Anthrozoös

A multidisciplinary journal of the interactions of people and animals

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Bestial Wisdom and Human Tragedy: The Genesis

of the Animal Epic

Boria Sax

To cite this article: Boria Sax (1998) Bestial Wisdom and Human Tragedy: The Genesis of the
Animal Epic, Anthrozoös, 11:3, 134-141

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/089279398787000652

Published online: 28 Apr 2015.

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 REVIEWS & RESEARCH REPORTS
BESTIAL WISDOM AND HUMAN TRAGEDY:
THE GENESIS OF THE ANIMAL EPIC
Boria Sax
White Plains, New York, USA

ABSTRACT
A radical redefinition or blurring of the boundaries between the human and animal realms,
between “us” and “them,” can sometimes open dramatic new aesthetic and cultural possibilities.
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This paper discusses the earliest example of this, an ancient Akkadian fragment known, a bit
deceptively, as “The Fable of the Fox.” Set against the background of a terrible drought which
may well have destroyed the Akkadian Empire, it records the exchanges of a fox or jackal, a
wolf, a lion and a dog. The last of these animals, especially, seems to bear a tragic destiny, of a
sort that traditional literature tends to identify exclusively with the “human condition.” The
essay goes on to trace how the story may have been the origin of a tradition which includes such
important literary works as the Hindu Panchatantra, the Arab Kalila wa Dimna and even
Shakespeare’s “Othello.” Finally, it concludes with suggestions as to how recognition of tragedy
not simply as part of “the human condition” but also as a bond with animals and the environ-
ment may open new aesthetic possibilities in the years to come.

iterature has always been more In many heroic epics, the hero symboli-

L anthropocentric than the visual arts.

The earliest existing paintings, on
the walls of caves in France and
Spain, feature animals far more than people.
Even today, anything can be the subject of a
painting or photograph, from a landscape to
an egg or a caterpillar crawling over the grass.
Literature, by contrast, generally centers on
human internal life and interaction.
This is probably because written litera-
ture is a far more recent development than
painting or sculpture. The origin of literature
roughly coincides with the development of the
earliest cities, with the first environments creat-
ed primarily by human beings, in Mesopotamia
and Egypt. The anthropocentric perspective of
literature was established largely by the heroic
or tragic epic, an early literary form. The heroic
epic exalts man and human accomplishments -
embodied in a warrior such as Gilgamesh,
Rama, Achilles, Beowulf or Sigurd, who is
simultaneously mighty and vulnerable. Such a
tale alternates between songs of praise and
tearful laments for the heroes.
Address correspondence and requests for reprints
to: Dr Boria Sax, 25 Franklin Ave., 2F, White
Plains, NY 10601, USA. Phone: (914) 946-6735;
E-mail: VogelGreif@AOL.Com
cally enacts the triumph of man over nature by
defeating a ferocious beast. Gilgamesh, with his
companion Enkidu, slays the bull of heaven,
while Sigurd and Beowulf kill dragons. The gods
are even mightier than human beings in these
epics, but divinities are often given human form,
increasingly as urban societies develop.
Furthermore, the heroic epics, in their tragic
vision, generally accord human beings more
dignity, and certainly more interest, than is
granted even to the deities. The Homeric gods
constantly concern themselves with the affairs
of human beings, since their own adventures,
untouched by mortality, lack drama.
Tragedy, in the most restrictive sense,
refers to a genre of drama developed in classical
Greece by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.
It centers on a human hero, somebody of high
position who is ruined through a combination of
errors and ill fortune. The fate of the hero
should, according to Aristotle in Poetics (1941,
chap. 6: parts 13-14), inspire pity and fear in
the audience, which, in turn, culminate in a
comforting recognition of universality or
“catharsis.” The word “tragedy” can also be
used more broadly to refer to a certain spirit
which pervades much of our lives. Tragedy
exists in the gap between aspiration and reality,
circumstance and imagination. Some lives, such

