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Article In:
Translating Power Distance
Edited by Maria Sidiropoulou
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 10:3] 2024
► pp. 356–374

Aesop’s fable The Lion and the Mouse

Μulticultural perspectives

| National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Aesopic tradition has been highly adaptive (Lefkowitz 2006) as manifested in multicultural versions of fables. The study explores shifts in Aesop’s fable The Lion and the Mouse to highlight shifts in the representation of characters, in agreement with pragmatic tendencies across cultures, as — for instance — in the power distance between the lion and the mouse. It examines two Modern Greek (2003 and 2012), an English (1996), a Russian (2012) and a Ukrainian (1990) version of the fable to trace local perceptions of it. Analysis shows that translators (as storytellers) transform aspects of the fable in pragmatically meaningful ways: they add up to the adaptation process conforming to locally appreciated values. The significance of research lies in that translation is seen as another layer of adaptation which a source fable may undergo intra- and inter-culturally.
Keywords: fable, Aesop, translation, Modern Greek, Russian, English, Ukrainian
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Data analysis
  • 5.Discussion, questionnaire results and significance of research
  • Author queries
  • References
  • Texts
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References (33)
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Texts
AG Lion and Mouse, in Greek [ΛΕΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΜΥΣ, ΑΙΣΩΠΟΣ: Μῦθοι]. Accessed February 7, 2023. ΑΙΣΩΠΟΣ: Μῦθοι (greek-language.gr)
EN Sam Pickering and Jack Zipes. 1996. Aesop’s Fables. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
MG1 The Lion and the Mouse, in Greek [2012, Το Λιοντάρι και ο Ποντικός, Αθήνα: Ιωάννης Κωνσταντάκος].Google Scholar
MG2 The Lion and the Mouse, in Greek [2003, Το Λιοντάρι και το Ποντίκι. Αθήνα: Παπαδόπουλος].Google Scholar
RU The Lion and the Mouse, in Russian (by L. Tolstoy) [2013. Лев и мышь, Россия: Издательство «Детиздат»]. Accessed February 7, 2023. [URL]
UKR Folk Tales. The Lion and the Mouse, in Ukrainian [V. Zabashtanskyi and A. Cherdakli. Aesop’s Fables told by P. Tsimikali; transl. from Modern Greek. Лев i мишеня, Kyiv, Ukraine, 1990, Народні байки (supermif.com)]. Accessed February 7, 2023. [URL]