The North Wind and the Sun (no. 22), type 298
The Mistress and Her Servants (no. 23), type 1566A
*
The Hares and the Frogs (no. 25), type 70
The Fox and the Stork (no. 26), type 60
The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (no. 27), type 123B
The Stag in the Ox-Stall (no. 28), type 162
The Milkmaid and Her Pail (no. 29), type 1430
The Ass and the Lapdog (no. 32), type 214
The Gnat and the Bull (no. 36), type 281
The Bear and the Travelers (no. 37), type 179
The Slave and the Lion (no. 38), type 156
The Oak and the Reeds (no. 41), type 298C
*
The Ass and His Burdens (no. 45), type 211
The Shepherd’s Boy and the Wolf (no. 46), type 1333
The Fox and the Goat (no. 47), type 31
The Fisherman and the Sprat (no. 48), type 122F
The Crab and His Mother (no. 50), type 276
The Farmer and His Sons (no. 52), type 910E
Jupiter and the Monkey (no. 57), type 247
Father and Sons (no. 58), type 910F
The Owl and the Birds (no. 60), type 233C
The Ass in the Lion’s Skin (no. 61), type 214B
The Old Lion (no. 63), type 50A
The Swollen Fox (no. 66), type 41
*
The Mouse, the Frog, and the Hawk (no. 67), type 278
The Jackdaw and the Pigeons (no. 70), type 244
The Boy and the Filberts (no. 75), type 68A
The Frogs Asking for a King (no. 76), type 277
The Tortoise and the Eagle (no. 81), type 225
The Kid on the Housetop (no. 82), type 127A
*
The Fox without a Tail (no. 83), type 64
The Vain Jackdaw (no. 84), type 244
The Stag at the Pool (no. 93), type 77
The Dog and His Reflection (no. 94), type 34A
The Ox and the Frog (no. 100), type 277A
The Man and the Image (no. 101), type 1643
The Two Soldiers and the Robber (no. 106), similar to type 179
The Lion and the Wild Ass (no. 107), type 51
The Man and the Satyr (no. 108), type 1342
The Wolf, the Mother, and Her Child (no. 112), type 75
*
The Cat and the Cock (no. 116), type 111A
The Hare and the Tortoise (no. 117), type 275A
The Lion and the Three Bulls (no. 122), type 119B
*
The Lark and the Farmer (no. 128), type 93
The Wolf and the Crane (no. 134), type 76
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (no. 141), type 112
Venus and the Cat (no. 147), similar to type 402
The Grasshopper and the Ants (no. 156), type 280A
The Cobbler Turned Doctor (no. 159), similar to type 1641
The Belly and the Members (no. 161), type 293
The Bald Man and the Fly (no. 162), similar to type 1586
The Ass and the Wolf (no. 163), type 122J
The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat (no. 168), type 222A
The Man and His Two Mistresses (no. 169), type 1215A
The Miller, His Son, and Their Ass (no. 172), type 1215
The Archer and the Lion (no. 175), similar to type 157
The Ass and the Mule (no. 178), type 207B
The Laborer and the Snake (no. 188), type 285D
The Bat, the Bramble, and the Seagull (no. 220), type 289
The Dog and the Wolf (no. 221), type 122F
The Nightingale and the Hawk (no. 232), similar to type 122E
The Man, the Horse, the Ox, and the Dog (no. 234), type 173
The Lion, the Fox, and the Ass (no. 246), type 51
The Gnat and the Lion (no. 248), type 281A*
The Lion, the Wolf, and the Fox (no. 255); type 50
The Old Man and Death (no. 261), type 845
The Miser (no. 262), type 1305B
The Foxes and the River (no. 263), type 67
The Lion, the Fox, and the Stag (no. 267), type 52
The Serpent and the Eagle (no. 272), similar to type 178
The Woman and the Farmer (no. 278), similar to type 1510
INSPIRED BY AESOP’S FABLES
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
—George Orwell, Animal Farm
Aesop (or the group of ancient storytellers we call Aesop) is famed for his mastery of the moral fable, or apologue, a distant cousin of the apology. “Apologue” comes from the Greek word meaning “defense,” and the apology as literary form is exactly that: a defense of the writer’s point of view. Aesop created apologues to inform his audience’s morality and point a critical finger at the authorities, yet his oblique approach saved him from censure. Over the centuries the form has been employed by figures as diverse as Socrates and Sir Philip Sidney.
Orwell’s
Animal Farm
Perhaps the twentieth century’s finest example is George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) political fable, which predicts the author’s masterpiece
Nineteen Eighty-Four
(1949), Orwell makes use of a biting wit comparable to that of the eighteenth-century satirist Jonathan Swift. Assigning farm animals the roles of Stalin, Trotsky, and the common man, Orwell writes a pessimistic allegory about the tyranny of world leaders and the foibles of the Bolshevik and every other revolution. The anti-utopian Animal Farm is prized for its simple, direct style and profound moral stance. In his review of the novel in the New York Times Book Review, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., wrote, “The story should be read in particular by liberals who cannot understand how Soviet performance has fallen so far behind Communist professions. ‘Animal Farm’ is a wise, compassionate and illuminated fable for our times.”
Aesop in the World’s Lexicon
The fable as a form predates Aesop. Originating as long as 4,000 years ago, fables have enjoyed immense popularity throughout recorded time, in part because many of the proverbs and other expressions they contain are eminently quotable—so much so that these simple truths have been absorbed into the common wisdom of our species.
