{"product_id":"aesops-fables-isbn-9780451529534","title":"Aesop's Fables","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis exclusive Signet Classic edition contains 203 of Aesop’s most enduring and popular fables, translated into readable, modern American English and beautifully illustrated with classic woodcuts by the great French artist J. J. Grandville.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eIt is both amazing and wonderful that so much of the richness of our language and our moral education still owes a huge debt to a Greek slave who was executed more than two thousand years ago. Yet “sour grapes,” “crying ‘wolf,’” “actions speak louder than words,” “honesty is the best policy,” and literally hundreds of other metaphors, axioms, and ideas that are now woven into the very fabric of Western culture all came from Aesop’s Fables. An extraordinary storyteller who used cunning foxes, surly dogs, clever mice, fearsome lions, and foolish humans to describe the reality of a harsh world, Aesop created narratives that are appealing, funny, politically astute, and profoundly true. And Aesop’s truth—often summed up in the pithy “moral of the story”—retains an awesome power to affect us, reaching us through both our intellects and our hearts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIncluding:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The Fox and the Grapes”\u003cbr\u003e“The Ants and the Grasshopper”\u003cbr\u003e“The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse”\u003cbr\u003e…and 200 Other Famous Fables\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEdited and with an Afterword by Jack Zipes\u003cbr\u003eWith an Introduction by Sam Pickering\u003c\/b\u003eAesop's FablesA Note on the Text and Illustrations\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI. The Fox and the Grapes\u003cbr\u003eII. The Wolf and the Crane\u003cbr\u003eIII. The Archer and the Lion\u003cbr\u003eIV. The Woman and the Fat Hen\u003cbr\u003eV. The Kid and the Wolf\u003cbr\u003eVI. The Hawk and the Pigeons\u003cbr\u003eVII. The Eagle and the Fox\u003cbr\u003eVIII. The Boy and the Scorpion\u003cbr\u003eIX. The Fox and the Goat\u003cbr\u003eX. The Old Hound\u003cbr\u003eXI. The Ants and the Grasshopper\u003cbr\u003eXII. The Fawn and Her Mother\u003cbr\u003eXIII. The Horse and the Groom\u003cbr\u003eXIV. The Mountain in Labor\u003cbr\u003eXV. The Flies and the Honey Jar\u003cbr\u003eXVI. The Two Bags\u003cbr\u003eXVII. The Vain Crow\u003cbr\u003eXVIII. The Wolf and the Lamb\u003cbr\u003eXIX. The Bear and the Fox\u003cbr\u003eXX. The Dog, the Cock and the Fox\u003cbr\u003eXXI. The Cock and the Jewel\u003cbr\u003eXXII. The Sea Gull and the Hawk\u003cbr\u003eXXIII. The Fox and the Lion\u003cbr\u003eXXIV. The Creaking Wheels\u003cbr\u003eXXV. The Frog and the Ox\u003cbr\u003eXXVI. The Farmer and the Snake\u003cbr\u003eXXVII. The Lion and the Fox\u003cbr\u003eXXVIII. The Fisherman and His Music\u003cbr\u003eXXIX. The Domesticated Dog and the Wolf\u003cbr\u003eXXX. The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse\u003cbr\u003eXXXI. The Dog and the Shadow\u003cbr\u003eXXXII. The Moon and Her Mother\u003cbr\u003eXXXIII. The Fighting Cocks and the Eagle\u003cbr\u003eXXXIV. The Man and the Satyr\u003cbr\u003eXXXV. The Tortoise and the Eagle\u003cbr\u003eXXXVI. The Mule\u003cbr\u003eXXXVII. The Hen and the Cat\u003cbr\u003eXXXVIII. The Old Woman and the Wine Bottle\u003cbr\u003eXXXIX. The Hare and the Tortoise\u003cbr\u003eXL. The Ass and the Grasshopper\u003cbr\u003eXLI. The Lamb and the Camel\u003cbr\u003eXLII. The Crab and Its Mother\u003cbr\u003eXLIII. Jupiter and the Camel\u003cbr\u003eXLIV. The Mouse and the Frog\u003cbr\u003eXLV. The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf\u003cbr\u003eXLVI. The Peach, the Apple, and the Blackberry\u003cbr\u003eXLVII. The Hare and the Hound\u003cbr\u003eXLVIII. The Stag in the Ox Stall\u003cbr\u003eXLIX. The Crow and the Pitcher\u003cbr\u003eL. The Lion and the Mouse\u003cbr\u003eLI. The One-Eyed Doe\u003cbr\u003eLII. The