Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section sixteen of Asop's Fables, a new translation written by
Azob translated by V. S. Vernon Jones. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
This section has been read by Rosslyn Carlyle Demades and
(00:25):
his fable Demades the rayed Her was once speaking in
the Assembly at Athens, but the people were very inattentive
to what he was saying. So he stopped and said, gentlemen,
I should like to tell you one of Azop's fables.
This made every one listen intently. Then Demides began Demeatur.
(00:49):
A swallow and an eel were once traveling together and
came to a river without a bridge. The swallow flew
over it, and the eel swam across, and then he stopped.
What happened to Demeatur cried several people in the audience. Demetur,
he replied, is very angry with you for listening to
(01:10):
fables when you ought to be minding public business. The
Monkey and the Dolphin. When people go on a voyage,
they often take with them lapdogs or monkeys as pets
of a while away the time. Thus it came to
be that a man returning to Athens from the east
had a pet monkey on board with him. As they
(01:32):
neared the coast of Attica, a great storm burst upon
them and the ship capsized. All on board were thrown
into the water and tried to save themselves by swimming
The monkey among the rest. A dolphin saw him, and,
supposing him to be a man, took the monkey on
his back and began swimming towards the shore. When they
(01:55):
got near the Parias, which is the port of Athens,
the dolphin asked the monkey if he was an Athenian.
The monkey replied that he was, and added that he
came of a very distinguished family. Then, of course, you
know the Piraeus, continued the dolphin. The monkey thought he
was referring to some high official or other, and replied, oh, yes,
(02:17):
he's a very old friend of mine. At that detecting
his hypocrisy, the dolphin was so disgusted that he dived
below the surface, and the unfortunate monkey was quickly drowned.
The Crow and the Snake A hungry crow spied a
(02:37):
snake lying asleep in a sunny spot and picking it
up in his claws. He was carrying it off to
a place where he could make a meal of it
without being disturbed, and the snake reared his head and
bit him. It was a poisonous snake, and the bite
was fatal. And the dying crew said, what a cruel
(02:58):
fate is mine? I thought I had made a lucky find,
and it has cost me my life. The dogs and
the fox. Some dogs once found a lion's skin and
were worrying it with their teeth. Just then a fox
came by and said, you think yourselves very brave, no doubt,
(03:21):
But if that were alive lion, you'd find his claws
a good deal sharper than your teeth. The nightingale and
the hawk. A nightingale was sitting on a bough of
an oak and singing as her custom was. A hungry
hawk presently spied her, and, darting to the spot, seized
(03:44):
her in his talons. He was just about to tear
her to pieces when she begged him to spare her life.
I'm not big enough, she pleaded, to make you a
good meal. You ought to seek your prey amongst the
bigger birds. Her with some contempt you must think me
very simple, said he, if you suppose I'm going to
(04:06):
give up a certain prize on the chance of a
better of which I see at present no signs. The
rose and the amoranth, a rose and an amaranth, blossomed
side by side in a garden, and the amorants said
to her neighbor, how I envy you your beauty and
(04:27):
your sweet saint. No wonder you're such a universal favorite.
But the rose replied, with a shade of sadness in
her voice, Ah, my dear friend, I bloom, but for
a time. My petals soon wither and fall, and then
I die. But your flowers never fade, even if they
(04:48):
are cut, for they are ever lasting. The man, the horse,
the ox, and the dog. One winter's day, during a
severe storm, a horse, an ox, and a dog came
and begged for shelter in the house of a man.
(05:08):
He readily admitted them, and as they were cold and wet,
he lit a fire for their comfort, and he put
outs before the horse and hay before the ox, while
he fed the dog with the remains of his own dinner.
When the storm abated and they were about to depart,
they determined to show their gratitude in the following way.
They divided the life of man amongst them, and each
(05:31):
endowed one part of it with the qualities which were
peculiarly their own. The horse took youth, and hence young
men are high, mettled and impatient of restraint. The ox
took middle age, and accordingly, men in middle life were
steady and hard working, while the dog took old age,
(05:53):
which is the reason why old men are often so
peevish and ill tempered, and like dogs, attached to chiefly
to those who look out for their comfort, while they
are disposed to snap at those who are unfamiliar or
distasteful to them. The wolves, the sheep, and the ram.