134 ANTHROZOÖS, 11(3), 1998 Sax

 as that of Van Gogh, may be particularly tragic,
but every human life surely contains some tragic
element in the form of unactualized potential or
unrealized dreams.
Literature of animals is usually unheroic,
even anti-heroic, in spirit. The tradition of
Aesop develops out of literature and animal
proverbs (Adams 1986), which were largely
devoted to intellectual display. From the fables
of Aesop through the stories of Beatrix Potter,
literature of animals tends to lack tragic
grandeur, at least by comparison with literature
about human beings. To represent a person as
an anthropomorphized animal is still a standard
way to satirize or deflate pretensions to qualities
like heroism, as one may see in the editorial
cartoons of the daily newspaper.
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Literature of human beings focuses on
extraordinary deeds and events, while literature
of animals focuses more on typical ones. The
tradition of the half-legendary Aesop makes
animals primarily bearers of lessons for people,
but they are insignificant in themselves. Yet
there is also a counter-tradition in which ani-
mals carry not only their own misfortunes but
the fate of humanity as well. Rather than being
simply a genre for children, the animal epic has
a serious aesthetic potential which remains, to
this day, imperfectly explored.
The Fable of the Fox
The Epic of Gilgamesh was first discovered in
the library of the Assyrian king Assyrbanipal in
the latter nineteenth century. The same excava-
tion uncovered a set of tablets which archaeolo-
gist George Smith entitled The Fable of the
Fox and translated into English (p. 147-150).
The Epic of Gilgamesh has become recognized
as a classic while The Fable of the Fox has
remained unknown to the general public. The
two cycles are currently known primarily
through Old Babylonian versions, probably writ-
ten down toward the end of the second millen-
nium. The existence of fragmentary versions of
The Epic of Gilgamesh in Babylonian,
Sumerian, Hittite, Hurrian and Assyrian lan-
guages suggests that the story was widely dis-
seminated and goes back, in some form, before
the start of the second millennium. There is a
fragmentary Sumerian tablet which may men-
tion the story of the fox (Ebeling 1927, p. 17).
An early translation (into German) of
some of the fragments, incorporating material
unknown to Smith, was made by Erich Ebeling,
who observed that it shares a number of motifs
with the medieval cycle of Renard the Fox. In
both works the Fox and Wolf form an alliance
Sax
against the Dog, faithful servant of the shep-
herd. Both have the Fox, accused of a crime,
stand trial before the lion. Despite his habitual
caution, Ebeling stated that “We can probably
say without equivocation that the origin of the
Renard cycle is in Babylon” (p. 17).
In 1960 W. G. Lambert published a
translation of the fragments into English, correct-
ing early errors and appending an illuminating
introduction (p. 186-209).1 This is my major
source in attempting to reconstruct part of the
story. If I sometimes add to or disagree with
Lambert’s interpretation, it is only his thorough-
ness that enables me to do this. Lambert regards
the story as satire, much like Western tales of
Renard the Fox. While the fragment certainly
does contain humor, this should not obscure the
pathos of the tale. Furthermore, I think Lambert,
in his interpretations, focuses too exclusively on
the fox and ignores the other characters.
About a dozen fragmentary tablets make
up part of a common narrative, but these are
not nearly enough to completely reconstruct the
story. Apart from the beginning and end, the
correct order of the tablets is not known.
Perhaps half of the narrative could be missing,
and we do not know much about the folkloric
and mythological context. But the main con-
flicts, at least, are clear.
In the initial tablet, there is a drought,
and the Fox complains to Enlil, the god of air,
saying “...my master, do not destroy what you
have created!” (Lambert 1960, p. 191).
According to the commentary of Lambert, “The
drought must have been ordered by Enlil as
punishment. Perhaps his inspection revealed a
state of lawlessness to which he determined to
put an end by annihilating all life” (p. 188). The
transgression here seems to have something to
do with the Fox who protests, “My enemies are
all reconciled...” (p. 191).
On the reverse side of the tablet, a lion,
apparently a representative or an emissary of the
sun-god Shamesh, threatens then kills some
creature. As in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the
story of David and Bathsheba and in Sophocles’
“Oedipus Rex,” as well as many other texts from
the ancient world, the entire region is punished
for an individual transgression. The suffering can
1
At a 1983 conference of the Renard Society in
