Ancient Wisdom Atlas

Motif

envy leading to self-destructive change of livelihood

envy_leading_to_self_destructive_change_of_livelihood

A motif of the Pride, Hubris, and Downfall family. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.

1 occurrences

1 traditions


greek

  • Aesop's Fables; a new translation THE ESCAPED JACKDAW / THE FARMER AND THE FOX / VENUS AND THE CAT / THE CROW AND THE SWAN; lines 3196-3207 confidence: high

    A crow envies the swan’s beautiful white plumage and thinks it comes from the water in which the swan constantly bathes and swims.

    The crow’s envy leads it to abandon a food source near the altars for pools and streams, after which it dies of hunger.

    read in the book