(06:16):
The wolves sent a deputation to the sheep with proposals
for a lasting peace between them, one condition of their
giving up the sheep dogs to instant death. The foolish
sheep agreed to the terms, but an old ram, whose
years had brought him wisdom, interfered and said, how can
we expect to live at peace with you? Why, even
(06:40):
with the dogs at hand to protect us, we are
never secure from your murderous attacks. The swan. The swan
is said to sing, but once in its life, when
it knows that it is about to die. A certain man,
(07:00):
who had heard of the song of the swan, one
day saw one of these birds for sale in the market,
and bought it and took it home with him. A
few days later, he had some friends to dinner and
produced the swan and bade it sing for their entertainment.
But the swan remained silent. In course of time, when
it was growing old, it became aware of its approaching
(07:21):
end and broke into a sweet, sad song. When its
owner heard it, he said angrily, if the creature only
sings when it's about to die, what a fool I
was that day. I wanted to hear its song. I
ought to have wrung its neck instead of merely inviting
it to sing. The Snake and Jupiter. A snake suffered
(07:45):
a good deal from being constantly trodden upon by man
and beast, owing partly to the length of his body
and partly to his being unable to rise himself up
above the surface of the ground. So he went and
complained to Jupiter about the risks to which she was exposed.
But Jupiter had little sympathy for him, I dare say,
(08:06):
said he that if you had bitten the first that
trodden you, the others would have taken more trouble to
look where they put their feet. The Wolf and his shadow.
A wolf who was rooming about on the plain when
the sun was getting low in the sky, was much
impressed by the size of his shadow, and said to himself,
(08:29):
I hadn't no idea I was so big fancy my
being afraid of a lion? Why I not? He ought
to be king of the beasts, and heedless of danger.
He strutted about as if there could be no doubt
at all about it. Just then a lion sprang upon
him and began to devour him alas he cried, had
(08:50):
I not lost sight of the facts, I should have
been ruined by my fancies. The plowman and the wolf.
A plowman loosed his oxen from the plow and led
them away to the water to drink. While he was absent,
a half starved wolf appeared on the scene and went
(09:10):
up to the plow and began chewing the leather straps
attached to the yoke. As he gnawed away desperately in
the hope of satisfying his craving for food. He somehow
got entangled in the harness, and taking fright, struggled to
get free, tugging at the traces as if he would
drag the plow along with him. Just then the plowman
(09:30):
came back, and, seeing what was happening, he cried, ay,
you old rascal, I wish you would give up the
even for good and take to honest work instead. Mercury
and the man bitten by an aunt. A man once
saw a ship go down with all its crew, and
commented severely on the injustice of the gods. They care
(09:53):
nothing for a man's character, said he, But let the
good and the bad go to their deaths together. There
was an ant heap close by where he was standing,
and just as he spoke, he was bitten in the
foot by an ant. Turning in a temper to the
ant heap, he stomped on it and crushed hundreds of
unoffending ants. Suddenly Mercury appeared and belabored him with his staff, saying,
(10:19):
as he did so, you villain, where's your nice sense
of justice now? The Wily Lion. A lion watched a
fat bull feeding in a meadow, and his mouth watered
when he thought of the royal feast that that bull
would make. But he did not dare to attack the bull,
(10:41):
for he was afraid of his sharp horns. Hunger, however,
presently compelled him to do something, and as the use
of force did not promise success, he determined to resort
to artifice. Going up to the bull in friendly fashion,
he said to him, I cannot help saying how much
which I admire your magnificent figure, what a fine head,
(11:04):
what powerful shoulders and thighs. But my dear friend, what
in the world makes you wear those ugly horns? You
must find them as awkward as they are unsightly. Believe me,
you would do so much better without them. The bull
was foolish enough to be persuaded by this flattery to
have his horns cut off, and, having now lost his
(11:25):
only means of defense, fell an easy parade. The lion,
the parrot, and the cat. A man once bought a
parrot and gave it the run of his house. It
reveled in its liberty and presently flew up onto the
mantelpiece and screamed away to its heart's content. The noise
(11:47):
disturbed the cat, who was asleep on the hearth rug,
looking up at the intruder, She said, who may you be?
And where have you come from? The parrot replied, your
master has just bought me and brought me home with him.
You impudent bird, said the cat. How dare you and
(12:07):
newcomer make a noise like that? Why I was born
here and have lived here all my life, and yet
if I venture to mew, they throw things at me
and chase me all over the place. Look here, mistress,
said the parrot, You just hold your tongue. My voice
they delight in. But yours, yours is just a perfect nuisance.
(12:28):
End of Section sixteen.
