The man behind Aesop's fables

Andrew SCOTT

FABLES: Aesop, whose name is reverently attached to the fabulous collection of the most popular and appreciated fables (short moral tales) of the world, is a person who, lived in the 6th century B.C. though his very existence has been doubted from time to time.

Herodotus mentions that Aesop's name was famous in about 550 B.C. while Socrates, in 399 B.C. is said to have passed his days in prison transforming the famous fables of Aesop into verse.

Other philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato too are believed to have used Aesop's fables in their discourses.

However, Aesop-type fables antedated Aesop by ages and primitive man who was intimately acquainted with the habits of wild beasts built a rich and interesting lore around the wild animals, attributing to them human passions and feelings.

Birth

It is also interesting to recall that various types of fables abound in Chinese literature, in Egyptian papyrus, in the Jataka tales and in various forms of early eastern literature.

According to a biography written long after his time, Aesop was a slave born in Asia Minor and is described to have been small made, squint eyed and mute for a long time.

Nevertheless he had been intelligent and keen witted.

The way in which Aesop met his death is clothed in traditional legend and it is said that having won the favour of king Croesus, Aesop was sent to Delphi with a large gift of money for its citizens.

In a dispute with the Delphians Aesop was killed by being thrown down a dangerous precipice. About 200 years after his death a statue to perpetuate his memory was erected in Athens.

Not a single word of writing by Aesop is known to have existed but today Aesop's name is synonymous with the word fable.

His fables were passed on orally from person to person and almost all the fables spread throughout the world today are undisputedly assumed to be derived from Aesop.

From time to time early writers have collated these Aesop's fables in books and these are the sources through which modern renderings of those fables have come to us.

Particularly because they are brief and simple in form and are couched in an easy language the fables of Aesop have become very popular throughout the world. Another arresting feature in them is that many of them teach us a moral lesson.

As an early writer has noted: "The vast majority of the Aesop fables embody both the wisdom and the cynicism of mankind, dissecting human rather than animal nature."

Moral teachings

To begin with Aesop's fables were not intended for the use of the young, even though today these fables are read and listened to by children and they have been translated into many languages, even into Sinhala as 'Aesopge Upama Katha.'

The influence of Aesop's fables on the thoughts and actions of all mankind has been tremendous and today Aesopic expressions and moral teachings have come to stay with us influencing both the young and the old.

Who has not heard of Aesopic expressions such as "Fishing in troubled water", "Out of the frying pan into the fire", "The dog in the manger", "The boy who cried wolf", "The fox and the sour grapes."

Some literary giants too have been inspired by Aesop's fables which represent the earliest stage of literary development. They are also of great appeal for everyone in the modern world. These fables are the essence of the universal experience of man and his wisdom.

There is no doubt that the memory of Aesop, the great story teller, will be perpetuated through the medium of his fables for many more years.