Cartoons

1999? Far Side Cartoon Featuring the Grasshopper and Ant.” Gary Larson. Calendar for Friday, March 20, 1999? Unknown source. The cartoon asks what might have happened after the fable’s usual ending, which has the ant shutting out the freezing, starving grasshopper. Here the grasshopper kills the ant with his violin and marches off with a bag of grain. Is he waving good-bye? An online entry says that the cartoon was originally published in 1988.

1993 Far Side Cartoon “Scenes that make a crow smile.” Gary Larson. FarWorks. Universal Press Syndicate. Unknown source. The cartoon shows a roadkill. A viewer might need to look more closely to see that it is a fox that has been killed. The crow would be smiling because the fox outsmarted him in the fable and came away with the crow’s piece of cheese. The verso includes an offer with a coupon expiring in late January, 1993.

1990 Far Side Cartoon Featuring the Grasshopper and Ant.” Gary Larson. Newspaper clippings. 3 copies, all apparently from the Omaha World-Herald. Universal Press Syndicate. Unknown sources. The cartoon asks what might have happened after the fable’s usual ending, which has the ant shutting out the freezing, starving grasshopper. Here the grasshopper kills the ant with his violin and marches off with a bag of grain. Is he waving good-bye? An online entry says that the cartoon was originally published in 1988.

1990? Cartoon xerox. A lion plays a guitar while a mouse sits at the base of a nearby tree. W. Steig. Unknown publication and source. This cartoon represents a very peaceful scene. I have no idea how the cartoon relates to the fable!

1988? Cartoon xerox. A tortoise and hare eat a Chinese meal together. The artist's signature seems to be that of Matt Herberg. Unknown publication and source. Opening his fortune cookie, the hare says "Slow and steady wins the race What's yours say?"

1986 Frank and Ernest. TH cartoon. "Those bookies are going to kill me!" exclaims the frantic hare approaching the finish line with the tortoise leading him. Dated 5-13. Copyright 1986 NEA, Inc. Signed "Thaves." Unknown publication and source. This is one of the funniest fable cartoons I have encountered. People respond to it immediately in lectures in which I have shown it.

1983 Big George. TH cartoon. "What do I get if I win?" asks a man at a starting line between tortoise and hare. Signed "Vip" and dated 5-12. Appeared in the Omaha World-Herald of Thursday, May 12, 1983. Copyright 1983 Field Enterprises, Inc. Does that bunny have a black eye? I am not sure that I get the joke here….

1980? Laugh Parade by Bill Hoest. "Aesop… Are you telling me another fable?" Unknown source and publication. An attractive mother dressed in ancient style stands before some obviously Greek buildings and asks a downcast little fellow this question.

1886 "Le Courrier Français," July 25, 1886: La Cigale et la Fourmi (Suite). $10 from journauxanciens through Ebay, Feb., '24. In a text by Raoul Ponchon with an illustration by Pierre Morel, the situation is now at the end of winter and the beginning of spring. The ant comes to the Cicada to offer to pay for a song. The cicada, rightfully resentful, asks what the ant did all winter. "I slept!" The cicada answers "Then work now!" Page 5 of the 8-page magazine, 11½" x 15¼". The cover cartoon has a more obscure reference to FK.

1886 Le Courrier Français, July 18, 1886: La Cigale. $10 from journauxanciens through Ebay, Feb., '24. This drypoint by Norbert Goeneutte strikes me as unusual in this respect: it has no other reference. Are we to think of La Fontaine? Are we to have a particular attitude to this decked-out chanteuse? I look in vain for a nearby poem or another further reference to help. Page 4 of the 8-page magazine, 11½" x 15¼".

2003 Mother Goose on the Loose: Illustrated With Cartoons from The New Yorker. Edited by Bobbye S. Goldstein. NY: Harry N. Abrams. I am not sure that "Old Mother Goose and the Golden Egg" (92) really relates to the fable of "The Goose and the Golden Egg," but each of the three cartoons here certainly does relate to the fable. The artist for this cartoon is Henry Martin. Click on the cartoon at the right to see it full size. Click here to view the bibliography entry for the book itself.

2003 Mother Goose on the Loose: Illustrated With Cartoons from The New Yorker. Edited by Bobbye S. Goldstein. NY: Harry N. Abrams. I am not sure that "Old Mother Goose and the Golden Egg" (92) really relates to the fable of "The Goose and the Golden Egg," but each of the three cartoons here certainly does relate to the fable. The artist for this cartoon is Mick Stevens. Click on the cartoon at the right to see it full size. Click here to view the bibliography entry for the book itself.