Aesop’s Fables in Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)

Sep 12, 2015 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: mythology, classics, children-ya, read-2015, e-books, fantasy, gutenberg, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you

Free download available at Project Gutenberg.

INTRODUCTION

Aesop embodies an epigram not uncommon in human history; his fame is all the more deserved because he never deserved it. The firm foundations of common sense, the shrewd shots at uncommon sense, that characterise all the Fables, belong not him but to humanity. In the earliest human history whatever is authentic is universal: and whatever is universal is anonymous. In such cases there is always some central man who had first the trouble of ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2017 Maggie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: boxall-1001, fiction, short-stories, folklore-mythology, classics, greco-roman-classics

We’ve all grown up knowing some Aesop’s fables – the hare and the tortoise, the fox and the grapes, the boy who cried wolf – but who is Aesop? As it turns out, Aesop was a slave, supposedly mute, but the man himself is legendised. It’s unclear whether the fables are actually his. I mean, sources attribute the fables to him, but it’s not clear whether he actually existed, and Aesopic fables turn into a genre, so that even Socrates, and people living centuries after Aesop supposedly did, composed We’ve all grown up knowing some Aesop’s fables – the hare and the tortoise, the fox and the grapes, the boy who cried wolf – but who is Aesop? As it turns out, Aesop was a slave, supposedly mute, but the man himself is legendised. It’s unclear whether the fables are actually his. I mean, sources attribute the fables to him, but it’s not clear whether he actually existed, and Aesopic fables turn into a genre, so that even Socrates, and people living centuries after Aesop supposedly did, composed Aesopic fables. What does bind the fables together are the morals, which can be categorised into promythiums (occurring before the fable), epimethiums (occurring after the fable), and endomythiums (occurring within the fable, often as part of someone’s speech. Laura Gibbs tells us all in this in her introduction to this wonderful book in which she presents 600 of Aesop’s fables, all categorised into fables with similar themes or morals (e.g. “fables about solidarity”, “fables about treachery and spite”), complete with her own helpful annotations on many of the fables. There are even some jokes and puns towards the end of the book, although I’m not entirely clear how these were decided to be Aesopic fables, apart from being part of the tradition.

Surprisingly, the fables are not just about animals, but also featured humans, inanimate objects, and in one fable, body parts. The fables make use of stereotypes. For example, the fox is sly, the lion is the fierce king, the donkey is good-for-nothing, the cobbler is deceitful, and so on. This keeps the fables short and easy to understand, although I did feel bad at some points for animals that were discriminated against. Style-wise, there is a wide range of story-telling styles, probably because of the variety of authors and compilers. Most are short and sweet, though some more pithy than others, and some more elaborate. Some are funny and some are serious. Many have a surprisingly vicious sense of humour, with death, destruction and punishment featuring heavily. They’re not all fables you would want to tell your children.

The fables cover a wide range of subjects and morals as well, and the morals are not always consistent across fables. For example, some tell you to show mercy, whereas others tell you to be firm in punishing others. Not all of them are morally right either, for example there are some that tell you not to help somebody who doesn’t deserve your help. Again, I wouldn’t necessarily tell these fables to children. Some of them have wider purposes too, with only the epimythium informing us that we are supposed to apply these fables to issues of national or political importance.

By the way, if you want to read the fables for free, Laura Gibbs has very helpfully and generously put them up on her website here. ...more

Like · see review

Jan 24, 2013 Nola Tillman rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read, classics

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of fables, though the slightly archaic phrasing of the morals occasionally read differently than what I've grown up hearing. Still, most of these I read to my children as bedtime stories, which made for some excellent discussions. Apparently the discussions slowed the pace too much, as my kids finally snatched it to read on their own! I think that's the best review. ...more

Like · see review

Apr 22, 2022 Heather L rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, my-nook, 2022, group-read

It’s interesting that only about a half dozen of the 385 fables themselves in my edition were familiar, while most of the morals have become popular aphorisms still in use today.

Like · see review