Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE FOX AND THE LION HUNTING
A story about a fox, exhorting us not to aim too high.
The fox lived together with a lion and acted as his servant. She would point
out their quarry, while the lion would carry out the actual attack. Whatever
the lion was able to catch was then divided between the two of them accordingly.
The fox, however, was jealous because the lion got more to eat than she did,
so she decided to go hunting on her own instead of just pointing out their quarry
to the lion. But when the fox went to seize something from the flock, she was
captured and killed by some hunters.
It is better to serve in safety than to rule in peril.
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura
Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.
Perry 394: Gibbs (Oxford) 343 [English]
Perry 394: Townsend 273 [English]
Perry 394: Aphthonius 20 [Greek]
You can find a compilation of Perry's index to the Aesopica in the gigantic appendix to his
edition of Babrius and Phaedrus for the Loeb Classical Library
(Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1965). This book is an absolute must for anyone interested
in the Aesopic fable tradition. Invaluable.