Orleans, France, T. Hagtingius made an ingenious
but highly speculative attempt to reconstruct the
story in the original tablets, in a paper which he
later published privately. His reconstruction, in my
opinion, contains clear projections of both medieval
and modern material, and it does not endeavor to
explain a sufficient number of details.
ANTHROZOÖS, 11(3), 1998 135
 only be alleviated when judgement is brought
against the criminal. Accordingly, Fox, Wolf and
Dog bring accusations against one another.
In another tablet, the Fox, in tears,
rebukes the Wolf for corruption in the family,
perhaps for being related to the Dog. Some
creature, probably the Wolf or Dog, then accus-
es the Fox before Shamash, the god of the sun,
of being a sorcerer. The Fox pleads before the
lion and claims he was slandered. In still another
fragment, the Fox stands accused of burrowing
under the herdsman to steal some prey. Most of
the series, in summary, consists of charges and
counter-charges among the Fox, Wolf and Dog.
Toward the end, the Dog reports that
Fox and Wolf, which have eaten some animal
together, form a bond against the Dog and
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together approach Shamash and Enlil. The
Wolf tells the Fox, “...your friendship is a
storm, a hurricane” (Lambert 1960, p. 209).
We do not know the divine judgement, but, as
in most Sumero-Akkadian contest literature, it
may have been somewhat conciliatory. The
drought soon ends. The Fox calls on a slave girl
of Uzuma to open the door to the temple,
where the Fox and his family will make a sacri-
fice to Enlil. The Fox prays to Enlil, and the
god looks out over the land.
Drought
Drought and flooding were incessant preoccu-
pations of Sumero-Akkadian literature, which
expressed the fears and aspirations of a society
dependent on a complex system of irrigation.
An early Sumerian tale of Enki and Ninhursag
appears to tell of the danger of excessive irriga-
tion (Kramer and Maier 1989, p. 176). Many
passages in Sumero-Akkadian writing seem to
refer to a drought of especially cataclysmic
severity. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the heroes
Enkidu and Gilgamesh cut down of the cedar
forest of Lebanon. The gods release the Bull of
Heaven, an embodiment of the drought, as
punishment, and the bull instantly kills hundreds
of people (Sander 1960, p. 35-39).
Climatologists and archaeologists, exam-
ining soil samples as well as building sites, have
found that a massive drought lasted about 300
years and brought about the downfall of the
mighty Akkadian Empire (Gibbons 1993;
Wilford 1993; Stiebing 1994). It began in 2200
B. C. with a massive volcanic eruption in
Anatolia and was followed by the immediate
abandonment of many Akkadian cities. It ended
around 1894 B. C. when the Amorite or
Babylonian dynasty began. Lambert gives the
date of composition of The Fable of the Fox as
136 ANTHROZOÖS, 11(3), 1998
being from the first dynasty of Babylon (circa
1894-1651) to the Kassite period (circa 1651-
1157), in a span of several centuries after the
end of the disastrous drought.
The most detailed and explicit descrip-
tion of the drought may be in the Old
Babylonia epic Atrahasis, dated from about
1700 B. C. (Dalley 1992, p. 9-38). Enlil (in
this version called “Ellil”) is distressed because
human beings have become too numerous
and are disturbing him with their noise. At
one point the god declares:
I have become restless with their
(people’s) noise,
Sleep cannot overtake me because
of their racket!
Cut off food from the people,
Let vegetation be too scant for
their stomachs!
Let Adad2 on high make his rain
scarce,
Let him block below, and not raise
flood-water from the springs!
Let the field decrease its yield,
Let Nissaba3 turn away her breast,
Let the dark fields become white,
Let the countryside breed alkali,
Let earth clamp down her womb
So that no vegetation sprouts, no
grain grows.
(Dalley 1992, p. 24-25)
The poem goes on to tells how starvation
drove people to cannibalism and caused families
to sell their members into slavery, destroying all
social harmony and cohesion. There are many
explicit resemblances here to the description of
the drought which is found in “The Fable of the
Fox.” Both are decreed by the god Enlil. Both
works make reference to alkali, salt collected in
the soil which renders farming difficult or impos-
sible. In both works, the drought ends with a
flood. Finally, the calamity in both works seems
to be sent as a punishment.
While other literary works concentrate
on the effect of the drought on human beings,
The Fable of the Fox tells of the effect on ani-
mals. For the Mesopotamians, the lion was
viewed as belonging to the same family as fox,
dog and wolf (Black and Green 1992, p. 70).
The lion, in reality as well as in fable, is often
followed by many scavengers including other
large carnivores, a circumstance that probably