Section sixteen of Asop's Fables, a new translation written by
Azob translated by V. S. Vernon Jones. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
This section has been read by Rosslyn Carlyle Demades and
(00:25):
his fable Demades the rayed Her was once speaking in
the Assembly at Athens, but the people were very inattentive
to what he was saying. So he stopped and said, gentlemen,
I should like to tell you one of Azop's fables.
This made every one listen intently. Then Demides began Demeatur.
(00:49):
A swallow and an eel were once traveling together and
came to a river without a bridge. The swallow flew
over it, and the eel swam across, and then he stopped.
What happened to Demeatur cried several people in the audience. Demetur,
he replied, is very angry with you for listening to
(01:10):
fables when you ought to be minding public business. The
Monkey and the Dolphin. When people go on a voyage,
they often take with them lapdogs or monkeys as pets
of a while away the time. Thus it came to
be that a man returning to Athens from the east
had a pet monkey on board with him. As they
(01:32):
neared the coast of Attica, a great storm burst upon
them and the ship capsized. All on board were thrown
into the water and tried to save themselves by swimming
The monkey among the rest. A dolphin saw him, and,
supposing him to be a man, took the monkey on
his back and began swimming towards the shore. When they
(01:55):
got near the Parias, which is the port of Athens,
the dolphin asked the monkey if he was an Athenian.
The monkey replied that he was, and added that he
came of a very distinguished family. Then, of course, you
know the Piraeus, continued the dolphin. The monkey thought he
was referring to some high official or other, and replied, oh, yes,
(02:17):
he's a very old friend of mine. At that detecting
his hypocrisy, the dolphin was so disgusted that he dived
below the surface, and the unfortunate monkey was quickly drowned.
The Crow and the Snake A hungry crow spied a
(02:37):
snake lying asleep in a sunny spot and picking it
up in his claws. He was carrying it off to
a place where he could make a meal of it
without being disturbed, and the snake reared his head and
bit him. It was a poisonous snake, and the bite
was fatal. And the dying crew said, what a cruel
(02:58):
fate is mine? I thought I had made a lucky find,
and it has cost me my life. The dogs and
the fox. Some dogs once found a lion's skin and
were worrying it with their teeth. Just then a fox
came by and said, you think yourselves very brave, no doubt,
(03:21):
But if that were alive lion, you'd find his claws
a good deal sharper than your teeth. The nightingale and
the hawk. A nightingale was sitting on a bough of
an oak and singing as her custom was. A hungry
hawk presently spied her, and, darting to the spot, seized
(03:44):
her in his talons. He was just about to tear
her to pieces when she begged him to spare her life.
I'm not big enough, she pleaded, to make you a
good meal. You ought to seek your prey amongst the
bigger birds. Her with some contempt you must think me
very simple, said he, if you suppose I'm going to
(04:06):
give up a certain prize on the chance of a
better of which I see at present no signs. The
rose and the amoranth, a rose and an amaranth, blossomed
side by side in a garden, and the amorants said
to her neighbor, how I envy you your beauty and
(04:27):
your sweet saint. No wonder you're such a universal favorite.
But the rose replied, with a shade of sadness in
her voice, Ah, my dear friend, I bloom, but for
a time. My petals soon wither and fall, and then
I die. But your flowers never fade, even if they
(04:48):
are cut, for they are ever lasting. The man, the horse,
the ox, and the dog. One winter's day, during a
severe storm, a horse, an ox, and a dog came
and begged for shelter in the house of a man.
(05:08):
He readily admitted them, and as they were cold and wet,
he lit a fire for their comfort, and he put
outs before the horse and hay before the ox, while
he fed the dog with the remains of his own dinner.
When the storm abated and they were about to depart,
they determined to show their gratitude in the following way.
They divided the life of man amongst them, and each
(05:31):
endowed one part of it with the qualities which were
peculiarly their own. The horse took youth, and hence young
men are high, mettled and impatient of restraint. The ox
took middle age, and accordingly, men in middle life were
steady and hard working, while the dog took old age,
(05:53):
which is the reason why old men are often so
peevish and ill tempered, and like dogs, attached to chiefly
to those who look out for their comfort, while they
are disposed to snap at those who are unfamiliar or
distasteful to them. The wolves, the sheep, and the ram.
