After Zeus, Hermes (Mercury) is the god you find most frequently in the fables, and that's not surprising, given that Hermes, like Aesop, is a trickster. You can see Hermes the trickster in this famous fable: Perry 173. Hermes and the Woodcutter.
Embedded Files
Text from Aesop's Fables by Lena Dalkeith. Illustration by Thomas Bewick.
MERCURY AND THE WOODMAN. A poor woodman, by mischance, dropped his axe into the river. As he sat weeping: on the bank, Mercury appeared to him, and on being told of the misfortune, plunged into the stream and brought out a golden axe. This the man refused to take, saying that it was not his. Again the god dived and brought out a silver axe, and again the honest man would not take what was not his own. Once more Mercury plunged in, and this time brought out the real axe, and upon the man claiming it as his, the god, pleased with his honesty, gave him both the gold and the silver axes as well as his own. The woodman went home joyfully and told his friends of the happy adventure.
Thereupon one of them going to the river, threw in his axe, and sat down on the bank and wept loudly. Mercury came as before, but this woodman was dishonest, and on being shown the golden axe, he lied, and swore that it was his. This made the god so angry that he sent the man away, without even giving him back his own axe.
Here's a version of Perry 306. Hermes and a Man bitten by an Ant translated by G. F. Townsend:
THE PHILOSOPHER AND MERCURY. A philosopher witnessed from the shore the shipwreck of a vessel, of which the crew and passengers were all drowned. He inveighed against the injustice of Providence, which would for the sake of one criminal perchance sailing in the ship allow so many innocent persons to perish. As he was indulging in these reflections, he found himself surrounded by a whole army of ants, near whose nest he was standing. One of them climbed up and stung him, and he immediately trampled them all to death with his foot. Mercury presented himself, and striking the Philosopher with his wand, said, “And are you indeed to make yourself a judge of the dealings of Providence, who hast thyself in a similar manner treated these poor ants?”
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse