Hundertfünf Fabeln

Abstract

It is a joy to run into a book of clever fables and nothing else. These fables take on the challenge of the fable form well. I will cite some examples of good ones here. The eagle asked the peacock and the lark to check out the nightingale. When they returned, the peacock said that the look of her awful dress had so overwhelmed her that she did not even hear her song. The lark responded that her song had been so charming that she forgot to pay attention to her dress (10). The mouse said to the wounded eagle Console yourself with us. We too cannot fly. The eagle answered You do not know the longing for altitude and died (11). The lazy dung-beatle says to the industrious ant Your hard work has neither sense nor purpose. You will die just like me. The ant answers Ask my posterity. And besides, there is a difference between dying as a dung-beatle and dying as an ant (18). The rat-mother asks the attacking cat How can you take my children, since you yourself are a mother? The cat answers Just for that reason. My kids love eating rat (21). Fox, bear, and wolf pleaded with the lion to help them against a snake that they could not overcome. He did. As he lay exhausted and wounded, the three fell upon him and consumed him along with his victim (49). A frog tells the fly he has caught that the fly's sense and purpose is to be eaten. As then a stork consumes the frog, the frog screams What injustice! (63). There are too many singers. No wonder that the many melodies produce only a lot of noise. So say all the birds, and each one thinks that the others need to be silent, so that people can hear only his voice. With a few exceptions, these fables come one to a page. I like them a great deal! T of C at the beginning.