(06:16):
The wolves sent a deputation to the sheep with proposals
for a lasting peace between them, one condition of their
giving up the sheep dogs to instant death. The foolish
sheep agreed to the terms, but an old ram, whose
years had brought him wisdom, interfered and said, how can
we expect to live at peace with you? Why, even
(06:40):
with the dogs at hand to protect us, we are
never secure from your murderous attacks. The swan. The swan
is said to sing, but once in its life, when
it knows that it is about to die. A certain man,
(07:00):
who had heard of the song of the swan, one
day saw one of these birds for sale in the market,
and bought it and took it home with him. A
few days later, he had some friends to dinner and
produced the swan and bade it sing for their entertainment.
But the swan remained silent. In course of time, when
it was growing old, it became aware of its approaching
(07:21):
end and broke into a sweet, sad song. When its
owner heard it, he said angrily, if the creature only
sings when it's about to die, what a fool I
was that day. I wanted to hear its song. I
ought to have wrung its neck instead of merely inviting
it to sing. The Snake and Jupiter. A snake suffered
(07:45):
a good deal from being constantly trodden upon by man
and beast, owing partly to the length of his body
and partly to his being unable to rise himself up
above the surface of the ground. So he went and
complained to Jupiter about the risks to which she was exposed.
But Jupiter had little sympathy for him, I dare say,
(08:06):
said he that if you had bitten the first that
trodden you, the others would have taken more trouble to
look where they put their feet. The Wolf and his shadow.
A wolf who was rooming about on the plain when
the sun was getting low in the sky, was much
impressed by the size of his shadow, and said to himself,
(08:29):
I hadn't no idea I was so big fancy my
being afraid of a lion? Why I not? He ought
to be king of the beasts, and heedless of danger.
He strutted about as if there could be no doubt
at all about it. Just then a lion sprang upon
him and began to devour him alas he cried, had
(08:50):
I not lost sight of the facts, I should have
been ruined by my fancies. The plowman and the wolf.
A plowman loosed his oxen from the plow and led
them away to the water to drink. While he was absent,
a half starved wolf appeared on the scene and went
(09:10):
up to the plow and began chewing the leather straps
attached to the yoke. As he gnawed away desperately in
the hope of satisfying his craving for food. He somehow
got entangled in the harness, and taking fright, struggled to
get free, tugging at the traces as if he would
drag the plow along with him. Just then the plowman
(09:30):
came back, and, seeing what was happening, he cried, ay,
you old rascal, I wish you would give up the
even for good and take to honest work instead. Mercury
and the man bitten by an aunt. A man once
saw a ship go down with all its crew, and
commented severely on the injustice of the gods. They care
(09:53):
nothing for a man's character, said he, But let the
good and the bad go to their deaths together. There
was an ant heap close by where he was standing,
and just as he spoke, he was bitten in the
foot by an ant. Turning in a temper to the
ant heap, he stomped on it and crushed hundreds of
unoffending ants. Suddenly Mercury appeared and belabored him with his staff, saying,
(10:19):
as he did so, you villain, where's your nice sense
of justice now? The Wily Lion. A lion watched a
fat bull feeding in a meadow, and his mouth watered
when he thought of the royal feast that that bull
would make. But he did not dare to attack the bull,
(10:41):
for he was afraid of his sharp horns. Hunger, however,
presently compelled him to do something, and as the use
of force did not promise success, he determined to resort
to artifice. Going up to the bull in friendly fashion,
he said to him, I cannot help saying how much
which I admire your magnificent figure, what a fine head,
(11:04):
what powerful shoulders and thighs. But my dear friend, what
in the world makes you wear those ugly horns? You
must find them as awkward as they are unsightly. Believe me,
you would do so much better without them. The bull
was foolish enough to be persuaded by this flattery to
have his horns cut off, and, having now lost his
(11:25):
only means of defense, fell an easy parade. The lion,
the parrot, and the cat. A man once bought a
parrot and gave it the run of his house. It
reveled in its liberty and presently flew up onto the
mantelpiece and screamed away to its heart's content. The noise
(11:47):
disturbed the cat, who was asleep on the hearth rug,
looking up at the intruder, She said, who may you be?
And where have you come from? The parrot replied, your
master has just bought me and brought me home with him.
You impudent bird, said the cat. How dare you and
(12:07):
newcomer make a noise like that? Why I was born
here and have lived here all my life, and yet
if I venture to mew, they throw things at me
and chase me all over the place. Look here, mistress,
said the parrot, You just hold your tongue. My voice
they delight in. But yours, yours is just a perfect nuisance.
(12:28):
End of Section sixteen.
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