contributed to the reputation of the lion as
“king of the beasts.” The characters behave
2
A storm god, the sun on Anu, god of the sky.
3
Goddess of agriculture and of learning.
Sax
 much like both animals and human beings in
time of scarcity, casting blame and fighting over
the limited provisions that remain.
The Fox
The Fox is generally a trickster in Aesop.
Though by no means always successful, he is
constantly engaging other animals in contests of
wits. In Greek mythology, the fox is not identified
with any particular deity, but we can trace the
lore of the fox back to some very early
Mesopotamian texts. An episode from a
Sumerian tablet recounting a creation myth tells
how the Fox saved Enki, the god of deep water.
Enki has covered the land of Dilmun with water,
and Ninhursag, the great mother goddess, has
caused eight plants to grow in the soil. The two-
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faced god Isimund plucks these plants and brings
them to Enki, who then eats the plants, arousing
the anger of Ninhursag. She places a curse of
death on Enki, then leaves the company of the
gods. Enki starts to die, as Enlil, god of the air,
and other deities look on helplessly. Then the
Fox appears and tells Enlil that he can bring
Ninhursag back in exchange for a reward. A part
of the tablet has been destroyed, so we do not
know how the Fox accomplishes his task. But
Ninhursag does return to heal Enki (Kramer
1963, p. 143; Kramer and Maier 1989, p. 29).
A similar tale, from one of the very old-
est literary manuscripts in existence, written in
about 2,400 B. C., has a fox bring back Ishkar,
the son of Enlil, from the nether world (Kramer
1963, p. 143). The fact that foxes burrow and
live in holes helped to suggest that they could
serve as intermediaries between the surface of
the earth and the subterranean world of the
dead. This makes the fox roughly the equivalent
of the Egyptian jackal-deity Anubus, who
accompanies the dead to the underworld.
Klingender describes the Fox who saves
Enki as “a wise animal, older and more powerful
than the anthropomorphic gods” (1971, p. 33).
The Fox is a zoomorphic deity, supplanted by
anthropomorphic divinities but not yet forgotten,
which could still be turned to in times of crisis.
Among the features that Enki shares with the
folkloric fox is a reputation for craftiness. The fox
in these Sumerian myths actually takes on a role
that is generally filled by Enki himself - as media-
tor between the realms of the living and the dead
(Kramer and Maier 1989, p. 114-126). The fox
appears just as Enki sinks into oblivion. This sug-
gests that Enki may have entered a shamanic
trance, in which the body of a person, whose
spirit has temporarily departed, is occupied by an
animal ancestor. If this is correct, the figure of
Sax
Enki probably incorporated a fox deity, and the
crisis was a reversion of the god to an earlier
form. Both Enki and the fox of folklore share a
reputation for cleverness and an association with
magic. “The Fable of the Fox,” like the tale of
Enki and Ninhursag, seems to be centered on the
motif of the fox bringing water to a parched land.
Following convention, I have continued
to refer to the animal as a “fox,” but we should
remember that ancient taxonomies were not
necessarily identical with our own. The jackal of
Middle Eastern lore shares with the European
fox, a fellow canid, a folkloric reputation for
being sly, unscrupulous, eloquent and some-
times cowardly. Sometimes the fox and jackal
are interchangeable in translations of ancient
texts (Cooper 1992, p. 140). Gelb’s Glossary
of Old Akkadian does not give separate words
for the two animals but only “selebum” for “fox
or the like.”
The golden jackal, indigenous to the
Middle East, is somewhere between the wolf and
fox in size. Like the fox, it has relatively large
ears and a bushy tail. Like the wolf, it has rela-
tively long legs in comparison with its body. The
jackal is popularly know as a scavenger, though
this is a matter of degree. Jackals do hunt, just as
foxes, wolves and even lions sometimes scav-
enge (Slater 1989, p. 25, 28). The ancient
Mesopotamians probably did not distinguish
sharply between jackal and fox, and the two
often are equated in folklore of the Arabs and
other peoples. Jackals are especially known for
following lions in hope of obtaining scraps.
The Dog
The dog in ancient Mesopotamia was sacred to
Gula, also known as Ninisina, the goddess of
healing. Many figurines of dogs, often inscribed
with sayings and dating back to the Old
Babylonian period, have been found at the tem-
ple of Gula at Ishin (Black and Green 1992, p.
70-71). The Mesopotamians interpreted disease
as seizure by demons. Perhaps the spiritual dog
was the guardian of the body, just as the physi-
cal dog guarded the home (Black and Green
1992, p. 67-69). Though tradition in the Near
