Fables of Aesop, The | Annotated Tale

COMPLETE! Entered into SurLaLune Database in September 2018 with all known ATU Classifications. Aesop Fables have Perry classification numbers which have been included in the End Notes to each of the tales. They were also used in the ATU field when no ATU classification was available for a fable. Note that Aesop as an author and Greece as the geographic location for these fables are loose categorizations due to the murky nature of Aesop's Fables in general. Read the Introductory materials to this collection to learn more. For convenience, Aesop and Greece have been used in the classifications for convenience despite the inaccuracies involved.



Lion and the Statue, The

A MAN and a Lion were discussing the relative strength of men and lions in general. The Man contended that he and his fellows were stronger than lions by reason of their greater intelligence. “Come now with me,” he cried, “and I will soon prove that I am right.” So he took him into the public gardens and showed him a statue of Hercules overcoming the Lion and tearing his mouth in two.

“That is all very well,” said the Lion, “but proves nothing, for it was a man who made the statue.”

We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.

Notes

(Ro. iv. 15).

Medieval prose Phædrus. Quoted by Plutarch, Apophth. Lacaed. 69. Curiously enough, though this fable is no longer extant in Babrius, it is one of those used by Crusius to prove that Babrius was a Roman; for it exists among those passing under the name of Gabrias, which were certainly derived from a completer Babrius than that now extant. In this the Statue is declared to have been placed upon a sepulchral monument: a custom only found among the Romans and not among the Greeks. The fable also occurs in the Greek prose Æsop, ed. Halm, 63 (which is also derived from the Babrius), and in Avian, 24. It is quoted in Spectator, No. 11.

SurLaLune Note

Perry 284

Bibliographic Information

Tale Title: Lion and the Statue, The
Tale Author/Editor: Aesop
Book Title: Fables of Aesop, The
Book Author/Editor: Aesop & Jacobs, Joseph
Publisher: Macmillan & Co.
Publication City: London
Year of Publication: 1902
Country of Origin: Greece
Classification: Perry 284








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