medieval monkish collections
of _exempla_, or stories designed for the use of
preachers: in these the explanation is that nothing can
be better and nothing worse than _tongue_.
At a symposium Xanthus takes too much wine, and in bravado wagers his
house and all that it contains that he will drink up the waters of the
sea. Out of this scrape Esop rescues him by suggesting that he should
demand that all the rivers be stopped from flowing into the sea, for he
did not undertake to drink them too, and the other party is
satisfied.[133]
[133] This occurs in the several Asiatic versions of the Book
of Sindibád (Story of the Sandalwood Merchant); in the
_Gesta Romanorum_; in the old English metrical _Tale of
Beryn_; in one of the Italian _Novelle_ of Sacchetti;
and in the exploits of Tyl Eulenspiegel, the German
Rogue.
A party of scientific guests are coming to dinner one day, and Esop is
set just within the door to keep out "all but the wise." When there is a
knock at the door Esop shouts: "What does the dog shake?" and all save
one go away in high dudgeon, thinking he means them; but this last
answers: "His tail," and is admitted.
At a public festival an eagle carries off the municipal ring, and Esop
obtains his freedom by order of the state for his interpretation of this
omen--that some king purposes to annex Samos. This, it turns out, is
Croesus, who sends to claim tribute. Hereupon Esop relates his first
fable, that of the Wolf, the Dog, and the Sheep, and, going on an
embassy to Croesus, that of the Grasshopper who was caught by the
Locust-gatherer. He brings home "peace with honour." After this Esop
travels over the world, showing his wisdom and wit. At Babylon he is
made much of by the king. He then visits Egypt and confounds the sages
in his monarch's behalf. Once more he returns to Greece, and at Delphi
is accused of stealing a sacred golden bowl and condemned to be hurled
from a rock. He pleads the fables of the Matron of Ephesus,[134] the
Frog and the Mouse, the Beetle and the Eagle, the Old Farmer and his
Ass-waggon, and others, but all is of no avail, and the villains break
his neck.
[134] Taken from Petronius Arbiter. The story is widely
spread. It is found in the _Seven Wise Masters_,
and--_mutatis mutandis_--is well known to the Chinese.
Planudes takes some liberties with his original,
substituting for the soldier guarding the suspended
corpse of a criminal, who "comforts" the sorrowing
widow, a herdsman with his beasts, which he loses in
prosecuting his amour.
* * * * *
Such are some of the apocryphal sayings and doings of Esop the
fabulist--the manner of his death being the only circumstance for which
there is any authority. The idea of his bodily deformity is utterly
without foundation, and may have been adopted as a foil to his
extraordinary shrewdness and wit, as exhibited in the anecdotes related
of him by Planudes. That there was nothing uncouth in the person of Esop
is evident from the fact that the Athenians erected a fine statue of
him, by the famed sculptor Lysippus.--The Latin collection of the fables
ascribed to Esop was first printed at Rome in 1473 and soon afterwards
translated into most of the languages of Europe. About the year 1480 the
Greek text was printed at Milan. From a French version Caxton printed
them in English at Westminster in 1484, with woodcuts: "Here begynneth
the Book of the subtyl History and Fables of Esope. Translated out of
Frenssche into Englissche, by William Caxton," etc. In this version
Planudes' description of Esop's personal appearance is reproduced:[135]
He was "deformed and evil shapen, for he had a great head, large visage,
long jaws, sharp eyes, a short neck, curb backed, great belly, great
legs, and large feet; and yet that which was worse, he was dumb and
could not speak; but, notwithstanding all this, he had a great wit and
was greatly ingenious, subtle in cavillection and joyous in words"--an
inconsistency which is done away in a later edition by the statement
that afterwards he found his tongue.--It is curious to find the Scottish
poet Robert Henryson (15th century), in one of the prologues to his
metrical versions of some of the Fables, draw a very different portrait
of Esop.[136] He tells us that one day in the midst of June, "that joly
sweit seasoun," he went alone to a wood, where he was charmed with the
"noyis of birdis richt delitious," and "sweit was the smell of flowris
quhyte and reid," and, sheltering himself under a green hawthorn from
the heat of the sun, he fell asleep:
And, in my dreme, methocht come throw the schaw[137]
The fairest man that ever befoir I saw.
