Aesop’s Fables for Children

Author: Aesop

The Aesop for ChildrenFables for ChildrenChildren’s ClassicsBy AesopOver 140 Fables for ChildrenAesop’s Fables or the Aesopica is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with Aesop’s name have descended to modern times through a number of sources. They continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media.When and how the fables arrived in and travelled from ancient Greece remains uncertain. Some cannot be dated any earlier than Babrius and Phaedrus, several centuries after Aesop, and yet others even later. The earliest mentioned collection was by Demetrius of Phalerum, an Athenian orator and statesman of the 4th century BCE, who compiled the fables into a set of ten books for the use of orators. A follower of Aristotle, he simply catalogued all the fables that earlier Greek writers had used in isolation as exempla, putting them into prose. At least it was evidence of what was attributed to Aesop by others; but this may have included any ascription to him from the oral tradition in the way of animal fables, fictitious anecdotes, etiological or satirical myths, possibly even any proverb or joke, that these writers transmitted. It is more a proof of the power of Aesop’s name to attract such stories to it than evidence of his actual authorship. In any case, although the work of Demetrius was mentioned frequently for the next twelve centuries, and was considered the official Aesop, no copy now survives.Includes;The Wolf and the KidThe Tortoise and the DucksThe Young Crab and His MotherThe Frogs and the OxThe Dog, the Cock, and the FoxBelling the CatThe Eagle and the JackdawThe Boy and the FilbertsHercules and the WagonerThe Kid and the WolfThe Town Mouse and the Country MouseThe Fox and the GrapesThe Bundle of SticksThe Wolf and the CranePlus Many More…….