Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Aesop's Fables
    Aesop's Fables
    Aesop's Fables
    Ebook347 pages3 hours

    Aesop's Fables

    By Aesop

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    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 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with Aesop's name have descended to modern times through a number of sources. They continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media.
    LanguageEnglish
    Publisheranboco
    Release dateAug 25, 2016
    ISBN9783736408470
    Author

    Aesop

    Aesop was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables.

    Read more from Aesop

    Related to Aesop's Fables

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Lords Of Misrule

      Dec 3, 2020

      Christmas, in past times, included adult entertainment and also the celebration of dark themes such as death and retribution. The death of the old year, and the turning point of the Winter Solstice, was a time to affirm the contrast of light and dark

      8 min read

    • Article

      Tales Of Life, Light And Laughter

      Nov 10, 2022

      With the advent of the Christ Child’s birth upon us, it hardly seems appropriate to be recommending these memoirs so wholeheartedly. Great swathes are really quite naughty: we have a frank account of sex in a Parisian porn shop as well as details of

      3 min read

    • Article

      Riding High

      Jun 28, 2023

      The Bridleway: How Horses Shaped the British Landscape By Tiffany Francis-Baker Bloomsbury £17.99 Ever since I was seven years old, and I won my first rosette at a village gymkhana, I have had a passion for horses and the countryside. The two were in

      4 min read

    • Article

      Tales From The Countryside

      Dec 14, 2023

      Tales From The Countryside
      7 min read

    • Article

      Soar To The Heights Of Spring

      Feb 13, 2020

      Soar To The Heights Of Spring
      4 min read

    • Article

      Ancient Shadows

      Nov 3, 2022

      Simon Webb Pen and Sword Books 2022 Hb, 208pp, £20, ISBN 9781399000079 The appearance and behaviour of wizards, witches and fairies is well established in the western world. They appear in major movies from The Wizard of Oz, Lord of the Rings and the

      2 min read

    • Article

      FACT & FICTION

      Jan 12, 2024

      BY ISLAM ISSA Hodder and Stoughton/ Jonathan Ball, RRP R391 Alexander the Great sketched out a sparkling metropolis that celebrated learning and diversity. He died before his city was built but his vision was realised and is still standing. In the be

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Keeper’s View

      May 23, 2019

      The Keeper’s View
      3 min read

    • Article

      Encounters

      Jun 8, 2023

      Encounters
      3 min read

    • Article

      Town & Country Notebook

      Apr 10, 2024

      1) In which century was Charles Dickens born? 2) A clouded agaric is a form of what organism? 3) How many legs appear on the flag of the Isle of Man? 4) In music, what does the term Con sordino mean? 5) By what name is the lima bean more commonly kno

      4 min read

    • Article

      Town & Country Notebook

      Aug 18, 2021

      1) The surname ‘Fuller’ once described someone who worked with which material? 2) Which word beginning with S can refer to an article of clothing, a cut of meat and part of a saddle? 3) Which two butterfly species are often referred to as ‘cabbage wh

      3 min read

    • Article

      Words Matter

      Feb 15, 2024

      Words Matter
      3 min read

    • Article

      Risk Becoming A Braai Bore Or Even Worse

      Dec 29, 2023

      Alexandria: The City That Changed The World by Islam Issa (Sceptre, R470) This is an impressive history of an impressive city. Legend has it that Egypt's Alexandria was funded by Alexander the Great, though he did not live to see the finished splendo

      5 min read

    • Article

      Who Killed Cock Robin?

      Dec 16, 2020

      AS is so often the case, it began with legend, when the robin’s bold frontal display was interpreted as blood. The compassionate little bird had perched on the shoulder of Christ on the cross, singing a melody to console him and trying to pull out th

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Short History of Humanity

      May 30, 2022

      A New History of Old Europe By Johannes Krause, Thomas Trappe (Caroline Waight – translator) ISBN: 978-0593229422 Penguin Random House (2021) – $27.00 www.penguinrandomhouse.com Every one of us carries the history of our species in our genes. Armed w

      6 min read

    • Article

      Who Are You Calling Prickly?

