Aesop's Fables

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For other uses, see Aesop's Fables (disambiguation).
A detail of the 13th-century Fontana Maggiore in Perugia with the fables of The Wolf and the
Crane and The Wolf and the Lamb

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 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.

The fables originally belonged to the oral tradition and were not collected for some three
centuries after Aesop's death. By that time a variety of other stories, jokes and proverbs were
being ascribed to him, although some of that material was from sources earlier than him or
came from beyond the Greek cultural sphere. The process of inclusion has continued until the
present, with some of the fables unrecorded before the later Middle Ages and others arriving
from outside Europe. The process is continuous and new stories are still being added to the
Aesop corpus, even when they are demonstrably more recent work and sometimes from
known authors.

Manuscripts in Latin and Greek were important avenues of transmission, although poetical
treatments in European vernaculars eventually formed another. On the arrival of printing,
collections of Aesop's fables were among the earliest books in a variety of languages.
Through the means of later collections, and translations or adaptations of them, Aesop's
reputation as a fabulist was transmitted throughout the world.

Initially the fables were addressed to adults and covered religious, social and political themes.
They were also put to use as ethical guides and from the Renaissance onwards were
particularly used for the education of children. Their ethical dimension was reinforced in the
adult world through depiction in sculpture, painting and other illustrative means, as well as
adaptation to drama and song. In addition, there have been reinterpretations of the meaning of
fables and changes in emphasis over time.

Contents
• 1Fictions that point to the truth
o 1.1Fable as a genre
o 1.2Origins
• 2Translation and transmission
o 2.1Greek versions
o 2.2Latin versions
• 3Aesop in other languages
o 3.1Europe
 o 3.2Asia and America
• 4Versions in regional languages
o 4.1Creole
o 4.2Slang
• 5Children
• 6Religious themes
• 7Dramatised fables
• 8Musical treatments
• 9List of some fables by Aesop
o 9.1Titles A–F
o 9.2Titles G–O
o 9.3Titles R–Z
o 9.4Fables wrongly attributed to Aesop
• 10References
• 11Further reading
• 12External links

Fictions that point to the truth[edit]

The beginning of 1485 Italian edition of Aesopus Moralisatus

Fable as a genre[edit]

Apollonius of Tyana, a 1st-century CE philosopher, is recorded as having said about Aesop:

... like those who dine well off the plainest dishes, he made use of humble incidents to teach
great truths, and after serving up a story he adds to it the advice to do a thing or not to do it.
Then, too, he was really more attached to truth than the poets are; for the latter do violence to
their own stories in order to make them probable; but he by announcing a story which
everyone knows not to be true, told the truth by the very fact that he did not claim to be
relating real events.
— Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Book V:14

The Greek historian Herodotus mentioned in passing that "Aesop the fable writer" was a
slave who lived in Ancient Greece during the 5th century BCE.[1] Among references in other
writers, Aristophanes, in his comedy The Wasps, represented the protagonist Philocleon as
having learnt the "absurdities" of Aesop from conversation at banquets; Plato wrote in
Phaedo that Socrates whiled away his time in prison turning some of Aesop's fables "which
he knew" into verses. Nonetheless, for two main reasons – because numerous morals within
Aesop's attributed fables contradict each other, and because ancient accounts of Aesop's life
contradict each other – the modern view is that Aesop was not the originator of all those
fables attributed to him.[2] Instead, any fable tended to be ascribed to the name of Aesop if
there was no known alternative literary source.[3]

In Classical times there were various theorists who tried to differentiate these fables from
other kinds of narration. They had to be short and unaffected;[4] in addition, they are fictitious,
useful to life and true to nature.[5] In them could be found talking animals and plants, although
humans interacting only with humans figure in a few. Typically they might begin with a
contextual introduction, followed by the story, often with the moral underlined at the end.
Setting the context was often necessary as a guide to the story's interpretation, as in the case
of the political meaning of The Frogs Who Desired a King and The Frogs and the Sun.

Sometimes the titles given later to the fables have become proverbial, as in the case of killing
the Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs or the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse. In fact
some fables, such as The Young Man and the Swallow, appear to have been invented as
illustrations of already existing proverbs. One theorist, indeed, went so far as to define fables
as extended proverbs.[6] In this they have an aetiological function, the explaining of origins
such as, in another context, why the ant is a mean, thieving creature or how the tortoise got its
shell. Other fables, also verging on this function, are outright jokes, as in the case of The Old
Woman and the Doctor, aimed at greedy practitioners of medicine.

Origins[edit]

The contradictions between fables already mentioned and alternative versions of much the
same fable – as in the case of The Woodcutter and the Trees, are best explained by the
ascription to Aesop of all examples of the genre. Some are demonstrably of West Asian
origin, others have analogues further to the East. Modern scholarship reveals fables and
proverbs of Aesopic form existing in both ancient Sumer and Akkad, as early as the third
millennium BCE.[7] Aesop's fables and the Indian tradition, as represented by the Buddhist
Jataka tales and the Hindu Panchatantra, share about a dozen tales in common, although
often widely differing in detail. There is some debate over whether the Greeks learned these
fables from Indian storytellers or the other way, or if the influences were mutual.

Loeb editor Ben E. Perry took the extreme position in his book Babrius and Phaedrus (1965)
that

in the entire Greek tradition there is not, so far as I can see, a single fable that can be
said to come either directly or indirectly from an Indian source; but many fables or
fable-motifs that first appear in Greek or Near Eastern literature are found later in the
Panchatantra and other Indian story-books, including the Buddhist Jatakas.[8]
Although Aesop and the Buddha were near contemporaries, the stories of neither were
recorded in writing until some centuries after their death. Few disinterested scholars would
now be prepared to make so absolute a stand as Perry about their origin in view of the
conflicting and still emerging evidence.[9][10]

Translation and transmission[edit]

Greek versions[edit]

A Greek manuscript of the fables of Babrius

When and how the fables arrived in and travelled from ancient Greece remains uncertain.
Some cannot be dated any earlier than Babrius and Phaedrus, several centuries after Aesop,
and yet others even later. The earliest mentioned collection was by Demetrius of Phalerum,
an Athenian orator and statesman of the 4th century BCE, who compiled the fables into a set
of ten books for the use of orators. A follower of Aristotle, he simply catalogued all the fables
that earlier Greek writers had used in isolation as exempla, putting them into prose. At least it
was evidence of what was attributed to Aesop by others; but this may have included any
ascription to him from the oral tradition in the way of animal fables, fictitious anecdotes,
etiological or satirical myths, possibly even any proverb or joke, that these writers
transmitted. It is more a proof of the power of Aesop's name to attract such stories to it than
evidence of his actual authorship. In any case, although the work of Demetrius was
mentioned frequently for the next twelve centuries, and was considered the official Aesop, no
copy now survives. Present day collections evolved from the later Greek version of Babrius,
of which there now exists an incomplete manuscript of some 160 fables in choliambic verse.
Current opinion is that he lived in the 1st century CE. The version of 55 fables in choliambic
tetrameters by the 9th century Ignatius the Deacon is also worth mentioning for its early
inclusion of tales from Oriental sources.[11]

Further light is thrown on the entry of Oriental stories into the Aesopic canon by their
appearance in Jewish sources such as the Talmud and in Midrashic literature. There is a
comparative list of these on the Jewish Encyclopedia website[12] of which twelve resemble
those that are common to both Greek and Indian sources, six are parallel to those only in
Indian sources, and six others in Greek only. Where similar fables exist in Greece, India, and
in the Talmud, the Talmudic form approaches more nearly the Indian. Thus, the fable "The
Wolf and the Crane" is told in India of a lion and another bird. When Joshua ben Hananiah
told that fable to the Jews, to prevent their rebelling against Rome and once more putting
their heads into the lion's jaws (Gen. R. lxiv.), he shows familiarity with some form derived
from India.

