The Fables of Aesop

by Aesop

Other authorsS. A. Handford (Translator)

Paperback, 1973

Status

Available

Call number

398.2452

Genres

Children's Books

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

Penguin (1973), Paperback, 230 pages

Description

Juvenile Fiction. Short Stories. Folklore. HTML: Aesop was an Ancient Greek story-teller and slave, famed and cherished for his short fables that often involve personified animals. In the renowned collection of works that is Aesop's Fables, he weaves moral education and entertainment together into tales that have been enjoyed by many, many generations. A lot of the stories in Aesop's Fables, such as The Fox and the Grapes (giving us the term "sour grapes"), The Tortoise and the Hare, The North Wind and the Sun and The Boy Who Cried Wolf, are well-known across the world. The 1st century philosopher Apollonius of Tyana said of Aesop that "like those who dine well off the plainest dishes, he made use of humble incidents to teach great truths.".… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member sheherazahde

My favorite version. The morals actually match the stories. This book was a Christmas gift to my dad and his bothers in 1935.

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LibraryThing member GoldenBeep

I read this book while taking a course on animal satire with a focus on the Aesopic tradition. The fables are very entertaining and make for good conversation with friends. The translator, Laura Gibbs, has posted many of the fables on her website. However, the book is organized by situations, and

there is nothing more satisfying than quoting one of Aesop's fables to remedy a particular situation.

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LibraryThing member capiam1234

Enjoyed the ones I was familiar with, many of them seemed repetitious. Overall a book everyone should and usually are familiar with.

LibraryThing member smcamp1234

Enjoyed the ones I was familiar with, many of them seemed repetitious. Overall a book everyone should and usually are familiar with.

LibraryThing member Pauline.Ramsey

This was the first time I ever read any of Aesop's Fables and I loved each little story. These nuggets of morality hidden within tiny stories truly makes one think about their actions towards themselves and toward others. It is an excellent book to read to your little ones in hopes of helping them

understand decency towards others.

I would recommend this book to others.

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LibraryThing member vegetarian

Nothing in it is true - though some argue that it has 'truths' (of a sort). I gave it one star...

LibraryThing member auntieknickers

Yet another I should reread, although so many of the fables are so familiar. Who could forget the fox and the grapes? The lessons in Aesop are still worthwhile today.

LibraryThing member aryadeschain

Not the best book of fables in the whole wide world, but it does have its charm and its certainly brings back memories. There are lots of tales that I have heard before when I was a kid, several of them actually quite popular. However, this book goes straight to the point. You know the tale of the

Turtle and the Hare, which has already been rewritten by several different authors, even having animated movies about it? Well, this book tells the story in half a page. Which isn't so bad, really. It's actually interesting to read those stories in a short format, with the emphasis on the story's lesson. A nice read for grown-ups, a good thing to give the children something to think about.

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LibraryThing member cbrwn92

Classic stories for people of any age. I have had a copy since I was little and it almost always is displayed on one of my shelves. It is full of small tales you have probably heard over and over, but delightfully do not grow old. There were wonderful illustrations as well.

LibraryThing member librisissimo

full title: "The Fables of Aesop: Aesop's Fables in a new translation for modern readers, with illustrations by Thomas Bewick". Back leaf: "The illustrations are reproduced from Thomas Bewick's "Select Fables" printed in various editions over one hundred years ago." LC record: "Aesop’s fables /

from translations of Thomas James and George Tyler [i.e. Fyler] Townsend ; with the illustrations of Thomas Bewick".

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LibraryThing member sfinke5

The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a great story for young children. It has a very important lesson which is not to lie. The boy "cried wolf" and said there was a wolf when there was not. Then, when there actually was no one believed him. This is important for young children to learn. I really loved this

story because of the lesson. I also enjoyed it because it was interesting and made the reader want to keep reading. The story was also great because it was a good length. It was not too long so it was not boring, but it also was not too short. The last thing I liked was that the story was well written. From the writing, I could envision the boy and what was happening in the story. This was a great book!

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LibraryThing member perlle

Just as relevant as ever.

LibraryThing member REGoodrich

Aesops's Fables are short and sweet and easy to read for most ages. A number of the stories are very clever, all with a point or moral to be learned in the end. There are quite a few in this book that I have never heard before, many not as creative as the common Aesop's Fables I grew up knowing;

however it was fun to read through them.

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LibraryThing member REGoodrich

however it was fun to read through them.

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LibraryThing member m_mozeleski

A cute collection of morality stories/fables collected into this volume. I have read it so many times--as an adult, as a kid, as a teen--and each time I take something different away from it. I love it.

In fact, I took a tattoo idea from the Tortise and the Hare fable, and added to it my desire to

travel, and voila! Two different ways to travel, but in my case, there isn't necessarily a correct one.

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LibraryThing member LisCarey

This is an enjoyable, quick (under three hours) reading of all of Aesop's fables. There are a few where I thought that this must not be the same translation I read as a kid, but that was a long time ago, and I don't read Greek, so who am I to argue? Regardless, it's well done and worth a listen.

LibraryThing member Fliss88

Hmmmm, can’t say it was riveting reading but I can now tick it off my Classics list. Some I recognized, some were good some not very good.

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