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#REDIRECT ] |
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'''''The Belling the Cat''''', '''''The Mice, the Bell, and the Cat''''', or '''''The Mice in Council''''' is a ] often attributed to ] but not recorded before the ]. It has been confused with the quite different fable of Classical origin titled ]. In the classificatory system established for the fables by ], it is numbered 613, which is reserved for Mediaeval attributions outside the Aesopic canon.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ben Edwin Perry |title=Babrius and Phaedrus |series=] |year=1965 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=0-674-99480-9 |pages=487, no. 373 }}</ref> |
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==Synopsis== |
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{{R from alternative name}} |
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The Fable concerns a group of mice who debate plans to nullify the threat of a marauding cat. One of them proposes placing a bell around its neck, so that they are warned of its approach. The plan is applauded by the others, until one mouse asks who will volunteer to place the bell on the cat. All then make excuses. The story is used to teach the wisdom of evaluating a plan not only on how desirable the outcome would be, but also on how it can be executed. It provides a moral lesson about the fundamental difference between ideas and their feasibility, and how this affects the value of a given plan. |
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{{R with history}} |
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The story gives rise to the idiom ''to bell the cat'', which means to attempt, or agree to perform, an impossibly difficult task<ref> thefreedictionary.com. Accessed November 9, 2007.</ref>. Historically it was the basis of the ] given the Scottish nobleman, ]. In 1482, at a meeting of nobles who wanted to depose and hang ]'s favourite, Robert Cochrane, Lord Gray remarked, ''Tis well said, but wha daur bell the cat?'' The challenge was accepted and successfully accomplished by the Earl of Angus. In recognition of this, he was always known afterwards as Archie Bell-the-cat.<ref>Alexander Hislop: ''The proverbs of Scotland'', Edinburgh 1868, p.314,</ref> |
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==Early versions and later interpretations== |
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One of the earliest versions of the story appears as a parable critical of the clergy in ]'s ''Parabolae''.<ref>http://journeytothesea.com/christianizing-aesop-odo</ref> Written around 1200, it was afterwards translated into Welsh, French and Spanish. Some time later the story is found in the work now referred to as ''Ysopet-Avionnet'', which is largely made up of Latin poems by the 12th century ], followed by a French version dating from as much as two centuries later. It also includes four poems not found in Walter's ''Esopus''; among them is the tale of "The Council of the Mice" (''De muribus consilium facientibus contra catum''). The author concludes with the scornful comment that laws are of no effect without the means of adequately enforcing them and that such parliamentry assemblies as he describes are like the proverbial mountain in labour that gives birth to a mouse.<ref>''Ysopet-Avionnet, the Latin and French texts'', University of Illinois 1919; fable LXII, pp.190-2; </ref> |
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The fable also appeared as a cautionary tale in ]'s ] ''Contes Moralisés'' (1320), referring to the difficulty of curbing the outrages of superior lords.<ref>''Les contes moralisés de Nicole Bozon''Paris, 1889, pp.144-5; </ref> It was in this context too that the story of a parliament of rats and mice was retold in ]'s allegorical poem '']''.<ref>''William’s Vision of Piers Plowman by William Langland'', edited by Ben Byram-Wigfield (2006), Prologue, lines 146-181; </ref> The episode is said to refer to the Parliament of 1376 which attempted unsuccessfully to remedy popular dissatisfaction over the exactions made by nobles acting in the royal name.<ref>http://www.sfsu.edu/~medieval/complaintlit/parliament.html</ref> |
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These works suggest, if not the fable's English origin, then at least its continued popularity in England. It is only later that we find the story independently current in Europe. The Italian author ] made of it a Latin poem titled ''De muribus tintinnabulum feli appendere volentibus'' (The mice who wanted to bell the cat) in the late 15th century. A more popular version in Latin verse was written by ] and printed posthumously in his ''Fabulae centum ex antiquis auctoribus delectae'' (100 delightful fables from ancient authors, Rome 1564), a work that was to be many times reprinted and translated up to start of the 19th century. Titled simply "The Council of the Mice", it comes to rest on the drily stated moral that 'a risky plan can have no good result'. A century later, ] made the tale even better known by including it among his ''Fables'' (1668) under much the same title (II.2).<ref></ref> The first English collection to attribute the fable to Aesop was Francis Barlow's of 1687; in this there is a fine woodcut, followed by an 10-line verse synopsis by ] with the punning conclusion |
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::::Good council's easily given, but the effect |
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::::Oft renders it uneasy to transact.<ref>http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/barlow/21.htm</ref> |
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It is clear that in mediaeval times the fable was applied to political situations and that commentaries on it were sharply critical of the limited democratic processes of the day and their ability to resolve social conflict when class interests were at stake. This applies equally to the plot against the king's favourite in 15th century Scotland and the direct means that Archibald Douglas chose to resolve the issue. While none of the authors that used the fable actually incited revolution, it will be noted that the 1376 Parliament that Langland satirised was followed by ]'s revolt five years later and that Archibald Douglas went on to lead a rebellion against King James. In the meantime, the fangs of the fable were being drawn by European authors, who restricted their criticism to pusillanimous conduct in the face of rashly proposed solutions. |
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There still remains the perception of a fundamental opposition between consensus and individualism. This is addressed in the lyrics of "Bell the Cat"<ref>http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858822749</ref>, a performance put out on DVD by the Japanese rock band ] in 2007.<ref></ref> This is the monologue of a house cat that wants to walk alone since "Society is by nature evil". It therefore refuses to conform and is impatient of restriction: “your hands hold on to everything – bell the cat”. While the lyric is sung in Japanese, the final phrase is in English. This is indicative of how influential animal fables of Western origin have become in Oriental societies that still appreciate such story-telling, recognising their ancient purpose of questioning and disrupting traditional social norms. |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==See also== |
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{{wiktionary|bell the cat}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell And The Cat, The}} |
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