Latin versions[edit]

12th-century pillar, cloister of the Collegiata di Sant'Orso, Aosta: the Fox and the Stork

The first extensive translation of Aesop into Latin iambic trimeters was performed by
Phaedrus, a freedman of Augustus in the 1st century CE, although at least one fable had
already been translated by the poet Ennius two centuries before, and others are referred to in
the work of Horace. The rhetorician Aphthonius of Antioch wrote a technical treatise on, and
converted into Latin prose, some forty of these fables in 315. It is notable as illustrating
contemporary and later usage of fables in rhetorical practice. Teachers of philosophy and
rhetoric often set the fables of Aesop as an exercise for their scholars, inviting them not only
to discuss the moral of the tale, but also to practise style and the rules of grammar by making
new versions of their own. A little later the poet Ausonius handed down some of these fables
in verse, which the writer Julianus Titianus translated into prose, and in the early 5th century
Avianus put 42 of these fables into Latin elegiacs.[13]

The largest, oldest known and most influential of the prose versions of Phaedrus bears the
name of an otherwise unknown fabulist named Romulus. It contains 83 fables, dates from the
10th century and seems to have been based on an earlier prose version which, under the name
of "Aesop" and addressed to one Rufus, may have been written in the Carolingian period or
even earlier. The collection became the source from which, during the second half of the
Middle Ages, almost all the collections of Latin fables in prose and verse were wholly or
partially drawn. A version of the first three books of Romulus in elegiac verse, possibly made
around the 12th century, was one of the most highly influential texts in medieval Europe.
Referred to variously (among other titles) as the verse Romulus or elegiac Romulus, and
ascribed to Gualterus Anglicus, it was a common Latin teaching text and was popular well
into the Renaissance. Another version of Romulus in Latin elegiacs was made by Alexander
Neckam, born at St Albans in 1157.[14]

Interpretive "translations" of the elegiac Romulus were very common in Europe in the
Middle Ages. Among the earliest was one in the 11th century by Ademar of Chabannes,
which includes some new material. This was followed by a prose collection of parables by
the Cistercian preacher Odo of Cheriton around 1200 where the fables (many of which are
not Aesopic) are given a strong medieval and clerical tinge. This interpretive tendency, and
the inclusion of yet more non-Aesopic material, was to grow as versions in the various
European vernaculars began to appear in the following centuries.

Aesopus constructus etc., 1495 edition with metrical version of Fabulae Lib. I–IV by
Anonymus Neveleti

With the revival of literary Latin during the Renaissance, authors began compiling collections
of fables in which those traditionally by Aesop and those from other sources appeared side by
side. One of the earliest was by Lorenzo Bevilaqua, also known as Laurentius Abstemius,
who wrote 197 fables,[15] the first hundred of which were published as Hecatomythium in
1495. Little by Aesop was included. At the most, some traditional fables are adapted and
reinterpreted: The Lion and the Mouse is continued and given a new ending (fable 52); The
Oak and the Reed becomes "The Elm and the Willow" (53); The Ant and the Grasshopper is
adapted as "The Gnat and the Bee" (94) with the difference that the gnat offers to teach music
to the bee's children. There are also Mediaeval tales such as The Mice in Council (195) and
stories created to support popular proverbs such as 'Still Waters Run Deep' (5) and 'A woman,
an ass and a walnut tree' (65), where the latter refers back to Aesop's fable of The Walnut
Tree. Most of the fables in Hecatomythium were later translated in the second half of Roger
L'Estrange's Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists (1692);[16] some also appeared
among the 102 in H. Clarke's Latin reader, Select fables of Aesop: with an English translation
(1787), of which there were both English and American editions.[17]

There were later three notable collections of fables in verse, among which the most
influential was Gabriele Faerno's Centum Fabulae (1564). The majority of the hundred fables
there are Aesop's but there are also humorous tales such as The drowned woman and her
husband (41) and The miller, his son and the donkey (100). In the same year that Faerno was
published in Italy, Hieronymus Osius brought out a collection of 294 fables titled Fabulae
Aesopi carmine elegiaco redditae in Germany.[18] This too contained some from elsewhere,
such as The Dog in the Manger (67). Then in 1604 the Austrian Pantaleon Weiss, known as
Pantaleon Candidus, published Centum et Quinquaginta Fabulae.[19] The 152 poems there
were grouped by subject, with sometimes more than one devoted to the same fable, although
presenting alternative versions of it, as in the case of The Hawk and the Nightingale (133–5).
It also includes the earliest instance of The Lion, the Bear and the Fox (60) in a language
other than Greek.

Another voluminous collection of fables in Latin verse was Anthony Alsop's Fabularum
Aesopicarum Delectus (Oxford 1698).[20] The bulk of the 237 fables there are prefaced by the
text in Greek, while there are also a handful in Hebrew and in Arabic; the final fables, only
attested from Latin sources, are without other versions. For the most part the poems are
confined to a lean telling of the fable without drawing a moral.

Aesop in other languages[edit]

Europe[edit]

For many centuries the main transmission of Aesop's fables across Europe remained in Latin
or else orally in various vernaculars, where they mixed with folk tales derived from other
sources. This mixing is often apparent in early vernacular collections of fables in mediaeval
times.

• Ysopet, an adaptation of some of the fables into Old French octosyllabic couplets, was
written by Marie de France in the 12th century.[21] The morals with which she closes
each fable reflect the feudal situation of her time.
• In the 13th century the Jewish author Berechiah ha-Nakdan wrote Mishlei Shualim, a
collection of 103 'Fox Fables' in Hebrew rhymed prose. This included many animal
tales passing under the name of Aesop, as well as several more derived from Marie de
France and others. Berechiah's work adds a layer of Biblical quotations and allusions
to the tales, adapting them as a way to teach Jewish ethics. The first printed edition
appeared in Mantua in 1557.[22]
• Äsop, an adaptation into Middle Low German verse of 125 Romulus fables, was
written by Gerhard von Minden around 1370.[23]
• Chwedlau Odo ("Odo's Tales") is a 14th-century Welsh version of the animal fables
in Odo of Cheriton's Parabolae, not all of which are of Aesopic origin. Many show
sympathy for the poor and oppressed, with often sharp criticisms of high-ranking
church officials.[24]
• Eustache Deschamps included several of Aesop's fables among his moral ballades,
written in Mediaeval French towards the end of the 14th century,[25] in one of which
there is mention of what 'Aesop tells in his book' (Ysoppe dit en son livre et raconte).
In most, the telling of the fable precedes the drawing of a moral in terms of
contemporary behaviour, but two comment on this with only contextual reference to
fables not recounted in the text.
 • Isopes Fabules was written in Middle English rhyme royal stanzas by the monk John
Lydgate towards the start of the 15th century.[26] Seven tales are included and heavy
emphasis is laid on the moral lessons to be learned from them.
• The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian was written in Middle Scots iambic
pentameters by Robert Henryson about 1480.[27] In the accepted text it consists of
thirteen versions of fables, seven modelled on stories from "Aesop" expanded from
the Latin Romulus manuscripts.

The fable of the farmer and his sons from Caxton's edition, 1484

The main impetus behind the translation of large collections of fables attributed to Aesop and
translated into European languages came from an early printed publication in Germany.
There had been many small selections in various languages during the Middle Ages but the
first attempt at an exhaustive edition was made by Heinrich Steinhőwel in his Esopus,
published c. 1476. This contained both Latin versions and German translations and also
included a translation of Rinuccio da Castiglione (or d'Arezzo)'s version from the Greek of a
life of Aesop (1448).[28] Some 156 fables appear, collected from Romulus, Avianus and other
sources, accompanied by a commentarial preface and moralising conclusion, and 205
woodcuts.[29] Translations or versions based on Steinhöwel's book followed shortly in Italian
(1479), French (1480), Czech (1480) and English (the Caxton edition of 1484) and were
many times reprinted before the start of the 16th century. The Spanish version of 1489, La
vida del Ysopet con sus fabulas hystoriadas was equally successful and often reprinted in
both the Old and New World through three centuries.[30]

Some fables were later treated creatively in collections of their own by authors in such a way
that they became associated with their names rather than Aesop's. The most celebrated were
La Fontaine's Fables, published in French during the later 17th century. Inspired by the
brevity and simplicity of Aesop's,[31] those in the first six books were heavily dependent on
traditional Aesopic material; fables in the next six were more diffuse and diverse in origin.[32]
At the start of the 19th century, some of the fables were adapted into Russian, and often
reinterpreted, by the fabulist Ivan Krylov.[33] In most cases, but not all, these were dependent
on La Fontaine's versions.

