The Deer without a Heart
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Deer without a Heart is an ancient
fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular m ...
, attributed to
Aesop Aesop ( or ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales c ...
in Europe and numbered 336 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 involves a deer (or an ass in Eastern versions) who was twice persuaded by a wily fox to visit the ailing lion. After the lion had killed it, the fox stole and ate the deer's heart. When asked where it is, the fox reasoned that an animal so foolish as to visit a lion in his den cannot have had one, an argument that reflects the ancient belief that the heart was the seat of thoughts and intellect. The story is catalogued as type 52 in the Aarne-Thompson classification system.


The story from the East

The version of the story found in the Indian ''
Panchatantra The ''Panchatantra'' (IAST: Pañcatantra, ISO: Pañcatantra, sa, पञ्चतन्त्र, "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story ...
'' concerns a lion who is persuaded that the cure for his sickness is the ears and heart of an ass. His servant the
jackal Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...
persuades an ass to accompany him but the lion is too weak to kill the ass on the first attempt and the jackal has to trick it into returning. Afterwards the jackal persuades the hungry lion to leave him with the dead ass and takes the ears and heart for himself. His explanation for their absence is that so silly an animal cannot have had the equipment to hear or to think with. The story travelled westwards through a series of translations and adaptations and was eventually carried to Spain by invading Arabs. By this time the details of the story had altered considerably. In one Arab version an ass demands toll of the lion and is killed for this effrontery. The heart is eaten by a fox who says it could never have existed in so stupid an animal. There also exist Jewish versions of the story, in one of which the ass figures as toll-keeper and in the other demands a fare on board ship.


The story from the West

The story of "The Lion, the Fox and the Deer" is an ancient one that first appeared in the poetry of
Archilochus Archilochus (; grc-gre, Ἀρχίλοχος ''Arkhilokhos''; c. 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Greek lyric poet of the Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the ...
and was told at great length in the collection of
Babrius Babrius ( grc-gre, Βάβριος, ''Bábrios''; century),"Babrius" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 21. also known as Babrias () or Gabrias (), was the author of a collection of Greek fables, many of whic ...
. In this the fox twice persuades the deer to visit the lair of a lion too sick to hunt, on the first occasion escaping with an injured ear; the fox explains this as a rough caress and the deer returns to its death. It was only recorded in Greek, so that Mediaeval European variants may equally be of Eastern rather than Western origin. Thus in
Marie de France Marie de France (fl. 1160 to 1215) was a poet, possibly born in what is now France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court o ...
's telling, the lion requires the deer's heart as a cure for its illness, as in the ''Panchatantra''. The very different version in her contemporary,
Berechiah ha-Nakdan Berechiah ben Natronai Krespia ha-Nakdan ( he, ברכיה בן נטרונאי הנקדן; ) was a Jewish exegete, ethical writer, grammarian, translator, poet, and philosopher. His best-known works are '' Mishlè Shu'alim'' ("Fox Fables") and ''S ...
's "Fox Fables", appears to owe something to a Latin poem by
Avianus Avianus (or possibly Avienus;Alan Cameron, "Avienus or Avienius?", ''ZPE'' 108 (1995), p. 260 c. AD 400) a Latin writer of fables,"Avianus" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 5. identified as a pagan. The ...
, numbered 583 in the Perry Index. In this a boar has its ears cut off as a punishment for roaming in the fields of an estate and later pays for it with his life. A thieving peasant explains the missing heart to his master in the usual way. But in
Berechiah Berechiah is a Jewish name that occurs several times in the Bible. It is derived from Berakhah, "blessing". People named Berechiah In scripture * the father of the Hebrew prophet Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), Zechariah and son of Iddo (prophet), ...
's telling the wild boar trespasses in the royal lion's garden and, after losing its ears and eyes in punishment, is finally killed and the heart is stolen by the fox. These final details demonstrate a synthesis with other versions of the fable, of which there appear to be many by this time. A still later Spanish version by
Juan Ruiz Juan Ruiz (), known as the Archpriest of Hita (''Arcipreste de Hita''), was a medieval Castilian poet. He is best known for his ribald, earthy poem, ''Libro de buen amor'' (''The Book of Good Love''). Biography Origins He was born in Alcal ...
, involves a musical ass who keeps the lion awake with his discordant music and in this case loses his heart and ears to the wolf. The process of transformation continues into modern times. In Stuart Croft's 12-minute film ''The Stag without a Heart'' (2009/10), the story is recounted at length in an endlessly circuitous version by having the fox replace the heart it has stolen in the deer as a means of persuading it to return to the lion's presence.Version online
/ref>


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deer without a Heart, The Indian literature Indian folklore Indian fairy tales Aesop's Fables Fables Lions in literature Fictional deer and moose Literature featuring anthropomorphic foxes ATU 1-99