Fables of Aesop and Others

The origins of these fables are perhaps lost in obscurity, but they are so closely identified with the Greek writer Aesop, that we may regard them as such. Most of these tales involve interactions among animals, and to each is appended a moral. The book begins with an excellent introduction.

By : Aesop (c. 620 BCE - 564)

001 - Preface and Introduction



002 - The Two Crabs



003 - The Ape and her Young Ones



004 - The Boy and his Mother



005 - The Master and his Scholar



006 - Industry and Sloth



007 - The Young Man and the Swallow



008 - The Collier and the Fuller



009 - The Husbandman and his Sons



010 - The Proud Frog and the Ox



011 - The Stag looking into the Water



012 - The Leopard and the Fox



013 - The Peacock and the Crane



014 - The Two Pots



015 - The Mole and her Dam



016 - The Goat, the Kid, and the Wolf



017 - The Brother and Sister



018 - The Sheep Biter



019 - The Old Woman and her Maids



020 - Hercules and the Carter



021 - The Eagle, the Cat, and the Sow



022 - The Lark and her Young Ones



023 - The Young Men and the Cook



024 - The Mule



025 - The Cock and the Jewel



026 - Mercury and the Woodman



027 - The Fox and the Vizor Mask



028 - The Thief and the Dog



029 - The Man and his Goose



030 - The Wanton Calf



031 - The Boasting Traveller



032 - The Shepherd’s Boy and the Wolf



033 - The Crow and the Pitcher



034 - The Partridge and the Cocks



035 - The Fox and the Crow



036 - The Sensible Ass



037 - The Swallow and other Birds



038 - The Thieves and the Cock



039 - The Wolves and the Sick Ass



040 - The Dog in the Manger



041 - Jupiter and the Ass



042 - Æsop and the Impertinent Fellow



043 - The Forester and the Lion



044 - The Wolf, the Fox, and the Ape



045 - The Bald Knight



046 - The Lion and the Four Bulls



047 - The Old Man and his Sons



048 - The Lion, the Tiger, and the Wolf



049 - The Fox without a Tail



050 - The Miser and his Treasure



051 - The Ship Dog



052 - The Goat and the Lion



053 - The Two Travellers



054 - The Fox and the Ass



055 - The Cat and the Fox



056 - The Dog invited to Supper



057 - The Angler and the Little Fish



058 - A Man bitten by a Dog



059 - The Fox and the Tiger



060 - The Dog and the Shadow



061 - The Bear and the Bee-Hives



062 - The Drunken Husband



063 - The Lioness and the Fox



064 - The Lamb brought up by a Goat



065 - The Hen and the Swallow



066 - The Envious Man and the Covetous



067 - The Porcupine and the Snakes



068 - The Sow and the Wolf



069 - The Frogs and their King



070 - The Old Woman and the Empty Cask



071 - Jupiter and the Camel



072 - The Stag and the Fawn



073 - The Fir and the Bramble



074 - The Bees, the Drones, and the Wasp



075 - The Frog and the Fox



076 - The Cat and the Mice



077 - The Oak and the Reed



078 - Fortune and the Boy



079 - The Wolf and the Crane



080 - The Hart and the Vine



081 - The Hunted Beaver



082 - The Ass and the Lion Hunting



083 - The Sow and the Bitch



084 - The Satyr and the Traveller



085 - The Fox and the Grapes



086 - The Mischievous Dog



087 - The Bull and the Goat



088 - The Fisherman



089 - The Fox and the Boar



090 - Cæsar and the Slave



091 - The Frogs and the Fighting Bulls



092 - The Old Hound



093 - The Two Bitches



094 - The Hen and the Fox



095 - The Ass in the Lion’s Skin



096 - The Clown and the Gnat



097 - The Wolf and the Lamb



098 - The Mice in Council



099 - The Ape chosen King



100 - The Old Man and Death



101 - The Two Frogs



102 - The Fox and the Briar



103 - The Man and the Weasel



104 - The Boar and the Ass



105 - The Dog and the Sheep



106 - Jupiter and the Herdsman



107 - The Old Lion



108 - The Magpie and the Sheep



109 - The Fox and the Stork



110 - The Countryman and the Snake



111 - The Cock and the Fox



112 - The Hare and the Tortoise



113 - The Blackamoor



114 - The Lion in Love



115 - The Fox and the HedgeHog



116 - The Sparrow and the Hare



117 - The Man and his Two Wives



118 - Mercury and the Carver



119 - The Fox and the Goat



