The Moon and her Mother
The Moon and her Mother | |
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![]() The Moon asks her mother, illustration by Arthur Rackham. | |
Folk tale | |
Name | The Moon and her Mother |
Mythology | Greek |
Region | Greece |
The Moon and her Mother (Ancient Greek: Σελήνη καὶ μήτηρ) is an ancient Greek fable doubtfully attributed to Aesop. It is number 468 in the Perry Index, and in Laura Gibbs's inclusive collection it is listed as number 16 in the Vernon Jones index (1912).[1]
The story is attested by the Greek author Plutarch in his Banquet of the Seven Sages from the Moralia, who attributes it there to the sage Cleobulus, who in turn relates it as a tale told by his daughter Cleobulina to her brother.[2]
The fable is now included in many collections of Aesop's fables, but the lesson to be learnt from it differs from narrator to narrator.
Fable
In the story as related by Plutarch, "the Moon[a] wanted her mother to weave for her a garment to fit her measure; and the mother said, "How can I weave it to fit your measure? For now I see you full and round, and at another time crescent-shaped, and at still another but little more than half your full size." The conclusion drawn by Cleobulus is that "there is no measure of possessions that can be applied to a foolish and worthless man". Cleobulus then goes on to liken such a foolish person to the improvident dog in a fable told by Aesop – who is also present at the feast.[3]
Versions
The earliest English account of the story as a separate fable appears in Roger L'Estrange's Fables of Aesop (1692) under the title "The Moon Begs a New Gown", but in his case the moral given is that "the Humour of many People [is] to be perpetually Longing for something or other that's not to be had", since "there is no Measure to be taken of an Unsteady Mind".[4] Later the fable was retold in Thomas James' Aesop's Fables (1851)[5] and the compilations that followed it.
The fable's currency outside Britain is testified by an Italian version by Marcello Adriani the younger (1533–1604), later versified by the Rev. G. Bayley in his collection of 50 Fables for Little Folks versified from the Italian (Sydney, 1861).[6] The fable is retold in only the first four lines of the poem, while the moral is drawn at length, based on Plutarch's account of the episode. Another versification was undertaken by Abraham Arouetty in his Fables in Verse Inspired by Aesop and La Fontaine (2000), whose rendering clarifies the lesson to be drawn:
Determine whether you are a new moon, a full moon or the form of a sickle,
But please, stop being so fickle.
Let me make a demand quite insistent:
Whatever you do, always be consistent.[7]
Illustrations of the fable have been comparatively rare. They include those in colour by Arthur Rackham for the fable collection of V. S. Vernon Jones[8] and those in black and white by Nora Fry for her own collection of Aesop's Fables (1930),[9] in which the moral is given as "Changeable people are not easily satisfied".
A more recent American musical illustration of the fable occurs as a section of Liz Nedela's "Fables for Oboe and Piano".[10]
See also
- The Weasel and Aphrodite
- Zeus and the Tortoise
- The Honest Woodcutter
Footnotes
- ^ Personified by the ancient Greeks as the goddess Selene. Her mother is said to be Theia, though in the fable the mother is not named.
References
- ^ See the Aesopica site
- ^ Adrados 1999, pp. 551–552.
- ^ Plutarch, Septem Sapientium Convivium section 14, pp. 409ff
- ^ Wikisource, Fable 425
- ^ Fable 11
- ^ 50 Fables for Little Folks, pp. 107–108
- ^ Fables in Verse, Writers Club Press, 2000, Book the Fourth A, p. 61
- ^ Aesop's Fables, London, 1912, p. 14
- ^ Aesop (April 16, 2013). Aesop's Fables – Illustrated in Black and White By Nora Fry. Book Press. p. 13.
- ^ There is a performance available at J. W. Pepper.com
Bibliography
- Adrados, Francisco Rodríguez (1999). History of the Graeco-latin Fable: Inventory and documentation of the graeco. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill Publications. ISBN 90-04-11891-8.
- Plutarch, Moralia. 16 vols. (vol. 13: 13.1 & 13.2, vol. 16: index), transl. by Frank Cole Babbitt (vol. 1–5) et al., series: "Loeb Classical Library" (LCL, vols. 197–499). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press et al., 1927–2004.
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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