(book 1001 from 1001 books) - Aesop’s Fables = The Aesopica, Aesopus

Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BC.

Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to modern times through a number of sources and continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media.

One bright morning as the Fox was following his sharp nose through the wood in search of a bite to eat, he saw a Crow on the limb of a tree overhead.

This was by no means the first Crow the Fox had ever seen. What caught his attention this time and made him stop for a second look, was that the lucky Crow held a bit of cheese in her beak.

"No need to search any farther," thought sly Master Fox. "Here is a dainty bite for my breakfast."

Up he trotted to the foot of the tree in which the Crow was sitting, and looking up admiringly, he cried, "Good-morning, beautiful creature!"

The Crow, her head cocked on one side, watched the Fox suspiciously. But she kept her beak tightly closed on the cheese and did not return his greeting.

"What a charming creature she is!" said the Fox. "How her feathers shine! What a beautiful form and what splendid wings! Such a wonderful Bird should have a very lovely voice, since everything else about her is so perfect. Could she sing just one song, I know I should hail her Queen of Birds."

Listening to these flattering words, the Crow forgot all her suspicion, and also her breakfast. She wanted very much to be called Queen of Birds. So she opened her beak wide to utter her loudest caw, and down fell the cheese straight into the Fox's open mouth.

"Thank you," said Master Fox sweetly, as he walked off. "Though it is cracked, you have a voice sure enough. But where are your wits?"

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????? ?????? ????? 08/06/1399???? ???????? ?. ??????? ??? ????Author 10 books17.2k



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??????-??????-?????-?????? ?????-?????_?????-?????132 s JamesAuthor 20 books4,046

How often in life these little fables come up and we forget their original (or semi-original) source. Thousands of years old... parables told over and over again, then written down. What do they really mean, you can ask yourself these questions over and over again and have a different answer each time.

Take the "Tortoise and the Hare" as an example: Is it always true that slow and steady wins the race. Is that really what the story says? Could it be a broad theory that is subject to individual opinion based on the depth of the incident being cited? Is steady better than quick? Which is truly smarter?

If nothing else, it serves as an educational baseline of sorts... a place to start... with morals and the question of "what if" with children's thirsty minds.

But how many of us really know anything about Aesop? :)

About Me
For those new to me or my ... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film , the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.1-fiction 3-written-pre-20th-century88 s Jan-Maat1,603 2,191 Read

Once upon a time, long ago and far away, all things and beings were not only conscious, but also able to communicate in the same language, an earthenware pot could talk to a bronze kettle, the fresh rivers to the salty sea, animals on two or four legs, hairy or feathered nattered and prattled together.

This is the world of Aesop. Key to it is that mutual understanding does not arise from the fact that all things can understand each other, no, that point is just where the fun begins. And above all these stories are fun - although they are not always nice, indeed some are distinctly nasty.

Legend or fable has it that Aesop was a slave, his fables a way of subtly showing his opinion in such a way that he might be able to avoid a beating. Or as one of the stories has it; once the North Wind and the Sun were discussing which of them could make a traveller take off his coat the fastest. The North wind blew fiercely so the garment flapped about the man but he hugged it even tighter about him, Then the sun shone down upon him and in the warmth the man very quickly took off his coat. However, the legend goes on, such stories were not obscure enough as he ended up being put to death by the enraged people of Delphi.

