Aesop's Fables are short tales, mostly about animals, attributed to the Greek storyteller Aesop, who lived in the sixth century BC. Each ends with a lesson, and many, such as The Hare and the Tortoise or The Fox and the Grapes, have become proverbial.
Ancient tales
The fables were passed on orally in ancient Greece and used by orators to make a point. The first written collection known, by Demetrius of Phalerum around 300 BC, is lost.
Babrius put them into Greek verse and Phaedrus into Latin verse in the first centuries AD; medieval and Renaissance collections added fables from many other sources under Aesop's name.
A fable is a short story in which animals, plants or objects speak and act like people, followed by a moral that sums up its lesson: slow and steady wins the race, or it is easy to despise what you cannot get.
Its brevity made it ideal for teaching, and for centuries Aesop was used in schools to learn Greek, Latin and reading.
In English
William Caxton printed an English Aesop in 1484. Among many later translations, George Fyler Townsend's version of 1867, with over three hundred fables, became one of the most widely reproduced.
The fables inspired La Fontaine in France, Krylov in Russia and countless picture books and cartoons.
Anecdotes
A slave's wisdom
Ancient writers liked to present Aesop as a clever slave who used fables to speak the truth to powerful people without offending them openly.
The moral added later
Many of the morals attached to the fables, often printed in italics after the story, were added by later editors rather than told by the original storytellers.
Frequently asked questions
What is the moral of The Hare and the Tortoise?
That steady effort wins over speed and overconfidence: the tortoise wins the race while the boastful hare sleeps.
Who translated Aesop into English?
William Caxton in 1484, Roger L'Estrange in 1692, George Fyler Townsend in 1867, and many others.
Did Aesop write his fables down?
Probably not. They were passed on orally and written down in collections long after his time.