The raven and the fox
The raven and the fox is a fable by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing . It is an ironic, enlightening modification of the Aesopian fable Vom Fuchs und Raben and, like this one, takes up the topic of flattery and its consequences. It is the fifteenth fable in the second book of the Fables Collection . Drey books .
content
A raven steals a piece of poisoned meat that a gardener actually threw for his neighbor's cats. He quickly flies up a tree to eat it. The fox, who observed this event, wants to devour the piece of meat himself. But on the tree this is impossible for him to achieve. So the cunning fox decides to wrap the raven around his finger with deliberate dishonest flattery. He calls it a "bird of Jupiter". In the course of the conversation, the fox flatters the raven even more and calls him an "eagle", Zeus' right hand, who hands out food to the poor on earth every day. The face-brushed raven is happy to be mistaken for an eagle. Shortly afterwards the cunning fox asks the raven why he has not acted according to his office and still has the prey between his "claws" instead of giving the food to the hungry. The overjoyed raven does not want to clear up the error, generously drops his prey and flies away with his head held high. The ignorant fox laughingly catches the poisoned meat, eats it with "malicious joy" and finally dies.
Statement intent
Honesty and sincerity should be in the foreground, not false flattery and a desire for admiration. Instead of the usual morals for fables, the story ends with a curse: If you never want to get anything other than poison, damned flatterers!
literature
- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Collected works in ten volumes . Edited by Paul Rilla. Berlin: construction, 1954/55. Vol. 1. p. 278f.
- Siglinde Eichner: Lessing's prose label in its theory and poetry. A contribution to the aesthetics of the 18th century . Bouvier, Bonn, 1974, ISBN 3-4160-1010-8 .
Reception in music
- Jacques Offenbach : "Le corbeau et le renard" by Jean de La Fontaine for voice and piano
- Werner Egk : The Fox and the Raven, Singspiel for children based on the fable by Aesop (1932)
- Bertold Hummel : The Raven and the Fox for 4-part male choir, percussion and piano based on the fable "Le corbeau et le renard" by Jean de La Fontaine in the German translation by Walther Küchler (1974) [1]