Thursday 13 November 2014

The Dog in a Manger

'The Dog in a Manger', an illustration by John Vernon Lord 
in Aesop's Fables, Jonathan Cape, 1989, page 133.


The Text:

The Dog in a Manger
A DOG lay in a manger, and by his growling and snapping prevented the oxen from eating the hay which had been placed for them. “What a selfish Dog!” said one of them to his companions; “he cannot eat the hay himself, and yet refuses to allow those to eat who can.”

Moral: Even if they have the means to give, the envious and spiteful will refuse anybody anything rather than allow people their just deserts.

Text: George Fyler Townsend (p25, 1868).

Selected Parallels:  Lucian Adv. Indoctum c.30. Caxton , Extravagantes 11. L’Estrange 76.  Perry cf 702. TMI W156

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