Two men went on a journey to the land of the monkeys, one always told the truth, and one always told lies, the moral of this story is that in the land of the monkeys don't tell the truth if you value your life (and this story is good for all people who work in organisations)...one man returns. Having got back he loads up his camel with containers full of grapes. 'Now', he said to the camel, 'do you want to take the difficult uphill route or the steep and dangerous downhill route to the market?' 'So what happened to the easy, comfortable level route?' asked the camel. As they were walking along, a fox saw the grapes and ran alongside the camel pausing to jump up to try to grab a mouth full of grapes, after falling on its back a few times the fox got up, shook itself and said 'bah, those grapes are probably sour anyway'. The fox ran back to the lion. The lion was dying and he asked the fox to bring him the deer, because he would dearly love to eat the deer pardon me before dying. The fox ran off to the deer, the fox said 'thank goodness I have found you in time, the Lion is dying and has decided that you will be the next king of the beasts, and he wishes to invest you with the kingship as quickly as possible.' They hurry to the lion who leaps at the deer swiping its ear with his paw - the deer instantly speeds off. 'I still want to eat that deer' said the lion. 'hmm, this might be tough' said the fox who went off in search of the deer. 'Don't you come near me you rotten scoundrel' said the deer ' oh dear, why did yo run off that? The lion was just getting up to acknowledge you as his son with that paternal cuff to the ear and then you ran off! you would not believe how long I it took me to persuade the lion that you running off must have been some misunderstanding, and that you are still the only one suitable to become the next king of the beasts!' The fox and the deer walk back to the lion, this time the lion restrains him self until he kills the deer with a single blow and begins to feast on it. The lions eats and eats until the hungry fox gets up and very quietly takes the deer's brains and eats them up. Once the lion has eaten everything else he pick about the bones and shouts 'where are the brains! I want to eat the brains!' 'oh lion', says the fox, 'what makes you think that a deer who came twice into your lair had any brains?'
The goose walked with the fox. 'I hear you are very clever fox, I wish you would show me one of your tricks' 'certainly goose, come home for lunch with with me and I will show you a trick. So they went to the fox's house. Inside the fox ate the goose for lunch.
The cat walked with the fox. 'I hear you are very clever fox, I only have one trick and that is to climb up a tree when I hear dogs, I wish you would show me some of your tricks'. 'Why certainly cat, I have seventeen tricks in my bag....' just then a pack of dogs charged upon them. The cat climbed a tree, while the dogs ripped the fox into pieces.
A hungry Lion invited a bull to join him in sacrificing to the gods, when he got there, he snorted and backed away, 'Why are you going Bull?' 'Because I can see you have everything ready apart from someone to sacrifice!'

I read the Oxford 'world's classics' edition, translated by Laura Gibbs. This contains 600 fables in 283 pages of, ahem, fabulous text sorry each one is given it's Perry because it was many fingered Perry who gave each fables it's own individual number number and the number it has in the compilation that the fable comes from. As Madame Gibbs explains in the introduction there are various collections of 'Aesopian' fables, some Greek, others Roman, some in medieval Latin, one collection is in Greek but was a translation from Syriac. Some were written in verse, others in prose, all are associated with the name of Aesop, Gibbs seems to think that most of these, even the medieval ones are genuinely ancient, one fable is also found in Hesiod (and two others in this collection are similar to fables that he tells) while a couple of others are the same as Buddhist Jatakas (with three others from this collection similar). So some at least of the fables gathered here are extremely old or 'oft-told' , the others may or may not be.

As such the collection here is not complete, but 600 fables is quite a lot. Gibbs' arranges them thematically, traditionally they were ordered alphabetically by title or first line.

In addition to links to Indian story telling though the Aesopian tales are less sophisticated than the Indian traditions, there are also some overlaps with proverbs and ideas from the Hebrew bible. And it would be surprising if there were not - stories acknowledge no borders or boundaries, leap or ooze from one language to another, and generally spread themselves around the world.

Some of the stories are vicious, particularly early on it as striking how many ended in death, many are humorous - though still involving death, although traditionally many of the stories do come complete with a moral, the moral did not always seem to be appropriate to the story. Still the stories are wonderfully varied and hugely flexible, they can be religious, philosophical, scatological, political, or simply jokes.

I was finally prompted into reading this by reading Kaas because of the plain and obvious link between a cheeseepic and stories about garrulous animals from the ancient world. Well I can only say that it would have a gouda idea if I had read either or both many years ago, I have been depriving myself.64 s Sean Barrs 1,122 46.7k

Aesop wrote many intelligent fables in here, and some are real life lessons. One of the most famous, and also the one I take the most from, is The Hare and the Tortoise.

We all know the story and the maxim: slow and steady wins the race. Being arrogant and fast isn’t all that. I remember reading this at school for the first time when I was around five to six years old, and somehow, it stuck with me. I always take the tortoise approach in life whether it be writing essays or training for marathons. I take things at my own pace, and do things in my own time. It's the best way.



In terms of general readability though, I did find some of these very repetitive. It’s not the sort of thing you read a lot of at once, as it all blurs into one. It’s best to take your time and read a few a day or perhaps just pick out a handful that you think will appeal to you. For every decent one I read, I read two that were a bit pointless. It’s very hit and miss.ancient-greece children-of-all-ages classics61 s Tharindu Dissanayake300 734

Timeless collection of fables by Aesop.51 s Marquise1,832 957

This was the only book quite appropriate for my young age that I read as a child, a precious edition with lots of drawings by one of the best book illustrators, Arthur Rackham, which to date is still much loved by me. I have that old copy with me even now, relatively well preserved.classics fairy-and-folk-tales have-reviewed ...more52 s MannyAuthor 35 books15k

I was looking for a Christmas present for my nephew the other day when I noticed an edition of Aesop's Fables in Blackwells. I had a copy myself when I was a kid, and it was one of my favourite books. I can't guess how many times I read it.

