523. Columbae et Regina Earum. Venator quidam dispersit grana tritici. Ecce venit columba cum maxima turba columbarum, quarum omnium ipsa erat ductrix. Et, maxime esurientes, hic et ubique prospicientes, statim viderunt triticum, non perpendendo de rete; corruerunt omnes ad capiendum triticum, et omnes in rete captae sunt. Et videns haec venator gavisus est; columbae vero, cum sentirent se captas, commovebant se lamentabiliter hinc et inde, intendentes ac desiderantes posse evadere a rete. Quibus tandem ait ductrix earum, “Nequaquam circa vanitatem attendere debetis nec altera vestrarum diligat seipsam magis quam alteram; sed omnes simul surgite; forsitan sublevantes rete poterimus evadere ab isto magno periculo, quo nunc, proh dolor! sumus constituti!” Fecerunt itaque sublevantes rete de terra magno cum labore, et volabant cum eo per aerem.
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SLIDESHOW of all the Kalila-wa-Dimna images from this manuscript. In this illustration, in addition to the hunter, you can see a crow who is watching the whole thing; this crow is a character in the frametale used to set up the story in the larger context of the
Kalila-wa-Dimna.
M0523 (not in Perry). Source: Directorium Humanae Vitae 4. This fable is not in Perry’s catalog; it is a story found in the Panchatantra tradition. For another fable about the importance of unity, see the farmer and his sons, #930.
