49. Vulpes, Gallus, et Villicus. Vulpes aliquando, sustinens famem, ivit ad villam quandam, et veniens ante gallum dicebat ei, “O domine mi galle, quam pulchram vocem habebat pater tuus! Nam ego, volens audire vocem tuam, veni huc. Unde rogo te ut canas alta voce, ut audiam utrum tu an pater tuus pulchriorem habeat vocem.” Tunc gallus cum elatione, clausis oculis, coepit cantare. At vulpes, insiliens in eum, portabat eum in silvam. Tunc homines illius villae, insequentes eam dicebant, “Vulpes portat gallum nostrum!” Audiens haec, gallus dixit vulpi, “Audis quid dicunt villani? Dic ergo illis: meum gallum, non vestrum, porto.” Tunc vulpes, dimittens gallum ex ore, “Meum,” ait, “gallum porto, non vestrum.” Gallus autem, volans in arborem, dicebat, “Mentiris, domina mea; ipsorum sum, non tuus.”
Click here for a
SLIDESHOW of all the colored Steinhowel images. The opening scene of the story is in the foreground, when the fox tricks the rooster; then, in the background, you can see what happens next: the farmer chases the fox, and the fox foolishly lets the rooster go.
M0049 (not in Perry - but it is very similar to Perry562). Source: Munich Romulus 28 (shortened). This fable is not in Perry’s catalog. Compare the famous fable of the fox and the crow, where the fox’s flattery does succeed: #437.