Trees and the Ax\u003cbr\u003eLIII. The Lion, the Ass, and the Fox Who Went Hunting\u003cbr\u003eLIV. The Travelers and the Bear\u003cbr\u003eLV. The Belly and the Members\u003cbr\u003eLVI. The Dolphins and the Sprat\u003cbr\u003eLVII. The Blind Man and the Whelp\u003cbr\u003eLVIII. The Sick Stag\u003cbr\u003eLIX. Hercules and the Wagoner\u003cbr\u003eLX. The Fox and the Woodcutter\u003cbr\u003eLXI. The Monkey and the Camel\u003cbr\u003eLXII. The Dove and the Crow\u003cbr\u003eLXIII. The Ass and the Lap Dog\u003cbr\u003eLXIV. The Hares and the Frogs\u003cbr\u003eLXV. The Fisherman and the Little Fish\u003cbr\u003eLXVI. The Wind and the Sun\u003cbr\u003eLXVII. The Farmer and the Stork\u003cbr\u003eLXVIII. The Lioness\u003cbr\u003eLXIX. The Brash Candlelight\u003cbr\u003eLXX. The Old Woman and the Physician\u003cbr\u003eLXXI. The Charcoal-Burner and the Cloth-Fuller\u003cbr\u003eLXXII. The Wolf and the Sheep\u003cbr\u003eLXXIII. The Farmer and His Sons\u003cbr\u003eLXXIV. The Wolves and the Sheep\u003cbr\u003eLXXV. The Mole and Her Mother\u003cbr\u003eLXXVI. The Swallow and the Crow\u003cbr\u003eLXXVII. The Man Bitten by a Dog\u003cbr\u003eLXXVIII. The Man and the Lion\u003cbr\u003eLXXIX. The Monkey and the Dolphin\u003cbr\u003eLXXXI. The Viper and the File\u003cbr\u003eLXXXII. The Bundle of Sticks\u003cbr\u003eLXXXIII. Jupiter, Neptune, Minerva, and Momus\u003cbr\u003eLXXXIV. The Lion in Love\u003cbr\u003eLXXXV. The Nurse and the Wolf\u003cbr\u003eLXXXVI. The Birdcatcher and the Lark\u003cbr\u003eLXXXVII. Jupiter and the Bee\u003cbr\u003eLXXXVIII. The Travelers and the Plane Tree\u003cbr\u003eLXXXIX. The Fox Without a Tail\u003cbr\u003eXC. The Horse and the Stag\u003cbr\u003eXCI. The Mischievous Dog\u003cbr\u003eXCII. The Geese and the Cranes\u003cbr\u003eXCIII. The Quack Frog\u003cbr\u003eXCIV. Mercury and the Woodcutter\u003cbr\u003eXCV. The Oxen and the Butchers\u003cbr\u003eXCVI. The Goatherd and the Goats\u003cbr\u003eXCVII. The Widow and the Sheep\u003cbr\u003eXCVIII. The Marriage of the Sun\u003cbr\u003eXCIX. The Theif and His Mother\u003cbr\u003eC. The Gnat and the Bull\u003cbr\u003eCI. The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox\u003cbr\u003eCII. The Oak and the Reed\u003cbr\u003eCIII. The Dog in the Manger\u003cbr\u003eCIV. The Goose with the Golden Eggs\u003cbr\u003eCV. The Lion and the Dolphin\u003cbr\u003eCVI. The Comedian and the Farmer\u003cbr\u003eCVII. The Dog Invited to Supper\u003cbr\u003eCVIII. The Ass Loaded with Salt\u003cbr\u003eCIX. The Theif and the Dog\u003cbr\u003eCX. The Trumpeter Taken Prisoner\u003cbr\u003eCXI. The Hunter and the Fisherman\u003cbr\u003eCXII. The Fir Tree and the Bramble\u003cbr\u003eCXIII. The Eagle and the Arrow\u003cbr\u003eCXIV. The Two Pets\u003cbr\u003eCXV. The Fisherman and Troubled Water\u003cbr\u003eCXVI. The Lark and Her Young Ones\u003cbr\u003eCXVII. The Arab and the Camel\u003cbr\u003eCXVIII. The Travelers and the Hatchet\u003cbr\u003eCXIX. The Doctor and His Patient\u003cbr\u003eCXX. The Maid and the Pail of Milk\u003cbr\u003eCXXI. The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion\u003cbr\u003eCXXII. The Ass and His Driver\u003cbr\u003eCXXIII. The Travelers and the Hatchet\u003cbr\u003eCXXIV. The Hedge and the Vineyard\u003cbr\u003eCXXV. The Frogs Who Desired a King\u003cbr\u003eCXXVI. The Lion and the Goat\u003cbr\u003eCXXVII. The Mice in Council\u003cbr\u003eCXXVIII. The Fox and the Mask\u003cbr\u003eCXXIX. The Thirsty Pigeon\u003cbr\u003eCXXX. The Farmer and the Cranes\u003cbr\u003eCXXXI. The Falconer and the Partridge\u003cbr\u003eCXXXII. The Cat and the Mice\u003cbr\u003eCXXXIII. The Father and His Two Daughters\u003cbr\u003eCXXXIV. The Heifer and the Ox\u003cbr\u003eCXXXV. The Fox and the Hedgehog\u003cbr\u003eCXXXVI. The Lion and the Ass\u003cbr\u003eCXXXVII. The Bald Knight\u003cbr\u003eCXXXVIII. The Ass and His Masters\u003cbr\u003eCXXXIX. The Farmer and the Sea\u003cbr\u003eCXL. The Hart and the Vine\u003cbr\u003eCXLI. The Pig and the Sheep\u003cbr\u003eCXLII. The Bull and the