Aesop's Fables

Aesop’s Fables Known for featuring talking animals and plants, and only a few people as characters, Aesop’s Fables are a collection of moral tales, beloved of both children and adults.

Although Aesop’s fables are renowned the world over and have been translated into both prose and poetry in different time periods and languages, not much factual information is known about Aesop, other than that he was a Phrygian slave who had a gift of weaving interesting stories with moral lessons. Questions surround the personage of Aesop — with some scholars even suggesting he may have never existed. However, even ancient scholars like Aristotle, Plato, Herodotus, and Plutarch refer to Aesop in some of their works or writings.

The fables told by Aesop (or attributed to him) continue to be the substance of various stories, poems, and children’s books. The stories are short, simple, and unaffected. And although most of Aesop’s fables feature non-human characters, the stories are always meaningful and practical. They also show the storyteller’s deep understanding of life and familiarity with both the virtues and failings of human nature.

Through the years, some of Aesop’s fables have been transformed into proverbs — with the tales sometimes even being referred to as ‘extended proverbs’ that continue to speak truth to generations.