As legend has it, the storyteller Aesop was a slave who lived in ancient Greece during the sixth century B.C. His memorable, recountable fables have brought amusing characters to life and driven home thought-provoking morals for generations of listeners and modern-day readers. Translated into countless languages and familiar to people around the world, Aesop’s fables never tarnish despite being told again and again.
Full of humor, insight, and wit, the tales in Aesop’s Fables champion the value of hard work and perseverance, compassion for others, and honesty. They are age-old wisdom in a delicious form, for the consumption of adults and children alike.
Introduction by Earle Toppings
About the Author
The available material on Aesop is scant, and hardly strict history, but runs something like this: He lived in Phrygia, Asia Minor, in the sixth century before Christ. He became a slave of Iadmon at Samos, was granted his freedom but later got into a dispute and was hurled from a cliff to his death.
It is not likely that he left any written works, but the telling of his fables was popular in Athens; and in the fifth century he was the leading fabulist. His contemporaries were probably involved in the writing of these tales and changes were made by other writers and storytellers down through the ages. Many fables written after his lifetime were attributed to Aesop, so dominant was his name in this field of literature. Later modifications included the interpolation of various morals, some from the Christian tradition.
