The Timeless Legacy of Aesop's Fables

1. Aesop and His Fables The Cultural Legacy of the Storyteller

2. Was Aesop a real person? • We don’t think so. • It is more likely that his name is applied to an entire group of ancient storytellers and their lives. • The stories were not written down until centuries after they were first told. • His personal history may be a legend that blends the lifestyle and work of all the ancient storytellers into one person.

3. How old are fables? • In ancient Mesopotamia, clay tablets with proverbs and fables, illustrated with animals, date back to 2000 B.C.

4. What is the story of Aesop? • He was born a slave in 620 B.C. , possibly in Asia Minor or Ethiopia. • He was taken by a slave trader to what is now Turkey. • He was said to be so horribly ugly, no one would buy him. • He was then taken to the island of Samos where the philosopher, Xanthus, bought him as a servant for his wife.

5. What was Aesop like? • Clever • He could solve all manner of riddles. • He played tricks and pranks on everyone, often by pretending to be ignorant and simple minded. • He had no respect for the upper classes, who put on airs, nor for their favored god, Apollo. • Wise • He understood what made people tick, and he could capture their imaginations when telling his stories. • These stories taught them to better understand themselves.

6. Sold to Iadmon • He is said to have been sold to Iadmon. • Perhaps he played too many tricks on Xanthus and his wife. • Around 560 B.C., Iadmon gave him his freedom because of his great gifts as a storyteller.

7. Messenger to a king? • It is said that he served as an emissary to the wealthy King Croesus of Lydia for whom he traveled on missions all across Greece. • Croesus was so wealthy that we still describe someone with a lot of money and possessions as being as “rich as Croesus.”

8. How did he die? • He was said to have died in Delphi. • Aesop was sent by Croesus to give charity to the citizens of Delphi. • Aesop was disgusted by their greed and refused to distribute the money. • He was sentenced to death for his disrespect to the Delphians and the god, Apollo. • His dying words were a prophecy of doom for Delphi. • It is said the citizens hurled him from a cliff-top.

9. How did he become a legend? • It is said that after they killed Aesop, the people of Delphi were beset with famine, disease, and warfare • The oracle of Apollo blamed the unjust death of Aesop for their troubles and ordered them to make amends. • They built a pyramid in his honor.

10. Why were the stories so popular? • The stories were really good observations of human nature. • The stories could be used to teach the values of the community. • The stories could be used to teach people how they should act. • The stories could be used to teach people what to be careful of and what to avoid.

11. When were the fables actually written down? • First compiled in Greece around 300 B.C., the original manuscript no longer exists. • The oldest surviving collection was recorded in Rome in Latin iambic verse by Phaedrus during the first century A.D.

12. What is iambic verse? • A “foot” is the basic rhythmical unit of a verse line; in an iambic line, this unit consists of a metrically unaccented syllable followed by a metrically accented one. • This verse is in iambic dimeter (di means two). There are two feet in each line. • Who knows his will?Who knows what moodHis hours fulfil?His griefs conclude? (J.V. Cunningham, “Meditation on a Memoir,” 1-4)

13. The stories lived on in Greece and Rome • The oldest surviving Greek fable collection was authored by Babrius in second century A.D. • Roman poet Horace first recorded one of the most famous fables attributed to Aesop. • The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse • In about 400 B.C. Flavius Avianus collected 42 of the fables. • They were very popular in medieval Europe. • They were often used as a school text.

14. Where else in the world were fables told? • India and the Orient • The Panchatantra collection of five books of animal fables and magic tales dates to between the third and fifth centuries. • The Jataka fables are part of sacred Buddhist literature, telling about the lives (sometimes as an animal and sometimes as a human) of Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha.

15. Where else in the world were fables told? • Mesopotamia • An empire that stretched from Egypt to Iran • Persia and Arabia • The 1001 Nights • Also known as The Arabian Nights Entertainment • Dates back 1000 years • Influenced literature of Europe

16. On to the Middle Ages • Der Edelstein, printed in 1461, was a collection of fables compiled by a Dominican monk. • It is reputed to be the first book published in German. • Many medieval authors wrote stories in the style of Aesop. • The fables and magic stories influenced folktales and fairytales of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

17. What is a Fable? • A fable: • Is a short story. • Is often an allegory • An allegory uses animals or objects to represent ideas. • In The Fox and the Grapes, the grapes represent any unattainable goal • Illustrates a moral lesson or teaches a truth about human behavior. • The Fox and the Grapes teaches that you may come to great harm reaching for what you may not have.

18. What moral lessons are found in the fables? • Look for these lessons in the fables you are about to read: • Slow and steady wins the race. • Pride comes before a fall. • Revenge is a two-edged sword. • A man is known by the company he keeps.

19. More Morals • Think twice before you act. • Be content with your lot. • When you hit back, make sure you have the right man. • Once bitten, you are twice shy • Go for quality, not quantity.

20. More and more morals • You jumped from the frying pan into the fire. • One good turn deserves another. • Honesty is the best policy. • Necessity is the mother of invention. • Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

21. And the moral is... • People should look before they leap. • Example is better than precept. • What is worth most is often valued least. • A hypocrite deceives no one but himself. • Heaven helps those who help themselves.

22. Let’s Explore the Fables • Take turns reading the fables aloud to your partner. • For each fable, write the following: • The title, • The moral, and • A sentence explaining how the fable shows the moral. • Practice reading-and prepare to read out loud to the class-one of your fables.

23. Part Two... • Choose the moral you think is the most important. • Write an original fable to show that moral. • Draw or create a collage to illustrate your fable or moral. • Practice reading-and prepare to read out loud to the class-your original fable.

24. A Final Performance • Put together the best reading performances into a touring READERS’ THEATER performance.

25. How do I know all this stuff about fables? • My source for these slides and for the fables you are going to read is the book was: • Aesop’s Fables (Barnes and Nobles, 2003)based on the V.S.Vernon Jones edition (Heinemann, 1912). • I relied substantially on the Introduction and Notes by D.L. Ashliman. • My example of iambic verse came from • Timothy Steele’s Introduction to Meter • instructional1.calstatela.edu/tsteele/TSpage5/meter.html