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The Wolf and the Crane is a fable attributed to Aesop that has several eastern analogues. Similar stories have a lion instead of a wolf, and a stork, heron or partridge takes the place of the crane. ==The fable and its alternative versions== A feeding wolf got a small bone stuck in his throat and, in terrible pain, begged the other animals for help, promising a reward. At last the Crane agreed to try and, putting its long bill down the Wolf’s throat, loosened the bone and took it out. But when the Crane asked for his reward, the Wolf replied, "You have put your head inside a wolf’s mouth and taken it out again in safety; that ought to be reward enough for you." In early versions, where Phaedrus has a crane, Babrius has a heron, but a wolf is involved in both. The story is very close in detail to the ''Javasakuna Jataka'' in the Buddhist scriptures. In this it is a woodpecker that dislodges the bone from a lion's throat, having first taken the precaution of propping its mouth open with a stick. On testing his gratitude later, the woodpecker is given the same answer as the wolf's and reflects :::From the ignoble hope not to obtain :::The due requital of good service done.〔(), H. T. Francis & E. J. Thomas, Cambridge 1916, pp. 223–4.〕 A Jewish Midrash version, dating from the 1st century CE, tells how an Egyptian partridge extracts a thorn from the tongue of a lion. Its reward is similar to the other retellings. One of this fable's earliest applications was at the beginning of the Roman emperor Hadrian's reign (117–138 CE), when Joshua ben Hananiah skilfully made use of it to prevent the Jewish people from rebelling against Rome and once more putting their heads into the lion's jaws (Genesis Rabba lxiv., end). It is notable that both eastern versions are given a political application. This is equally true of John Lydgate's 15th century retelling of ''Isopes Fabule'', titled 'How the Wolf deceived the Crane'. The crane there is described as a surgeon engaged to perform a delicate operation and then deceived out of his fee. Lydgate goes on to draw the wider lesson of how a tyrannous aristocracy oppresses the rural poor and gives them no return for their service. Jean de la Fontaine makes his social point through satire. In ''Le loup et la cigogne'' (''Fables'' III.9) he also describes the crane's action as a surgical service; but when it asks for the salary promised, it is scolded for ingratitude by the wolf. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing takes the satire even further in alluding to the fable in his sequel, "The Sick Wolf". The predator is near death and, in confessing himself to the fox, recalls occasions when he voluntarily abstained from killing sheep. The sympathising fox replies, 'I recollect all the particulars. It was just at that time that you suffered so much from the bone in your throat.’〔''Fables and Epigrams of Lessing translated from the German'', London 1825, (fable 12 )〕 Ran Bosilek wrote a variant where the stork is called to treat the patient (a female bear) a second time later. This time, he comes with pliers to pull out the bear's teeth first, forcing her to think of an alternate reward.〔Ран Босилек ''(Задави се Меца )''〕 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 Wolf and the Crane」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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