373. Canis Custos et Domini Filius. Erat cuidam perquam fidelis canis. Hic quodam tempore solus relictus apud parvulum filium illius, iacentem adhuc in cunis, videt serpentem ad puerum interimendum arrepere. Ille igitur in serpentem, qui iam ad cunas pervenisset, irruit et eum non sine difficultate interimit. Itaque inter luctandum evertuntur cunae, et supra serpentem reclinantur. Reversus autem paterfamilias, cernensque cunas eversas et cruentum os canis, quod suspicaretur ab hoc puerum interfectum esse, neque prioris fidelitatis recordatus, neque spatio capto ad rem cognoscendam, ense arrepto canem occidit. Postea tollit cunas, et puero vivo reperto et serpente conscisso, quid factum esset intellegit et suum erga canem perpetratum scelus deplorat. Fabula docet nihil esse in ira et perturbatione animi inconsiderate committendum, ne festinationem nostram sempiternus dolor sequatur.
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SLIDESHOW of all the Griset images. I like the way that the light shining in from the left suggests visually the dawning realization: this is the moment when the father realizes that he has killed the dog who saved his son's life!
M0373 (not in Perry). Source: Camerarius 389. This fable is not in Perry’s catalog, although it is found in the Panchatantra tradition. For another story about acting in haste, with fatal consequences, see the story of the two doves, #520. For a story about a dog who did kill his master’s son, see #372.
