The Mountain in Labour

Ernest Griset

1869

Wood engraving by Pannemaker

8½ x 5½ inches

Illustration for Aesop’s Fables, p.69.

A joyous image of false expectation and the human desire for drama, even though life is invariably mundane. Griset shows a gaggle of fools peering at the mountain through the latest telescopes – only to find that the mighty eminence has only given birth to a mouse. The mock-heroic effect is heightened by the contrast between the impressive diagonal formed by the telescopes and the small wiggle of the mouse’s tail.

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Details

  • The mouse appears (upper left)
  • The watchers

    • Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

    [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]