伊索据说是公元前6世纪古希腊的一位讲故事的人，传说他原本是奴隶，后来凭着聪明获得了自由。他讲的动物故事一代一代口耳相传，后人把它们收集起来，就成了《伊索寓言》。《城里老鼠和乡下老鼠》是其中最有名的一篇，在现代学者佩里整理的伊索寓言编号里排第352号。公元2世纪前后，希腊诗人巴布里乌斯也用诗歌重新讲过这个故事。

Aesop is said to have been a storyteller in ancient Greece in the sixth century BC. Legend says he was once enslaved and won his freedom through his cleverness. His animal tales were passed down by word of mouth for generations, and later people collected them as Aesop's Fables. The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is one of the most famous, and it is number 352 in the Perry Index, the numbering system made by the modern scholar Ben Edwin Perry. Around the second century AD, the Greek poet Babrius also retold the story in verse.

古罗马大诗人贺拉斯特别喜欢这个故事。大约在公元前30年，他在《讽刺诗》第二卷第六首里，用诗把它讲了一遍。那时候，贺拉斯的朋友送给他一座乡间小庄园，他住在那里，觉得比在热闹的罗马城舒服多了，于是借乡下老鼠的口说：宁愿回到树林里安全的小洞，靠一点点野豌豆过日子。从那以后，这个故事就成了"乡间生活好处多"的代名词。

The great Roman poet Horace loved this story. Around 30 BC, he retold it in verse in his Satires, Book Two, Satire Six. At that time, a friend had given Horace a small farm in the countryside, and he felt much happier there than in busy Rome. So he let the country mouse say that he would rather go back to his safe little hole in the woods and live on a few humble wild peas. Ever since, the story has stood for the joys of a quiet country life.

• 🐭 城里老鼠和乡下老鼠本期 · NOW
• 🦌 鼠鹿过河点击进入
• 🐸 井底之蛙点击进入
• 🐠 渔夫和金鱼点击进入
• 🍪 姜饼人点击进入