Goat\u003cbr\u003eCXLIII. The Old Man and Death\u003cbr\u003eCXLIV. The Dog and the Hare\u003cbr\u003eCXLV. The Boy and the Hazel Nuts\u003cbr\u003eCXLVI. The Wolf and the Shepherd\u003cbr\u003eCXLVII. The Jackass and the Statue\u003cbr\u003eCXLVIII. The Blacksmith and His Dog\u003cbr\u003eCXLIX. The Herdsman and the Lost Calf\u003cbr\u003eCL. The Lion and the Other Beasts Who Went Out Hunting\u003cbr\u003eCLI. The Bees, the Drones, and the Wasp\u003cbr\u003eCLII. The Kid and the Piping Ass\u003cbr\u003eCLIII. The Stallion and the Ass\u003cbr\u003eCLIV. The Mice and the Weasels\u003cbr\u003eCLV. The Stubborn Goat and the Goatherd\u003cbr\u003eCLVI. The Boys and the Frogs\u003cbr\u003eCLVII. The Mouse and the Weasel\u003cbr\u003eCLVIII. The Farmer and the Lion\u003cbr\u003eCLIX. The Horse and the Loaded Ass\u003cbr\u003eCLX. The Wolf and the Lion\u003cbr\u003eCLXI. The Farmer and the Dogs\u003cbr\u003eCLXII. The Eagle and the Crow\u003cbr\u003eCLXIII. The Lion and His Three Councillors\u003cbr\u003eCLXIV. The Great and Little Fish\u003cbr\u003eCLXV. The Ass, the Cock, and the Lion\u003cbr\u003eCLXVI. The Wolf and the Goat\u003cbr\u003eCLXVII. The Fox and the Stork\u003cbr\u003eCLXVIII. The Leopard and the Fox\u003cbr\u003eCLXIX. The Vine and the Goat\u003cbr\u003eCLXX. The Sick Lion\u003cbr\u003eCLXXI. The Rivers and the Sea\u003cbr\u003eCLXXII. The Blackamoor\u003cbr\u003eCLXXIII. The Boy and the Nettle\u003cbr\u003eCLXXIV. The Seaside Travelers\u003cbr\u003eCLXXV. The Boy Who Went Swimming\u003cbr\u003eCLXXVI. The Sick Hawk\u003cbr\u003eCLXXVII. The Monkey and the Fisherman\u003cbr\u003eCLXXVIII. Venus and the Cat\u003cbr\u003eCLXXIX. The Three Tradesmen\u003cbr\u003eCLXXX. The Ass's Shadow\u003cbr\u003eCLXXXI. The Eagle and the Beetle\u003cbr\u003eCLXXXII. The Lion and the Three Bulls\u003cbr\u003eCLXXXIII. The Old Woman and Her Maids\u003cbr\u003eCLXXXIV. The Dogs and the Hides\u003cbr\u003eCLXXXV. The Dove and the Ant\u003cbr\u003eCLXXXVI. The Old Lion\u003cbr\u003eCLXXXVII. The Wolf and the Shepherds\u003cbr\u003eCLXXXVIII. The Ass in the Lion's Skin\u003cbr\u003eCLXXXIX. The Swallow in Chancery\u003cbr\u003eCXC. The Raven and the Swan\u003cbr\u003eCXCI. The Wild Boar and the Fox\u003cbr\u003eCXCII. The Stag at the Pool\u003cbr\u003eCXCIII. The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing\u003cbr\u003eCXCIV. The Boasting Traveler\u003cbr\u003eCXCV. The Man and his Two Wives\u003cbr\u003eCXCVI. The Shepherd and the Sea\u003cbr\u003eCXCVII. The Miser\u003cbr\u003eCXCVIII. Mercury and the Sculptor\u003cbr\u003eCXCIX. The Miller, His Son, and Their Ass\u003cbr\u003eCC. The Wolf and the Horse\u003cbr\u003eCCI. The Astronomer\u003cbr\u003eCCII. The Hunter and the Woodcutter\u003cbr\u003eCCIII. The Fox and the Crow\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfterword\u003cbr\u003eSelected Bibliography\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAesop\u003c\/b\u003e, according to various sources, was born in Phrygia, Lydia, Thrace, or Sardis, and lived from about 620 to 560 B.C. Little is known about his life, but Aristotle mentioned his acting as a public defender, and Plutarch numbered him as one of the “Seven Wise Men.” It is generally believed he was a slave, freed by his master because of his wit and wisdom. As Aesop became famous for his fables, which used animals as a code to tell the truth about political injustice, he incurred the wrath of the rulers, either in Athens or Delphi, and was executed. In about 300 B.C., Demetrius Phalereus of Athens made the first known collection of Aesop’s fables, which then spread far beyond the Greek world.