The Farmer and his Sons is a story of Greek origin that is included among

Aesop's Fables Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to ...

and is listed as 42 in the

Perry Index The Perry Index is a widely used index of "Aesop's Fables" or "Aesopica", the fables credited to Aesop, the storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BC. The index was created by Ben Edwin Perry, a professor of classics at the Un ...

. It illustrates both the value of hard work and the need to temper parental advice with practicality.

The Fable

A farmer nearing death calls his sons to him in secret and tells them not to divide the family land since there is a treasure hidden somewhere on it. Although they dig it over carefully, they find nothing. However, when the crops (or in some versions the vines) flourish profitably, they realise the valuable hidden meaning of his advice. The fable is rare in dealing directly with the human situation, rather than through the intermediary of animals. Although it has long been accepted as one of Aesop's, and appeared as his in early European collections, the story has also been ascribed to the philosopher

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

. The

Neo-Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

poets

Gabriele Faerno The humanist scholar Gabriele Faerno, also known by his Latin name of Faernus Cremonensis, was born in Cremona about 1510 and died in Rome on 17 November, 1561. He was a scrupulous textual editor and an elegant Latin poet who is best known now for ...

and

Hieronymus Osius Hieronymus Osius was a German Neo-Latin poet and academic about whom there are few biographical details. He was born about 1530 in Schlotheim and murdered in 1575 in Graz. After studying first at the university of Erfurt, he gained his master's ...

both wrote poetic versions, as did Jean de la Fontaine in French. There is no consistency of titling. Greek sources make the father a farmer (Γεωργὸς), while Osius calls him a peasant (''rusticus''). Caxton's description is labourer, as is La Fontaine's, although the French ''laboureur'' has the meaning of an independent husbandman, the term used by

Samuel Croxall Samuel Croxall (c. 1690 – 1752) was an Anglican churchman, writer and translator, particularly noted for his edition of Aesop's Fables. Early career Samuel Croxall was born in Walton on Thames, where his father (also called Samuel) was vicar ...

. The nature of the ground cultivated differs as well. The 15th century illustrations in the Medici Manuscript and in

Heinrich Steinhowel Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

's collection make it a vineyard, as it is also described in the poems by Faerno and Osius, but other versions are not always so specific. The moral of the story appears pithily in La Fontaine's version as ''le travail est un trésor'' (work is wealth), as is also made explicit in the Greek (ὁ κάματος θησαυρός ἐστι) and in Faerno's Latin (''thesaurus est labor''). English versions have been more roundabout and long-winded. Caxton prefaces the story with the opinion that "He that laboureth and werketh contynuelly maye not faylle to haue plente of goodes”. Croxall prefaces his long application with, "Labour and Industry, well applied, seldom fail of finding a Treasure”, while

Thomas Bewick Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 17538 November 1828) was an English wood-engraver and natural history author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving cutlery, making the wood blocks for advertisements, and illustrating ch ...

's edition contains the verse “Assiduous pains the swelling coffers fill”. However, Bewick's main comment is on the value of the father’s advice and the craft by which he conveyed it. This also is what attracts the attention of

Roger L'Estrange Sir Roger L'Estrange (17 December 1616 – 11 December 1704) was an English pamphleteer, author, courtier, and press censor. Throughout his life L'Estrange was frequently mired in controversy and acted as a staunch ideological defender of Kin ...

: “Good Counsel is the best Legacy a Father can leave to a Child”.Fable 109
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References

External links

Books illustration from th
15th to the 19th centuries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer and his Son, The Aesop's Fables La Fontaine's Fables Fictional farmers Fictional families