NOTES TO THE FABLES
You will find public domain illustrations from many sources for these fables in this Flickr collection; each fable has its own album in the collection. I originally collected these fables for a Latin book of Aesop’s fables, so the labels on the actual pictures are in Latin. You will sometimes see that the Latin word is similar to an English word (Latin “agricola,” meaning “farmer” is like the English word “agriculture”), or you might recognize how a Latin word is the origin of a Spanish word (Latin “pavo” means “peacock” just like Spanish “pavo,” or Latin “grus” means “crane” like Spanish “grúa”).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/38299630@N05/collections/72157656404587591/
I’ve created a redirect link that is easier to type here:
The fable albums are organized by “Perry number” which is a standard system for indexing the fables as used by Ben Perry in his book Aesopica.
The Peacock and the Crane
Perry 294
Note: The piece of equipment called a “crane” gets its name from the bird; the crane has a very long neck!
TEXT DATA SET
A1) The Farmer and His Sons
Perry 53
Theme: Unity and Cooperation
Note: For a fable that shows the dangers of disunity, see the fable about The Lion and the Bulls in the second set of fables.
A2) Juno and the Peacock
Perry 509
Theme: Jealousy and Rivalry
Note: Juno was the queen of the gods in Roman mythology; the Greeks called her Hera. The peacock was Juno’s favorite bird (and the favorite bird of her husband, Jupiter, was the eagle).
A3) Hercules and the Farmer
Perry 291
Theme: Hard Work
Note: Hercules was the son of the god Jupiter (Zeus). During his life, he was a hero, and then after his death, he was considered to be a god, which is why the farmer prays to Hercules to help him.
A4) The Tortoise and the Rabbit
Perry 226
Theme: Hard Work
Note: You will also see this fable called “The Tortoise and the Hare.” It combines a positive AND a negative example: you should be like the tortoise (positive example), and you should not be like the rabbit (negative example).
A5) The Stomach and the Body
Perry 130
Theme: Unity and Cooperation
Note: Shakespeare liked this fable, and he tells a long version of it in his play Coriolanus. It is also called the fable of “The Belly and the Members” (the parts of the body are the “members” of the body).
A6) The Thirsty Crow
Perry 390
Theme: Hard Work
Note: Crows really CAN do this. Sarah Jelbert at the University of Auckland in New Zealand conducted an experiment in which crows raised water in a tube by dropping in objects that would sink and raise the level of the water. If you Google the scientist’s name you can find more information about this and even see a video of the experiment.
A7) The Dog and His Reflection
Perry 133
Theme: Jealousy and Rivalry
You can compare this fable with the fable of The Stag and His Reflection: both animals get into trouble because of a reflection, but the dog’s problem is being greedy while the stag’s problem is vanity and inaccurate body image.
A8) The Frog and the Bull
Perry 376
Theme: Jealousy and Rivalry
Frogs really do puff themselves up, so that part of the story is naturalistic. The idea that a frog would be jealous the size of a bull is something that does not happen in nature — just in an Aesop’s fable.
A9) The Ant and the Dove
Perry 235
Theme: Unity and Cooperation
The version of the fable presented here does not have any dialogue, but of course you could write a version of the fable in which the ant and the dove talk to each other!
FABLES WITHOUT A MORAL
B1) The Lion and the Mouse
Perry 150
The moral of this story is that even a little creature can help a big creature. It is also a positive example of gratitude: the lion did the mouse a favor, and the mouse returned that favor as promised.
B2) The Farmer’s Daughter and the Bucket of Milk
Not in Perry. This is a fable from the Middle East that became part of the Aesop’s fable tradition thanks to being included in La Fontaine’s French Fables. The moral of this fable can be expressed with the English proverb: “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.” This type of folktale is referred to as the “Air Castle” type of fable, from the idea of building castles “in the air” — castles in your imagination, but not in reality.
B3) The Tortoise and the Ducks
Not in Perry. This is a fable from the Middle East that became part of the Aesop’s fable tradition thanks to being included in La Fontaine’s French Fables.
The moral of this fable is that you should not reply to people who insult you or make fun of you. Just stick to your plan and keep on going! If the tortoise had kept his mouth shut, this story could have been a great example of cooperation among friends, but instead it is a negative example of someone whose own words get him into trouble.
B4) The Fox and the Crow
Perry 124
The moral of this story is that you should not trust in flattering words. The fox is often a trickster in Aesop’s fables. The fox’s tricks do not always succeed but in this case, because the crow is foolish, the tricky fox gets the cheese.
B3) The Farmer’s Daughter and the Bucket of Milk
Not in Perry. This is a fable from the Middle East that became part of the Aesop’s fable tradition thanks to being included in La Fontaine’s French Fables. The moral of this fable can be expressed with the English proverb: “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.” This type of folktale is referred to as the “Air Castle” type of fable, from the idea of building castles “in the air” — castles in your imagination, but not in reality.
B4) The Tortoise and the Ducks
Not in Perry. This is a fable from the Middle East that became part of the Aesop’s fable tradition thanks to being included in La Fontaine’s French Fables.
The moral of this fable is that you should not reply to people who insult you or make fun of you. Just stick to your plan and keep on going! If the tortoise had kept his mouth shut, this story could have been a great example of cooperation among friends, but instead it is a negative example of someone whose own words get him into trouble.
B5) Three Bulls and a Lion
Perry 372
The moral of this story is that there is strength in unity, and you should be careful when your enemy is trying to destroy that unity. The lion is using a strategy called “divide and conquer.” There is also a Biblical proverb that describes the situation of the bulls: “A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Gospel of Mark 3:25). The number of bulls varies from story to story: sometimes there are two bulls, sometimes three, sometimes four — but the moral works the same way no matter how many bulls there are.
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