Fables by Aesop (e book reader pdf txt) ๐
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Whether itโs the benefits of taking it slow and steady (โThe Tortoise and the Hareโ), the necessity of invention (โThe Crow and the Pitcherโ), or the problems of cognitive dissonance (โThe Fox and the Grapesโ), Aesop has a fable for every occasion. Aesop lived in Greece in the 6th century BCE, far enough in the past that itโs become impossible to ascribe all these fables to him. Some were certainly retellings of older myths, some share their roots in collections of fables from India and further afield, and many were added well after his time. However, they all share a certain quality of prose that marks them out as belonging to the collection regardless of authorship. Itโs that quality, combined with their insight into the human character, that has meant that theyโve stood the test of time for twenty-five centuries.
This collection is the 1912 translation by V. S. Vernon Jones, comprising two hundred and eighty-four of the fables.
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- Author: Aesop
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At the bidding of Jupiter, Prometheus set about the creation of Man and the other animals. Jupiter, seeing that Mankind, the only rational creatures, were far outnumbered by the irrational beasts, bade him redress the balance by turning some of the latter into men. Prometheus did as he was bidden, and this is the reason why some people have the forms of men but the souls of beasts.
The Swallow and the CrowA Swallow was once boasting to a Crow about her birth. โI was once a princess,โ said she, โthe daughter of a King of Athens, but my husband used me cruelly, and cut out my tongue for a slight fault. Then, to protect me from further injury, I was turned by Juno into a bird.โ โYou chatter quite enough as it is,โ said the Crow. โWhat you would have been like if you hadnโt lost your tongue, I canโt think.โ
The Hunter and the HorsemanA Hunter went out after game, and succeeded in catching a hare, which he was carrying home with him when he met a man on horseback, who said to him, โYou have had some sport I see, sir,โ and offered to buy it. The Hunter readily agreed; but the Horseman had no sooner got the hare in his hands than he set spurs to his horse and went off at full gallop. The Hunter ran after him for some little distance; but it soon dawned upon him that he had been tricked, and he gave up trying to overtake the Horseman, and, to save his face, called after him as loud as he could, โAll right, sir, all right, take your hare: it was meant all along as a present.โ
The Goatherd and the Wild GoatsA Goatherd was tending his goats out at pasture when he saw a number of Wild Goats approach and mingle with his flock. At the end of the day he drove them home and put them all into the pen together. Next day the weather was so bad that he could not take them out as usual: so he kept them at home in the pen, and fed them there. He only gave his own goats enough food to keep them from starving, but he gave the Wild Goats as much as they could eat and more; for he was very anxious for them to stay, and he thought that if he fed them well they wouldnโt want to leave him. When the weather improved, he took them all out to pasture again; but no sooner had they got near the hills than the Wild Goats broke away from the flock and scampered off. The Goatherd was very much disgusted at this, and roundly abused them for their ingratitude. โRascals!โ he cried, โto run away like that after the way Iโve treated you!โ Hearing this, one of them turned round and said, โOh, yes, you treated us all rightโ โtoo well, in fact; it was just that that put us on our guard. If you treat newcomers like ourselves so much better than your own flock, itโs more than likely that, if another lot of strange goats joined yours, we should then be neglected in favour of the last comers.โ
The Nightingale and the SwallowA Swallow, conversing with a Nightingale, advised her to quit the leafy coverts where she made her home, and to come and live with men, like herself, and nest under the shelter of their roofs. But the Nightingale replied, โTime was when I too, like yourself, lived among men: but the memory of the cruel wrongs I then suffered makes them hateful to me, and never again will I approach their dwellings.โ
The scene of past sufferings revives painful memories.
The Traveller and FortuneA Traveller, exhausted with fatigue after a long journey, sank down at the very brink of a deep well and presently fell asleep. He was within an ace of falling in, when Dame Fortune appeared to him and touched him on the shoulder, cautioning him to move further away. โWake up, good sir, I pray you,โ she said; โhad you fallen into the well, the blame would have been thrown not on your own folly but on me, Fortune.โ
ColophonFables
was initially collected between 620 and 564 BCE by
Aesop,
and further added to by many people over the following millennium.
It was translated from Greek in 1912 by
V. S. Vernon Jones.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Robin Whittleton,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2004 by
Suzanne Shell, Greg Chapman,
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