624. Anguilla et Serpens. Anguilla interrogabat serpentem quare, cum similes essent atque cognati, homines tamen se, potius quam illum, insequerentur. Cui serpens “Quia rarus,” inquit, “me laedit impune.”
Click here for a SLIDESHOW of all the 1590 Aesop images.
M0624 (not in Perry). Source: Abstemius 17. This fable is not in Perry’s catalog; Perry omitted most of Abstemius’s fables. Compare Apollo’s advice to the snake, #614.
623. Vipera et Auceps. Venator quidam, sumpto visco et harundinibus, venatum exiit. Cum autem turdum procera in arbore considentem vidisset, calamis inter se in longitudinem iunctis, oculos ad eum levabat, ipsum capere exoptans. Interim vero contigit ut viperam, sub pedibus iacentem, nescius premeret. Quae cum exasperata ipsum mormordisset, iamiam ille deficiens, “Me miserum,” inquit, “qui cum alium venari vellem, ab alio ad mortem raptus sum.”
Click here for a SLIDESHOW of all the Osius images. The difference here is that this poor birdcatcher is using a snare instead of bird lime and reeds.
M0623 = Perry115. Source: De Furia 225. This is Perry 115. For another example of a birdcatcher’s use of a snare made of extensible reeds coated with viscous birdlime, see #576. Compare also the fable of the kite surprised by an archer, #427. Read a Fabula Facilis version of this fable.
625. Hydrus, Vipera et Ranae. Vipera, ad fontem accedens, ex eo potare solebat. Hydrus, loci illius incola, vetabat, increpans quod, propriis pascuis non contenta, ad suam quoque mansionem accederet. Quae contentio cum magis magisque in dies cresceret, in proelium tandem venire decernunt, ea lege ut victori et telluris et aquae ius cederet. Statuto igitur proelii tempore, ranae, hydri odio, ad viperam veniunt, animumque ei, pollicitae se socias adfore proelii, addunt. Vipera cum hydro congreditur, sed ranae, nihil ultra praestare cum possent, ingentem e stagno clamorem ediderunt. Victrix autem vipera ranas, quod se socias pollicitae pugnae non interfuissent, graviter obiurgavit. At illae, “Heus tu,” dixere, “scito societatem nostram non manibus, sed voce constitisse.” Indicat haec fabula quod verborum auxilia nihil prosunt ubi manibus opus est.
All the fables are here, and with each fable you can see the notes at the bottom of the fable (in the book, the notes are in the back). For more information about the free PDF of the book, see this post. :-)