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Who was Aesop? -

While it is still uncertain whether an individual named Aesop ever actually existed, there are fragments of biographical information scattered throughout a number of historical works from ancient Greece, including some written by the likes of Aristotle and Plutarch. But while some of the alleged events of Aesop’s life seem plausible, others seem as tall as the tales he spun himself.

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Who was Aesop? -

Assuming Aesop really did exist, it is generally accepted he was a slave on the Greek island of Samos around 620 BCE. From here, the story becomes a bit more fanciful, with some accounts claiming that, despite his profound ugliness, his cunning and cleverness helped him become a free man, and then a respected friend and advisor of numerous Greek kings and leaders. He might have met his end after being thrown off a cliff in Delphi in 564 BCE.

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Aesop in the modern age -

More than a millennium after the alleged death of Aesop, in the 1600s, his stories were still well known throughout the world, if not a little tired. The 17th century saw a renewed interest in fables and fabulism, and one French writer in particular, Jean de La Fontaine, breathed new life into many of the beloved fables of old.

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La Fontaine’s influence on Aesop’s legacy -

While it’s unlikely La Fontaine ever wrote an original story, he revitalized many ancient fables, including many of Aesop’s, by rewriting them in more contemporary rhythm structures, introducing rhymes and presenting these old stories in a new and exciting light, causing the fable of Aesop to be consumed with enthusiasm once more. Now, read on for an overview of some of the most famous fables credited to Aesop.

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'The Tortoise and the Hare' -

One of the most popular and enduring of Aesop’s fables is the timeless tale of 'The Tortoise and the Hare,' in which a tortoise challenges an arrogant hare to a footrace. Numerous lessons are taught in this story, including the adage that slow and steady wins the race.

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'The Tortoise and the Hare' -

Once the race begins, the hare, who had been obnoxiously boastful about his speed, flies ahead of the tortoise as fast as he can. At a certain point, the hare becomes so confident in his impending victory that he takes a nap to give the tortoise a fighting chance. Once the hare awakens, he realizes, much to his despair, that the tortoise is about to cross the finish line. Try as he might to catch up, in the end, the swift hare loses to the slow tortoise.

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'The Fox, the Flies, and the Hedgehog' -

Aesop’s story of a wounded fox, a swarm of flies, and a charitable, if not naive, hedgehog is thought to be a piece of allegorical political satire, critiquing the Greek people’s eagerness to replace one evil politician with another who could only be as, if not more, evil as the first.

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'The Fox, the Flies, and the Hedgehog' -

In the fable, the fox is wounded and dying on the bank of a river, with a horde of flies engorging itself on her festering wounds. A hedgehog comes along and tries to take pity on the fox, offering to remove the flies that seem to be causing the fox so much anguish. The fox proceeds to point out the futility of such an act, claiming that once the present swarm was done away with, another swarm would soon follow to inflict further suffering.

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'The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf' -

Perhaps the most famous of all of Aesop’s fables tells the story of a young shepherd boy who loses the trust of the townspeople, and pays the price for it. This tale gave birth to the popular idiom “crying wolf,” and illustrates that those with reputations as liars won’t be believed, even when they tell the truth.

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'The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf' -

A bored shepherd boy watching after his flock decides to play a prank on the other shepherds and townspeople, and begins yelling and crying that a wolf has come to pick off some of his sheep. The townspeople rush over in a hurry, just to find that there was no wolf after all. The boy is greatly amused by this, and plays the same prank again and again, causing great annoyance amongst the townspeople. One day, much to the boy’s despair, a wolf really does come to prey on his flock. He calls for help, but, sick of his games and tricks, none of the townspeople come to his aid, and the shepherd boy loses his flock.

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'The Frogs Who Desired a King' -

Another one of Aesop’s political commentaries is commonly titled ‘The Frogs Who Desired a King.’ This particular fable has seen numerous resurgences in its popularity as the political climate of the times called for. In France, after a regime change in the late 18th century, many political cartoonists produced pieces alluding to the ancient tale.

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'The Frogs Who Desired a King' -

A group of leaderless frogs appeal to Zeus to send them a king, and Zeus proceeds to throw a log into the frogs’ pond, making a big, terrifying splash. Once the frogs realize it was just a log, they jump all about it and mock the useless log, and once again ask Zeus to send them a real leader. This time, Zeus sends a stork that proceeds to eat the frogs. The log is meant to represent a loud but practically ineffectual ruler, and the stork is the tyrant who will take over if the log is taken for granted.

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'The Ants and the Grasshopper' -

The tale of the fun-loving grasshopper and the workaholic ants, though told on a very small scale, held an important lesson in the time of Aesop about staying diligent with your work, and not wasting all your time being leisurely, lest you face the consequences.

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'The Ants and the Grasshopper' -

Winter is just around the corner in this fable, when a grasshopper, with nothing but an empty stomach and a fiddle under his arm, stumbles upon a group of ants who are hard at work storing grain. The grasshopper begs the ants to share their food with him, and when they ask why he had no food stored up himself, he admits that he was playing fiddle throughout the whole summer without setting time aside to collect food for the long winter. The ants take no pity on the grasshopper’s predicament, and leave him to live with the consequences of his laziness.

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'The Dog and Its Reflection' -

Another fable concerning greed is that of the foolish dog and his deceptive reflection. It teaches a number of lessons, including that we should be happy with what we have and that we should always think before we act.

