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Speaking of The Snake and the Crab in Ancient Greece was the equivalent of the modern idiom, 'Pot calling the kettle black'. A fable attributed to Aesop was eventually created about the two creatures and later still yet another fable concerning a crab and its offspring was developed to make the same point. ==The fables and their origin== The first mention of the snake and the crab is found in a drinking song dating from the late 6th or early 5th century BCE: ::::The crab spoke thus, ::::seizing the snake in its claws, ::::'One’s comrade should be straight ::::and not think crooked thoughts.’〔Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, ''History of the Graeco-Latin fable'' I, Brill, Leiden NL 1999, (p.146 )〕 Since the movement of both creatures is far from direct, this is as much as to say that the pot should not call the kettle black. A later fable, attributed to Aesop and numbered 196 in the Perry Index,〔(Aesopica site )〕 relates that the two were once friends. When the snake ignored the crab's advice to lead an honest life, it was killed by the crab. The snake then became rigid and the crab commented that if it had done so earlier it need not have died. The story only appeared in Greek sources until it was included in European collections of the fables during the Renaissance. In England it was recorded by Roger L'Estrange〔(See online )〕 and Samuel Croxall.〔''Fables of Aesop'', London 1722, (Fable XII )〕 These portray the crab as honest and plain dealing, drawing the moral that one should be straightforward in behaviour and beware of friendship with those who are not. The story had therefore travelled a long way from being an illustration of hypocritical behaviour. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Snake and the Crab」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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