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJack Zipes\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of German at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of several books of fairy tales, including \u003ci\u003eBreaking the Magic Spell\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDon’t Bet on the Prince\u003c\/i\u003e. He is also the editor of several volumes of fairy tales, including \u003ci\u003eBeauties, Beasts and Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Fairy Tales of Frank Stockton\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eArabian Nights\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSam Pickering \u003c\/b\u003eteaches English at the University of Connecticut. He has written more than two dozen books, including \u003ci\u003eWaltzing the Magpies\u003c\/i\u003e, an account of a year he and his family spent in Western Australia, and \u003ci\u003eDreamtime\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cb\u003eAesop\u003c\/b\u003e, according to legend, was born either in Sardis, on the Greek island of Samos, or in Cotiaeum, the chief city in a province of Phrygia, and lived from about 620 to 560 B.C. Little is known about his life, but Aristotle mentioned his acting as a public defender, and Plutarch numbered him as one of the “Seven Wise Men.” It is generally believed he was a slave, freed by his master because of his wit and wisdom. As a free man, he went to Athens, ruled at that time by the tyrant Peisistratus, an enemy of free speech. As Aesop became famous for his fables, which used animals as a code to tell the truth about political injustice, he incurred the wrath of Peisistratus. Eventually, Aesop was condemned to death for sacrilege and thrown over a cliff. Later, the Athenians erected a statue in his honor. In about 300 B.C., Demetrius Phalereus of Athens made the first known collection of Aesop’s fables, which then spread far beyond the Greek world.\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJack Zipes\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of German at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of several books of fairy tales, including Breaking the Magic Spell and Don’t Bet on the Prince. He is also the editor of several volumes of fairy tales, including Beauties, Beasts and Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales, The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde, The Fairy Tales of Frank Stockton, and Arabian Nights.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSam Pickering\u003c\/b\u003e teaches English at the University of Connecticut. He has written seventeen books, fourteen of which are collections of essays. His most recent books are Waltzing the Magpies, an account of a year he and his family spent in Western Australia, and The Best of Pickering, both published by the University of Michigan Press.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Note on the\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eText and Illustrations\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis edition of Aesop’s Fables is based on the Reverend Thomas James’s Aesop’s Fables: A New Version, Chiefly from Original Sources (New York: Robert B. Collins, 1848). While adapting this version of the fables, I consulted numerous other nineteenth-century translations and made various changes in keeping with the traditional plots. As has been the custom with translators and adapters of Aesop’s fables, I have taken a good deal of poetic license at times. Since Mr. James’s style is somewhat archaic, I have used a more modern American idiom in adapting them and have occasionally conceived new morals so that the fables might ring more “true” to the situation of the contemporary reader.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe illustrations are from Fables de La Fontaine illustrated by J.J. Grandville (Paris: H. Fournier, 1838). Grandville was a pseudonym for Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (1803–1847). Born in Nancy, he arrived in Paris during the 1820s and soon made a name for himself as a lithographer and political caricaturist. He was especially interested the theater and animals and was known for incorporating political satire into his complex and fastidious drawings. During the 1830s he turned to book illustration and composed 120 woodcuts for La Fontaine’s fables, which were largely based on Aesop’s work; he caused quite a stir by turning