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.

Two Pots, The

TWO Pots had been left on the bank of a river, one of brass, and one of earthenware. When the tide rose they both floated off down the stream. Now the earthenware pot tried its best to keep aloof from the brass one, which cried out: “Fear nothing, friend, I will not strike you.”

“But I may come in contact with you,” said the other, “if I come too close; and whether I hit you, or you hit me, I shall suffer for it.”

The strong and the weak cannot keep company.

Notes

(Av. ix.)

Avian, ed. Ellis, II. Probably Indian. (Panch. iii. 13.) It occurs also in the Apocrypha: "Have no fellowship with one that is mightier and richer than thyself, for how agree the Kettle and Earthen Pot together?' (Ecclus.xiii. 2). There is a Talmudic proverb: "If a jug fall on a stone, woe to the jug; if a stone fall on a jug, woe to the jug." (Midr. Est. ap. Dukes Blumenlese, No. 530.)

SurLaLune Note

Perry 378

Bibliographic Information

Tale Title: Two Pots, 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 378

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