120 - Juno and the Peacock



121 - The Lion and other Beasts



122 - Jupiter and Pallas



123 - The Viper and the File



124 - The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing



125 - The Stag in the Ox-Stall



126 - The Fowler and the Ring-dove



127 - The Hares and the Frogs



128 - The Mountains in Labour



129 - The Vain Jack-daw



130 - The Lion and the Mouse



131 - The Tortoise and the Eagle



132 - The Polecat and the Cock



133 - The Fowler and the Blackbird



134 - The Nurse and the Wolf



135 - The Harper



136 - The Ant and the Fly



137 - The Mouse and the Weasel



138 - The Eagle and the Fox



139 - The Belly and the Members



140 - The Fatal Marriage



141 - The Young Man and the Lion



142 - The Kite and the Pigeons



143 - The Sick Kite



144 - The Fox and the Lion



145 - The Dog and the Wolf



146 - The Flying Fish and the Dolphin



147 - The Lion and the Frog



148 - The Kid and the Wolf



149 - The Country and the City Mouse



150 - The One-eyed Doe



151 - The Trees and the Woodman



152 - The Eagle and the Crow



153 - The Horse and the Stag



154 - The Miller, his Son, and their Ass



155 - The Ant and the Grasshopper



156 - The Horse and the Lion



157 - The Fox in the Well



158 - The Gardener and his Dog



159 - The Deer and the Lion



160 - The Ploughman and Fortune



161 - The Ape and the Fox



162 - The Thief and the Boy



163 - The Fox and the Sick Lion



164 - The Sun and the Wind



165 - The Horse and the Ass



166 - The Hawk and the Farmer



167 - The Fox and the Countryman



168 - Æsop at Play



169 - The Fox and the Wolf



170 - The Raven and the Serpent



171 - The Dove and the Bee



172 - The Serpent and the Man



173 - The Horse and the over-loaded Ass



174 - The Husbandman and the Stork



175 - The Travellers and the Bear



176 - The Fighting Cocks



177 - The Wild and the Tame Geese



178 - The Frogs and the Mice



179 - The Fowler and the Lark



180 - The Shepherd turned Merchant



181 - The Cock and the Fox



182 - The Young Man and his Cat



183 - The Fowler and the Partridge



184 - The Blind Man and the Lame



185 - The Lion, the Wolf, and the Dog



186 - The Ass eating Thistles



187 - The Dog and the Cat



188 - The Trumpeter taken Prisoner



189 - The Boys and the Frogs


From time to time, in all ages, men inspired, or gifted with a superior degree of intellectual power, have appeared upon the stage of life, in order (by enlightening others) to fulfil the designs of Omnipotence, in uniting the world in a state of civilized society.

Patriarchs, or heads of families, at first directed or governed those who were immediately dependent upon them: these in time increased, and became clans; these again, by their quarrels, and their wars, were induced to elect chieftains or kings over a number of united clans,—from which were formed the various nations and kingdoms of the earth. In this early stage of the world, when men were ignorant and uncivilized, the chase and war seem almost wholly to have occupied their time and attention. Their kings ruled over them with despotic sway, and the will of the prince was the only law: and thus the barbarism of the subject and the tyranny of the ruler went hand in hand together. That over-swollen pride, which seems the natural accompaniment of despotic power, blinds the understandings of its possessors, and renders them wholly regardless of the important trust reposed in them. The evils arising out of their bad government, are felt, more or less, by the whole people over whom they preside; and pride and arrogance prevent the approach of sincerity and truth. The sycophant and the slave then only find admission, and all other men are kept at a distance. While kings and governors were of this character, the voice of truth could only reach their ears through allegory and fable, which took their rise in the infancy of learning, and seem to have been the only safe mode of conveying admonition to tyrants. This pleasing method of instilling instruction into the mind, has been found by experience to be the shortest and best way of accomplishing that end, among all ranks and conditions of men.