Asia and America[edit]

Translations into Asian languages at a very early date derive originally from Greek sources.
These include the so-called Fables of Syntipas, a compilation of Aesopic fables in Syriac,
dating from the 9/11th centuries. Included there were several other tales of possibly West
Asian origin.[34] In Central Asia there was a 10th-century collection of the fables in Uighur.[35]

After the Middle Ages, fables largely deriving from Latin sources were passed on by
Europeans as part of their colonial or missionary enterprises. 47 fables were translated into
the Nahuatl language in the late 16th century under the title In zazanilli in Esopo. The work
of a native translator, it adapted the stories to fit the Mexican environment, incorporating
Aztec concepts and rituals and making them rhetorically more subtle than their Latin
source.[36]

Portuguese missionaries arriving in Japan at the end of the 16th century introduced Japan to
the fables when a Latin edition was translated into romanized Japanese. The title was Esopo
no Fabulas and dates to 1593. It was soon followed by a fuller translation into a three-volume
kanazōshi entitled Isopo Monogatari (伊曾保 物語).[37] This was the sole Western work to
survive in later publication after the expulsion of Westerners from Japan, since by that time
the figure of Aesop had been acculturated and presented as if he were Japanese.[38] Coloured
woodblock editions of individual fables were made by Kawanabe Kyosai in the 19th
century.[39]

The first translations of Aesop's Fables into the Chinese languages were made at the start of
the 17th century, the first substantial collection being of 38 conveyed orally by a Jesuit
missionary named Nicolas Trigault and written down by a Chinese academic named Zhang
Geng (Chinese: 張賡; pinyin: Zhāng Gēng) in 1625. This was followed two centuries later by
Yishi Yuyan 《意拾喻言》 (Esop's Fables: written in Chinese by the Learned Mun Mooy
Seen-Shang, and compiled in their present form with a free and a literal translation) in 1840
by Robert Thom[40] and apparently based on the version by Roger L'Estrange.[41] This work
was initially very popular until someone realised the fables were anti-authoritarian and the
book was banned for a while.[42] A little later, however, in the foreign concession in Shanghai,
A.B. Cabaniss brought out a transliterated translation in Shanghai dialect, Yisuopu yu yan (伊
娑菩喻言, 1856). There have also been 20th century translations by Zhou Zuoren and
others.[43]

The Nepalese Ishapan Daekatagu Bakhan, 1915

Translations into the languages of South Asia began at the very start of the 19th century. The
Oriental Fabulist (1803) contained roman script versions in Bengali, Hindi and Urdu.
Adaptations followed in Marathi (1806) and Bengali (1816), and then complete collections in
Hindi (1837), Kannada (1840), Urdu (1850), Tamil (1853) and Sindhi (1854).[44] Outside the
British Raj, Jagat Sundar Malla's translation into the Newar language of Nepal was published
in 1915.

In Burma, which had its own ethical folk tradition based on the Buddhist Jataka Tales, the
reason behind the joint Pali and Burmese language translation of Aesop's fables in 1880 is
suggested by its being published from Rangoon by the American Missionary Press.[45]

Versions in regional languages[edit]

The 18th to 19th centuries saw a vast amount of fables in verse being written in all European
languages. Regional languages and dialects in the Romance area made use of versions
adapted from La Fontaine or the equally popular Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian. One of the
earliest publications was the anonymous Fables Causides en Bers Gascouns (Selected fables
in the Gascon language, Bayonne, 1776), which contains 106.[46] J. Foucaud's Quelques fables
choisies de La Fontaine en patois limousin in the Occitan Limousin dialect followed in
1809.[47]

Versions in Breton were written by Pierre Désiré de Goësbriand (1784–1853) in 1836 and
Yves Louis Marie Combeau (1799–1870) between 1836 and 1838. Two translations into
Basque followed mid-century: 50 in J-B. Archu's Choix de Fables de La Fontaine, traduites
en vers basques (1848) and 150 in Fableac edo aleguiac Lafontenetaric berechiz hartuac
(Bayonne, 1852) by Abbé Martin Goyhetche (1791–1859).[48] The turn of Provençal came in
1859 with Li Boutoun de guèto, poésies patoises by Antoine Bigot (1825–1897), followed by
several other collections of fables in the Nîmes dialect between 1881 and 1891.[49] Alsatian
(German) versions of La Fontaine appeared in 1879 after the region was ceded following the
Franco-Prussian War. At the end of the following century, Brother Denis-Joseph Sibler
(1920–2002), published a collection of adaptations into this dialect that has gone through
several impressions since 1995.

There were many adaptations of La Fontaine into the dialects of the west of France (Poitevin-
Saintongeais). Foremost among these was Recueil de fables et contes en patois saintongeais
(1849)[50] by lawyer and linguist Jean-Henri Burgaud des Marets [fr] (1806–1873). Other
adaptors writing about the same time include Pierre-Jacques Luzeau (1808– ), Edouard
Lacuve (1828–1899) and Marc Marchadier (1830–1898). In the 20th century there have been
Marcel Rault (whose pen name is Diocrate), Eugène Charrier, Fr Arsène Garnier, Marcel
Douillard[51] and Pierre Brisard.[52] Further to the north, the journalist and historian Géry
Herbert (1926–1985) adapted some fables to the Cambrai dialect of Picard, known locally as
Ch'ti.[53] More recent translators of fables into this dialect have included Jo Tanghe (2005) and
Guillaume de Louvencourt (2009).

During the 19th century renaissance of literature in Walloon dialect, several authors adapted
versions of the fables to the racy speech (and subject matter) of Liège.[54] They included
Charles Duvivier [wa] (in 1842); Joseph Lamaye (1845); and the team of Jean-Joseph
Dehin [wa] (1847, 1851–52) and François Bailleux (1851–67), who between them covered
books I-VI.[55] Adaptations into other dialects were made by Charles Letellier (Mons, 1842)
and Charles Wérotte (Namur, 1844); much later, Léon Bernus published some hundred
imitations of La Fontaine in the dialect of Charleroi (1872);[56] he was followed during the
1880s by Joseph Dufrane [fr], writing in the Borinage dialect under the pen-name Bosquètia.
In the 20th century there has been a selection of fifty fables in the Condroz dialect by Joseph
Houziaux (1946),[57] to mention only the most prolific in an ongoing surge of adaptation. The
motive behind all this activity in both France and Belgium was to assert regional specificity
against growing centralism and the encroachment of the language of the capital on what had
until then been predominantly monoglot areas.

In the 20th century there have also been translations into regional dialects of English. These
include the examples in Addison Hibbard's Aesop in Negro Dialect (USA, 1926) and the
twenty six in Robert Stephen's Fables of Aesop in Scots Verse (Peterhead, Scotland, 1987).
The latter were in Aberdeenshire dialect (also known as Doric). Glasgow University has also
been responsible for R.W. Smith's modernised dialect translation of Robert Henryson's The
Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian (1999, see above).[58] The University of Illinois
likewise included dialect translations by Norman Shapiro in its Creole echoes: the
francophone poetry of nineteenth-century Louisiana (2004, see below).

Creole[edit]

Cover of the 1885 French edition of Les Bambous

Caribbean creole also saw a flowering of such adaptations from the middle of the 19th
century onwards – initially as part of the colonialist project but later as an assertion of love
for and pride in the dialect. A version of La Fontaine's fables in the dialect of Martinique was
made by François-Achille Marbot (1817–1866) in Les Bambous, Fables de la Fontaine
travesties en patois (Port Royal, 1846)[59] which had lasting success. As well as two later
editions in Martinique, there were two more published in France in 1870 and 1885 and others
in the 20th century.[60] Later dialect fables by Paul Baudot (1801–1870) from neighbouring
Guadeloupe owed nothing to La Fontaine, but in 1869 some translated examples did appear
in a grammar of Trinidadian French creole written by John Jacob Thomas. Then the start of
the new century saw the publication of Georges Sylvain's Cric? Crac! Fables de la Fontaine
racontées par un montagnard haïtien et transcrites en vers créoles (La Fontaine's fables told
by a Haiti highlander and written in creole verse, 1901).[61]

On the South American mainland, Alfred de Saint-Quentin published a selection of fables

freely adapted from La Fontaine into Guyanese creole in 1872. This was among a collection
of poems and stories (with facing translations) in a book that also included a short history of
the territory and an essay on creole grammar.[62] On the other side of the Caribbean, Jules
Choppin (1830–1914) was adapting La Fontaine to the Louisiana slave creole at the end of
the 19th century in versions that are still appreciated.[63] The New Orleans author Edgar Grima
(1847–1939) also adapted La Fontaine into both standard French and into dialect.[64]

Versions in the French creole of the islands in the Indian Ocean began somewhat earlier than
in the Caribbean. Louis Héry [fr] (1801–1856) emigrated from Brittany to Réunion in 1820.
Having become a schoolmaster, he adapted some of La Fontaine's fables into the local dialect
in Fables créoles dédiées aux dames de l'île Bourbon (Creole fables for island women). This
was published in 1829 and went through three editions.[65] In addition 49 fables of La Fontaine
were adapted to the Seychelles dialect around 1900 by Rodolphine Young (1860–1932) but
these remained unpublished until 1983.[66] Jean-Louis Robert's recent translation of Babrius
into Réunion creole (2007)[67] adds a further motive for such adaptation. Fables began as an
expression of the slave culture and their background is in the simplicity of agrarian life.
Creole transmits this experience with greater purity than the urbane language of the slave-
owner.

Slang[edit]

Fables belong essentially to the oral tradition; they survive by being remembered and then
retold in one's own words. When they are written down, particularly in the dominant
language of instruction, they lose something of their essence. A strategy for reclaiming them
is therefore to exploit the gap between the written and the spoken language. One of those who
did this in English was Sir Roger L'Estrange, who translated the fables into the racy urban
slang of his day and further underlined their purpose by including in his collection many of
the subversive Latin fables of Laurentius Abstemius.[68] In France the fable tradition had
already been renewed in the 17th century by La Fontaine's influential reinterpretations of
Aesop and others. In the centuries that followed there were further reinterpretations through
the medium of regional languages, which to those at the centre were regarded as little better
than slang. Eventually, however, the demotic tongue of the cities themselves began to be
appreciated as a literary medium.

