An Introduction to Aesop’s Fables

A fable is a short story that usually includes animals that act like people as the main characters and conveys a moral or a lesson to be learnt. Aesop’s Fables (which come to a total of 725, although modern editions often only include between two and three hundred) are no different. Herodotus was writing in the 5th century BCE and tells us that Aesop was a slave on Samos and was known as a storyteller or story maker. It is during the fifth century BCE that some specific tales were connected to Aesop by writers like Aristophanes and Aristotle. Each of Aesop’s Fables, all of which are short and to the point, contain a central moral, whether that be desirable behaviour, or undesirable. They teach the reader (or listener) about rights and wrongs, and they highlight poor choices. But they’re done so in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re being chastised or taught a lesson, for most of the fables have an animal or animals with human characteristics that are dealing with human concerns. — SUPPORT US V