The first Fable upon record, is that of Jotham and the Trees, in the Bible; and the next, that of The Poor Man and his Lamb, as related by Nathan to King David, and which carried with it a blaze of truth that flashed conviction on the mind of the royal transgressor. Lessons of reproof, religion, and morality, were, we find, continually delivered in this mode, by the sages of old, to the exalted among mankind.

It is asserted by authors, that Apologues and Fables had their origin in the Eastern world, and that the most ancient of them were the productions of Veesh-nou Sarma, commonly called Pilpay, whose beautiful collections of Apologues were esteemed as sacred books in India and Persia, whence they were spread abroad among other nations, and were by them celebrated and holden in much estimation. They were translated from the Persian and Arabian into Greek, by Simeon Seth, a man of great learning, who was an officer of the imperial household at Constantinople about the year 1070. Seth’s Version was imitated in Latin by Piers Alfonse, a converted Jew, as early as the year 1107; and this is supposed to have been the first version of Pilpay’s Apologues that made its way, and became familiarized in Europe. The time in which Pilpay lived, seems not to be certainly known to the learned; but some of them suppose that the Fables of Æsop and others were grounded upon his models. The time in which Æsop lived is better ascertained, and of all the Fabulists who have amused and instructed mankind by their writings, his name stands pre-eminent. Authors fix his birth-place at Cotieum, in Phrygia Major. But the history of this remarkable person, who lived about 572 years before Christ, and about 100 years before Herodotus, the Greek historian, has been so involved in mystery, traditionary stories, and absurd conjectures, that any attempt to give a detail from such materials, would only serve to bewilder youth, and lead them into a labyrinth of error; and it would be impertinent to trouble the learned reader with that which must be sufficiently familiar to him.(A) The whole of the absurd fictions concerning this wise and amiable man, were invented by Maximus Planudes, a Greek monk.(B) Plutarch, and other authentic historians,(C) have, however, given a very different account of the illustrious Fabulist. It would appear, according to some of these relations, that Æsop, originally a shepherd’s boy, had risen from the condition of a slave, to great eminence, and that he lived in the service of Xanthus and Judman, or Idmon, in the island of Samos, and afterwards at Athens. Phædrus speaks of him as living the greater part of his life at the latter place, where, it appears, a handsome statue, executed by the hand of the famous statuary Lysippus, was erected to his memory, and placed before those of the seven sages of Greece.(D) He also notices his living at Samos, and interesting himself in a public capacity, in the administration of the affairs of that place; where Aristotle also introduces him as a public speaker, and records the fact of his reciting the fable of the Fox and the Hedgehog,(E) while pleading on behalf of a minister, upon the occasion of his being impeached for embezzling the public treasure. Æsop is also mentioned as speaking in a public capacity to the Athenians, at the time when Pisistratus seized upon their liberties.(F) Upon each of these occasions he is represented as having introduced a Fable into his discourse, in a witty and pleasing manner. He was holden in the highest veneration and esteem in his day, by all men eminent for their wisdom and virtue. It appears there was scarcely an author among the ancient Greeks who mixed any thing of morality in his writings, that did not either quote or mention Æsop. Plato describes Socrates as turning some of Æsop’s Fables into verse, during those awful hours which he spent in prison, immediately before his death. Aristophanes not only takes hints from Æsop, but mentions him much to his honour, as one whose works were, or ought to be, read before any other. Ennius and Horace have embellished their poetry from his stores; and ancient sages and authors all concur in bearing the most ample testimony to his distinguished merits. Plutarch, in his imaginary banquet of the seven wise men, among several other illustrious persons of ancient times, celebrated for their wit and knowledge, introduces Æsop, and describes him as being very courtly and polite in his behaviour. Upon the authority of Plutarch also, we fix the life of Æsop in the time of CrÅ“sus, king of Lydia, who invited him to the court of Sardis. By this prince, he was holden in such esteem, as to be sent as his envoy to Periander, king of Corinth, which was about three hundred and twenty years after the time in which Homer lived, and 550 before Christ. He was also deputed by CrÅ“sus to consult the oracle of Delphi. While on this embassy, he was ordered to distribute to each of the citizens, four minæ(G) of silver, but some disputes arising between them and Æsop, he reproached them for their indolence, in suffering their lands to lie uncultivated, and in depending on the gratuities of strangers for a precarious subsistence: the quarrel, which it would appear ran high between them, ended in Æsop’s sending back the money to Sardis. This so exasperated the Delphians, that they resolved upon his destruction; and that they might have some colour of justice for what they intended, they concealed among his effects, when he was taking his departure from Delphi, a gold cup, consecrated to Apollo; and afterwards pursuing him, easily found what they themselves had hidden. On the pretext that he had committed this sacrilegious theft, they carried him back to the city, and notwithstanding his imprecating upon them the vengeance of heaven, they immediately condemned him to be cast from the rock Hypania, as the punishment of the pretended crime. Ancient historians say, that for this wickedness, the Delphians were for a long time visited with pestilence and famine, until an expiation was made, and then the plague ceased.