One of the earliest examples of these urban slang translations was the series of individual
fables contained in a single folded sheet, appearing under the title of Les Fables de Gibbs in
1929. Others written during the period were eventually anthologised as Fables de La
Fontaine en argot (Étoile sur Rhône 1989). This followed the genre's growth in popularity
after World War II. Two short selections of fables by Bernard Gelval about 1945 were
succeeded by two selections of 15 fables each by 'Marcus' (Paris 1947, reprinted in 1958 and
2006), Api Condret's Recueil des fables en argot (Paris, 1951) and Géo Sandry (1897–1975)
and Jean Kolb's Fables en argot (Paris 1950/60). The majority of such printings were
privately produced leaflets and pamphlets, often sold by entertainers at their performances,
and are difficult to date.[69] Some of these poems then entered the repertoire of noted
performers such as Boby Forest and Yves Deniaud, of which recordings were made.[70] In the
south of France, Georges Goudon published numerous folded sheets of fables in the post-war
period. Described as monologues, they use Lyon slang and the Mediterranean Lingua Franca
known as Sabir.[71] Slang versions by others continue to be produced in various parts of
France, both in printed and recorded form.

Children[edit]
Walter Crane title page, 1887

The first printed version of Aesop's Fables in English was published on 26 March 1484, by
William Caxton.[72] Many others, in prose and verse, followed over the centuries. In the 20th
century Ben E. Perry edited the Aesopic fables of Babrius and Phaedrus for the Loeb
Classical Library and compiled a numbered index by type in 1952.[73] Olivia and Robert
Temple's Penguin edition is titled The Complete Fables by Aesop (1998) but in fact many
from Babrius, Phaedrus and other major ancient sources have been omitted. More recently, in
2002 a translation by Laura Gibbs titled Aesop's Fables was published by Oxford World's
Classics. This book includes 359 and has selections from all the major Greek and Latin
sources.

Until the 18th century the fables were largely put to adult use by teachers, preachers, speech-
makers and moralists. It was the philosopher John Locke who first seems to have advocated
targeting children as a special audience in Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693).
Aesop's fables, in his opinion are

apt to delight and entertain a child. . . yet afford useful reflection to a grown man. And if his
memory retain them all his life after, he will not repent to find them there, amongst his manly
thoughts and serious business. If his Aesop has pictures in it, it will entertain him much
better, and encourage him to read when it carries the increase of knowledge with it For such
visible objects children hear talked of in vain, and without any satisfaction, whilst they have
no ideas of them; those ideas being not to be had from sounds, but from the things
themselves, or their pictures.

— [74]

That young people are a special target for the fables was not a particularly new idea and a
number of ingenious schemes for catering to that audience had already been put into practice
in Europe. The Centum Fabulae of Gabriele Faerno was commissioned by Pope Pius IV in
the 16th century 'so that children might learn, at the same time and from the same book, both
moral and linguistic purity'. When King Louis XIV of France wanted to instruct his six-year-
old son, he incorporated the series of hydraulic statues representing 38 chosen fables in the
labyrinth of Versailles in the 1670s. In this he had been advised by Charles Perrault, who was
later to translate Faerno's widely published Latin poems into French verse and so bring them
to a wider audience.[75] Then in the 1730s appeared the eight volumes of Nouvelles Poésies
Spirituelles et Morales sur les plus beaux airs, the first six of which incorporated a section of
fables specifically aimed at children. In this the fables of La Fontaine were rewritten to fit
popular airs of the day and arranged for simple performance. The preface to this work
comments that 'we consider ourselves happy if, in giving them an attraction to useful lessons
which are suited to their age, we have given them an aversion to the profane songs which are
often put into their mouths and which only serve to corrupt their innocence.'[76] The work was
popular and reprinted into the following century.

In Great Britain various authors began to develop this new market in the 18th century, giving
a brief outline of the story and what was usually a longer commentary on its moral and
practical meaning. The first of such works is Reverend Samuel Croxall's Fables of Aesop and
Others, newly done into English with an Application to each Fable. First published in 1722,
with engravings for each fable by Elisha Kirkall, it was continually reprinted into the second
half of the 19th century.[77] Another popular collection was John Newbery's Fables in Verse
for the Improvement of the Young and the Old, facetiously attributed to Abraham Aesop
Esquire, which was to see ten editions after its first publication in 1757.[78] Robert Dodsley's
three-volume Select Fables of Esop and other Fabulists is distinguished for several reasons.
First that it was printed in Birmingham by John Baskerville in 1761; second that it appealed
to children by having the animals speak in character, the Lion in regal style, the Owl with
'pomp of phrase';[79] thirdly because it gathers into three sections fables from ancient sources,
those that are more recent (including some borrowed from Jean de la Fontaine), and new
stories of his own invention.

Thomas Bewick's editions from Newcastle upon Tyne are equally distinguished for the
quality of his woodcuts. The first of those under his name was the Select Fables in Three
Parts published in 1784.[80] This was followed in 1818 by The Fables of Aesop and Others.
The work is divided into three sections: the first has some of Dodsley's fables prefaced by a
short prose moral; the second has 'Fables with Reflections', in which each story is followed
by a prose and a verse moral and then a lengthy prose reflection; the third, 'Fables in Verse',
includes fables from other sources in poems by several unnamed authors; in these the moral
is incorporated into the body of the poem.[81]

In the early 19th century authors turned to writing verse specifically for children and included
fables in their output. One of the most popular was the writer of nonsense verse, Richard
Scrafton Sharpe (died 1852), whose Old Friends in a New Dress: familiar fables in verse first
appeared in 1807 and went through five steadily augmented editions until 1837.[82] Jefferys
Taylor's Aesop in Rhyme, with some originals, first published in 1820, was as popular and
also went through several editions. The versions are lively but Taylor takes considerable
liberties with the story line. Both authors were alive to the over serious nature of the 18th
century collections and tried to remedy this. Sharpe in particular discussed the dilemma they
presented and recommended a way round it, tilting at the same time at the format in Croxall's
fable collection:

It has been the accustomed method in printing fables to divide the moral from the subject;
and children, whose minds are alive to the entertainment of an amusing story, too often turn
from one fable to another, rather than peruse the less interesting lines that come under the
term "Application". It is with this conviction that the author of the present selection has
endeavoured to interweave the moral with the subject, that the story shall not be obtained
without the benefit arising from it; and that amusement and instruction may go hand in hand.

— [83]
Brownhills alphabet plate, Aesop's Fables series, The Fox and the Grapes c.1880

Sharpe was also the originator of the limerick, but his versions of Aesop are in popular song
measures and it was not until 1887 that the limerick form was ingeniously applied to the
fables. This was in a magnificently hand-produced Arts and Crafts Movement edition, The
Baby's Own Aesop: being the fables condensed in rhyme with portable morals pictorially
pointed by Walter Crane.[84]

Some later prose editions were particularly notable for their illustrations. Among these was
Aesop's fables: a new version, chiefly from original sources (1848) by Thomas James, 'with
more than one hundred illustrations designed by John Tenniel'.[85] Tenniel himself did not
think highly of his work there and took the opportunity to redraw some in the revised edition
of 1884, which also used pictures by Ernest Henry Griset and Harrison Weir.[86] Once the
technology was in place for coloured reproductions, illustrations became ever more attractive.
Notable early 20th century editions include V.S. Vernon Jones' new translation of the fables
accompanied by the pictures of Arthur Rackham (London, 1912)[87] and in the USA Aesop for
Children (Chicago, 1919), illustrated by Milo Winter.[88]

The illustrations from Croxall's editions were an early inspiration for other artefacts aimed at
children. In the 18th century they appear on tableware from the Chelsea, Wedgwood and
Fenton potteries, for example.[89] 19th century examples with a definitely educational aim
include the fable series used on the alphabet plates issued in great numbers from the
Brownhills Pottery in Staffordshire. Fables were used equally early in the design of tiles to
surround the nursery fireplace. The latter were even more popular in the 19th century when
there were specially designed series from Mintons,[90] Minton-Hollins and Maw & Co. In
France too, well-known illustrations of La Fontaine's fables were often used on china.[91]

Religious themes[edit]
In Classical times there was an overlap between fable and myth, especially where they had an
aetiological function.[92] Among those are two which deal with the difference between humans
and animals. According to the first, humans are distinguished by their rationality.[93] But in
those cases where they have a bestial mentality, the explanation is that at creation animals
were found to outnumber humans and some were therefore modified in shape but retained
their animal souls.[94]
Such early philosophical speculation was also extended to the ethical problems connected
with divine justice. For example, it was perceived as disproportionate for an evil man to be
punished by dying in a shipwreck when it involved many other innocent people. The god
Hermes explained this to an objector by the human analogy of a man bitten by an ant and in
consequence stamping on all those about his feet.[95] Again, it was asked why the
consequences of an evil deed did not follow immediately it was committed. Hermes was
involved here too, since he records men's acts on potsherds and takes them to Zeus piled in a
box. The god of justice, however, goes through them in reverse order and the penalty may
therefore be delayed.[96] However, where the fault is perceived as an act of defiance, as
happens in the fable of Horkos, retribution arrives swiftly.[97]