East has often made the dog unclean or con-
temptible, the Babylonians thought of the dog
in a positive way.
At one point in The Fable of the Fox,
the Dog boasts in colorful terms of his might
and his status as guardian of the sheep, saying
how he has driven other animals including the
Wolf and the Fox away. The Wolf, terrified,
claims to have been led astray by the Fox. The
Fox, similarly frightened, accuses the Wolf of
ANTHROZOÖS, 11(3), 1998 137
 betrayal, as well as of setting fires. The Dog
resumes boasting, saying he will assemble
brothers by barking. This time the Wolf chides
the Dog, saying that the mother of the Dog is
fire and the brothers of the dog are flames.
The reason why the Dog is associated
with flame may be that both represent nature
that has been “domesticated” and kept in the
homes of men and women. The Wolf may be
suggesting indirectly that the destructive fires
which accompany the drought are a human
creation. The references to fire by Fox and
Wolf could be a way of casting blame for the
drought, in which the dried vegetation has
proved vulnerable to flame.
Perhaps the Dog, with his combination
of power and vulnerability, is a surrogate for
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humanity. The suit brought by the Fox against
the Dog is, by implication, a questioning of
human dominance, perhaps inspired by the
revealed inability of people to control the nat-
ural disaster:
The Dog opened his mouth as he
brayed,
Fearful to them (the Dog and Wolf)
was his bellow,
Their hearts were so overcome that
they secreted gall.
“My strength is overpowering, I am the
claw of the Zû-Bird,4 a very lion.
My legs run faster than winged bird,
At my terrible bellow the mountains
and rivers dry up.
I sit like a beggar in front of the sheep,
Their lives are entrusted to me as to a
herdsman and shepherd.
I am sent on the regular round of the
open country and drinking place;
I encompass the fold.
With the clatter of my fearful weapons
I extirpate…
At my roars the leopard, tiger, lion and
wild cat take to flight,
The bird does [not] fly and does not
make its way.
[In] my pens the robber does not rav-
age...”
(Lambert 1960, p. 193).
In The Fable of the Fox, the Dog is a
formerly domesticated animal who was aban-
doned, probably when drought forced the
human evacuation of his village. He is very
conscious of both his power and responsibility
as the guardian of the home, and is disorient-
4
A mythical bird which resembles the Arabian roc
or the griffin. It was sometimes depicted as a lion
with wings.
138 ANTHROZOÖS, 11(3), 1998
ed by the loss of these. He is the bearer of
human tragedy as well as human guilt.
The Wolf and Lion
The wolf in imagery of the Old Testament and,
more generally, of the Near East, is a symbol of
devastation. Here the Wolf is paired with the
Fox, sometimes as a friend and at other times
as an adversary. He lacks the sorcery and the
cleverness of the Fox, but he seems generally
more sympathetic. Both fox and wolf, howev-
er, seem to mediate between the Lion and the
Dog, between the natural and human realms.
The Wolf is closer to the Dog, of course.
Both are associated with flame. The Fox, at one
point, accuses the Wolf of lighting fires and of
having touched “the property of the Lion”
(Lambert 1960, p. 195). In ancient traditions of
Northern Europe, the wolf has been associated
with the sun. In Greece, the wolf was associated
with the solar deity Apollo (Charbonneau-Lassay
1991, p. 138-40). Wolves are more common in
Northern than in Southern latitudes. Perhaps the
Fox was suggesting that the wolf, as an intruder,
had brought trouble. The Old Akkadian word for
wolf, “barbarum” (Gelb 1957), also means “bar-
barian” in Latin and Greek, that is a an outsider
who speaks a foreign language.
The lion is an ancient emblem of king-
ship, a significance the animal retains to this
day. In the ancient Near East, the lion was asso-
ciated with many powerful divinities, especially
the god Shamash and the goddess Ishtar. The
lion was respected as an emblem of power, but
was also ambivalent. Many gods and heroes,
from Gilgamesh to the Assyrian king
Assyrbanipal, triumph over lions in visual repre-
sentations. Identified with the god Shamash in
this literary work, the lion represents the forces
of nature, violent and virtually unchallengeable.
The Fables of Bidpai
The Fable of the Fox appears to be a very
early version of the popular oriental story of
two jackal-courtiers who serve a lion-king,
Karataka and Damanaka in the Hindu versions
or Kalila and Dimna in the Arab ones.
Tradition attributes this story to the Hindu sage
Bidpai, a figure perhaps even more elusive
than Aesop, his Greek counterpart. Like the
fables of Aesop, the stories of Bidpai were
altered throughout the ages by various editors,
translators and copyists, some of whom them-
selves have been accorded almost legendary
