# Identify this fable about a pretty collar **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206 "2006-02-19T15:42:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/1 "2006-02-19T15:42:39Z")
Can someone help me refresh my memory about this fable (probably by Æsop)? There are two animals, one domesticated and one wild or feral, who meet. The wild animal notices that the domesticated one has a pretty collar on; he is impressed and asks about it, thinking that maybe he can obtain one too. The domesticated animal is flattered and explains what it’s for and where he got it. The wild animal then realizes that the domesticated animal is effectively a prisoner of his master but has been deluded into accepting his position with the pretty collar. I’d appreciate it if someone could identify the original title and author of the story, and the two animals involved. A link to the original fable, or a later public-domain retelling, would also be great. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/2 "2006-02-19T15:53:27Z")
See if [this link](http://www.mythfolklore.net/aesopica/oxford/3.htm) helps at all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/3 "2006-02-19T15:55:27Z")
It’s one of Aesop’s fables…the Wolf, The Dog and the Collar, maybe? That’s sort of a similar story, about how a wolf is impressed that a dog is so well fed, but then changes his mind when he realizes the dog is chained? > [@](#): > > A WOLF, meeting a big well-fed Mastiff with a wooden collar about his neck asked him who it was that fed him so well and yet compelled him to drag that heavy log about wherever he went. “The master,” he replied. Then said the Wolf: “May no friend of mine ever be in such a plight; for the weight of this chain is enough to spoil the appetite.” ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/4 "2006-02-19T16:18:47Z")
Yeah, I’d also come across the story mentioned by the two posters. It’s a bit different from my recollection, since in my story the wolf is at first impressed with the shiny collar and wants one for himself, but in the stories thus far posted the wolf is immediately horrified at the collar. Perhaps I am recalling a different fable, or perhaps a later modified version of the heavy-collar story. Is there perhaps some famous Medieval, Renaissance, or Victorian retelling of Æsop’s fable that I’m remembering? I’m pretty sure I read this fable in a book with coloured 18th- or 19th-century woodcut illustrations. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/5 "2006-02-19T16:38:01Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Yeah, I’d also come across the story mentioned by the two posters. It’s a bit different from my recollection, since in my story the wolf is at first impressed with the shiny collar and wants one for himself, but in the stories thus far posted the wolf is immediately horrified at the collar. Perhaps I am recalling a different fable, or perhaps a later modified version of the heavy-collar story. Is there perhaps some famous Medieval, Renaissance, or Victorian retelling of Æsop’s fable that I’m remembering? I’m pretty sure I read this fable in a book with coloured 18th- or 19th-century woodcut illustrations. I have identified the book in question: _Aesop’s Fables_ drawn by Charles H. Bennett. It’s a 19th-century book; a new edition with additional illustrations from Randolph Caldecott was published in 1986. Here are some images of the cover and illustrations:[ul] [li][Book cover on eBay.co.uk](http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AESOPS-FABLES-hardcover-NICE-ILLUSTRATIONS_W0QQitemZ4830772978QQcategoryZ1097QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting)[/li][li][Various illustrations](http://www.alphastamps.com/bennettaesop1.html)[/li][li][Book cover (scroll down to #3)](http://www.stillmanbooks.com/aesopsfables.htm)[/li][/ul]If someone has a copy of this book, perhaps they can let me know if one of the fables inside is what I’m remembering…? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/6 "2006-02-19T16:43:18Z")
I have found an almost identical story in my Aesop’s book, only there’s no collar-coveting mentioned. > [@](#): > > [snip] > > The Wolf had such a beautiful vision of his coming happiness that he almost wept. But just then he noticed that the hair on the Dog’s neck was worn and the skin was chafed. > > “What is that on your neck?” > > […] > > “Perhaps you see the mark of the collar to which my chain is fastened.” > > “What! A chain!” cried the Wolf. “Don’t you go wherever you please?” > > […] The moral, as written: _There is nothing worth so much as liberty._ “The Wolf and the House Dog,” [The Aesop for Children](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0516098926/103-3917398-5823830?v=glance&n=283155), reprinted in 1993 by Barnes & Noble Books. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/7 "2006-02-19T16:56:55Z")
The complete (very short) story here [THE WOLF AND THE HOUSE DOG](http://www.geocities.co.jp/bookend/9563/cha/cha057.html) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/8 "2006-02-19T17:01:18Z")
Similar story with specific collar mention > [@](#): > > One evening a Wolf met a big, well-fed House Dog. He saw that the Dog wore a heavy collar around his neck, and he asked, “Who is it feed you so well, yet burdens you with so heavy a collar?” “Tis my master,” the House Dog replied. " I would not change places with you, my friend." the Wolf said, "nor wear your collar for any master, no matter how well he fed me. Half a meal in freedom is better than a full meal in bondage. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/9 "2006-02-19T18:21:16Z")
IIRC there’s something in _Animal Farm_ One of the horses longs for a pretty collar. The pigs won’t let her wear one, because its the mark of slavery. So she runs away to another farm. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-fable-about-a-pretty-collar/345206/10 "2006-02-19T20:25:50Z")
You almost RC, **Peter** , but it wasn’t a collar, it was [ribbons](http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/animalfarm/5/): > [@](#): > > AS WINTER drew on, Mollie became more and more troublesome. She was late for work every morning and excused herself by saying that she had overslept, and she complained of mysterious pains, although her appetite was excellent. On every kind of pretext she would run away from work and go to the drinking pool, where she would stand foolishly gazing at her own reflection in the water. But there were also rumours of something more serious. One day, as Mollie strolled blithely into the yard, flirting her long tail and chewing at a stalk of hay, Clover took her aside. > > “Mollie,” she said, “I have something very serious to say to you. This morning I saw you looking over the hedge that divides Animal Farm from Foxwood. One of Mr. Pilkington’s men was standing on the other side of the hedge. And—I was a long way away, but I am almost certain I saw this—he was talking to you and you were allowing him to stroke your nose. What does that mean, Mollie?” > > “He didn’t! I wasn’t! It isn’t true!” cried Mollie, beginning to prance about and paw the ground. > > “Mollie! Look me in the face. Do you give me your word of honour that that man was not stroking your nose?” > > “It isn’t true!” repeated Mollie, but she could not look Clover in the face, and the next moment she took to her heels and galloped away into the field. > > A thought struck Clover. Without saying anything to the others, she went to Mollie’s stall and turned over the straw with her hoof. Hidden under the straw was a little pile of lump sugar and several bunches of ribbon of different colours. > > Three days later Mollie disappeared. For some weeks nothing was known of her whereabouts, then the pigeons reported that they had seen her on the other side of Willingdon. She was between the shafts of a smart dogcart painted red and black, which was standing outside a public-house. A fat red-faced man in check breeches and gaiters, who looked like a publican, was stroking her nose and feeding her with sugar. Her coat was newly clipped and she wore a scarlet ribbon round her forelock. She appeared to be enjoying herself, so the pigeons said. None of the animals ever mentioned Mollie again.