A Japanese woodblock print illustrates the moral of Hercules and the Wagoner

Some fables may express open scepticism, as in the story of the man marketing a statue of
Hermes who boasted of its effectiveness. Asked why he was disposing of such an asset, the
huckster explains that the god takes his time in granting favours while he himself needs
immediate cash. In another example, a farmer whose mattock has been stolen goes to a
temple to see if the culprit can be found by divination. On his arrival he hears an
announcement asking for information about a robbery at the temple and concludes that a god
who cannot look after his own must be useless.[98] But the contrary position, against reliance
on religious ritual, was taken in fables like Hercules and the Wagoner that illustrate the
proverb "god helps those who help themselves". The story was also to become a favourite
centuries later in Protestant England, where one commentator took the extreme position that
to neglect the necessity of self-help is "blasphemy" and that it is "a great sin for a man to fail
in his trade or occupation by running often to prayers".[99]

As the fables moved out of the Greek-speaking world and were adapted to different times and
religions, it is notable how radically some fables were reinterpreted. Thus one of the fables
collected under the title of the Lion's share and originally directed against tyranny became in
the hands of Rumi a parable of oneness with the God of Islam and obedience to divine
authority.[100] In the Jewish 'fox fables' of Berechiah ha-Nakdan, the humorous account of the
hares and the frogs was made the occasion to recommend trust in God,[101] while Christian
reinterpretation of animal symbolism in Mediaeval times turned The Wolf and the Crane into
a parable of the rescue of the sinner's soul from Hell.[102]

In Mediaeval times too, fables were collected for use in sermons, of which Odo of Cheriton's
Parobolae is just one example. At the start of the Reformation, Martin Luther followed his
example in the work now known as the Coburg Fables.[103] Another source of Christianized
fables was in the emblem books of the 16th–17th centuries. In Georgette de Montenay's
Emblemes ou devises chrestiennes (1571), for example, the fable of The Oak and the Reed
was depicted in the context of the lines from the Magnificat, "He hath put down the mighty
from their seats and exalted them of low degree" (Luke 1.52, AV).[104]

Once the fables were perceived as primarily for the instruction of children, a new generation
of Christian writers began putting their own construction on them, often at odds with their
original interpretation. An extreme example occurs in a compilation called Christian Fables
from the Victorian era, where The North Wind and the Sun is referred to Biblical passages in
which religion is compared to a cloak. Therefore, says the author, one should beware of
abandoning one's beliefs under the sun of prosperity.[105] Demonstrably, the essence of fables
is their adaptability. Beginning two and a half millennia ago with aetiological solutions to
philosophical problems, fresh religious applications were continuing into the present.

Dramatised fables[edit]
The success of La Fontaine's fables in France started a European fashion for creating plays
around them. The originator was Edmé Boursault, with his five-act verse drama Les Fables
d'Esope (1690), later retitled Esope à la ville (Aesop in town). Such was its popularity that a
rival theatre produced Eustache Le Noble's Arlaquin-Esope in the following year. Boursault
then wrote a sequel, Esope à la cour (Aesop at court), a heroic comedy that was held up by
the censors and not produced until after his death in 1701.[106] Other 18th-century imitations
included Jean-Antoine du Cerceau's Esope au collège (1715),[107] where being put in charge of
a school gives the fabulist ample opportunity to tell his stories, and Charles-Étienne
Pesselier's Esope au Parnasse (1739), a one-act piece in verse.[108]

Esope à la ville was written in alexandrine couplets and depicted a physically ugly Aesop
acting as adviser to Learchus, governor of Cyzicus under King Croesus, and using his fables
as satirical comments on those seeking his favour or to solve romantic problems. One of the
problems is personal to Aesop, since he is betrothed to the governor's daughter, who detests
him and has a young admirer with whom she is in love. There is very little action, the play
serving as a platform for the recitation of free verse fables at frequent intervals. These include
The Fox and the Weasel, The Fox and the Mask, The Belly and the Other Members, the
Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, the Fox and the Crow, the Crab and her Daughter, The
Frog and the Ox, the Cook and the Swan, The Wolf and the Lamb, The Mountain in Labour,
and The Man with two Mistresses. Two others – The Nightingale, The Lark and the Butterfly
– appear original to the author, while a third, The Doves and the Vulture, is in fact an adapted
version of The Frogs and the Sun.[109]
Dramatisation of a different sort: the former statues of "The Fox and the Crane" in the
labyrinth of Versailles

Esope à la cour is more of a moral satire, most scenes being set pieces for the application of
fables to moral problems, but to supply romantic interest Aesop's mistress Rhodope is
introduced.[110] Among the sixteen fables included, only four derive from La Fontaine – The
Heron and the Fish, the Lion and the Mouse, the Dove and the Ant, the Sick Lion – while a
fifth borrows a moral from another of his but alters the details, and a sixth has as apologue a
maxim of Antoine de La Rochefoucauld. After a modest few performances, the piece later
grew in popularity and remained in the repertory until 1817.[111] Boursault's play was also
influential in Italy and twice translated. It appeared from Bologna in 1719 under the title
L'Esopo in Corte, translated by Antonio Zaniboni, and as Le Favole di Esopa alla Corte from
Venice in 1747, translated by Gasparo Gozzi. The same translator was responsible for a
version of Esope à la ville (Esopo in città, Venice, 1748); then in 1798 there was an
anonymous Venetian three-act adaptation, Le Favole di Esopa, ossia Esopo in città.[112] In
England the play was adapted under the title Aesop by John Vanbrugh and first performed at
the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London in 1697, remaining popular for the next twenty
years.[113]

In the 20th century individual fables by Aesop began to be adapted to animated cartoons,
most notably in France and the United States. Cartoonist Paul Terry began his own series,
called Aesop's Film Fables, in 1921 but by the time this was taken over by Van Beuren
Studios in 1928 the story lines had little connection with any fable of Aesop's. In the early
1960s, animator Jay Ward created a television series of short cartoons called Aesop and Son
which were first aired as part of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Actual fables were spoofed
to result in a pun based on the original moral. Two fables are also featured in the 1971 TV
movie Aesop's Fables in the US. Here Aesop is a black story teller who relates two turtle
fables, The Tortoise and the Eagle and the Tortoise and the Hare to a couple of children who
wander into an enchanted grove. The fables themselves are shown as cartoons.[114]
Between 1989 and 1991, fifty Aesop-based fables were reinterpreted on French television as
Les Fables géométriques [fr] and later issued on DVD. These featured a cartoon in which the
characters appeared as an assembly of animated geometric shapes, accompanied by Pierre
Perret's slang versions of La Fontaine's original poem.[115] In 1983 there was an extended
manga version of the fables made in Japan, Isoppu monogatari,[116] and there has also been a
Chinese television series for children based on the stories.[117]

There have also been several dramatic productions for children based on elements of Aesop's
life and including the telling of some fables, although most were written as purely local
entertainments. Among these was Canadian writer Robertson Davies' A Masque of Aesop
(1952), which was set at his trial in Delphi and allows the defendant to tell the fables The
Belly and the Members, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse and The Cock and the
Jewel while challenging prevailing social attitudes.[118]

Musical treatments[edit]
While musical settings of La Fontaine's Fables began appearing in France within a few
decades of their publication, it was not until the 19th century that composers began to take
their inspiration directly from Aesop. One of the earliest was Charles Valentin Alkan's Le
festin d'Ésope ("Aesop's Feast", 1857), a set of piano variations in which each variation is
said to depict a different animal or scene from Aesop's fables.[119] In England there was the
anonymous A Selection of Aesop's Fables Versified and Set to Music with Symphonies and
Accompaniments for the Piano Forte, published in London in 1847. It was a large selection
containing 28 versified fables.[120] Mabel Wood Hill's Aesop's Fables Interpreted Through
Music (New York 1920) was less ambitious, setting only seven prosaic texts.[121]

There have also been song-settings, including Bob Chilcott's five Aesop's Fables (2008),[122]
and some works have been used to interest young people in music. Edward Hughes set his
Songs from Aesop's fables for children's voices and piano (1965)[123] while Arwel Hughes's
similarly titled work is for unison voices. More recently, the American composer Robert J.
Bradshaw (b.1970) dedicated his 3rd Symphony (2005) to the fables. A programme note
explained that "the purpose of this work is to excite young musicians and audiences to take
an interest in art music".[124]

Werner Egk's early settings in Germany were aimed at children too. His Der Löwe und die
Maus (The Lion and the Mouse 1931) was a singspiel drama for small orchestra and
children's choir; aimed at 12- to 14-year-olds, it was built on an improvisation by the
composer's own children.[125] He followed this with Der Fuchs und der Rabe (The Fox and the
Crow) in 1932. Hans Poser [de]'s Die Fabeln des Äsop (Op. 28, 1956) was set for
accompanied men's chorus and uses Martin Luther's translation of six.[126] Others who have set
German texts for choir include Herbert Callhoff [de] (1963) and Andre Asriel [de] (1972).

