Aesop in the World’s Lexicon

The fable as a form predates Aesop. Originating as long as 4,000 years ago, fables have enjoyed immense popularity throughout recorded time, in part because many of the proverbs and other expressions they contain are eminently quotable—so much so that these simple truths have been absorbed into the common wisdom of our species.

Aesop proved especially adept at creating situations and wordings that capture a moral meaning in an intriguing and memorable way. Writers as diverse as Aeschylus, Francis Bacon, Samuel Butler, Euripides, Benjamin Franklin, George Herbert, Andrew Lang, James Russell Lowell, Sophocles, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde have fashioned quips from Aesop’s fables and adopted his style in their work. The folklore and fairy tales of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen find their roots in the storytelling modes Aesop employed. So ubiquitous is Aesop’s influence that countless fables are attributed to him regardless of their actual authorship. Indeed, invoking Aesop’s name has become the most convenient way to describe the entire genre of the fable.

Following are some of Aesop’s expressions that have entered into not only our speech but our very ways of thinking (see also From the Pages of Aesop’s Fables, on the first page inside the front cover):

All that glitters is not gold
Blow hot and cold
Cry wolf
Dog in the manger
Every man for himself
Familiarity breeds contempt
Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
Leave well enough alone
Lion’s share
Look before you leap
Might makes right
Slow but sure
Sour grapes
Throw to the wolves
Viper in one’s bosom
Wolf in sheep’s clothing

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

In this section, we aim to provide the reader with an array ofperspectives on the text, as well as questions that challenge those perspectives. The commentary has been culled from sources as diverse as reviews contemporaneous with the work, letters written by the author, literary criticism of later generations, and appreciations written throughout history. Following the commentary, a series of questions seeks to filter Aesop’s Fables through a variety of points of view and bring about a richer understanding of these enduring fables.