Thinking about it now, it surprises me to realise how fresh and up-to-date it still feels. Most of the stuff from that period is starting to slip away; most people don't read the Bible any more, or Homer, or Euripides, or Seneca. Obviously, they're still acknowledged as timeless classics, but an effort is required. Our culture has moved on, not necessarily in a good way. But Aesop's Fables doesn't require effort. It could have been composed yesterday. I can easily see him as a Goodreads contributor, posting a story every now and then and picking up plenty of votes. He'd fit right in and be one of the most popular people on the site.

At age eight, I got nearly all the stories, but there were a couple that puzzled me. If you happen to be a precocious kid, I'd be curious to know what you make of the following, which I only figured out much later:The Woman and the Wine-Jar

A woman is walking along one day when she finds an empty wine-jar. She picks it up and sniffs it appreciatively.

"Ah!" she sighs. "What you must have been in your prime, when the very dregs of you are so lovely!"
linguistics-and-philosophy strongly-recommended well-i-think-its-funny51 s Riku Sayuj658 7,316


AESOP'S ECHOES

It is amazing how so many popular references and common senses are found here. Aesop finds his echoes throughout the high flying philosophers and through the earthy grandmothers, not only engrafted into the literature of the civilized world, but familiar as household words in daily conversation of peoples, across borders. It is all pervading. And to top it off, such great pleasure too.

Wisdom, and simplicity, and entertainment - through unforgettable stories - what more could be asked?

Aesop: The Origins

The most famous of Greek poets, Aesop was born about the year 620 B.C., by birth a slave. He was owned by two masters in succession, and won his freedom from the latter, as a reward for his learning and wit.



As a freedman in the ancient republics of Greece, Aesop now had the privilege and the permission to take an active interest in public affairs; and Aesop, raised himself to a position of high renown - a political ambassador of sorts. In his desire a to instruct and to be instructed, he travelled through many countries. And in his discharge of his commissions, is said to have, by the narration of some of his wise fables, reconciled the inhabitants of those cities to the administration of their times.



Here we can detect and understand some of the common themes that run through these fables - those of keeping to one’s appointed place/station, the utility of inherent strengths which might not be easily visible and of the perils of overreaching.

These, and other, but still few, simple strands of wisdom is reinforced again and again in different situations - which is the essence of the craft of a fabulist.

Aesop: The Fabulous Fabulist

The Fable, any Tale, will contain a short but real narrative; it will seek, any Parable, to convey a hidden meaning, but by the skillful introduction of fictitious characters; and it will always keep in view, as its high prerogative, and inseparable attribute, the great purpose of instruction, and will necessarily seek to inculcate some moral maxim, social duty, or political truth.

And yet, even when trying to realize profound human truths through itself, it so conceals its design under the disguise of fictitious characters, by clothing with speech the animals of the field, the birds of the air, the trees of the wood, or the beasts of the forest, that the reader shall receive advice without perceiving the presence of the adviser.



Thus the superiority of the counsellor, which often renders counsel unpalatable, is kept out of view, and the lesson comes with the greater acceptance when the reader is led, unconsciously to himself, to have his sympathies enlisted in behalf of what is pure, honorable, and praiseworthy, and to have his indignation excited against what is low, ignoble, and unworthy. 



This format also required the fabulist to keep a unity of character throughout - The introduction of the animals as characters should be marked with an unexceptionable care and attention to their natural attributes, and to the qualities attributed to them by universal popular consent. The Fox should be always cunning, the Hare timid, the Lion bold, the Wolf cruel, the Bull strong, the Horse proud, and the Ass patient, even as they are made to depict the motives and passions of men.



Aesop’s fables achieve this unity and consistency so throughly that now they have passed into popular consciousness. Indeed, we can even assert that these animals, as we know them today, were created in these Fables!

Aesop: The Companion

Aesop's Fables are valuable companions. These stories pack much distilled wisdom in them and can be employed with great effect. It is said that a few good stories are better moral equipment than the best tracts of philosophers.

Even Socrates is mentioned by Plato as having employed his time while in prison, awaiting the return of the sacred ship from Delphos which was to be the signal of his death, in turning some of these fables into verse from what he had committed to memory over his long lifetime.

Socrates, Aesop, understood that we are all moralists, seeking the human judgements that inform ours, and other’s actions. But morality forced down by edict can be very forbidding. This forbidding notion of morality was what inspired the philosopher Bertrand Russell to remark that the Ten Commandments ought to come with the sort of rubric which is sometimes to be found on examination papers of ten questions: ‘Only six need be attempted’.