      Sep 13, 2023

      Who Are You Calling Prickly?
      6 min read

    • Article

      Birds, Books, Tales And Secrets

      Oct 15, 2020

      This is an exquisitely illustrated book that everyone should be twitching to get their hands on. It bills birdwatching as ‘a pastime good for both the anguished soul and the anguished world’. Its opening chapter delves into the origins of birds befor

      2 min read

    • Article

      You’re Descended from Royalty and So Is Everybody Else

      Jan 4, 2018

      Charlemagne, Carolingian King of the Franks, Holy Roman Emperor, the great European conciliator; your ancestor. I am making an assumption that you are broadly of European descent, which is not statistically unreasonable but certainly not definitive.

      11 min read

    • Article

      Alicia Wright

      Dec 1, 2020

      One after another the angel of historyWomen: rural, 9, 1536, 1547, 1550, the angel of history1551—52, 1559; in business, 147; and the angel of historyathletics, 245—46, 565; and education the angel of history266, 1533, 1536—38; and flowers, 340, the

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Warning To The Fortean

      Jul 14, 2022

      A Warning To The Fortean
      9 min read

    • Article

      Back to Nature

      Jun 22, 2022

      ON November 27, 2020, Mo Wilde, a herbalist, forager, Lyme disease specialist and member of the Linnean Society, decided to eat only ‘wild’ food for a year. Fortunately, she lives in West Lothian, with access to sea and rivers, stalker and wine-makin

      5 min read

    • Article

      Put Your Nose In A Book

      Nov 17, 2023

      BY CLIFF AND SUBETHA DORSE Struik Nature, RRP R350 Let's hear it far fynbos, one of the richest floras in the world. So rich, in fact, that Table Mountain alone has more species of plants than the whole of the British Isles. There are more than 9 000

      3 min read

    • Article

      He’s Always One Step Ahead

      Dec 2, 2020

      He’s Always One Step Ahead
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Aesop's Fables

    4/5

    39 ratings37 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Just as relevant as ever.
    • 5/5
      This was my first read through of Aesop's Fables in its entirety. Obviously I have encountered many of these fables before individually but was somewhat surprised by how dark they are. Aesop as a freedman was brilliant at seeing into the psyche of humankind. The Fables have held up well over the last 2500 years. I found it odd that the translator used the names of the Roman gods as opposed to the original greek gods.
    • 4/5
      Collections of these short tales with a moral were among the very first works--after the Bible--to be published on the printing press. It's amazing how many catch phrases come from these fables: Honesty is the best policy. Don't count your chickens before they've hatched. Look before you leap. Aesop himself, like Homer, may never have existed in history. Tradition makes him a slave in Asia Minor, possibly of Ethiopian descent, born in 620 and eventually freed for his cleverness becomes a counselor to kings and companion to philosophers. Herodotus, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Horace all mentioned Aesop and his tales, and the earliest surviving collection is from the first century. They're been used by orators and in primers ever since, and definitely should be read in the interest of cultural legacy. They're short. One of the most famous ones is only three lines:Driven by hunger, a fox tried to reach some grapes hanging high on the vine but was unable to, although he leaped with all his strength. As he went away, the fox remarked, 'Oh, you aren't even ripe yet! I don't need any sour grapes.' People who speak disparagingly of things that they cannot attain would do well to apply this story to themselves.To be honest, I tend to think these are best read by children, preferably in an illustrated edition. There's really no authoritative canon for the fables, the two primary collections from antiquity consist of only a few hundred tales. A lot of translations use antiquated language, or put the pithy tales into rather elaborated verse, or cut the moral, so you might want to scan various editions before deciding which to get. They're worth knowing, if only to be able to recognize where so many familiar stories and phrases come from.
    • 4/5
      Yet another I should reread, although so many of the fables are so familiar. Who could forget the fox and the grapes? The lessons in Aesop are still worthwhile today.
    • 1/5
      Nothing in it is true - though some argue that it has 'truths' (of a sort). I gave it one star...
    • 3/5


