194:
takes a sheep to court, accusing it of having eaten two of his fowls. The judge is a fox (or a wolf in the earlier version), who refuses to believe the sheep's plea that it is not an eater of such delicious fare. The sheep is therefore condemned to death; its flesh is reserved for the court's use and its pelt is awarded to the peasant. In a time of strict censorship, Krylov did not bother to draw a moral; the manifest absurdity of the proceedings makes its own point. The poem was later set as a song by
20:
54:
records the fate reserved to liars. A dog took a sheep to law over a loaf that he claimed to have given it and was supported by a wolf called as witness. Though the sheep lost the case, it later came across the wolf dead in a ditch and drew the moral that this was as a result of heavenly punishment.
120:
comprises 32 of these seven-line stanzas, of which some sixteen are devoted to a denunciation of perjury and greed. The story itself is told with satirical intent, with its introduction of the false witnesses as "The faithful wolf, in trowth that doth delite,/ And with hym comyth the gentil foule,
96:
lines, of which the last eight provide a commentary on how law has been corrupted by the powerful to oppress the poor. During the course of the 15th century two more authors used the fable to comment at even greater length on this social abuse still needing redress. The poems were the work of the
193:
made substantial changes to the original version of
Phaedrus in his fable of "The Peasant and the Sheep". In particular he adapted the story to satirise his own time and country and, like Henryson before him, put particular emphasis on detailing legal language and process. In this case a peasant
66:'s fable is much grimmer. The dog is supported in his accusation by three false witnesses, the kite, vulture and wolf, and the sheep has to cover the cost by selling its wool in mid-winter. Nor does any heavenly punishment follow. The moral is simply that this is the way of the world:
38:. Originally its subject was the consequence of bearing false witness. However, longer treatments of the story during the Middle Ages change the focus to deal with perversions of justice by the powerful at the expense of the poor. It has sometimes been alternatively titled
181:
returned to the more violent ending in their versions, where the dog tears the sheep to pieces at the end of the legal process to divide between his confederates. Besides offering the usual conclusions in his 'application', Croxall – with the long struggle against
186:
misrule in mind – goes on to comment that "it is hard to determine which resemble Brutes most, they in acting or the People in suffering them to act their vile, selfish
Schemes."
136:, while the kite and the vulture are lawyers. The unrepresented sheep is browbeaten into forfeiting its wool to compensate the dog but survives to utter his complaint to Heaven:
89:, it is the lamb that dies of cold. This had always been the intention of its carnivorous false accusers, the wolf, the kite and the dog, who then divide its body between them.
85:("Often laziness begs faith in false witness, often justice is the captive of criminal deceit"). Indeed, in the slightly later French version of
349:
Sheep (defendant), Dog (accuser), Wolf (judge), Fox (notary), Raven (summoner), Kite and
Vulture (lawyers), Bear and Badger (arbiters)
662:
600:
689:
709:
632:
42:
in order to distinguish it from the fable of the dispute between the sheep and the dog that guards them (Perry 356).
129:
62:, the fable's focus changed to misuse of justice and the fate of the poor in the many Latin versions recording it.
519:
644:
616:
534:
704:
545:
418:"'Tis no small matter where the Bench, Jury and Witnesses are in a Conspiracy against the Prisoner"
195:
589:
98:
674:
121:
the kyte". As in Marie de France, the sheep perishes and is divided between its accusers.
8:
170:
51:
296:"Often laziness begs faith in false witness, justice is the captive of criminal deceit"
514:
Genette Ashby-Beech, "Les Fables de Marie de France, essai de grammaire narrative", in
63:
335:
Shorn for payment, it dies of cold and its body is shared between dog, wolf and kite
315:
Shorn for payment, it dies of cold and its body is shared between dog, wolf and kite
31:
574:
563:
492:
162:
477:
106:
86:
503:
369:
Sheep (defendant), Dog (accuser), Wolf, Kite and
Sparrowhawk (witnesses), Judge
438:
The brutishness of malefactors is equalled by those who allow them to act thus
178:
398:
Where witnesses can be bought, "Men of small
Conscience little fear the Laws"
698:
183:
169:
poem to it in which the sheep is dunned for "certain measures of wheat", as
118:
The Tale of the Hownde and the Shepe, groundyd agen perjuré and false wytnes
23:
A German woodcut of Aesop's fable showing the litigants before a judge, 1501
389:
Sheep (defendant), Dog (accuser), Fox, Kite and
Vulture (witnesses), Judge
110:
102:
93:
19:
263:
Sheep (defendant), Dog (accuser), Wolf, Kite and Hawk (witnesses), Judge
190:
174:
158:
113:
59:
35:
409:
Sheep (defendant), Dog (accuser), Wolf, Kite and
Vulture (witnesses)
329:
Sheep (defendant), Hound (accuser), Wolf and Kite (witnesses), Judge
287:
Sheep (defendant), Dog (accuser), Kite, Vulture and Wolf (witnesses)
166:
133:
132:
of his day. Here the wolf plays the part of judge, the raven is the
309:
Sheep (defendant), Dog (accuser), Wolf and Kite (witnesses), Judge
109:, both of whom composed short collections of Aesop's fables, using
124:
Henryson had trained in law and many of the 25 stanzas of his
645:Библиографические и исторические примечания к басням Крылова
395:
Heart eaten by dog, then body quartered between witnesses
248:"Thus liars are repaid," on the lamb seeing the dead wolf
429:
Sheep (defendant), Dog (accuser), Kite and Wolf (judges)
358:
Avarice makes criminals of the rich and truth is ignored
128:
are devoted to a description of the legal process in the
272:"Law is undermined to oppress and harm the innocent"
161:
as an exemplary story even after reforms in the law.