It is noteworthy that Socrates tried to emulate in his own teaching method the technique of the great fabulist - of letting the listener arrive at his own conclusions, or at any rate, avoiding the biggest pitfall any teacher can fall into - of being perceived as a moral superior.

In how Socrates shaped up as a teacher, we can very well see why the most earthy and yet the loftiest of philosophers considered Aesop’s fables to be masterpieces, a constant source of companionship and teaching - and also a manual on teaching well.

We would be well served to do the same.anthologies classics pop-phil ...more49 s Fabian977 1,937

I must admit that at this time some of these tales fell flat & are as antiquarian as... Carriages? Shepherds?

But still, some of them are cynical enough to strike my fancy, and most of them end with a little innocent critter dying and learning a mistake way too late--all so that we can benefit. There is misogyny, racism, classism... the works. Its deletion of this from the "1001 Books" List doesn't affect me (or you), really.

My favorites include the one about the bat who denies his classification of "rat" when captured by a hound and of "bird" when caught by a cat-- escaping twice with his life (Hey--I must admit that travelling in Europe as a Mexican has many more perks ( others' attitude and treatment of you) than travelling as an American. Also, the stupid girl who dreams while a pail of water atop her head tumbles, ruining those aforementioned fantasies (silly, stupid girl!) is wise a winner. However, it is not but the story of rabid rage & ire, about the bee stinging the cobra's hood who then crushes both the bee & its own head under the wheel of a wagon to get her revenge no matter the price that really made me grin. That one's absolutely Shakespearean!44 s Jason KoivuAuthor 7 books1,332

These moral lessons were my bible.

...when I wasn't made to learn my bible as a kid.

The other day I realized I didn't know all of Aesop's Fables. Certainly I've read a few and heard many more, but I'd never sat down and read the whole thing. So I rectified that.

Now I can see why some of the lesser known fables are lesser known. Not every one of these often-anthropomorphic tales of animals wise and woeful is a winner. None are terrible, but every once in a while one of them doesn't quite resinate.

A Cock is walking around the farm and sees a pearl. He excitedly picks it up. The other cocks laugh. "You may have a treasure," one says, "but I'd rather have corn any day."

Moral: The ignorant despise what is precious only because they cannot understand it.

However, most of them knock the moral lesson right out of the park and make for a solid basis of wisdom with which to live a decent life by.

The Tortoise and the Hare - Slow and steady wins the race.
The Crow and the Pitcher - Use your wits.
Belling the Cat - Saying you'll do something is one thing, doing it is quite another.
The Ants and the Grasshopper - Work before play.
The Young Crab and His Mother - Lead by example.

There's others about humility and being a good person to your fellow man, but I'm not awake right now and can't seem to find them online. Trust me, they're there.
36 s Michael FinocchiaroAuthor 3 books5,868

The world of fables for the west really originated with the slave Aesop and this marvellous collection of stories. In France, La Fontaine would probably never have existed had Aesop not existed. The fairy tales of Grimm and Andersson similarly drew inspiration from Aesop. The most famous of course is the eternal Tortoise and the Hare, but don't stop there as there are amazing tales here with philosophical and moral messages that transcend the ages. classics fables fiction ...more32 s MannyAuthor 35 books15k

My colleague S, with whom I'm currently doing a project involving Italian, lent me this book so that I could improve my shaky grasp of her language. I was pleased to find that I could understand quite a lot of it! The high point was discovering an Aesop's Fable that I hadn't previously come across:

The Frogs and the Well

Some frogs lived happily in a puddle. Then summer arrived; as one hot day succeeded another, the puddle shrank until it disappeared altogether. The frogs had no choice but to seek a new home. They hopped painfully along, but everywhere they went they found dried-up ponds and empty river beds. Finally they came to a well. Looking down the deep shaft, they saw water at the bottom.

"We're saved!" croaked one frog. "Let's jump in now!"

"Wait a moment," said his less impulsive friend. "What will we do if this one also dries up?"
children linguistics-and-philosophy spanish-and-italian ...more30 s Fernando700 1,095