      Enjoyed the ones I was familiar with, many of them seemed repetitious. Overall a book everyone should and usually are familiar with.
    • 4/5
      Summary:This book is a series of short, and a little weird, stories with a little bit of proverb advice at the end of each story.Personal Reaction:I think this is an outstanding set of fables and short stories. I found this to be very entertaining and a little bit of an eye-opener. Reading some of these stories to my children was entertaining to them and entertaining to me to watch their reactions. A lot of the proverb advice I had to explain a little deeper for my oldest to understand them, but all in all a very good and entertaining read.Classroom Extension:1. These stories can be intergraded in many fashion of ways. I think it would be ideal to use as a "brain-break" in between lessons.2. This book can be used as a good way to bring literature into the classroom and can be a good way to introduce fables, proverbs, and short stories.
    • 4/5
      This book contains 82 of Aesop's fables. Many of these short stories with a moral of the story at the end, I have never heard before. Many, many of these early stories have morals that I never knew the origin of - A stitch in time saves nine, honesty is the best policy. These moral little sayings have withstood the test of time.
    • 5/5
      This was the first time I ever read any of Aesop's Fables and I loved each little story. These nuggets of morality hidden within tiny stories truly makes one think about their actions towards themselves and toward others. It is an excellent book to read to your little ones in hopes of helping them understand decency towards others.

      I would recommend this book to others.
    • 4/5
      Every few years I enjoy rereading Aesop’s Fables. When I come across a different edition with wonderful, new-to-me illustrations, I just can’t help myself. The morals of the Fables are occasionally contradictory, that’s where they’re most interesting in fact. For example, some tales seem to indicate that opposites attract and can help one another; in other instances alike things are attracted to one another and those things that are different are dangerous and can cause them harm; still, one has to fight the urge, because they are so amusing, to agree with all of Aesop’s “lessons” on all points. The best thing you can get from it as a child is that the world can be a contradictory place and that the best thing to do is ask questions about the truth of any given assertion or act. Aesop, if he did exist, seems like he could probably move from being a skeptic to being paranoid pretty easily. It’s good to read the tales with a dose of good humor.
    • 3/5


