The Deer without a Heart
The Deer without a Heart is an ancient fable, attributed to Aesop in Europe and numbered 336 in the Perry Index.[1] It involves a deer (or an ass in Eastern versions) who was twice persuaded by a wily fox to visit the ailing lion. After the lion had killed it, the fox stole and ate the deer's heart. When asked where it is, the fox reasoned that an animal so foolish as to visit a lion in his den cannot have had one, an argument that reflects the ancient belief that the heart was the seat of thoughts and intellect. The story is catalogued as type 52 in the Aarne-Thompson classification system.[2]
The story from the East
The version of the story found in the Indian Panchatantra concerns a lion who is persuaded that the cure for his sickness is the ears and heart of an ass. His servant the jackal persuades an ass to accompany him but the lion is too weak to kill the ass on the first attempt and the jackal has to trick it into returning. Afterwards the jackal persuades the hungry lion to leave him with the dead ass and takes the ears and heart for himself. His explanation for their absence is that so silly an animal cannot have had the equipment to hear or to think with.[3]
The story travelled westwards through a series of translations and adaptations and was eventually carried to Spain by invading Arabs. By this time the details of the story had altered considerably. In one Arab version an ass demands toll of the lion and is killed for this effrontery. The heart is eaten by a fox who says it could never have existed in so stupid an animal.[4] There also exist Jewish versions of the story, in one of which the ass figures as toll-keeper and in the other demands a fare on board ship.[5]
The story from the West
The story of "The Lion, the Fox and the Deer" is an ancient one that first appeared in the poetry of Archilochus and was told at great length in the collection of Babrius. In this the fox twice persuades the deer to visit the lair of a lion too sick to hunt, on the first occasion escaping with an injured ear; the fox explains this as a rough caress and the deer returns to its death.[6] It was only recorded in Greek, so that Mediaeval European variants may equally be of Eastern rather than Western origin. Thus in Marie de France's telling, the lion requires the deer's heart as a cure for its illness, as in the Panchatantra.[7]
The very different version in her contemporary, Berechiah ha-Nakdan's "Fox Fables", appears to owe something to a Latin poem by Avianus, numbered 583 in the Perry Index. In this a boar has its ears cut off as a punishment for roaming in the fields of an estate and later pays for it with his life. A thieving peasant explains the missing heart to his master in the usual way.[8] But in Berechiah's telling the wild boar trespasses in the royal lion's garden and, after losing its ears and eyes in punishment, is finally killed and the heart is stolen by the fox.[9] These final details demonstrate a synthesis with other versions of the fable, of which there appear to be many by this time.[10] A still later Spanish version by Juan Ruiz, involves a musical ass who keeps the lion awake with his discordant music and in this case loses his heart and ears to the wolf.[11]
The process of transformation continues into modern times. In Stuart Croft's 12-minute film The Stag without a Heart (2009/10), the story is recounted at length in an endlessly circuitous version by having the fox replace the heart it has stolen in the deer as a means of persuading it to return to the lion's presence.[12]
References
- ^ Aesopica
- ^ Hasan M. El-Shamy, Types of the Folktale in the Arab World: A Demographically Oriented Tale-type Index, Indiana University 2004, pp.19-20
- ^ Panchatantra, trans. Arthur W. Ryder, "Flop-Ear and Dusty"
- ^ Histoire économique et sociale de l'Empire ottoman et de la Turquie (1326-1960), Leuven 1995, p.256
- ^ Israel Abrahams, The Book of Delight and Other Papers, “The Fox’s Heart”
- ^ F.R.Adrados History of the Graeco-Latin Fable vol.3, Leiden NL 2003, vol.3, p.438
- ^ The fables of Marie de France, Birmingham AL 1988, pp.181-3
- ^ F.R.Adrados History of the Graeco-Latin Fable vol.3, Leiden NL 2003, p.559
- ^ Fables of a Jewish Aesop, Jaffrey NH 03452 2001 story 105
- ^ S.Thompson, Motif-index of folk-literature, K402.3
- ^ Louise Mirrer, Women, Jews, and Muslims in the texts of reconquest Castile, University of Michigan 1996, p.134
- ^ Version online
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Fables
- The Ant and the Grasshopper
- The Ass and his Masters
- The Ass and the Pig
- The Ass Carrying an Image
- The Ass in the Lion's Skin
- The Astrologer who Fell into a Well
- The Bear and the Travelers
- The Belly and the Members
- The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird
- The Bird in Borrowed Feathers
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf
- The Cat and the Mice
- The Cock and the Jewel
- The Cock, the Dog and the Fox
- The Crow and the Pitcher
- The Crow and the Snake
- The Deer without a Heart
- The Dog and Its Reflection
- The Dog and the Wolf
- The Dove and the Ant
- The Farmer and the Stork
- The Farmer and the Viper
- The Fir and the Bramble
- The Fisherman and the Little Fish
- The Fowler and the Snake
- The Fox and the Crow
- The Fox and the Grapes
- The Fox and the Lion
- The Fox and the Mask
- The Fox and the Sick Lion
- The Fox and the Stork
- The Fox and the Weasel
- The Fox and the Woodman
- The Frog and the Ox
- The Frogs Who Desired a King
- The Goat and the Vine
- The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs
- The Honest Woodcutter
- The Horse and the Donkey
- The Horse that Lost its Liberty
- The Lion and the Mouse
- The Lion, the Bear and the Fox
- The Man with Two Mistresses
- The Mischievous Dog
- The Miser and his Gold
- The Moon and her Mother
- The Mountain in Labour
- The Mouse and the Oyster
- The North Wind and the Sun
- The Oak and the Reed
- The Old Man and Death
- The Old Woman and the Doctor
- The Rose and the Amaranth
- The Satyr and the Traveller
- The Sick Kite
- The Snake and the Crab
- The Snake in the Thorn Bush
- The Tortoise and the Hare
- Town Mouse and Country Mouse
- The Travellers and the Plane Tree
- The Trees and the Bramble
- The Two Pots
- The Walnut Tree
- Washing the Ethiopian White
- The Weasel and Aphrodite
- The Wolf and the Crane
- The Wolf and the Lamb
- The Woodcutter and the Trees
- The Young Man and the Swallow
- An ass eating thistles
- The Bear and the Gardener
- Belling the Cat (also known as The Mice in Council)
- The Blind Man and the Lame
- The Boy and the Filberts
- Chanticleer and the Fox
- The Dog in the Manger
- The drowned woman and her husband
- The Elm and the Vine
- The Fox and the Cat
- The Gourd and the Palm-tree
- The Hawk and the Nightingale
- The miller, his son and the donkey
- The Monkey and the Cat
- The Priest and the Wolf
- The Scorpion and the Frog
- The Shepherd and the Lion
adaptations
- Aesop's Film Fables
- The Grasshopper and the Ants
adaptations
- Demetrius of Phalerum
- Phaedrus
- Babrius
- Avianus
- Dositheus Magister
- Alexander Neckam
- Adémar de Chabannes
- Odo of Cheriton
- John Lydgate
- Kawanabe Kyōsai
- Laurentius Abstemius
- Roger L'Estrange
- Gabriele Faerno
- Hieronymus Osius
- Marie de France
- Robert Henryson
- Jean de La Fontaine
- Ivan Krylov
- Nicolas Trigault
- Robert Thom
- Zhou Zuoren