Aesop's Fable: The Wolf & The Lamb
A new project by Liz Volpi Impastato. Free coloring page inside!
HELLO friends!! Welcome to the inaugural edition of Art & Fable, a personal project / newsletter in which I illustrate an ancient story that I love and say hello to you every other week. I’m starting this series with works attributed to the fabulous Greek fabulist, Aesop. You may be familiar with such tales as The Tortoise and The Hare, The Goose and The Golden Egg, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. I hope you enjoy these bite-sized stories as much as I do. Let’s dive in!
The Wolf & The Lamb
Translation by George Fyler Townsend via Project Gutenberg, paraphrased by me.
One day, a wolf noticed a lamb astray from his flock—an easy target. But the wolf did not want to outright jump this lamb. Instead, he decided to address the lamb directly and justify his right to kill him. The wolf approached him.
“Little lamb, last year you grossly insulted me!”
“Oh sir, that cannot be!” bleated the lamb. “For I was not yet born.”
“Well then…” said the wolf. “You’re feeding in MY pastures.”
“No, good sir!” remarked the lamb. “I’ve not yet tasted grass.”
Again said the wolf, “You drink of my well!”
“No!” exclaimed the lamb. “I’ve not yet had water, as my mother’s milk is still both food and drink to me.”Upon hearing this, the wolf seized the lamb and ate him up, proclaiming “Well! I won’t remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations!”
The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.
According to Scholarly Journal Wikipedia (I know… I know), we can trace this fable to the first century CE when it was written in Latin by a guy named Phaedrus and kinda-sorta-maybe around the same time in Greek by a guy named Babrius. It’s been told for centuries, applied to whatever injustices are happening at the time—including more recent applications in political cartoons like this 19th century criticism of French imperialism in Siam (modern day Thailand). It is an ever-useful fable.
Life Stuff
BIG life news alert: I got married! Even after a couple of months, I’m still on a high from the celebration. It was the first time we saw a lot of our family and friends since COVID. Our photographer really killed it with the photos, I mean look at us! Her name is Gaby Chabolla, big recommend if you live in the ATX area. We capped off the occasion with a honeymoon in Disney World, which was the first time Sal or I had been in about 15-20 years. Being able to get boozy “around the world” in Epcot was tight. We even got to stay in the Star Wars Galactic Cruiser hotel before Disney plans to shutter the experience! It was freaking awesome.
Freebie Zone
As promised, here’s a free coloring page for you! I drew this a few years ago and it’s still one of my faves. Be sure to download it within the next few weeks, it will be gone soon! Click the button below for access.
Epilogue
Well, this is where I leave you. How did you like that fable? Did you also read the dialogue with a British accent? George Fyler Townsend was bringing some big 19th century snooty-boy energy to that translation. You can probably tell where I adjusted his language up top, I don’t think Mr. Townsend would ever say “jump this lamb” hahaha. Anyway, write in your thoughts if you want, otherwise see you next time!
TTYL,
Liz
