Fables and Parables
Fables and Parables (Bajki i przypowieści, 1779) by Ignacy Krasicki is an enduring classic of Polish literature.
Emulating the fable tradition of the ancient Greek Aesop, the Polish Biernat of Lublin, and the Frenchman Jean de La Fontaine, and anticipating Russia's Ivan Krylov, Krasicki populates his fables with animals in masterful epigrammatic expressions of a skeptical, ironic view of the world. That view is informed by his observations of humanity and of national and international politics in his day, notably the predicament of the expiring Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Krasicki's parables, generally less striking than his fables, nonetheless point elegant moral lessons for more quotidian, human life.
Below are eight samples from Krasicki's Fables and Parables, in English translation.
- Foreword to the Fables
There was once a young man whose temperance never flagged;
There was an old man, too, who never scolded or nagged;
There was a rich man who shared his wealth with the needy;
There flourished an author, for renown never greedy;
There was a customs man who did not steal; a cobbler who shunned alcohol;
A soldier who did not boast; a rogue who did not brawl;
There was an honest minister who thought not of self;
There was a poet who never put lies on his shelf.
"No, you'll never convince me that that's the right label!"
"Nevertheless, I will call all of this a fable."
- The Blind Man and the Lame
A blind man was carrying a lame man on his back,
And everything was going well, everything's on track,
When the blind man decides to take it into his head
That he needn't listen to all that the lame man said.
"This stick I have will guide the two of us safe," said he,
And though warned by the lame man, he plowed into a tree.
On they proceeded; the lame man now warned of a brook;
The two survived, but their possessions a soaking took.
At last the blind man ignored the warning of a drop,
And that was to turn out their final and fatal stop.
Which of the two travelers, you may ask, was to blame?
Why, 'twas both the heedless blind man and the trusting lame.
- The Eagle and the Hawk
Eagle, not wishing to incommode himself with chase,
Decided to send hawk after sparrows in his place.
Hawk brought him the sparrows, eagle ate them with pleasure;
At last, not quite sated with the dainties to measure,
Feeling his appetite growing keener and keener —
Eagle ate fowl for breakfast, the fowler for dinner.
- The Lion and the Beasts
Lion, in order to give evidence of his grace,
Invited his intimates to join him in the chase.
They hunted together, and as token of favor
Lion ate meat and let his comrades the bones savor.
His beneficence having thus become established,
Inasmuch as to show them more favor yet he wished,
That they might more fully appreciate their leader,
Lion gave them leave to devour one of their number.
After the first, a second, a third, a fourth vanished.
Seeing the beasts grown fat, lion though scarcely famished,
So's to restrain their predations and blot out his shame,
Ate them one and all in justice and decorum's name.
- The Little Fish and the Pike
Espying a worm in the water, the little fish
Did greatly regret the worm could not become his dish.
Up came a pike and made his preparations to dine;
He swallowed both worm and hook, which he failed to divine.
As the angler pulled ashore his magnificent prize,
Quoth the little fish: "Sometimes good to be undersize."
- Two Dogs
"Why do I freeze out of doors while you sleep on a rug?"
Inquired the bobtail mongrel of the fat, sleek pug.
"I have run of the house, and you the run of a chain,"
The pug replied, "because you serve, while I entertain."
- The Humble Lion
'Tis bad at master's court to lie, bad the truth to tell.
Lion, intent on showing all that he was humble,
Called for open reproaches. Said the fox: "Your great vice
Is that you're too kind, too gracious, excessively nice."
The sheep, seeing lion pleased by fox's rebuke, said:
"You are a cruel, voracious tyrant." — and she was dead.
- The Lamb and the Wolves
Aggression ever finds cause if sufficiently pressed.
Two wolves on the prowl had trapped a lamb in the forest
And were about to pounce. Quoth the lamb: "What right have you?"
"You're toothsome, weak, in the wood. — The wolves dined sans ado.
The above English translations by Christopher Kasparek appear with the permission of the translator.