status. The best known collections of them are
the Hindu Panchatantra and the Hitopadesa,
as well as the Arab Kalila wa Dimna.
Sax
 The oldest surviving collection of the
fables of Bidpai is The Panchatantra. Scholars
believe it was assembled in something close to
the form in which it has come down to us
around 200 B.C., though individual stories from
the collection may go back almost indefinitely.
Many of the stories involve an alliance of animals
led by a lion and including at least one jackal.
The story of the jackals Karataka and Damanaka
provides the frame for the initial book.
The ox Sanjivaka, as the story begins, is
stuck in the mud. His keeper, with much sorrow,
abandons the ox, who eventually manages to get
free and grows fat on the wild grass. The lion,
Pingalaka, hears the lonely bellowing of the ox
and is very frightened. Pingalaka summons
Damanaka and Karataka. Damanaka urges the
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lion not to be afraid, then he goes to investigate.
Damanaka persuades Sanjivaka to come to the
court of Pingalaka, and the lion and ox soon
become the closest of friends. Damanaka, angry
at being replaced in royal favor, decides, against
the admonitions of Karataka, to create discord
between Sanjivaka and Pingalaka. Telling each
many stories of betrayal, Damanaka manages to
make the lion and the ox suspicious of one
another. The result is a terrible fight between the
two, in which Sanjivaka is killed and Pingalaka is
wounded. The ending varies widely in different
versions of the tale. Sometimes Damanaka is
tried and punished, but sometimes he retains the
confidence of the king.
A major theme of both The Fable of the
Fox and The Panchatantra is friendship and
trust. Each of the four characters of The
Panchatantra has a counterpart among those in
The Fable of the Fox. The most obvious paral-
lel, of course, is that each story features a lion
who rules over other animals. The ox Sanjivaka
corresponds to the Dog of the Babylonian tablets
in many respects. Both are formerly domesticat-
ed animals which now live in the wild. Both have
terrifying voices. Both are more powerful than
any other animal except for the lion. Sanjivaka
has been beloved of his former master and is
capable of great affection. Like the dog, he has
been at least as much a pet as a beast of burden.
Each has, however reluctantly, been abandoned
by a human keeper.
Finally, the Fox or jackal and the Wolf
are similar to Damanaka and Karataka. Both
pairs have many internal arguments, yet they
remain bound together. And both appear to
follow the lion. Even when at odds, the
Babylonian Fox and Wolf seem to share a
greater intimacy with one another than either
can with the Dog or Lion.
Sax
The Fox, like Damanaka, eventually
takes the initiative in bringing suit against the
formerly domesticated intruder. Could the
Babylonian tale have ended with a battle
between Dog and Lion? We cannot know with-
out a more complete text, but the action
appears to be headed in that direction. They are
both formidable, seemingly invincible, champi-
ons moving toward a confrontation. If that
indeed took place, the story was virtually identi-
cal to that of The Panchatantra.
A resemblance to the Babylonian story
is especially close is the medieval Hindu version
known as the Hitopadesa or “book of whole-
some council,” which begins:
One day, being tormented with
thirst, he (the Lion) went to the bank of
the Jumns to drink of its waters; and
there the Lion heard the lowing of
Sanjivaka, like the roar of the thunder-
clouds at the dissolution of the universe,
which hitherto had been unknown to
him. On hearing it, he timidly retreated
without drinking the water, and coming
to his place he stood silently wondering
what it could be. In this condition he was
seen by two Jackals, Karataka and
Damanaka, the sons of his minister.
Damanaka, seeing him in that state, said
to Karataka: “Friend Karataka, how is it
that our master, who was wanting water,
is standing feebly by without drinking?”
(Ross 1928, p. 67).
This suggests, though it is certainly very
far from proving, that motifs relating to the
drought could have been carried, either
through written or oral traditions, from the
Sumero-Akkadian animal epic. The story could
easily have passed from Mesopotamia to India
along the Silk Route. The Mesopotamians
were in contact with the Harrapan civilization
of India perhaps as early as the third millenni-
um (Kramer 1963, p. 5).
Further Development
Translated into many languages, the story of
The Panchatantra moved northward through
Europe, where it was a major influence on the
medieval cycle of Renard the Fox (Gupta 1975).
It reached England in the sixteenth century, with
a translation by Thomas North of a Latin ver-
sion of Kalila wa Dimna, which is still often
considered the best version available in English
(Wood 1980, p.261-262). In this form, the story