The commonest approach in building a musical bridge to children has involved using a
narrator with musical backing. Following the example of Sergei Prokoviev in "Peter and the
Wolf" (1936), Vincent Persichetti set six for narrator and orchestra in his Fables (Op. 23
1943).[127] Richard Maltz also composed his Aesop's Fables (1993) to introduce the
instruments of the orchestra to elementary students and to teach them about the elements of
music,[128] and Daniel Dorff's widely performed 3 Fun Fables (1996) has contrasting
instruments interpreting characters: in "The Fox and the Crow" it is trumpet and contrabass;
in "The Dog and its Reflection" it is trombone and violin, harp and percussion; in "The
Tortoise and the Hare" it is contrabassoon and clarinet.[129] Others simply adapt the narrator's
voice to a musical backing. They include Scott Watson's Aesop's Fables[130] and Anthony
Plog's set of five for narrator, horn and piano (1989).[131]

Finale of an American performance of "Aesop's Fables"

A different strategy is to adapt the telling to popular musical genres. Australian musician
David P Shortland chose ten fables for his recording Aesop Go HipHop (2012), where the
stories are given a hip hop narration and the moral is underlined in a lyrical chorus.[132] The
American William Russo's approach to popularising his Aesop's Fables (1971) was to make
of it a rock opera.[133] This incorporates nine, each only introduced by the narrator before the
music and characters take over. Instead of following the wording of one of the more standard
fable collections, as other composers do, the performer speaks in character. Thus in "The
Crow and the Fox" the bird introduces himself with, "Ahm not as pretty as mah friends and I
can’t sing so good, but, uh, I can steal food pretty goddam good!"[134] Other composers who
have created operas for children have been Martin Kalmanoff in Aesop the fabulous fabulist
(1969),[135] David Ahlstom in his one-act Aesop's Fables (1986),[136] and David Edgar Walther
with his set of four "short operatic dramas", some of which were performed in 2009 and
2010.[137] There have also been local ballet treatments of the fables for children in the US by
such companies as Berkshire Ballet[138] and Nashville Ballet.[139]

Another musical, Aesop's Fables by British playwright Peter Terson, first produced in
1983,[140] was lifted into another class by Mark Dornford-May's adaptation for the Isango
Portobello company at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2010.[141] The play
tells the story of the black slave Aesop, who learns that freedom is earned and kept through
being responsible. His teachers are the animal characters he meets on his journeys. The fables
they suggest include the Tortoise and the Hare, the Lion and the Goat, the Wolf and the
Crane, the Frogs Who Desired a King and three others, brought to life through a musical
score featuring mostly marimbas, vocals and percussion.[142] Another colourful treatment was
Brian Seward's Aesop's Fabulous Fables (2009) in Singapore, which mixes a typical musical
with Chinese dramatic techniques.[143]

Use of other languages elsewhere in the world have included a setting of four Latin texts in
the Czech composer Ilja Hurník's Ezop for mixed choir and orchestra (1964) and the setting
of two as a Greek opera by Giorgos Sioras (b. 1952) in 1998.[144] And in 2010 Lefteris Kordis
launched his 'Aesop Project', a setting of seven fables which mixed traditional East
Mediterranean and Western Classical musical textures, combined with elements of jazz. After
an English recitation by male narrator, a female singer's rendition of the Greek wording was
accompanied by an octet.[145]

List of some fables by Aesop[edit]

Titles A–F[edit]

• Aesop and the Ferryman

• The Ant and the Grasshopper
• The Ape and the Fox
• The Ass and his Masters
• The Ass and the Pig
• The Ass Carrying an Image
• The Ass in the Lion's Skin
• The Astrologer who Fell into a Well
• The Bald Man and the Fly
• The Bear and the Travelers
• The Beaver
• The Belly and the Other Members
• The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird
• The Bird in Borrowed Feathers
• The Boy Who Cried Wolf
• The Bulls and the Lion
• The Cat and the Mice
• The Crab and the Fox
• The Cock and the Jewel
• The Cock, the Dog and the Fox
• The Crow and the Pitcher
• The Crow and the Sheep
• The Crow and the Snake
• The Deer without a Heart
• The Dog and its Reflection
• The Dog and the Sheep
• The Dog and the Wolf
• The dogs and the lion's skin
• The Dove and the Ant
• The Eagle and the Beetle
• The Eagle and the Fox
• The Eagle Wounded by an Arrow
• The Farmer and his Sons
• The Farmer and the Sea
• The Farmer and the Stork
• The Farmer and the Viper
• The Fir and the Bramble
• The Fisherman and his Flute
• The Fisherman and the Little Fish
• The Fly and the Ant
• The Fly in the Soup
• The Fowler and the Snake
• The Fox and the Crow
• The Fox and the Grapes
• The Fox and the Lion
• The Fox and the Mask
• The Fox and the Sick Lion
• The Fox and the Stork
 • The Fox and the Weasel
• The Fox and the Woodman
• The Fox, the Flies and the Hedgehog
• The Frightened Hares
• The Frog and the Fox
• The Frog and the Mouse
• The Frog and the Ox
• The Frogs and the Sun
• The Frogs Who Desired a King

Titles G–O[edit]

• The Goat and the Vine

• The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs
• The Hare in flight
• Hercules and the Wagoner
• The Honest Woodcutter
• Horkos, the god of oaths
• The Horse and the Donkey
• The Horse that Lost its Liberty
• The Impertinent Insect
• The Jar of Blessings
• The Kite and the Doves
• The Lion and the Mouse
• The Lion Grown Old
• The Lion in Love
• The Lion's Share
• The Lion, the Bear and the Fox
• The lion, the boar and the vultures
• The Man and the Lion
• The Man with two Mistresses
• The Mischievous Dog
• The Miser and his Gold
• Momus criticizes the creations of the gods
• The Mountain in Labour
• The Mouse and the Oyster
• The North Wind and the Sun
• The Oak and the Reed
• The Old Man and Death
• The Old Man and his Sons
• The Old Man and the Ass
• The Old Woman and the Doctor
• The Old Woman and the Wine-jar
• The Oxen and the Creaking Cart

Titles R–Z[edit]

• The Rivers and the Sea

• The Rose and the Amaranth
• The Satyr and the Traveller
 • The Shipwrecked Man and the Sea
• The Sick Kite
• The Snake and the Crab
• The Snake and the Farmer
• The Snake in the Thorn Bush
• The Statue of Hermes
• The Swan and the Goose
• The Tortoise and the Birds
• The Tortoise and the Hare
• The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
• The Travellers and the Plane Tree
• The Trees and the Bramble
• The Trumpeter Taken Captive
• The Two Pots
• Venus and the Cat
• The Walnut Tree
• War and his Bride
• Washing the Ethiopian white
• The Wolf and the Crane
• The Wolf and the Lamb
• The Wolf and the Shepherds
• The Woodcutter and the Trees
• The Young Man and the Swallow
• Zeus and the Tortoise

Fables wrongly attributed to Aesop[edit]

• An ass eating thistles

• The Bear and the Bees
• The Bear and the Gardener
• Belling the cat (also known as The Mice in Council)
• The Blind Man and the Lame
• The Boy and the Filberts
• Chanticleer and the Fox
• The Dog in the Manger
• The drowned woman and her husband
• The Eel and the Snake
• The Elm and the Vine
• The Fox and the Cat
• The Gourd and the Palm-tree
• The Hawk and the Nightingale
• The Hare and many friends
• The Hedgehog and the Snake
• The Heron and the Fish
• Jumping from the frying pan into the fire
• The milkmaid and her pail
• The miller, his son and the donkey
• The Monkey and the Cat
• The Priest and the Wolf
• The Scorpion and the Frog
 • The Shepherd and the Lion
• Still waters run deep
• The Vultures and the Pigeons
• The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