many of the animals into types of human beings. In doing this, Grandville’s figures often appear grotesque and have a surreal quality to them. The distinction between beast and human is blurred, or rather, Grandville’s keen eye captures stunning similarities between humans and animals that often make humans appear in a ridiculous light. In addition, Grandville takes pains to give a clear indication of the social status of the figures through their clothing and behavior to comment on the French mores of his time. There are many emblematic references to urban life in Paris, and in this respect Grandville was one of the first artists to address modern problems of the city and industrialization. Grandville also illustrated the Fables de S. Lavalette (1841) and theFables de Florian (1842), two minor French fabulists, in the same unique manner and is considered one of the greatest interpreters of Aesop’s fables (through La Fontaine) for the modern age.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—J.Z.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLittle is known about Aesop, except that he lived in Greece, probably between 600 and 500 B.C. Happily for readers, scribblers can rarely resist adorning empty biographies with tales—appropriate in Aesop’s case, since generations have celebrated him as the archetypal storyteller. “What Aesop was by birth,” Nathaniel Crouch wrote in 1737, “authors don’t agree, but that he was of a mean condition, and his person deformed to the highest degree, is what all affirm: he was flat-nos’d, hunch-back’d, bloober-lip’d, jolt-headed: his body crooked all over, big-belly’d, badger-legg’d, and of a swarthy complexion. But the excellency and beauty of his mind made a sufficient atonement for the outward appearance of his person.” Add that he stuttered terribly, quite a handicap for a philosophic raconteur, and Aesop becomes a man delightful to discover on the page, no matter the quality of his mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFictional accounts of Aesop’s life usually relate that he was sold as a slave in Ephesus. Later, in Samos, he behaved like Solomon, his wisdom reconciling the irreconcilable. After accusing magistrates at Delos of tomfoolery and corruption, however, he met a stony end. A gold cup pilfered from the shrine to the Oracle having been planted in his baggage, he was convicted of sacrilege and tossed “head-long from a high rock.” The moral being, I suppose, the wages of tale-telling will out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the literary underworld, lie and truth twine fruitfully together through generations, spawning page after page. Crouch lifted his life from the introduction of Roger L’Estrange’s famous collection of some five hundred fables published in 1692. In his collection published in 1722, Samuel Croxall took L’Estrange to task, declaring, “There were never so many blunders and childish dreams mixt up together, as are to be met with in the short compass of that piece.” Knowing “the little trifling circumstances” of Aesop’s life, Croxall said, was insignificant, “whether he was a slave or a freeman, whether handsome or ugly. He has left us a legacy in his writings that will preserve his memory clean and perpetual among us.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCroxall also got matters wrong. Aesop told but did not write down fables. Much as The Thousand and One Nightsis a miscellany of stories drawn from diverse cultures stretching from Egypt to China, so the origins of Aesop’s fables are various, all editions being mongrel blends of tales taken from countries around the Mediterranean and to the east.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Signet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303496470757,"sku":"NP9780451529534","price":6.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780451529534.jpg?v=1767721080","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/aesops-fables-isbn-9780451529534","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}