      Enjoyed the ones I was familiar with, many of them seemed repetitious. Overall a book everyone should and usually are familiar with.
    • 5/5
      Dad used to read these to us when we were children.
    • 3/5
      I liked this one better than "Grimm's Fairy Tales" because A) they're all super short, great for reading a teeny bit at a time and B) the language is much more understandable. But like "Grimm's Fairy Tales", the stories get repetitive after a while. They're all moral lessons, and they fall under three categories: evil is its own ruin, be honest and don't lie, don't be vain/greedy/prideful. Consequences of failing to heed lessons A, B, and C will result in you being eaten by a tiger 90% of the time.
    • 4/5
      Some were great, some were dull (or even rather mean), and some were in-between. Overall, not super crazy about it, but glad to have read the collection of them.
    • 5/5
      A moral education, and Chesterton's perceptive remarks about fable as truism and fairytale as realism aside, also something of a sentimental one. It's like, if we worshipped Aesop, does anyone think the Bible would have caught on as instructive stories for children and maybe adults, as opposed to the bloodthirsty fever dreams of a Middle Eastern death cult?Plus some of them are just dumb jokes, and a surprising percentage of those are funny.
    • 4/5
      I read this book while taking a course on animal satire with a focus on the Aesopic tradition. The fables are very entertaining and make for good conversation with friends. The translator, Laura Gibbs, has posted many of the fables on her website. However, the book is organized by situations, and there is nothing more satisfying than quoting one of Aesop's fables to remedy a particular situation.
    • 4/5
      A cute collection of morality stories/fables collected into this volume. I have read it so many times--as an adult, as a kid, as a teen--and each time I take something different away from it. I love it.In fact, I took a tattoo idea from the Tortise and the Hare fable, and added to it my desire to travel, and voila! Two different ways to travel, but in my case, there isn't necessarily a correct one.
    • 3/5
      Aesops's Fables are short and sweet and easy to read for most ages. A number of the stories are very clever, all with a point or moral to be learned in the end. There are quite a few in this book that I have never heard before, many not as creative as the common Aesop's Fables I grew up knowing; however it was fun to read through them.
    • 4/5
      short little proverbs usually using animals to tell a morality stories. Some of these proverbs are often spoken but wonder how many know whence they come? Remind me of the Proverbs from the Bible. Rating 3.75
    • 4/5
      The Tortoise and the Hare, the Grasshopper and the Ant, and dozens more of the delightful creatures that have been entertaining and instructing people for thousands of years. The storyteller Aesop lived in Ancient Greece, far away from us in time and distance. But his clever little stories have as much meaning for us today as they did when he first told them so long ago...
    • 4/5
      The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a great story for young children. It has a very important lesson which is not to lie. The boy "cried wolf" and said there was a wolf when there was not. Then, when there actually was no one believed him. This is important for young children to learn. I really loved this story because of the lesson. I also enjoyed it because it was interesting and made the reader want to keep reading. The story was also great because it was a good length. It was not too long so it was not boring, but it also was not too short. The last thing I liked was that the story was well written. From the writing, I could envision the boy and what was happening in the story. This was a great book!
    • 3/5
      Another reviewer said it best when stating that he enjoyed Aesop's Fables for the lessons rather than the storytelling. I was surprised to see how many of today's maxims originated from this collection of stories, and even moreso to hear that they had been penned in the 5th century BC. Definitely worth a read.
    • 2/5
      Written, according to legend, by the Greek slave Aesop, these one or two page fables offers the readers lessons and morals for a variety of circumstances. The edition that I read did not contain all of Aesop’s fables (there are over 350+ stories), but did include many of familiar ones, Androcles and the Lions, the Fox and the grapes, story of the tortoise and the hare, the country mouse and the city mouse etc. For the most part I was disappointed (I think my previous exposure to the Aesop Fables was from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and the "Aesop & Son" segments—very funny and much more insightful than the original)—most of the tales appear to be pointless, with some either hypocritical or abhorrent—many of the fables the reader is presented with a character of honorable behavior that is taken advantage of by those who are not. I suppose the moral of any story is life is hard—get used to it! I would not recommended this to any child—even though this book is often marketed that way—only 2 out of 5 stars.
    • 5/5
      Who does not like Aesop's Fables? Come on.
    • 3/5
      Various fables by Aesop are presented in a collection.The book would be useful in discussing morals and fables with kids.
    • 3/5
      Read this for the "1001" books and they're good little stories with great moral messages, but I found it hard to read them straight thru as a whole book. A few of the stories I even got a bit confused on because I kept mixing them up with others that were similar. I thought a few times "didn't I just read this this one?" But it was a good read and a keeper, and at least I finished it!
    • 4/5
      Brilliant stuff, but some of the morals seem to contradict others. For example, The Ant And The Grasshopper teaches one to always prepare for the future, whereas The Frogs Desiring A King has the moral "Let well enough alone!" I think most adults can see the nuances differentiating those two stories, but a child might not be able to. And while some stories speak of the importance of teamwork, some exalt individual toughness and refusal to play along with others. So why do I still give this 4 stars? Because of life's pesky gray areas, of course.
    • 5/5
      A collection of the greatest stories with a moral attribute ever. Attributed by Aristotle as the best. Transformed into verse by Socrates, these stories captured the imagination of the greatest thinkers in human history, and continue to do so today. No child stands to be harmed by learning these tales, in fact, and argument could be made for the opposite effect. The most highly recommended literature for children by indisputable sources.
    • 4/5
      I consider this a re-read - I can't quite remember when I read this previously, but most of the 100 fables included in this collection were familiar. I always knew that each fable included a moral - it was interesting in reading these that sometimes I didn't think the moral fit all that well.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this chapter book because of the moral messages learned from each short fable and how I could remember a majority of these stories from my own childhood. The moral lessons learned from these stories stem from always telling the truth, the idea that slow and steady will win the race, and to not judge someone by their appearance. As a child I remembered reading a great majority of these and enjoyed being able to reinterpret what was being said. Although the version I read did not contain illustrations, I did enjoy how the words came to life on the page. As one reads these stories, they can be illustrated in the reader's mind. The big idea of this chapter book is to give a recorded source of the oral stories told so as to teach moral lessons to children and adults.

