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86:(1764), where it is given the title "The Hermit and the Bear" and provided with the moral "The random zeal of inconsiderate friends is often as hurtful as the wrath of enemies". In this version a hermit has done the bear a good turn; later still this was identified with taking a thorn from its paw, drawing on the story of
159:; imported into it is the episode of causing injury by trying to drive off flies, in this case from an old woman whom one of them knocks over with the stone he throws in doing so. In Europe the story is of a fool who breaks a magistrate's nose with a cudgel in taking vengeance on a fly. In Italy this is told of
151:
from the
Buddhist scriptures it is a carpenter's foolish son who strikes at a fly on his father's head with an axe. In the former the moral is given as 'Do not choose a fool as a friend', while in the latter it is that 'an enemy with sense is better than a friend without it', which is the sentiment
54:
is sometimes translated as "The bear and the amateur gardener", the true meaning is 'the garden lover'. It relates how a solitary gardener encounters a lonely bear and they decide to become companions. One of the bear's duties is to keep the flies off his friend when he takes a nap. Unable to drive
74:
Several lines occurring in the poem are taken as its morals. Midway there is the statement 'In my opinion it's a golden rule/Better be lonely than be with a fool', which the rest of the story bears out. The summing up at the end carries the commentary given by eastern authors that it is better to
90:
and the Lion. Serving the hermit afterwards out of gratitude, the bear only strikes him in the face when driving off a fly, and the two then part. It was this milder version that was taken up in early 19th century rhyming editions for children. Among them are Mary Anne Davis'
216:
dispenses with the bear altogether. It is a pure landscape showing a southern farm with the ancient gardener slumbering in the foreground. An etching of this was made by Edmond-Jules
Pennequin in 1901. Other series that include the fable are the innovative water colours that
466:
197:, shows the bear contemplating the gardener after it has killed him. Yet another Indian miniature of the fable was among those commissioned from the Punjabi artist Imam Bakhsh Lahori in 1837 by a French enthusiast of fables. Now in the
63:, the story also illustrates the important distinction that the bear fails to realise between the immediate good, in this case keeping the flies off a friend, and the ultimate good of safeguarding his welfare.
261:(a bear's service), both used for doing somebody or something a disservice or bad turn and sometimes for any ill-considered action with an unfortunate result. The Danish and Norwegian word
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1080:
135:, which tells the story of a kind man who rescued a bear from a serpent. The animal then devoted itself to its saviour's service and killed him in the manner related.
193:(see above), and another illustration from Persia dating from a little later. A watercolour in Lucknow style, painted by Sital Das round about 1780 and now in the
34:
that warns against making foolish friendships. There are several variant versions, both literary and oral, across the world and its folk elements are classed as
155:
There are yet more variants in the oral tradition. One
Pakistani source concerns "The Seven Wise Men of Buneyr", who share at least one exploit with the
55:
off a persistent fly, the bear seizes a paving stone to crush it and kills the gardener as well. La
Fontaine is considered to have been illustrating the
78:
The story gained currency in
England from the 18th century on through translations or imitations of La Fontaine. One of its earliest appearances was in
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173:(13.4), written about 1550. That particular collection contains the first instance of several other European folk tales, besides this one.
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was one of the many artists who illustrated La
Fontaine's fables, and it was his design for this fable that appeared on the 1977
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who were responsible for entire editions of La
Fontaine's work. On the other hand, Jean-Charles Cazin's 1892 oil painting of
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The story ultimately derives from India, where there are two older versions with different characters. The one from the
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from the East. Most often they depict the bear with the stone raised in its paws, as in the manuscript copy of the
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Several
Western artists have illustrated La Fontaine's fable of "The Bear and the Gardener", including those like
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involves the pet monkey of a king who strikes at the gnat with a sword and causes his master's death. In the
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99:(1820). Later in the century the origin of the story was forgotten in England and it was taken as one of
38:-Uther type 1586. The La Fontaine version has been taken as demonstrating various philosophical lessons.
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is number 83. Finally Yves Alix (1890–1969) produced a lithograph of the fable for a de luxe edition of
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Because of the fable's existence in
Eastern sources, it has been a particularly popular subject in
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precept that there should be measure in everything, including the making of friends. In terms of
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233:(1966) incorporating the work of as many modernist artists. During the 19th century, the artist
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265:(bear-service) has similar meanings and the idiom also appears in other European languages.
