The donkey and the dog
The donkey and the dog (French L'Âne et le Chien ) is the 17th fable from the eighth book of the Fables Choisies collection , Mises En Vers by Jean de La Fontaine .
The fable begins and ends with the tenet that one should help one another. She tells of a dog and a donkey who served the same master. On a long journey all three stopped because the gentleman was tired and lay down on a meadow to sleep. Since the animals were both hungry, the dog asked the donkey, which was carrying the provisions on its back, to bend down so that it could get something to eat from the basket. But the donkey began to eat grass carefree, then he advised the dog to be patient until the master woke up and gave him his food. When a wolf appeared shortly afterwards, the donkey asked the dog to protect him from the wolf. But the dog remained motionless in its place and advised the donkey to flee or to smash the wolf's jaw with its hooves. While the dog was still advising the donkey, it fell prey to the wolf.
This fable shows the real guilt of the donkey, which at the legitimate request of the dog breaks the law of mutual aid. Using the hungry dog as an example, La Fontaine signals that the selfish donkey deserves its fate.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jean de La Fontaine: Fables Choisies, Mises En Vers. Pp. 80–82 , accessed on January 3, 2020 (French).
- ^ Ernst Dohm : Lafontaine's fables. Pp. 110–112 , accessed January 3, 2020 .
- ^ Ralph Albanese: La Fontaine à l'école républicaine: du poète universel au classique scolaire . Rookwood Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-886365-24-7 , pp. 81 ( google.de [accessed on January 3, 2020]).