378:Evil folk despoil the poor with untruth and malice
449:Sheep (defendant), Peasant (accuser), Fox (judge)
455:Executed and divided between judge and plaintiff
239:Sheep (defendant), Dog (accuser), Wolf (witness)
696:
318:Many will bear false witness to rob the poor
412:Restitution for "certain measures of wheat"
173:termed it in his own prose version of 1692.
435:Torn to pieces and shared with the judges
338:Bearing false witness leads to damnation
253:Ademar of Chabannes (early 11th century)
201:
157:The fable continued to be related in the
145:And rich men aye the poor will overthrow.
586:The fables of Aesop paraphras'd in verse
151:Will be ignored, some profit for to win.
148:And truth itself, even when judges know,
73:Sepe fidem falso mendicat inertia teste,
18:
375:Shorn for payment as winter approached
142:Now few, or none, will justice execute,
697:
198:among his "Fables After Ivan Krylov".
392:Restitution for a loaf that was lent
372:Restitution for a loaf that was lent
352:Restitution for a loaf that was lent
346:The Taill of the Scheip and the Doig
332:Restitution for a loaf that was lent
326:The Tale of the Hownde and the Shepe
312:Restitution for a loaf that was lent
290:Restitution for a loaf that was lent
266:Restitution for a loaf that was lent
242:Restitution for a loaf that was lent
92:Marie de France's poem comprises 42
78:Sepe dolet pietas criminis arte capi
45:
13:
58:After the social breakdown of the
14:
721:
683:
232:The sheep, the dog and the wolf (
355:Shorn for payment in mid-winter
126:Taill of the Scheip and the Doig
50:The fable as originally told by
690:16th–19th century illustrations
667:
651:
637:
621:
605:
594:
452:Accused of eating two chickens
40:The Wolf, the Dog and the Sheep
579:
568:
553:
539:
524:
516:Epopée animale, fable, fabliau
508:
497:
482:
471:
366:Of the dogge and of the sheep
1:
464:
458:(Satirical lack of comment)
277:Walter of England (c. 1175)
7:
34:and is numbered 478 in the
10:
726:
518:, Univ. Rouen-Havre 1984,
446:The peasant and the sheep
406:A dog, a sheep and a wolf
301:Marie de France (c. 1190)
280:Of the dog and the sheep (
256:Of the dog and the sheep (
229:Phaedrus (1st century CE)
710:Abuse of the legal system
386:Of the Dog and the Sheep
269:Shorn of wool in payment
673:Alexander Gretchaninov,
633:prose version, pp. 93–94
403:Roger L'Estrange (1692)
343:Robert Henryson (1480s)
293:Shorn of wool in winter
323:John Lydgate (c. 1400)
426:The dog and the sheep
423:Samuel Croxall (1722)
363:William Caxton (1484)
202:Comparison of versions
196:Alexander Gretchaninov
24:
629:Krilof and His Fables
590:Fable 81, pp. 205–206
547:Thirteen Moral Fables
189:The Russian fabulist
28:The Dog and the Sheep
22:
648:, Vladislav Kenevich
613:Krylov et ses fables
234:ovis, canis et lupus
661:, Routledge, 2017,
443:Ivan Krylov (1823)
383:John Ogilby (1665)
245:Condemned to repay
489:Fables of Phaedrus
415:Shorn for payment
25:
657:John T. Gilmore,
462:
461:
64:Walter of England
46:A change of focus
717:
677:
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635:
627:W.R.S. Ralston,
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171:Roger L'Estrange
165:devoted a short
163:Hieronymus Osius
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107:Robert Henryson
87:Marie de France
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5:
723:
713:
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705:Aesop's Fables
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684:External links
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531:Isopes Fabules
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432:Sued for debt
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305:De cane et ove
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282:de cane et ove
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221:Fate of sheep
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179:Samuel Croxall
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32:Aesop's Fables
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611:Jean Fleury,
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561:
560:Phryx Aesopus
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535:lines 526–749
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116:. Lydgate's
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112:
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33:
29:
21:
16:Aesop's fable
669:
658:
653:
643:
639:
628:
623:
612:
607:
596:
585:
581:
570:
559:
555:
546:
541:
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526:
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510:
499:
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484:
473:
304:
281:
257:
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188:
156:
125:
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117:
111:decasyllabic
103:John Lydgate
94:octosyllabic
91:
84:
77:
72:
57:
49:
39:
27:
26:
215:Characters
191:Ivan Krylov
175:John Ogilby
159:Renaissance
114:rhyme royal
60:Middle Ages
36:Perry Index
699:Categories
675:Op. 33: II
465:References
99:Chaucerian
30:is one of
663:chapter 2
617:pp. 84–85
601:Fable 130
520:pp. 23–26
493:Book I.16
167:Neo-Latin
615:(1869),
588:(1668),
575:Fable 29
564:Fable 49
562:, 1564,
478:Aesopica
134:summoner
130:Scotland
52:Phaedrus
504:Fable 4
218:Charge
209:Source
659:Satire
224:Moral
212:Title
184:Stuart
101:poets
177:and
105:and
701::
549:VI
533:,
491:,
284:)
260:)
236:)
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