References[edit]
1. ^ The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus. trans. George Rawlinson, Book I, p. 132
Archived 19 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
2. ^ Aesop's Fables, ed. D.L. Ashliman, New York 2005, pp. xiii–xv, xxv–xxvi
3. ^ Christos A. Zafiropoulos (2001). Ethics in Aesop's Fables, Leiden, pp. 10–12
4. ^ Zafiropoulos, Ethics in Aesop's Fables, p. 4
5. ^ G. J. Van Dijk (1997). Ainoi, Logoi, Mythoi, Leiden, p. 57
6. ^ Francisco Rodríguez Adrados (1999). History of the Graeco-Latin Fable vol. 1, Leiden. p.
7
7. ^ John F. Priest, "The Dog in the Manger: In Quest of a Fable", in The Classical Journal,
Vol. 81, No. 1, (October–November 1985), pp. 49–58.
8. ^ Perry, Ben E. (1965). "Introduction", Babrius and Phaedrus, p. xix.
9. ^ van Dijk, Gert-Jan (1997). Ainoi, Logoi, Mythoi: Fables in Archaic, Classical, and
Hellenistic Greek Literature, Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
10. ^ Adrados, Francisco Rodríguez; van Dijk, Gert-Jan. (1999). History of the Graeco-Latin
Fable, 3 Volumes, Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
11. ^ Ashliman, D.L. "Introduction", Aesop's Fables, 2003, p. xxii.
12. ^ "Æsop's Fables Among the Jews". JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
13. ^ Progymnasmata: Greek Textbooks of Prose Composition and Rhetoric, Brill 2003
14. ^ "Phaedrus",Encyclopedia Britannica 1911
15. ^ "Accessible online". Aesopus.pbworks.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
16. ^ "Accessible online". Mythfolklore.net. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
17. ^ Archived online. Boston : Printed by Samuel Hall, in State-Street. 1787. Retrieved 22
March 2012.
18. ^ "Accessible online". Aesopus.pbworks.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
19. ^ "Pantaleon". Aesopus.pbworks.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
20. ^ Aesopus (1698). "Fabularum Aesopicarum Delectus". google.co.uk.
21. ^ The Fables of Marie de France translated by Mary Lou Martin, Birmingham AL, 1979;
limited preview to p. 51 at Google Books
22. ^ An English translation by Moses Hadas, titled Fables of a Jewish Aesop, first appeared in
1967. (Ha-Nakdan), Berechiah ben Natronai (2001). A limited preview is available at Google
Books. ISBN 978-1567921311. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
23. ^ There is a discussion of this work in French in Épopée animale, fable, fabliau, Paris, 1984,
pp. 423–432; limited preview at Google Books
24. ^ There is a translation by John C. Jacobs: The Fables of Odo of Cheriton, New York, 1985; a
limited preview on Google Books
25. ^ Poésies morales et historiques d'Eustache Deschamps, Paris 1832, Fables en ballades pp.
187–202
26. ^ "The text is available here". Xtf.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
27. ^ "A modernised version is available here". Arts.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
28. ^ A reproduction of a much later edition is available at Archive.org
29. ^ Several versions of the woodcuts can be viewed at PBworks.com
30. ^ Keller, John Esten (1993). A translation is available at Google Books. ISBN 978-
0813132457. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
31. ^ "Préface aux Fables de La Fontaine". Memodata.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
32. ^ An English translation of all the fables can be accessed online
33. ^ Kriloff's Fables, translated into the original metres by C. Fillingham Coxwell, London
1920; the book is archived online
34. ^ Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, History of the Graeco-Latin Fable 1, Leiden NL 1999, pp.
132–135
35. ^ Susan Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road, University of California 1999, p. 218
36. ^ Gordon Brotherston, Book of the Fourth World: Reading the Native Americas Through
Their Literature, Cambridge University Press 1992, pp. 315–319
37. ^ Yuichi Midzunoe, "Aesop's arrival in Japan in the 1590s", Online version Archived 14 May
2011 at the Wayback Machine
38. ^ Lawrence Marceau, From Aesop to Esopo to Isopo: Adapting the Fables in Late Medieval
Japan (2009); an abstract of this paper appears on p. 277 Archived 22 March 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
39. ^ A print of the fable of the two pots appears on artelino.com
40. ^ Kaske, Elisabeth (2007). The Politics of Language in Chinese Education, 1895–1919. Brill.
ISBN 978-9004163676. p. 68
41. ^ Chinese Repository, Vol. 7 (October 1838), p. 335. Thom was based in Canton and his
work was issued in three octavo tracts of seven, seventeen, and twenty-three pages
respectively
42. ^ Tao Ching Sin, "A critical study of Yishi Yuyan", M.Phil thesis, University of Hong Kong,
2007 Available online[permanent dead link]
43. ^ "A comparative study of translated children's literature by Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren",
Journal of Macao Polytechnic Institute, 2009 available online Archived 8 March 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
44. ^ Sisir Kumar Das, A History of Indian Literature 1800–1910: Western impact, Indian
response, Sahitya Akademi 1991
45. ^ "Cha rā Candrī Gritʻ Pāḷi mha Mranʻ mā bhāsā ʼa phraṅʻʹ ʼa nakʻ pranʻ thāʺ so Īcupʻ e*
daṇḍārī cā [microform] = The fables of Aesop / translated into the Burmese by W. Shway Too
Sandays. – Version details". 239.158.
46. ^ Versions of The Ant and the Grasshopper and The Fox and the Grapes are available at
Sadipac.com Archived 8 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
47. ^ The entire text with the French originals is available as an e-book at Archive.org
48. ^ The sources for this are discussed at lapurdum.revues.org
49. ^ His version of The Ant and the Grasshopper is available at Nimausensis.com
50. ^ The 1859 Paris edition of this with facing French translations is available on
books.google.co.uk
51. ^ His chapbook of ten fables, Feu de Brandes (Bonfire, Challans, 1950) is available on the
dialect site Free.fr
52. ^ A performance of Brisard's La grolle et le renard is available at SHC44.org Archived 7
March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
53. ^ A reading of two of these can be found on YouTube: The ant and grasshopper and The
crow and the fox
54. ^ Anthologie de la littérature wallonne (ed. Maurice Piron), Liège, 1979; limited preview at
Google Books Google Books
55. ^ There is a partial preview at Google Books
56. ^ The text of four can be found at Walon.org
57. ^ "Lulucom.com". Lulucom.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
58. ^ R.W. Smith. "The thirteen moral fables of Robert Henryson (a modernised edition)".
Retrieved 4 October 2014.
59. ^ The complete text is at BNF.fr
60. ^ Jean Pierre Jardel, Notes et remarques complémentaires sur "Les Fables Créoles" de F. A.
Marbot, Potomitan
61. ^ Examples of all these can be found in Marie-Christine Hazaël-Massieux: Textes anciens en
créole français de la Caraïbe, Paris, 2008, pp. 259–272. Partial preview at Google Books
62. ^ Available on pp. 50–82 at Archive.org
63. ^ Three of these appear in the anthology Creole echoes: the francophone poetry of
nineteenth-century Louisiana (University of Illinois, 2004) with dialect translations by
Norman Shapiro. All of Choppin's poetry was collected in Fables et Rêveries Archived 28
May 2010 at the Wayback Machine (Centenary College of Louisiana, 2004).
64. ^ Creole echoes, pp 88–9; Écrits Louisianais du 19e siècle, Louisiana State University 1979,
pp. 213–215
65. ^ Georges Gauvin. "Temoignages.re". Temoignages.re. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
66. ^ Fables de La Fontaine traduites en créole seychellois, Hamburg, 1983; limited preview at
Google Books; there is also a selection at Potomitan.info
67. ^ "Potomitan.info". Potomitan.info. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
68. ^ "His Aesop. Fables (1692)". Mythfolklore.net. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
69. ^ A bibliography is available on the Langue Française site
70. ^ "Three fables are available on YouTube". YouTube.com. 13 November 2010. Retrieved 22
March 2012.
71. ^ "A bibliography of his work". Pleade.bm-lyon.fr. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
72. ^ Painter, George Duncan (1977). William Caxton: a biography. Putnam. p. 180. ISBN 978-
0399118883.
73. ^ See the list at mythfolklore.net
74. ^ "Paragraph 156". Bartleby.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
75. ^ The 1753 London reprint of this and Faerno's original Latin is available online
76. ^ John Metz, The Fables of La Fontaine, a critical edition of the 18th century settings, New
York 1986, pp. 3–10; available on Google Books
77. ^ Aesop (1835). The 1835 edition is available on Google Books. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
78. ^ There is a description of the 5th edition, now in the Douce Collection at Oxford University's
Bodleian Library, online
79. ^ See the introductory "An Essay on Fable"p.lxx
80. ^ Bewick, Thomas; Brockett, John Trotter (1820). The 1820 edition of this is available on
Google Books. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
81. ^ Beckwith's Select Fables. London: Bickers. 1871. Retrieved 22 March 2012 – via Google
Books.
82. ^ The 1820 3rd edition. London : Harvey and Darton, and William Darton. 1820. Retrieved
22 March 2012.
83. ^ See the preface on p. 4
84. ^ "Children's Library reproduction". Childrenslibrary.org. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
85. ^ James, Thomas (1852). Aesop's fables: A new version, chiefly from original sources.
Retrieved 22 March 2012.
86. ^ "Mythfolklore.net". Mythfolklore.net. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
87. ^ Gutenberg, click on coloured illustrations to see full size
88. ^ "Mainlesson.com". Mainlesson.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
89. ^ "The Victoria & Albert Museum has many examples". Collections.vam.ac.uk. 25 August
2009. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
90. ^ "Creighton.edu". Creighton.edu. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
91. ^ See several examples at creighton.edu
92. ^ H.J.Blackham, The Fable as Literature, Bloomsbury Academic 1985, p.186
93. ^ "Zeus and Prometheus". mythfolklore.net.
94. ^ "Zeus and Man". mythfolklore.net.
95. ^ "Hermes, the Man and the Ants". mythfolklore.net.
96. ^ "Zeus and the Potsherds". mythfolklore.net.
97. ^ "The Oath's Punishment". mythfolklore.net.
98. ^ "The Farmer and his Mattock". mythfolklore.net.
99. ^ Samuel Croxall, Fables of Aesop, Fable 56
100. ^ Laura Gibbs, "Rumi's fable of the Lion's Share", Journey to the Sea, October 1,
2008
101. ^ Fables of a Jewish Aesop, Columbia University 1967,Fable 38
102. ^ Evans, E. P. Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture, London, 1896, p.
107
103. ^ Jason D. Lane, review of Luther's Aesop, Logia, December 30, 2013
104. ^ "French Emblems: Emblem: Deposuit Potent et Exaltavit". gla.ac.uk.
105. ^ Rev. Samuel Lysons, Christian Fables, or the fables of Aesop, and other writers,
Christianized and adapted with Christian morals for the use of young people, London 1850,
p.6
106. ^ Honoré Champion, Répertoire Chronologique des Spectacles à Paris, 1680–1715,
(2002); georgetown.edu
107. ^ Archived online
108. ^ Théâtre Classique
109. ^ The text is available on books.google.co.uk
110. ^ The text is available on books.google.co.uk
111. ^ Lancaster, H.C. "Boursault, Baron, Brueys, and Campistron" (PDF). A history of
French Dramatic Literature in the 17th Century. pp. 185–188. Archived from the original
(PDF) on 21 July 2011.
112. ^ Giovanni Saverio Santangelo, Claudio Vinti, Le traduzioni italiane del teatro
comico francese dei secoli XVII e XVIII, Rome 1981, p.97, available on books.google.co.uk
113. ^ The play is archived online. London: J. Rivington ... [& 8 others]. 1776. Retrieved
22 March 2012.
114. ^ The 24-minute feature is divided into three parts on YouTube
115. ^ Le corbeau et le renard is available on YouTube
116. ^ "imdb.com". IMDb. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
117. ^ /00:00 (22 January 2010). "Aesop's Theater". V.youku.com. Retrieved 22 March
2012.
118. ^ Susan Stone-Blackburn, Robertson Davies, playwright, University of British
Columbia 1985, pp. 92–96
119. ^ There is a performance on YouTube
120. ^ Joachim Draheim, Vertonungen antiker Texte vom Barock bis zur Gegenwart,
Amsterdam 1981, Bibliography, p. 111
121. ^ The score can be downloaded here
122. ^ A choir performance on YouTube
123. ^ World Cat fable list
124. ^ Jason Scott Ladd, An Annotated Bibliography of Contemporary Works, Florida
State Uni 2009 p.113 Archived 12 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
125. ^ Joachim Draheim, p.10
126. ^ The piano score is available online
127. ^ Archivegrid fable list
128. ^ Composer’s site Archived 16 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine with
recordings and fable list
129. ^ Excerpts on the composer’s website
130. ^ There is a performance at Alfred Music
131. ^ Included are The Tortoise and the Hare; The Lion and the Mouse; The Wind and
the Sun; The Dove and the Ant; and The Mule, in a YouTube recital
132. ^ Jon Coghill, "Blindness fails to stop producer's creative passion", ABC Sunshine
Coast, 12 March, 2015
133. ^ Margaret Ross Griffel, Operas in English: A Dictionary, Scarecrow Press 2013, p.5
134. ^ Frank Chaney (16 August 2012). "Aesop's Fables – Part 9 – The Crow and the
Fox" – via YouTube.
135. ^ Operas in English, p.5
136. ^ Operas in English, p.5
137. ^ "Operatic Drama". David Edgar Walther, Composer. Archived from the original
on 6 October 2014.
138. ^ Bershire Ballet site Archived 13 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
 139. ^ "The Nashville Scene". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4
October 2014.
140. ^ "Playwrights and Their Stage Works: Peter Terson". 4-wall.com. 24 February
1932. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
141. ^ whatsonsa.co.za[dead link]
142. ^ There is a brief excerpt on YouTube
143. ^ "Brian Seward – Playwright". doollee.com.
144. ^ "Sioras, Aesop's fables". nationalopera.gr. Greek National Opera.
145. ^ There is a YouTube version of four fables; the whole work is now available on CD
under the title "Oh Raven, If You Only Had Brains!...songs for Aesop's Fables"

