The Fowler and the Snake
The Fowler and the Snake is a story of Greek origin that demonstrates the fate of predators. It was counted as one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 115 in the Perry Index.[1]
Fable and its interpretation
There are two Greek sources for this fable, giving conflicting interpretations. One describes how a fowler is so intent on preparing his bird-snares that he treads on a snake and dies from its bite. This story, we are assured, 'shows that when people plot against their neighbours, they fall victim to the same sort of plot themselves'. The sentiment is common in the early fables; the alternative story of the Crow and the Snake comes to the same conclusion. However, the basic situation is transposed by the 2nd century BCE poet, Antipater of Sidon, in a poem collected in the Greek Anthology. Included in the section of sepulchral epigrams, it concerns a countryman keeping the birds from his crops who has stepped on a viper and now sends this warning from the grave:
- See how, gazing at what was in the air,
- I did not see the evil creeping at my feet.[2]
Andrea Alciato coalesces the two in the Latin poem in his Emblemata (1531), which illustrates the theme 'Those who contemplate the heights will fall' (qui alta contemplantur, cadere). The story is told of a fowler out hunting and concludes, 'Thus the man dies, who looks to the stars with drawn-back bow'.[3] The preceding emblem had illustrated the fable of the Astrologer who Fell into a Well and this continues the lesson there of the need to keep one's attention focussed on the things of this world. The English emblematist Geoffrey Whitney also uses the story in his Choice of Emblemes (1586) under the device 'Look not on high' (noli altum sapere) but extends the lesson in the second and third stanzas of his accompanying poem. While the third cautions those who practise 'astronomie',
- Whoe leave the earthe, and studie on the skie,
- As if they coulde all worldlie thinges expresse,
his second warns against pride in learning,
- Leste when theire mindes do mounte unto the skies,
- Their fall is wrought, by thinges they doe dispise.[4]
The first meaning of the story was not lost sight of, however. The Renaissance poet Hieronymus Osius keeps close to the original telling in his Latin version. A fowler is intent on preparing a snare of reeds and bird-lime, then catches sight of a thrush and inadvertently steps on the snake. He dies in the knowledge that killer hunters will die through the agency of others that hunt to kill.[5] English tellings, such as those of Roger L'Estrange and Samuel Croxall, speak of the ways of 'Providence'.
Illustrations of the fable show a wider variety of bird-catching methods than the text, including setting up nets (as in the edition of Osius), using a bow and arrow (Alciato) or even (as in Croxall) a fowling piece. The species of birds involved are also wide. Antipater mentions starlings and cranes; Alciato thrushes, larks and cranes; L'Estrange has a pigeon and Croxall a ringdove.
References
External links
- Book illustrations from the 15th–19th centuries
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Fables
- The Ant and the Grasshopper
- The Ass and his Masters
- The Ass and the Pig
- The Ass Carrying an Image
- The Ass in the Lion's Skin
- The Astrologer who Fell into a Well
- The Bear and the Travelers
- The Belly and the Members
- The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird
- The Bird in Borrowed Feathers
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf
- The Cat and the Mice
- The Cock and the Jewel
- The Cock, the Dog and the Fox
- The Crow and the Pitcher
- The Crow and the Snake
- The Deer without a Heart
- The Dog and Its Reflection
- The Dog and the Wolf
- The Dove and the Ant
- The Eagle and the Fox
- The Farmer and the Stork
- The Farmer and the Viper
- The Fir and the Bramble
- The Fisherman and the Little Fish
- The Fowler and the Snake
- The Fox and the Crow
- The Fox and the Grapes
- The Fox and the Lion
- The Fox and the Mask
- The Fox and the Sick Lion
- The Fox and the Stork
- The Fox and the Weasel
- The Fox and the Woodman
- The Frog and the Ox
- The Frogs Who Desired a King
- The Goat and the Vine
- The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs
- The Honest Woodcutter
- The Horse and the Donkey
- The Horse that Lost its Liberty
- The Lion and the Mouse
- The Lion, the Bear and the Fox
- The Man with Two Mistresses
- The Mischievous Dog
- The Miser and his Gold
- The Moon and her Mother
- The Mountain in Labour
- The Mouse and the Oyster
- The North Wind and the Sun
- The Oak and the Reed
- The Old Man and Death
- The Old Woman and the Doctor
- The Rose and the Amaranth
- The Satyr and the Traveller
- The Sick Kite
- The Snake and the Crab
- The Snake in the Thorn Bush
- The Tortoise and the Hare
- Town Mouse and Country Mouse
- The Travellers and the Plane Tree
- The Trees and the Bramble
- The Two Pots
- The Walnut Tree
- Washing the Ethiopian White
- The Weasel and Aphrodite
- The Wolf and the Crane
- The Wolf and the Lamb
- The Woodcutter and the Trees
- The Young Man and the Swallow
- An ass eating thistles
- The Bear and the Gardener
- Belling the Cat (also known as The Mice in Council)
- The Blind Man and the Lame
- The Boy and the Filberts
- Chanticleer and the Fox
- The Dog in the Manger
- The drowned woman and her husband
- The Elm and the Vine
- The Fox and the Cat
- The Gourd and the Palm-tree
- The Hawk and the Nightingale
- The miller, his son and the donkey
- The Monkey and the Cat
- The Priest and the Wolf
- The Scorpion and the Frog
- The Shepherd and the Lion
adaptations
- Aesop's Film Fables
- The Grasshopper and the Ants
adaptations
- Demetrius of Phalerum
- Phaedrus
- Babrius
- Avianus
- Dositheus Magister
- Alexander Neckam
- Adémar de Chabannes
- Odo of Cheriton
- John Lydgate
- Kawanabe Kyōsai
- Laurentius Abstemius
- Roger L'Estrange
- Gabriele Faerno
- Hieronymus Osius
- Marie de France
- Robert Henryson
- Jean de La Fontaine
- Ivan Krylov
- Nicolas Trigault
- Robert Thom
- Zhou Zuoren