The Fox and the Woodman
The Fox and the Woodman is a cautionary story against hypocrisy included among Aesop's Fables and is numbered 22 in the Perry Index.[1] Although the same basic plot recurs, different versions have included a variety of participants.
The fable's history
There are both Greek and Latin sources for the fable. They tell of a hunted animal that asks a man to hide it. When the hunters enquire if he has seen their quarry, he says he has not but indicates the hiding place by pointing to it or looking at it. The hunters take him at his word, however, and ride off. When the animal emerges, it reproaches the man for his double-dealing. Most Greek accounts make the animal a fox who appeals to a woodman. In the Latin poem of Phaedrus the hunted animal is a hare (lepus) who appeals to a herdsman. Later Latin versions mistake the name and make the animal a wolf (lupus).[2] It was therefore told of a wolf in the earliest printed collections of Aesop's fables in the 15th century.
A rather different version of the fable is ascribed to Aesop by the 2nd century philosopher Maximus of Tyre in his Dissertations. A lion pursuing a stag asks a shepherd if he has seen it. The man says he has not but points to the stag's hiding place, where it is killed by the lion. A fox then denounces the man as a servile coward.[3] Maximus applies the story to the taking of contradictory philosophical positions, but later writers see it as an illustration of hypocritical behaviour. The 16th century Neo-Latin poets Hieronymus Osius[4] and Pantaleon Candidus[5] both treated the fox version of the fable and commented on the discordant behaviour of saying one thing and doing another. Writing in the tradition of emblem books, Johannes Posthius brought out an illustrated Aesopi Fabulae (1566) in which a German verse treatment of the fables was prefaced by a short poem in Latin summing up the moral gist of each. Fable 127 deals with the Fox and the Woodman (Vulpes et lignator) and declares that, if you want a trustworthy reputation, word and hand should agree.[6]
The fable was also included in Poggio's prose collection of humorous anecdotes, the Facetiae, written during the 1450s.[7] He too saw it as an illustration of hypocritical behaviour, while Roger L'Estrange, one of the few to record the fable in English after William Caxton, comments that 'Conscience is as answerable for his Fingers as for his Tongue'.[8]
References
- ^ "Aesopica site". Mythfolklore.net. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
- ^ Adrados, Francisco Rodríguez (2003). History of the Graeco-Latin Fable. Vol. III. Brill Publishers. pp. 32–4. ISBN 9004118918.
- ^ The dissertations of Maximus Tyrius (trans. T. Taylor), London 1804 Dissertation 33
- ^ Fabulae Aesopi Fable 202
- ^ "Fable 20". Uni-mannheim.de. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
- ^ Aesopus. "p.266". Dfg-viewer.de. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
- ^ Vol.2, Paris 1879, Fable 163
- ^ "Fable 104". Mythfolklore.net. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
External links
- Illustrations from books between the 15th and 19th centuries
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Fables
- The Ant and the Grasshopper
- The Ass and his Masters
- The Ass and the Pig
- The Ass Carrying an Image
- The Ass in the Lion's Skin
- The Astrologer who Fell into a Well
- The Bear and the Travelers
- The Belly and the Members
- The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird
- The Bird in Borrowed Feathers
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf
- The Cat and the Mice
- The Cock and the Jewel
- The Cock, the Dog and the Fox
- The Crow and the Pitcher
- The Crow and the Snake
- The Deer without a Heart
- The Dog and Its Reflection
- The Dog and the Wolf
- The Dove and the Ant
- The Farmer and the Stork
- The Farmer and the Viper
- The Fir and the Bramble
- The Fisherman and the Little Fish
- The Fowler and the Snake
- The Fox and the Crow
- The Fox and the Grapes
- The Fox and the Lion
- The Fox and the Mask
- The Fox and the Sick Lion
- The Fox and the Stork
- The Fox and the Weasel
- The Fox and the Woodman
- The Frog and the Ox
- The Frogs Who Desired a King
- The Goat and the Vine
- The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs
- The Honest Woodcutter
- The Horse and the Donkey
- The Horse that Lost its Liberty
- The Lion and the Mouse
- The Lion, the Bear and the Fox
- The Man with Two Mistresses
- The Mischievous Dog
- The Miser and his Gold
- The Moon and her Mother
- The Mountain in Labour
- The Mouse and the Oyster
- The North Wind and the Sun
- The Oak and the Reed
- The Old Man and Death
- The Old Woman and the Doctor
- The Rose and the Amaranth
- The Satyr and the Traveller
- The Sick Kite
- The Snake and the Crab
- The Snake in the Thorn Bush
- The Tortoise and the Hare
- Town Mouse and Country Mouse
- The Travellers and the Plane Tree
- The Trees and the Bramble
- The Two Pots
- The Walnut Tree
- Washing the Ethiopian White
- The Weasel and Aphrodite
- The Wolf and the Crane
- The Wolf and the Lamb
- The Woodcutter and the Trees
- The Young Man and the Swallow
- An ass eating thistles
- The Bear and the Gardener
- Belling the Cat (also known as The Mice in Council)
- The Blind Man and the Lame
- The Boy and the Filberts
- Chanticleer and the Fox
- The Dog in the Manger
- The drowned woman and her husband
- The Elm and the Vine
- The Fox and the Cat
- The Gourd and the Palm-tree
- The Hawk and the Nightingale
- The miller, his son and the donkey
- The Monkey and the Cat
- The Priest and the Wolf
- The Scorpion and the Frog
- The Shepherd and the Lion
adaptations
- Aesop's Film Fables
- The Grasshopper and the Ants
adaptations
- Demetrius of Phalerum
- Phaedrus
- Babrius
- Avianus
- Dositheus Magister
- Alexander Neckam
- Adémar de Chabannes
- Odo of Cheriton
- John Lydgate
- Kawanabe Kyōsai
- Laurentius Abstemius
- Roger L'Estrange
- Gabriele Faerno
- Hieronymus Osius
- Marie de France
- Robert Henryson
- Jean de La Fontaine
- Ivan Krylov
- Nicolas Trigault
- Robert Thom
- Zhou Zuoren