The Kite and the Doves is a political fable ascribed to

Aesop Aesop ( or ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales cre ...

that is numbered 486 in the

Perry Index The Perry Index is a widely used index of "Aesop's Fables" or "Aesopica", the fables credited to Aesop, the storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BC. The index was created by Ben Edwin Perry, a professor of classics at the Un ...

. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

the fable was modified by the introduction of a hawk as an additional character, followed by a change in the moral drawn from it.

The Phaedrus version

The first appearance of the fable is in the collection of Phaedrus (Book 1.31). It is an illustration of political foolishness and tells how doves are so terrified by attacks on them by a kite that they agree to its suggestion that he should be elected their king and protector. They only realise their mistake when the kite begins to prey on them as its

royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...

. After Phaedrus’ work was lost sight of during the Middle Ages, a new version of the fable was created and it was not until after rediscovery of his original text during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

that some later collections followed his telling.

Samuel Croxall Samuel Croxall (c. 1690 – 1752) was an Anglican churchman, writer and translator, particularly noted for his edition of Aesop's Fables. Early career Samuel Croxall was born in Walton on Thames, where his father (also called Samuel) was vicar. ...

, harking back to a series of recent changes of regime, commented on how “many, with the Doves in the Fable, are so silly that they would admit of a Kite rather than be without a king”. Two pages later, Croxall goes on to mention that he has followed the sense of Phaedrus “in every fable of which he has made a version” (p.32).

The hawk, the kite and the pigeons

During the Middle Ages new versions of the fable developed in Latin, of which

Odo of Cheriton Odo of Cheriton (1180/1190 – 1246/47) was an English preacher and fabulist who spent a considerable time studying in Paris and then lecturing in the south of France and in northern Spain. Life and background Odo belonged to a Norman family whic ...

recorded several at the end of the 12th century. One of these is a variant of

The Frogs Who Desired a King The Frogs Who Desired a King is one of Aesop's Fables and numbered 44 in the Perry Index. Throughout its history, the story has been given a political application. The fable According to the earliest source, Phaedrus, the story concerns a gro ...

in which the frogs have elected a log to rule over them and, when that is perceived as of no value, choose a snake instead and are eaten by it. Another concerns chickens, or else birds generally, who elect a dove to be their ruler because it is mild and will do them no harm; but when it is perceived as lacking authority, they choose a kite in its place and are then preyed upon by it. In the version of Romulus Anglicus, doves who are living in a state of general threat elect a falcon as their protector, while according to

Walter of England Gualterus Anglicus (Medieval Latin for Walter the Englishman) was an Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman poet and scribe who produced a seminal version of ''Aesop's Fables'' (in distichs) around the year 1175. Identification of the author This author wa ...

the doves are at war with the kites and choose a hawk to defend them. The latter story ends with the detail that the hawk kills many more of them than had perished formerly and concludes with the advice that the remedy should not make a bad situation worse. Versions of Walter’s story were perpetuated in English by

William Caxton William Caxton ( – ) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer (publisher), printer to be the first English retailer of printed boo ...

and

Roger L'Estrange Sir Roger L'Estrange (17 December 1616 – 11 December 1704) was an English pamphleteer, author, courtier, and press censor. Throughout his life L'Estrange was frequently mired in controversy and acted as a staunch ideological defender of Kin ...

. Elsewhere in Europe it formed the basis of

Neo-Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

poems by

Hieronymus Osius Hieronymus Osius was a German Neo-Latin poet and academic about whom there are few biographical details. He was born about 1530 in Schlotheim and murdered in 1575 in Graz. After studying first at the university of Erfurt, he gained his master's d ...

and

Pantaleon Candidus Pantaleon Candidus was a theologian of the Reformed Church and a Neo-Latin author. He was born on 7 October 1540 in Ybbs an der Donau and died on 3 February 1608 in Zweibrücken. Life and works Pantaleon Weiss was born the 14th child of a landown ...

. The fable was also adapted by John Hawkesworth into his reflective political poem, "The Danger of trusting Individuals with exorbitant Power".''The Gentleman's Magazine''
vol.11 (1741), p.379
/ref> In that, the king of the doves prays to

Jove Jupiter ( la, Iūpiter or , from Proto-Italic "day, sky" + "father", thus " sky father" Greek: Δίας or Ζεύς), also known as Jove ( gen. ''Iovis'' ), is the god of the sky and thunder, and king of the gods in ancient Roman religio ...

for help against a marauding kite and is changed in form to a more powerful

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators h ...

. After his victory, however, the king becomes an even worse tyrant in his turn. The political moral that Hawkesworth drew from this was similar to Croxall's in requiring a democratic system of checks and balances:

:Wrongs to redress, ne’er arm alone your friend, :But cloth’d in equal Might his steps attend.

References

External links

Illustrations from old books: a
The kite variantthe hawk variant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kite and the Doves, The Aesop's Fables