The Eagle and the Fox
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Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
THE EAGLE AND THE FOX (from the medieval Greek fable by Syntipas; Fable #1)
The eagle befriended the fox but he later devoured the fox's
pups. Since she had no power over the eagle, the fox prayed to the gods for
justice. Then one day when a sacrifice was burning upon an altar, the eagle
flew down and grabbed the sizzling meat to carry it off to his chicks. The meat
was so hot that as soon as the chicks ate it, they died.
This fable shows that even if the victims of powerful and wicked people cannot get revenge directly, the gods will nevertheless inflict a punishment on them in response to their victims' prayers.
Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
THE EAGLE AND THE FOX (from the ancient Latin fable by Phaedrus)
Even a high and mighty person should beware of his inferiors; their ingenuity can find a way to take revenge.
There was once an eagle who stole the cubs of a fox and carried them off to her nest as food for her chicks to peck at. The mother fox set off in pursuit, begging the eagle not to impose this unbearable loss on such a miserable creature as herself. The eagle scoffed at her request, fully confident in the loftiness of her own position. The fox then snatched a burning faggot from the altar and completely surrounded the tree with flames, threatening pain to her enemy at the cost of her own flesh and blood. The eagle conceded: in order to snatch her chicks from the maw of death, she returned the fox's cubs unharmed.
Fables: Caxton (1484)
Of the Egle and of the foxe
How the puyssaunt & myghty must doubte the feble Esope
reherceth to vs suche a fable / Ther was an Egle whiche came ther as yong foxes
were / and took awey one of them / and gaf hit to his yonge egles to fede them
with The foxe wente after hym & praid hym to restore and gyue hym ageyne
his yong foxe / And the Egle sayd that he wold not / For he was ouer hym lord
and maister / And thenne the foxe fulle of shrewdnes and of malyce beganne to
put to gyder grete habondaunce of strawe round aboute the tree / where vpon
the egle and his yonge were in theyr nest / and kyndeled it with fyre / And
whan the smoke and the flambe began to ryse vpward / the Egle ferdfulle and
doubtyng the dethe of her lytylle egles restored ageyne the yonge foxe to his
This fable sheweth vs / how the myghty men oughte not to lette in ony thynge the smale folke / For the lytyll ryght ofte may lette and trouble the grete
Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
AN EAGLE AND A FOX
There was a Bargain struck up betwixt an Eagle and a Fox to
be wonderful good Neighbours and Friends. The one took up in a Thicket of Brushwood,
and the other timber’d upon a Tree hard by. The Eagle one day when the
Fox was abroad a foraging, fell into his Quarters, and carried away a whole
Litter of Cubs at a Swoop. The Fox came time enough back to see the Eagle upon
the Wing with her Prey in the Foot, and to send many a heavy Curse after her;
but there was no overtaking her. It happen’d in a very short time after
this, upon the sacrificing of a Goat, that the same Eagle made a swoop at a
Piece of Flesh upon the Altar, and she took it away to her Young: But some live
Coals it seems that stuck to’t, set the Nest on Fire. The Birds were not
as yet fledged enough to shift for themselves, but upon sprawling and struggling
to get clear of the Flame, down they tumbled, half-roasted, into the very Mouth
of the Fox, that stood gaping under the Tree to see the End on’t: So that
the Fox had the Satisfaction at last of devouring the Children of her Enemy
in the very sight of the Dam.
THE MORAL. God reserves to himself the Punishment of faithless and oppressing Governors, and the vindication of his own Worship and Altars.
Questions. Make sure you can answer these questions about what you just read:
Source: Laura Gibbs, translator. Aesop's Fables (2003). Weblink.
Languages / Anthropology 3043: Folklore & Mythology.
Laura Gibbs, Ph.D.
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