The Wicked Thief and the Sun

1.07. de fure malo et sole
Caxton: Of the theef and of the sonne
No man is chaunged by nature but of an euyll man maye wel yssue and come a wers than hym self / wherof Esope telleth suche a fable / A theef held the feest of his weddynge / And his neyghbours came there as the fest was holden and worshipped and bare honour to the theef / And as a wyse man sawe that the neyghbours of this theef were ioyeful and glad / he sayd to them / ye make Ioye & gladness of that / wherof ye shold wepe / take hede thenne to my wordes and vnderstond your Ioye / The sonne wold ones be maryed / But alle the Nacions of the world were ageynst hym / & prayd Iupiter that he shold kepe the sonne fro weddyng / & Iupiter demaunded of them the cause why they wolde not haue hym to be wedded / the one of them said / Iupiter thou knowest wel / how ther is but one sonne & yet he brenneth vs al / & yf he be maryed & haue ony children / they shal destroye al kynde / And this fable techeth vs that we ought not to be reioysshed of euyll felauship /
And this fable techeth vs that we ought not to be reioysshed of euyll felauship /
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The Woman Marrying a Thief

THE WOMAN MARRYING A THIEF. You will find the fable in English on this page; scroll to see if there are multiple English versions. [more info]

The Frogs' Complaint against the Sun

1.06. THE FROGS’ COMPLAINT AGAINST THE SUN. Æsop, on seeing the pompous wedding of a thief, who was his neighbour, immediately began to relate the following story:
Once on a time, when the Sun was thinking of taking a wife, the Frogs sent forth their clamour to the stars. Disturbed by their croakings, Jupiter asked the cause of their complaints. Then said one of the inhabitants of the pool: “As it is, by himself he parches up all the standing waters, and compels us unfortunates to languish and die in our scorched abode. What is to become of us, if he beget children?” [more info]

The Frogs and Sun

1.06. THE FROGS AND SUN.
When Esop saw, with inward grief,
The nuptials of a neighb’ring thief,
He thus his narrative begun:
Of old ’twas rumor’d that the Sun
Would take a wife: with hideous cries
The quer’lous Frogs alarm’d the skies.
Moved at their murmurs, Jove inquired
What was the thing that they desired?
When thus a tenant of the lake,
In terror, for his brethren spake:
“Ev’n now one Sun too much is found,
And dries up all the pools around,
Till we thy creatures perish here;
But oh, how dreadfully severe,
Should he at length be made a sire,
And propagate a race of fire!” [more info]

The Sun and the Frogs

12.25: THE SUN AND THE FROGS.
Long from the monarch of the stars
The daughters of the mud received
Support and aid; nor dearth nor wars,
Meanwhile, their teeming nation grieved.
They spread their empire far and wide
Through every marsh, by every tide.
The queens of swamps—I mean no more
Than simply frogs (great names are cheap)—
Caball'd together on the shore,
And cursed their patron from the deep,
And came to be a perfect bore.
Pride, rashness, and ingratitude,
The progeny of fortune good,
Soon brought them to a bitter cry,—
The end of sleep for earth and sky.
Their clamours, if they did not craze,
Would truly seem enough to raise
All living things to mutiny
Against the power of Nature's eye.
The sun, according to their croak,
Was turning all the world to smoke.
It now behoved to take alarm,
And promptly powerful troops to arm.
Forthwith in haste they sent
Their croaking embassies;
To all their states they went,
And all their colonies.
To hear them talk, the all
That rides upon this whirling ball,
Of men and things, was left at stake
Upon the mud that skirts a lake!
The same complaint, in fens and bogs,
Still ever strains their lungs;
And yet these much-complaining frogs
Had better hold their tongues;
For, should the sun in anger rise,
And hurl his vengeance from the skies,
That kingless, half-aquatic crew
Their impudence would sorely rue.
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The Sun and the Frogs

06.12: THE SUN AND THE FROGS.
Rejoicing on their tyrant's wedding-day,
The people drown'd their care in drink;
While from the general joy did Aesop shrink,
And show'd its folly in this way.
'The sun,' said he, 'once took it in his head
To have a partner for his bed.
From swamps, and ponds, and marshy bogs,
Up rose the wailings of the frogs.
"What shall we do, should he have progeny?"
Said they to Destiny;
"One sun we scarcely can endure,
And half-a-dozen, we are sure,
Will dry the very sea.
Adieu to marsh and fen!
Our race will perish then,
Or be obliged to fix
Their dwelling in the Styx!"
For such an humble animal,
The frog, I take it, reason'd well.'
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The Sun and the Frogs

050. THE SUN AND THE FROGS.
Rejoicing on their tyrant's wedding-day,
The people drown'd their care in drink;
While from the general joy did Aesop shrink,
And show'd its folly in this way.
'The sun,' said he, 'once took it in his head
To have a partner for his bed.
From swamps, and ponds, and marshy bogs,
Up rose the wailings of the frogs.
"What shall we do, should he have progeny?"
Said they to Destiny;
"One sun we scarcely can endure,
And half-a-dozen, we are sure,
Will dry the very sea.
Adieu to marsh and fen!
Our race will perish then,
Or be obliged to fix
Their dwelling in the Styx!"
For such an humble animal,
The frog, I take it, reason'd well.'
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