    Book preview

    Aesop's Fables - Aesop

    2^book_preview_excerpt.htmlZrȒʽpHA"[!)^M"+C4j>bpd*=xQ]yJ'ot J.ꝰϛ֘Wi?UYh O8ߖ˜<;{'WHVsg]ҭru2kDվ.'<$ΰol槴;gƾtM*f[,M/ Ժ>M-$WNLEC?yښd'uGCY#Pt p\J΅.އl c)|$M3r PG &pԖmG!ϔ:Bv@JEuUlY6E5N8 d(ރY#l0R3KrdHCcː5?Es@Ƽ2]YX2j;v:{9Nn1|i{"iKK`u…*LVـrԴv4Y-^`Bqӎ雑-][:-16F-?Hf1PrdIBL-Ue 7 -lZHWCeLú'YNm3,U EqD6CQڦ.ARiIfQRwIu,!:Bvo_99ϒ69 hFؖq5wZ=;YM7֪.@<3%?5P\#yf}Ľ^V0=N! 6;dԦ8vTXWqP;z?΍t[۫q|s%D!zEXW"fzْR`w> £m~=t9ڱHmTRS)G';?fN^G汪&I%yYڐ+]]*`.u]M trobTf,Ĵ80['( \:`JQ`Vq1';*_2 aTlH6۲yG0L"٠%?>u]ɜ\%+$8CM@ Q80G6fj+jbۋT$Ҝ2 fu Beki.UvCY1H% zUoa$\ j:\&%- سlgJIZDėަ⊗BDWS5F"bYPM#O] QȺ\*daeŶ$R!Y2$\dπ\j#UsّSא(L /rEp'IρC!Fr\Vʋ.4{(E4:w\;րDPdN tB`HN b$( c88O.[$u P$ާo*+P ExT"+}CN] ߲2RЦg_J  w_m[Zj-Y*;UYT2tothPWV'A闍?Pd4~)Ib,kD ~N䯉9C^lX:%mu/ rCgy<8Z&WeUF VI/yy-ȓVyJ7:2wp,+R:e'e+q{Y3N0=tDvIP0,{=\EGu}f^Z)qεAN`U&g ):y_ca"qnۓ<"E, "KHt$꾩ʼnf֌ڂY2ȍ\w޻PL)H@^K[nP$abצs}1קv\P2; B/=H *U":1](t9 /~+.MY>Iվ6|fS`mS+r4/ pIɇ6fO-IU%M#W)Uo+!q83OHͶPesY%+q5+ewz`6stc->{-QQ]N~#ʖJsiPIl^8}s wȗ|FF `^Qղ>RoiM|A L3ZxfخvֹNYF3ۚfpmUrΠ6Ʊk7:˚}iJ"$]Oѽkm-! z 4 I8y/4Wxz,6쾛~;Ɛ_s&}YS)LY)XMW?:gyNǣN5ƙSdpA8ͤl3y/+k:"\m Z=/]{ V`ͷ7[wѳC"w5xZq6z?d;W]oN~?C4?>[.˘2_gҗ?֝U|[P!qg(sp+)W47j@?S8f3v k!\'~B}HEp6$` $~=X=]c *_K=oer=| &Hy}Z57a>#rvh>?m¡p66  a'Z̾"|9\!*>0wZ?A yoY2 Q %k="w)y>_ϋwqa ` ٓpS*aK`/CS*́lv$]G x_B1b#[C3RG^uk͏Dk7XK٢pŻMmŀF.3Fm1+AQ7 b(U- LOsFm~RkpFˑש r6S+uh-VAo&ݙ`WAW_IGY dڬ~ W:s2xba~5
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1