Ask somebody if they have heard of Aesop’s Fables and they will probably say no, but ask them if they have heard of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, or the race of the Tortoise (Turtle) and the Hare (Rabbit), and they will probably say yes. Those are part of Aesop’s Fables.

The people that do know Aesop’s Fables will probably say that these are children’s stories, but actually they were originally written for adults and covered social, religious and political themes. It is only later that they were adapted for children to give them life lessons.

Aesop and his Fables

Aesop was a Greek storyteller who lived in the late to mid-6th century BCE. He is best known for his collection of fables, which are short stories that teach a moral lesson. The fables were originally told from person-to-person as much for entertainment purposes but largely as a means for relaying or teaching a moral or lesson. Aesop’s Fables are the world’s best-known collection of morality tales, numbering 725.

The fables are essentially allegorical myths often portraying animals or insects representing humans engaged in human-like situations (a belief known as animism). The animals display human-like qualities, especially the characteristics of speech and behavior. In effect, the stories are designed to mimic human life. Most of the stories/fables are meant to highlight bad or poor human decisions and behaviors. In order to allow the animals to appear in multiple tales and roles, Aesop did not restrict the animals to behaving in a manner generally associated with that particular animal e.g. the cunning fox, the slow turtle. These looser characterizations allow for the animals to appear in other settings acting in different manners.

Purpose of Aesop’s Fables

The fables served as a means by which criticisms against the government could be expressed without fear of punishment. In effect, the stories served as a code by which the weak and powerless could speak out against the strong and powerful.

The fables are designed to highlight both desired and undesirable human behaviors: what to do or what not to do. They are still relevant today because they offer timeless lessons about human nature. The fables are set in a time and place that is long ago and far away, but the characters and their situations are recognizably human. In spite of the passage of time, the fables still offer fresh insight into the human condition.

The fables, written down in Greek between the 10th-16th centuries CE, may not be recorded in the exact words as when they were first told. Over time, and largely due to the numerous times the stories were re-told, words may have been changed or eliminated in order to fit the storyteller’s purpose. Despite these changes, one characteristic that most of the fables share is the role of animals in the stories.

Education

The fables were often the focus of Greek learning, especially regarding instruction for children in reading and writing. They served a multitude of additional purposes, including ethical guides and the education of children. Their ethical dimension was reinforced in the adult world through depiction in sculpture, painting, and other illustrative means, as well as adaptation to drama and song.

Aesop’s Fables represent one of the oldest characteristics of human life: storytelling. They are still relevant today because they offer timeless lessons about human nature. The fables are designed to highlight both desired and undesirable human behaviors: what to do or what not to do. They served as a means by which criticisms against the government could be expressed without fear of punishment. They were also put to use as ethical guides and from the Renaissance onwards were particularly used for the education of children.

Impact of Aesop’s Fables

Aesop’s Fables have survived and thrived for more than two millennia, and they continue to be relevant and influential today. They have been translated into many languages, adapted into various forms of media, and applied to various fields of study and practice. The fables have inspired countless works of literature, art, music, theater, film, and animation, such as the fables of Jean de La Fontaine, the paintings of Peter Bruegel, the operas of Richard Strauss, the cartoons of Walt Disney, and the movies of Pixar. They have also been used as sources of wisdom and guidance for moral, ethical, and philosophical issues, such as human rights, environmental protection, social justice, and conflict resolution.

Aesop and his Fables are important to world history because they represent the power and the beauty of storytelling, the diversity and the complexity of human nature, and the universality and the timeless of moral values. They are a treasure of cultural heritage that enriches our understanding of ourselves and others, and challenges us to live better and happier lives.

You might enjoy these books below about Aesop’s Fables, the Oxford edition is more for adults to get a deeper experience of the Fables, while the one for children is adapted with more images so that younger audiences can read and enjoy.

You can find many of Aesop’s Fables on YouTube, just search. Here is a short film of The Ant and the Grasshopper, the fable which inspired the Disney animated movie, A Bugs Life.

The University of Massachusetts has a complication of some of the most famous fables here. You might also enjoy our blog post about how Aesop’s Fables helped inspire Bugs Bunny.