(A) The curious enquirer is referred to the Essay on the Æsopean Fable, by Sir Brooke Boothby, bart. from which this sketch is extracted.

(B) Planudes lived at Constantinople in the 14th century. His Fables were printed at Milan, A.D. 1480.

(C) The first person who took great pains to detect and expose the follies and absurdities of Planudes’s Life of Æsop, and collected what could be known, was Bachet de Mezeriac, a man of great learning, who flourished about the year 1632.

(D) These sages were Solon, Thales, Chilo, Cleobulus, Bias, Pittacus, and Periander, to whom Laertius adds Anacharsis, Maro, Pherecydes, Epimenides, and Pisistratus.

(E) “Ye men of Samos, let me entreat you to do as the Fox did; for this man, having got money enough, can have no further occasion to rob you; but if you put him to death, some needy person will fill his place, whose wants must be supplied out of your property.”

The Fable of the Fox and the Hedgehog was applied by Themistocles to dissuade the Athenians from removing their magistrates.—B. Boothby.

(F) The Fable of the Frogs desiring a King.

(G) The mina of silver was 12 ounces, about £3 sterling.

It was not until many ages after the death of Æsop, that his most prominent successor, Phædrus, arose. He translated Æsop’s Fables from the Greek into Latin, and added to them many of his own. Of Phædrus little is known, except from his works. He is said to have lived in the times of the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius, and to have died in the reign of the latter. The first printed edition of his Fables, with cuts, was published at Gauda, in 1482. Caxton published some of them in 1484, and Bonus Accursius in 1489, to which he prefixed Planudes’s Life of Æsop. But the most perfect edition of Phædrus’s Works was published in five volumes, by Peter Pithou, at Troyes, in 1596, from manuscripts discovered by him in the cities of Rheims and Dijon. To these have succeeded in later times, a numerous list of fabulists,(H) besides such of the poets as have occasionally interspersed Fables in their works. These, in their day, have had, and many of them still have, their several admirers; but Gay and Dodsley best maintain their ground in this country, as is proved by the regular demand for new editions. Croxall’s Fables, which were first published in 1722, with cuts on metal, in the manner of wood, have also had a most extensive sale; and Sir Brooke Boothby’s elegant little volumes, in verse, published in 1809, are now making their way into the public notice. The Editor of the present volume, in attempting to continue the same pleasing mode of conveying instruction, long since laid down as a guide to virtue, has quoted and compiled from other fabulists, whatever seemed best suited to his purpose. His sole object is utility, and he is not altogether without hope, that in attempting to embellish and perpetuate a fabric, which has its foundations laid in religion and morality, his efforts may not be wholly ineffectual to induce the young to keep steadily in view those great truths, which form the sure land-mark to the haven, where only they can attain peace and happiness.

(H) Sir Roger L’Estrange, born 1616, died 1704.
John de la Fontaine, born 1621, died 1695.
John Dryden, born 1631, died 1701.
Antoine Houdart de la Motte, born 1672, died 1731.
John Gay, born 1688, died 1732.
Samuel Croxall, D. D. Archdeacon of Hereford, died 1752.
Edward Moore, died 1757.
Draper.
Robert Dodsley, born 1703, died 1764.
William Wilkie, born 1721, died 1772.
Abbe Brotier, born 1722, died 1789.

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