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stories, in which the characters are indeed a bear and a gardener. A variant appeared in
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set of postage stamps with the theme of children's stories, but under the title of
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401:, ed. H.T. Francis and E.J. Thomas, Cambridge University Press, 1916, pp. 44–45
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The Sacred Paw - The Bear in Nature, Myth, and
Literature
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The fable has given to the French language the idiom
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La Fontaine found his fable in a translation of the
95:, first published about 1818, and Jefferys Taylor's
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93:Fables in Verse: by Aesop, La Fontaine, and others
115:A 1663 Indian miniature of the story from Rumi's
46:The story was introduced to western readers in
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221:painted in 1886 and the coloured etchings by
201:, it shows the bear in an ornamental garden.
8:
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84:Select fables of Esop and other fabulists
75:have a wise enemy than a foolish friend.
257:(the bear's paving stone) and to German
1081:Fictional horticulturists and gardeners
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152:on which La Fontaine closes his fable.
287:. Viking, The University of Michigan.
281:Shepard, Paul; Sanders, Barry (1985).
589:Illustrations from 19th century books
7:
489:An illustration is available online
353:See p. 282 in this pirated edition
14:
818:The Tall Tales of Vishnu Sharma
556:Wiktionary, the free dictionary
423:Vol. 2, London, 1884, pp. 270ff
227:L'ours et l'amateur des jardins
214:L'ours et l'amateur des jardins
52:L'Ours et l'amateur des jardins
467:View at the Idbury Prints site
1:
165:Giovanni Francesco Straparola
720:The Brahmin and the Mongoose
705:The Mouse Turned into a Maid
661:The Moral Philosophy of Doni
795:One Thousand and One Nights
657:The Fables of Bidpai/Pilpay
575:Russian academic dictionary
1122:
715:The Ass in the Lion's Skin
690:The Tortoise and the Birds
307:An English translation is
131:'s 13th century poem, the
950:Edward Backhouse Eastwick
730:The milkmaid and her pail
695:The Bear and the Gardener
633:
199:Musée Jean de la Fontaine
20:The Bear and the Gardener
710:The Deer without a Heart
189:dating from 1663 in the
456:View at the Museum site
376:Whinfield's translation
167:'s tale of Fortunio in
1086:Works about friendship
904:Abu'l-Ma'ali Nasrallah
859:Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
763:Hikayat Panca Tanderan
700:The Lion and the Mouse
478:French government site
120:
119:. (Walters Art Museum)
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653:The Lights of Canopus
114:
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1061:La Fontaine's Fables
758:La Fontaine's Fables
518:Creighton University
177:Paintings and prints
61:practical philosophy
48:La Fontaine's Fables
1076:Bears in literature
874:Jean de La Fontaine
725:The Fox and the Cat
320:La Fontaines:Fables
206:Jean-Baptiste Oudry
26:originating in the
1101:Indian fairy tales
975:Ion Keith-Falconer
494:2011-02-25 at the
243:L'Ermite et l'Ours
191:Walters Art Museum
157:Wise Men of Gotham
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50:(VIII.10). Though
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995:Silvestre de Sacy
955:Franklin Edgerton
945:Hermann Brockhaus
855:(putative author)
669:Nandaka-prakarana
529:Internaute online
434:J.H.Terry Gallery
374:Book 2, Story 8,
331:Sciences Humaines
255:le pavé de l'ours
183:Muslim miniatures
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980:Patrick Olivelle
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788:Kathasaritsagara
665:Tantri Kamandaka
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990:Arthur W. Ryder
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960:A. N. D. Haksar
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879:Antoine Galland
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101:Aesop's Fables
97:Aesop in Rhyme
80:Robert Dodsley
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28:ancient Indian
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1066:Jataka tales
1000:C. H. Tawney
985:N. M. Penzer
909:Thomas North
837:translators,
825:Jungle Tales
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641:Panchakhyana
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626:Panchatantra
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558:, 2024-05-06
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141:Panchatantra
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32:Panchatantra
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18:
1035:Frame story
1030:Beast fable
1010:Ramsay Wood
919:Simeon Seth
810:Other media
801:Ĺšukasaptati
769:Hitopadesha
259:Bärendienst
1055:Categories
889:Kshemendra
869:Durgasimha
562:2024-07-26
269:References
364:pp. 11–12
231:20 Fables
88:Androcles
42:The Fable
899:Narayana
839:adapters
835:Editors,
492:Archived
387:Rain.org
117:Mas̱navī
107:Variants
864:Borzuya
677:Stories
239:Burundi
187:Masnavi
146:Masaka
133:Masnavi
1023:Topics
928:Modern
914:Rudaki
291:
249:Idioms
148:Jataka
125:Bidpai
1040:Katha
846:Early
635:aka:
161:GiufĂ
57:Stoic
30:text
24:fable
22:is a
16:Fable
309:here
289:ISBN
208:and
129:Rumi
82:'s
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663:—
659:—
655:—
651:-
647:—
643:—
639:—
554:,
245:.
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617:e
610:t
603:v
297:.
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