You are here

The Ass in the Lion's Skin

Source.--The Siha Camma Jataka, Fausbøll, No. 189, trans. Rhys-Davids, pp. v. vi.

Parallels.--It also occurs in Somadeva, Katha Sarit Sagara, ed. Tawney, ii. 65, and n. For Aesopic parallels cf. my Aesop, Av. iv. It is in Babrius, ed. Gitlbaur, 218 (from Greek prose Aesop, ed. Halm, No. 323), and Avian, ed. Ellis, 5, whence it came into the modern Aesop.

Remarks.--Avian wrote towards the end of the third century, and put into Latin mainly those portions of Babrius which are unparalleled by Phaedrus. Consequently, as I have shown, he has a much larger proportion of Eastern elements than Phaedrus. There can be little doubt that the Ass in the Lion's Skin is from India. As Prof. Rhys-Davids remarks, the Indian form gives a plausible motive for the masquerade which is wanting in the ordinary Aesopic version.