The Ass in the Lion's Skin is one of

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a Slavery in ancient Greece, slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 Before the Common Era, BCE. Of varied and unclear origins, the stor ...

, of which there are two distinct versions. There are also several Eastern variants, and the story's interpretation varies accordingly.

Fables

Of the two Greek versions of this story, the one catalogued as number 188 in the Perry Index concerns an ass that puts on a lion's skin, and amuses himself by terrifying all the foolish animals. At last coming upon a

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

, he tries to frighten him also, but the fox no sooner hears the sound of his voice than he exclaims, "I might possibly have been frightened myself, if I had not heard your bray." The moral of the story is often quoted as, ''clothes may disguise a fool, but his words will give him away.'' It is this version that appears as Fable 56 in the collection by

Babrius Babrius (, ''Bábrios''; ), "Babrius" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 21. also known as Babrias () or Gabrias (), was the author of a collection of Greek fables, many of which are known today as Aesop's F ...

. The second version is listed as number 358 in the Perry Index. In this the ass puts on the skin in order to be able to graze undisturbed in the fields, but he is given away by his ears and is chastised. In addition to the Greek versions, there is a Latin version by

Avianus Avianus (or possibly Avienus;Alan Cameron, "Avienus or Avienius?", ''ZPE'' 108 (1995), p. 260 c. AD 400) was a paganism, pagan writer of fables in Latin."Avianus" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes Ltd, George Newnes, 1961, Vo ...

, dating from the later fifth century. This version was adapted 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 Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

, with the moral cautioning against presumption. Literary allusions to this fable have been frequent since classical times and into the Renaissance, such as in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's '' King John''. La Fontaine's Fable 5.21 (1668) also follows this version. The moral La Fontaine draws is not to trust to appearances, because clothes do not make the man.

Folk motifs and proverbial use

In India, the same situation appears in Buddhist scriptures as the ''Sihacamma

Jataka The ''Jātaka'' (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories we ...

''. Here the ass's master puts the lion's skin over his beast, and turns it loose to feed in the grain fields during his travels. The village watchmen are usually too terrified to do anything, but finally one of them raises the villagers. When they chase the ass, it begins to bray, betraying its true identity, and is then beaten to death. A related tale, the ''Sihakottukha Jataka'', plays on the motif of being given away by one's voice. In this story, a lion sires a son on a she-jackal. The child resembles his father, but has a jackal's howl, and is therefore advised to remain silent. A common European variant on this theme appears in the Ladino

Sephardi Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

c proverb, ''asno callado, por sabio contado'': "a silent ass is considered wise." An English equivalent is "a fool is not known until he opens his mouth." A similar Biblical proverb is “Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.” The story and its variants are alluded to idiomatically in various languages. In

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

it is ''leonis exuviae super asinum''. In

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

it is "羊質虎皮" (pronunciation:''yang''(2) ''zhi''(4) ''hu''(3) ''pi''(2)), "a goat in a tiger's skin." In the Chinese story, a goat disguises itself as a lion, but continues to eat grass as usual. When it spies a wolf, instinct takes over and the goat takes to its heels.

Later allusions

"The Ass in the Lion's Skin" was one of the several Aesop's fables put to use by American political cartoonist

Thomas Nast Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was a sharp critic of William M. Tweed, "Boss" Tweed and the T ...

, when it was rumoured in 1874 that Republican president

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

intended to stand for election for an unprecedented third term in 1876. At the same time, there was a false report that animals had escaped from the

Central Park Zoo The Central Park Zoo is a zoo located at the southeast corner of Central Park in New York City. It is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In conjunction with the Centra ...

, and were roaming the streets of New York. Nast combined the two items in a cartoon for the November 7 edition of '' Harpers Weekly''. Titled "Third Term Panic", it depicts a donkey in a lion's skin, labelled " Caesarism", and scattering other animals that stand for various interests. In the twentieth century

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

put the fable to use in ''

The Last Battle ''The Last Battle'' is a portal fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis, published by The Bodley Head in 1956. It was the seventh and final novel in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956). Like the other novels in the series, ...

'', the final volume of

The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia (wor ...

. A donkey named Puzzle is tricked into wearing a lion's skin, and then manipulated so as to deceive the simple-minded into believing that

Aslan Aslan () is a major character in C. S. Lewis's ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' series. Unlike any other character in the Narnian series, Aslan appears in all seven chronicles. Aslan is depicted as a Talking animals in fiction, talking lion and is ...

the lion has returned to Narnia. He then becomes a figurehead for a pseudo-government that works contrary to the interests of the Narnians. Kathryn Lindskoog identifies the Avianus version as the source of this episode.Kathryn Ann Lindskoog, ''Journey into Narnia'' (1998), p. 184.

References

External links

* 15th–20th century illustration
from books
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ass In The Lion's Skin Aesop's Fables La Fontaine's Fables Jataka tales Proverbs Fictional donkeys Anthropomorphic donkeys Literature featuring anthropomorphic foxes Short stories about talking animals Mammals in Buddhism Indian folklore Indian literature Indian fairy tales Panchatantra