Further reading[edit]
• Anthony, Mayvis, 2006. The Legendary Life and Fables of Aesop
• Caxton, William, 1484. The history and fables of Aesop, Westminster. Modern reprint
edited by Robert T. Lenaghan (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1967)
• Clayton, Edward. "Aesop, Aristotle, and Animals: The Role of Fables in Human
Life". Humanitas, Volume XXI, Nos. 1 and 2, 2008, pp. 179–200. Bowie, Maryland:
National Humanities Institute.
• Gibbs, Laura (translator), 2002, reissued 2008. Aesop's Fables. Oxford University
Press
• Gibbs, Laura, "Aesop Illustrations: Telling the Story in Images"
• Rev. Thomas James M.A., Aesop's Fables: A New Version, Chiefly from Original
Sources, 1848. John Murray. (includes many pictures by John Tenniel)
• McKendry, John, ed. (1964). Aesop, Five Centuries of Illustrated Fables. New York:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. – online version
• Perry, Ben Edwin (editor), 1952, 2nd edition 2007. Aesopica: A Series of Texts
Relating to Aesop or Ascribed to Him. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
• Perry, Ben E. (editor), 1965. Babrius and Phaedrus, (Loeb Classical Library)
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965. English translations of 143 Greek verse
fables by Babrius, 126 Latin verse fables by Phaedrus, 328 Greek fables not extant in
Babrius, and 128 Latin fables not extant in Phaedrus (including some medieval
materials) for a total of 725 fables
• Temple, Olivia; Temple, Robert (translators), 1998. Aesop, The Complete Fables,
New York: Penguin Classics. (ISBN 0140446494)

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aesop's Fables.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Aesop's Fables

Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Μῦθοι

• Aesop's Fables public domain audiobook at LibriVox

• Æsop's Fables at Faded Page (Canada)
• Aesopica: over 600 English fables, plus Caxton's Aesop, Latin and Greek texts,
Content Index, and Site Search.
• Children's Library, a site with many reproductions of illustrated English editions of
Aesop
• Carlson Fable Collection at Creighton University Includes online catalogue of fable-
related objects
• Vita et Aesopus moralisatus [Aesop's Fables, Italian and Latin.] Naples: [Germani
fidelissimi for] Francesco del Tuppo, 13 February 1485. From the Rare Book and
Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
• Esopus [Moralisatus]. Venice, Manfredus de Bonellis, de Monteferrato, 17 August
1493. From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of
Congress
• Fabulae. Naples, Cristannus Preller, c. 1495. From the Rare Book and Special
Collections Division at the Library of Congress
• Esopo con la uita sua historiale euulgare. Milan, Guillermi Le Signerre fratres, 15
September 1498. From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library
of Congress
• Fabule et vita Esopi, cum fabulis Auiani, Alfonsij, Pogij Florentini, et aliorum, cum
optimo commento, bene diligenterque correcte et emendate. Antwerp, Gerardus Leeu,
26 September 1486. From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the
Library of Congress
• Esopus constructus moralicatus Uenetijs, Impressum per B. Benalium, 1517. From the
Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
• Esopus cõnstructus moralizat. Taurini, B. Sylva, 1534 From the Rare Book and
Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
• Aesopi Fabvlae cvm vvlgari interpretatione: Brixiae, Apud Loduicum Britannicum,
1537. From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of
Congress
• Aesop's fables. Latin. Esopi Appologi siue Mythologi cum quibusdam carminum et
fabularum additionibus 1501. From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at
the Library of Congress
• Aesop's fables. Spanish Libro del sabio [et] clarissimo fabulador Ysopu hystoriado et
annotado. Sevilla, J. Cronberger, 1521 From the Rare Book and Special Collections
Division at the Library of Congress
• Aesop's fables. German. Vita et Fabulae. Augsburg, Anton Sorg, {{circa|1479. From
the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress

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