La fábula ("composición literaria narrativa breve, generalmente en prosa o verso, en la que los personajes principales son animales o cosas inanimadas que presentan características humanas") es considerada por algunos como un género literario menor, más allá de que existe en la literatura desde la época de los grandes exponentes griegos y que fue adoptada por nuevos autores con el correr del tiempo.
Usualmente, funciona como contrapunto del mito y la intención que se le quiso dar desde la antigüedad sufrió pocas modificaciones, aunque si mejoras a nivel narrativo durante el siglo XVII.
Según los retóricos de la antigüedad, es un relato fingido que da una imagen de la verdad y en general está narrada a partir del encuentro de dos personajes, con la inclusión de un tercero o cuarto en cuestión, siendo entre dos la forma más clásica de ser contada.
La resultante de este "enfrentamiento" es la puesta de acción de una moraleja o enseñanza, una instrucción moral que le permita al lector reflexionar sobre lo que acaba de leer. También es un contrapunto entre la noción del bien y el mal, de las buenas o malas acciones que realiza el individuo.
Esopo es reconocido como el padre de la fábula, aunque mucho estudiosos indican que estas son tan antiguas las de origen griego y se remontan a China y la India.
Digamos que las de Esopo son las más clásicas y por ende las que más han perdurado. Ya a partir del el siglo XVII aparecerían otros autores como Jean de la Fontaine, y en el XVIII Tomás de Iriarte o Feliz Samaniego quienes recuperaron este género para traerlo de nuevo a las nuevas generaciones de lectores.
Esta edición de Gredos incluye también las fábulas de Babrio, de origen asirio que en los siglos I y II escribió, influenciado por Esopo, una buena cantidad de ellas en idioma griego.
Como todo género literario, la fábula esopiana tuvo detractores, tal es el caso de Jean Jacques Rousseau, quien afirmaba que "los niños no entienden bien las fábulas, y en segundo lugar -pero lo más importante-, la moral de las fábulas corrompe a la juventud, al mostrar que los más fuertes y astutos son los que vencen en la vida."
En cierto modo puedo estar de acuerdo con Rousseau, ya que en ellas puede leerse entre líneas mensajes de injusticia, envidia, inhumanidad, soberbia o rencor y aunque no lo parezca, puede derivar en interpretaciones capciosas o equivocadas.
En mi caso, lo que pude apreciar fue una constante repetición de situaciones con moralejas similares que para nada pueden significar que quien las lea deba comportarse de mejor manera en la vida. Estas fábulas seguramente causaban cierta impresión en su época pero hoy por hoy tienen una connotación bastante ingenua.
El hecho de que los personajes sean animales le cambia el tenor a la fábula, pero no debemos olvidar que, como ellos hablan tanto entre ellos como con los seres humanos, son humanas sus actitudes y actos, por ende, es de nosotros mismo de quienes Esopo trata de reflejarse cuando los animales intervienen en ellas.
De todas maneras, es importante rescatar que también Esopo también incluye fábulas cuyos personajes son hombres, mujeres y dioses.
El libro, me ha parecido correcto y en ningún momento, salvo cuatro o cinco fábulas ha logrado entusiasmarme o sentir que leía algo realmente contundente (si lo comparo con otros géneros como la épica de la Ilíada o la Odisea).
La fábula que más me sorprendió fue esta que transcribo a continuación y cuyo contenido me parece demasiado arriesgado para que Esopo lo contara en el año 560 D.C.
Zeus y el Pudor: Cuando Zeus moldeó a los hombres, les infundió enseguida las diferentes facultades, pero se olvidó del Pudor. Como no encontraba por dónde introducirlo, le mandó que entrara por el recto. Al principio, el Pudor se negó e indigno, después que Zeus le insistió mucho, dijo el Pudor: "Pero entro con esta condición, que si entra otro detrás de mí, me marcho inmediatamente." De esto viene que todos los maricones sean gente sin pudor. Podría aplicarse esta fábula al lascivo."
Esta fábula, comparada con otras un tanto inocentes protagonizadas por conejos, perros, zorras y ranas parece sacada de contexto e increíblemente, choca contra el contenido que uno viene leyendo.
En la actualidad (al menos para mí) tiene un contenido misógino y discriminatorio más allá del humor que algunos puedan darle).
No creo que vuelva a leer libros de fábulas, aunque no descarto en un futuro intentarlo con Jean de la Fontaine. Probablemente las disfrute más.31 s Francisca209 98

This is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece. These stories, while at times naive at times strange, filled many of my summers, I as read them out loud for my grandmother while she was sewing or painting or doing one of the many things she loved to do with her hands.

Originally belonging to the oral tradition, the fables were collected only three centuries after Aesop's death. The stories are focused on teaching moral lessons about love, and respect, and greed, and all those many internal demons pestering us. The allegories are great and rich. Animals are always the protagonists, perhaps because showing human behavior and actions --specially the despicable ones-- in the mirror of our beastly world-companions makes it easy for us to see the root of the evil in display.

This is a good read for young children, but it's a surprisingly entertaining read for adults as well. One that requires little commitment for you can read one fable and forget the book forever, or you can read many and make an afternoon out of it.fantasy27 s persephone ?569 3,063

mourning the loss of the labyrinth of Versailles, Louis XVI you will pay for your crimes
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