We all know about Aesop’s Fables. They are the delightful and instructive stories told by a former Greek slave in the 6th century BCE, and are the world’s best known collection of morality tales. Handed down by word of mouth for centuries, there are 725 fables now in print translated from the Greek.
But do we know about Aesop? Aesop was the Black slave of a man named Ladmon, and lived in the south of Greece near northern Africa. Most accounts describe Aesop as a deformed man whose name came from the Greek word Aethiops which means Ethiopia. He was named for his place of origin. According to Herodotus, Aesop was eventually freed by his master due to Aesop’s captivating talent as a storyteller.
Aesop’s ancient fables are allegorical myths often portraying animals or insects: foxes, grasshoppers, frogs, cats, dogs, ants, crabs, stags, and monkeys representing humans engaged in human-like situations to teach a moral.
Here are a few Aesop’s Fables from the classic, 19th century English translation by George Townsend.
What is your favorite Aesop Fable?
The Hare and the Tortoise
A HARE one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing: “Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race.” The Hare, believing her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal. On the day appointed for the race the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue.
Slow but steady wins the race.
The Flies and the Honey-Pot
A NUMBER of Flies were attracted to a jar of honey which had been overturned in a housekeeper’s room, and placing their feet in it, ate greedily. Their feet, however, became so smeared with the honey that they could not use their wings, nor release themselves, and were suffocated. Just as they were expiring, they exclaimed, “O foolish creatures that we are, for the sake of a little pleasure we have destroyed ourselves.”
Pleasure bought with pains, hurts.
The Boy and the Filberts
A BOY put his hand into a pitcher full of filberts. He grasped as many as he could possibly hold, but when he tried to pull out his hand, he was prevented from doing so by the neck of the pitcher. Unwilling to lose his filberts, and yet unable to withdraw his hand, he burst into tears and bitterly lamented his disappointment. A bystander said to him, “Be satisfied with half the quantity, and you will readily draw out your hand.”
Do not attempt too much at once.
The Boy and the Nettles
A BOY was stung by a Nettle. He ran home and told his Mother, saying, “Although it hurts me very much, I only touched it gently.” “That was just why it stung you,” said his Mother. “The next time you touch a Nettle, grasp it boldly, and it will be soft as silk to your hand, and not in the least hurt you.”
Whatever you do, do with all your might.
Source: George Fyler Townsend (translator) Three Hundred Æsop’s Fables, London: George Routledge & Sons (1867).
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