His gowne wes of ane claith als quhyte as milk,
His chymeris[138] wes of chambelote purpour broun;
His hude[139] of scarlet, bordourit[140] weill with silk,
On hekellit-wyis,[141] untill his girdill doun;
His bonat round, and of the auld fassoun,[142]
His beird was quhyte, his ene was greit and gray,
With lokker[143] hair, quilk ouer his schulderis lay.
Ane roll of paper in his hand he bair,
Ane swannis pen stikkand[144] under his eir,
Ane inkhorne, with ane prettie gilt pennair,[145]
Ane bag of silk, all at his belt can beir:
Thus was he gudelie graithit[146] in his geir.
Of stature large, and with ane feirfull[147] face;
Evin quhair I lay, he came ane sturdie pace.
[135] Mr. Jacobs was obliged to omit the Life of Esop in his
reprint of Caxton's text of the Fables, as it would have
unduly increased the bulk of his second volume. But
those interested in the genealogy of popular tales and
fables will be glad to have Mr. Jacobs' all but
exhaustive account of the so-called Esopic fables,
together with his excellent synopsis of parallels, in
preference to the monkish collection of spurious
anecdotes of the fabulist, of which the most noteworthy
are given in the present paper.
[136] Robert Henryson was a schoolmaster in Dunfermline in the
latter part of the 15th century. His _Moral Fables_,
edited by Dr. David Irving, were printed for the
Maitland Club in 1832, and his complete works (Poems and
Fables) were edited by Dr. David Laing, and published in
1865. His _Testament of Cresseid_, usually considered as
his best performance, is a continuation of Chaucer's
_Troilus and Cresseide_, which was derived from the
Latin of an unknown author named Lollius. Henryson was
the author of the first pastoral poem composed in the
English (or Scottish) language--that of _Robin and
Makyn_. "To his power of poetical conception," Dr. Laing
justly remarks, "he unites no inconsiderable skill in
versification: his lines, if divested of their uncouth
orthography, might be mistaken for those of a more
modern poet."
[137] _Schaw_, a wood, a covert.
[138] _Chymeris_, a short, light gown.
[139] _Hude_, hood.
[140] _Bordourit_, embroidered.
[141] _Hekellit-wise_, like the feathers in the neck of a cock.
[142] _Fassoun_, fashion.
[143] _Lokker_, (?) gray.
[144] _Stikkand_, sticking.
[145] _Pennair_, pen-case.
[146] _Graithit_, apparelled, arrayed.
[147] _Feirfull_, awe-inspiring, dignified.
The Arabian sage Lokinan is represented by tradition to have been a
black slave, and of hideous appearance, from which, and from the
identity of the apologues in the Arabian collection that bears his name
as the author with the so-called Esopic fables, some writers have
supposed that Esop and Lokman are simply different names of one and the
same individual. But the fables ascribed to Lokman have been for the
most part (if not indeed entirely) derived from the Greek; and there is
no authority whatever that Lokman composed any apologues. Various
traditions exist regarding Lokman's origin and history. It is said that
he was an Ethiopian, and was sold as a slave to the Israelites during
the reign of David. According to one version, he was a carpenter;
another describes him as having been originally a tailor; while a third
account states that he was a shepherd. If the Arabs may be credited, he
was nearly related to the patriarch Job. Among the anecdotes which are
recounted of his amiable disposition is the following: His master once
gave him a bitter lemon to eat. Lokman ate it all, upon which his
master, greatly astonished, asked him: "How was it possible for you to
eat so unpalatable a fruit?" Lokman replied: "I have received so many
favours from you, that it is no wonder I should once in my life eat a
bitter melon from your hand." Struck with this generous answer, the
master, it is said, immediately gave him his freedom.--A man of eminence
among the Jews, observing a great crowd around Lokman, eagerly listening
to his discourse, asked him whether he was not the black slave who
lately tended the sheep of such a person, to which Lokman replying in
the affirmative, "How was it possible," continued his questioner, "for
thee to attain so exalted a degree of wisdom and piety?" Lokman
answered: "By always speaking the truth; keeping my word; and never
intermeddling in affairs that did not concern me."--Being asked from
whom he had learned urbanity, he replied: "From men of rude manners, for
whatever I saw in them that was disagreeable I avoided doing myself."
And when asked from whom he had acquired his philosophy, he said: "From
the blind, who never advance a step until they have tried the ground."
Lokman is also credited with this apothegm: "Be a learned man, a
disciple of the learned, or an auditor of the learned;