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'The Dog and Its Reflection' -

The dog begins the story triumphant, having just been given a bone by the local butcher. As the dog walks home with his prize, he crosses a bridge over a river, and in the water sees his distorted reflection. The dog, not thinking, believes his reflection to be another dog with a bone much bigger than his own. Unhappy with the bone he had and wanting to bring home the bigger one, the dog lunges at his reflection, losing his own bone in the current, and is left with nothing but his regret for acting so thoughtlessly.

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'The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs' -

Another of Aesop’s most famous tales, retold in many different iterations over the centuries, is a cautionary tale about the dangers of greed. This story has been told many times in the West, and there are numerous stories in eastern folklore with similar imagery, although it’s unclear if these versions were influenced by Aesop or sprung up independently.

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'The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs' -

The fable tells the story of a lowly farmer whose goose begins to lay one golden egg a day. The farmer takes the golden eggs to the market, selling each for a small fortune, and begins to get rich. The farmer, however, becomes impatient, and devises a plan to build his fortune as quickly as possible by cutting his goose open and collecting all the eggs inside. Once he slays the goose, however, not a single golden egg is found inside, and the farmer quickly returns to a life of poverty.

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'The Crow and the Pitcher' -

This fable, meant to show how creativity can be the best tool in times of need, is also significant for being an ancient observation of the astounding problem-solving skills that crows possess, a characteristic that zoologists continue to study to this day.

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'The Crow and the Pitcher' -

During a particularly dry season, the titular crow hasn’t been able to find water to drink and feels he is on the verge of dying of thirst. By chance, the crow finds a tall and narrow-necked pitcher with a shallow layer of water resting at the bottom. In order to get to the water, the crow drops pebbles into the pitcher one by one until the water reaches the top, and the crow is thirsty no more.

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'The Wolf and the Crane' -

One of the more suspenseful fables credited to Aesop is that which tells the story of the wicked wolf and the kind, albeit naive, crane. At the start of the story, the wolf is feasting on his dinner when a bone gets stuck in his throat. The wolf decides to ask the crane for help, feeling certain that her long neck and beak will be able to remove the bone.

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'The Wolf and the Crane' -

The crane is understandably hesitant to put her head in the mouth of a wolf, but the wolf offers a handsome reward in return. The crane removes the bone, and the wolf begins to walk away without a word. When the crane asks for her reward, the wolf tells her it should be reward enough that he didn’t bite her head off when he had the chance.

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'The Honest Woodcutter' -

The story of Hermes and the honest woodcutter is one of Aesop’s most enduring tales. This fable teaches that honesty is always the best policy, even if it seems that one might gain for dishonesty in the short term. A lowly woodsman, while cutting trees on a riverbank, slips and loses his plain wooden axe in the river. As the woodsman weeps over the loss of his tool, the god Hermes rises from the river to ask what the matter is. Once the situation is explained, Hermes dives into the river to search for the lost axe. Twice the god resurfaces, first with a glorious golden axe, and then with a beautiful axe of silver.

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'The Honest Woodcutter' -

Each time, instead of lying and taking one of the superior axes, the woodsman stays honest and admits that they don’t belong to him. Finally, the plain wooden axe is found and returned, and Hermes respects the woodsman’s honesty. Once his colleagues hear the woodsman’s story, they head to the river to try and deceive Hermes by hiding their axes and begging for help in their search. Hermes offers each a golden axe, and when each claims the axe is theirs, he hits them on the head and confiscates their original axe, leaving the dishonest woodsmen with nothing and the honest woodsman with his trusty axe.

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'The Wolf and the Lamb' -

In this fable, Aesop warns against reasoning with tyranny, and illustrates that the wicked will be wicked even without reason. An innocent baby lamb is found by a wolf drinking from a stream, and the wolf decides he has found his breakfast. However, something about this particular lamb made the wolf decide that he must at the very least find a valid reason for killing and eating it.

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'The Wolf and the Lamb' -

The wolf accuses the lamb of everything from dirtying up the drinking water to insulting him in the past, and even accuses the lamb’s family of insulting him. The innocent lamb explains categorically why each accusation is untrue, leaving the wolf with no just reason to take the lamb’s life. Regardless, the wolf has his heart set on breakfast, and eats the lamb even after failing to find a good reason to do so.

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'The Horse that Lost its Liberty' -

The conflict between a horse and a stag is told in this fable that warns against short-term solutions that cause long-term issues, and also illustrates the importance of freedom and independence.

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'The Horse that Lost its Liberty' -

A horse and a stag have been fighting over a possession of a  particularly desirable meadow, and with no end in sight, the horse decides to ask a human for help. The human bridles and saddles the horse, they ride into battle, and the two emerge victorious. However, after seeing how useful the horse could be under his control, the man never unbridles the horse, and the horse is condemned to a life of labor and servitude.

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'Belling the Cat' -

This story of a group of mice and their mortal enemy, the cat, illustrates the importance of thinking of plans and dreams in practical terms, and deciding if you’re willing to do what it takes to bring your plans to fruition.

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'Belling the Cat' -

While the mice are discussing how to anticipate the cat’s arrival, so that they might have time to run away to safety, a young mouse suggests they simply hang a bell around the cat’s neck. At first, the group think they’ve found their solution and begin to celebrate, until one of the elders interjects and asks them who intends to place the bell around the cat’s neck. The rest of the mice come to realize that no one is willing, and they’re back at square one.

Sources: (Library of Congress) (Interesting Literature) (Fables of Aesop)

See also: Greek mythology—the great Greek Gods and heroes

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