Aesop proved especially adept at creating situations and wordings that capture a moral meaning in an intriguing and memorable way. Writers as diverse as Aeschylus, Francis Bacon, Samuel Butler, Euripides, Benjamin Franklin, George Herbert, Andrew Lang, James Russell Lowell, Sophocles, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde have fashioned quips from Aesop’s fables and adopted his style in their work. The folklore and fairy tales of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen find their roots in the storytelling modes Aesop employed. So ubiquitous is Aesop’s influence that countless fables are attributed to him regardless of their actual authorship. Indeed, invoking Aesop’s name has become the most convenient way to describe the entire genre of the fable.
Following are some of Aesop’s expressions that have entered into not only our speech but our very ways of thinking (see also From the Pages of Aesop’s Fables, on the first page inside the front cover):
All that glitters is not gold
Blow hot and cold
Cry wolf
Dog in the manger
Every man for himself
Familiarity breeds contempt
Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
Leave well enough alone
Lion’s share
Look before you leap
Might makes right
Slow but sure
Sour grapes
Throw to the wolves
Viper in one’s bosom
Wolf in sheep’s clothing
COMMENTS & QUESTIONS
In this section, we aim to provide the reader with an array ofperspectives on the text, as well as questions that challenge those perspectives. The commentary has been culled from sources as diverse as reviews contemporaneous with the work, letters written by the author, literary criticism of later generations, and appreciations written throughout history. Following the commentary, a series of questions seeks to filter Aesop’s Fables through a variety of points of view and bring about a richer understanding of these enduring fables.
Comments
HERODOTUS
When the people of Delphi repeatedly made proclamation in accordance with an oracle, to find some one who would take up the blood-money for the death of Esop, no one else appeared, but at length the grandson of Iadmon, called Iadmon also, took it up; and thus it is shown that Esop... was the slave of Iadmon.
—from
The History of Herodotus
, as translated by G. C. Macaulay (1890)
OSCAR FAY ADAMS
Teaching by fable is the most ancient method of moral instruction; and allusions to it abound in the early history of all nations. The dullest minds could be reached by an apologue or a parable, and the brightest ones were not offended by this indirect mode of giving advice. Indeed, the fable seems to have been at one period the universal method of appeal to the reason or the conscience. Kings on their thrones were addressed in fables by their courtiers and subjects were admonished by monarchs by means of skillfully-told apologues.
—from
Dear Old Story-Tellers
(1889)
THE TIMES OF LONDON
In England “Æsop” has remained one of the most universal of school books, and all attempts to imitate or rival him have ended in ignominious failure.
—March 21, 1890
THE NATION
Originally a part of folk-lore, the fable became literature in Greece
because it was made the medium of conveying political lessons at a
time when, under the Tyrants, free speech was dangerous. In India
the same result was produced by the use of fables by the founder of
Buddhism to impart moral lessons. In Greece this use is connected
with the name of Æsop, about whom so little is known that it has
been suggested that he is himself a fable.
—July 31, 1890
CHARLES W. ELIOT
In
[Aesop’s
Fables], the form of the old animistic story is used without any belief in the identity of the personalities of men and animals, but with a conscious double meaning and for the purpose of teaching a lesson. The fable is a product not of the folk but of the learned; and though at times it has been handed down by word of mouth, it is really a literary form.
—from The Harvard Classics: Folk-lore and Fable (1909)
Questions
1. Sometimes two proverbs contradict each other, as in “Look before you leap” and “He who hesitates is lost.” When two fables (or proverbs) contradict each other must we assume that one is wrong? Can you think of two of Aesop’s fables that contradict each other, although both seem to apply? Is it that both apply, but to different circumstances? If so, can you describe the circumstances?
2. Can you think of a public figure who characteristically acts moral in accordance with one of Aesop’s fables?
3. Do any of these fables always apply?
4. Can one extract a worldview that governs all of these fables, rational, religious, commonsensical, or based on experience?
5. Do you think these fables, or stories, are more effective in making a point than reasoned argument would be? Why or why not?
FOR FURTHER READING
The Life of Aesop
Aesop:
Fables. 1692. Translation by Sir Roger LʼEstrange. Every-man’s Library series. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,1992. Includes “The Life of Aesop” (pp. 17-45).
Daly, Lloyd W. Aesop without Morals: The Famous Fables, and a Life
of Aesop.
New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1961.
The Aesopic Fable
Blackham, H. J. The Fable as Literature. London: Athlone Press, 1985.
Holzberg, Niklas. The Ancient Fable: An Introduction. Translated by Christine Jackson-Holzberg (from
Die antike Fabel. eine Einführung
[2001], expanded edition of an introduction to Greek and Latin fables published in 1993). Studies in Ancient Folklore and Popular Culture series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002.
Jacobs, Joseph. 1889.
History of the Aesopic Fable.
New York: Burt Franklin, 1970.
Patterson, Annabel M.
Fables of Power: Aesopian Writing and Political
History. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991.
Perry, Ben Edwin.
Babrius and Phaedrus.
Newly edited and translated into English together with a historical introduction and a comprehensive survey of Greek and Latin fables in the Aesopic tradition. Loeb Classical Library series. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965.
Oriental Fables
The jataka;
or,
Stories of the Buddha’s
Former Births. Edited by E. B. Cowell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1895-1907. 6 vols. Reprint: Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1999.
The Panchatantra. 1925. Translated from the Sanskrit by Arthur W. Ryder. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.
Folktale Studies
Aarne, Antti, and Thompson, Stith. The
Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography
. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1961.
Ashliman, D. L.
A Guide to Folktales in the English Language.
Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature series. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987.
Thompson, Stith. 1946. The
Folktale.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. Still the best introduction to the folktale.
Internet Resources