may have influenced one of the world’s major
tragedies, “Othello” by Shakespeare. This pos-
sibility is suggested both by clear parallels in the
ANTHROZOÖS, 11(3), 1998 139
 two plots and by the heavy use of animal
imagery in the play. Furthermore, Othello
makes constant references to his home in
Araby. It is well known that Shakespeare made
repeated use of North’s translation of Plutarch,
so it is reasonable to suppose that he might
have read North’s translation of Kalila wa
Dimna as well.
The position of Pingalaka, the lion, is
taken by Othello, who is noble and majestic in
manner and entrusted with the office of gener-
al. Desdimona may be compared to Sanjivaka,
a creature who is from a relatively sheltered
environment, who is noble though overly trust-
ing and naive. The role of Damanaka, the
false counselor, is obviously taken by Iago,
while that of Karataka, his more benign coun-
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terpart, is Casio.
In the humanistic perspective of the
Renaissance, it was necessary for Shakespeare
to anthropomorphize all the of the characters
for the tragic nature of the drama to be fully rec-
ognized. Making human characters into animals
is a frequent literary device for attaining emo-
tional distance, thus frequently transforming
potential tragedy into comedy. This is certainly
done in the work of fabulists such as Aesop,
Lessing and LaFontaine. The device is also used
in Animal Farm by George Orwell, where the
horror of the events is at least somewhat soft-
ened by the use of animals rather than people
as characters. If my speculation is correct,
Shakespeare did the opposite with the charac-
ters from Kalila was Dimna, enabling us to
appreciate the emotional depth of the original
tales by giving the characters human form.
Just as the tragic epic begins with The
Epic of Gilgamesh, the animal epic may begin
with The Fable of the Fox. Both date from the
same approximate era and geographic region.
We have learned to think of the animal epic as a
parody of the tragic epic, and, indeed, in many
instances from Batrachimyochy to the cycle of
Renard the Fox, this is so. The Fable of the
Fox, however, dates from roughly the same time
as the earliest tragic epic, and it does not parody
any known work. This suggests that the develop-
ment of the animal epic as a form may be more
parallel than derivative. Recognition of this origin
returns a lost dignity to the animal epic.
This brings us to the difficulty of writing
tragedy in contemporary times. The tragic sen-
140 ANTHROZOÖS, 11(3), 1998
sibility, as I argued at the start of this paper, is
based on a recognition of human vulnerability.
To the extent that we appear to dominate
nature and control the elements, it is inevitable
that this sensibility should fade. It becomes hard-
er to think of people as tragic when they sit
comfortably in air-conditioned offices with flush
toilets, hot and cold running water, a full cabinet
of medicines and all sorts of ridiculous luxuries.
In contemporary America, our collective identity
seems to derive far more from comedy than
from tragedy. Often, we even think of humor as
the distinguishing mark of humanity, and
become suspicious of people who laugh at dif-
ferent jokes.
But as an environmental crisis demon-
strates the practical limits of human control,
the tragic sensibility in literature and other
aspects of human culture may return. The
recognition that human frailty is shared by
other creatures and by the environment itself
may even take us beyond some of the limita-
tions of tragedy up till now. While we may still
admire the hero of a tragic epic like Achilles, it
is from an ever-increasing distance. Vain and
cruel, he is not somebody we would like to
know, still less to imitate. The heroes of tragic
drama such as Oedipus or Lear are similarly
dubious as models. Beyond this, there is a sort
of collective arrogance in traditional tragedy,
since human beings, embodied in the hero,
are exalted through their sorrow above the rest
of creation.
Nevertheless, some sort of tragic vision
is necessary to help us to cope with the possi-
bility of failure. The tradition which begins
with The Fable of the Fox, imperfectly devel-
oped in subsequent works, expresses a tragic
vision which does not isolate humanity. This
vision is based on the common vulnerability of
human beings, and animals, trees and
streams. A terrible calamity in ancient
Mesopotamia led to the development of both
the heroic and animal epics.
Those two forms explored respectively
the fates of human beings and other creatures.
Now we begin to realize that ultimately these
destinies are one. “The life of a wild animal,”
Ernest Thompson-Seton wrote at the end of
the nineteenth century, “always has a tragic
end” (1898, p. 12). He intended far more than
just a lament.
Sax
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