable attributed to Aesop of which there are several variants. Sometimes a weasel is the predator; the prey can also be rats and chickens.
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.
The Tortoise and the Birds is a fable of probable folk origin, early versions of which are found in both India and Greece. There are also African variants. The moral lessons to be learned from these differ and depend on the context in which they are told.
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 Wolf and the Crane is a fable attributed to Aesop that has several eastern analogues. Similar stories have a lion instead of a wolf, and a stork, heron or partridge takes the place of the crane.
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 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.
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 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 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.
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"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 Oxen and the Creaking Cart is a situational fable ascribed to Aesop and is numbered 45 in the Perry Index. Originally directed against complainers, it was later linked with the proverb ‘the worst wheel always creaks most’ and aimed emblematically at babblers of all sorts.
The Dog and the Sheep is one of Aesop’s Fables and is numbered 478 in the Perry Index. Originally its subject was the consequence of bearing false witness. However, longer treatments of the story during the Middle Ages change the focus to deal with perversions of justice by the powerful at the expense of the poor. It has sometimes been alternatively titled The Wolf, the Dog and the Sheep in order to distinguish it from the fable of the dispute between the sheep and the dog that guards them.
Media related to The Wolf and the Lamb at Wikimedia Commons