Aesop's Fables E-Book

Aesop Aesop

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 194

Beschreibung

Aesop embodies an epigram not uncommon in human history; his fame is all the more deserved because he never deserved it. The firm foundations of common sense, the shrewd shots at uncommon sense, that characterise all the Fables, belong not him but to humanity. In the earliest human history whatever is authentic is universal: and whatever is universal is anonymous. In such cases there is always some central man who had first the trouble of collecting them, and afterwards the fame of creating them. He had the fame; and, on the whole, he earned the fame. There must have been something great and human, something of the human future and the human past, in such a man: even if he only used it to rob the past or deceive the future.

Leseprobe

Aesop's Fables

Aesop's FablesINTRODUCTIONTHE FOX AND THE GRAPESTHE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGSTHE CAT AND THE MICETHE MISCHIEVOUS DOGTHE CHARCOAL-BURNER AND THE FULLERTHE MICE IN COUNCILTHE BAT AND THE WEASELSTHE DOG AND THE SOWTHE FOX AND THE CROWTHE HORSE AND THE GROOMTHE WOLF AND THE LAMBTHE PEACOCK AND THE CRANETHE CAT AND THE BIRDSTHE SPENDTHRIFT AND THE SWALLOWTHE OLD WOMAN AND THE DOCTORTHE MOON AND HER MOTHERMERCURY AND THE WOODMANTHE ASS, THE FOX, AND THE LIONTHE LION AND THE MOUSETHE CROW AND THE PITCHERTHE BOYS AND THE FROGSTHE NORTH WIND AND THE SUNTHE MISTRESS AND HER SERVANTSTHE GOODS AND THE ILLSTHE HARES AND THE FROGSTHE FOX AND THE STORKTHE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHINGTHE STAG IN THE OX-STALLTHE MILKMAID AND HER PAILTHE DOLPHINS, THE WHALES, AND THE SPRATTHE FOX AND THE MONKEYTHE ASS AND THE LAP-DOGTHE FIR-TREE AND THE BRAMBLETHE FROGS' COMPLAINT AGAINST THE SUNTHE DOG, THE COCK, AND THE FOXTHE GNAT AND THE BULLTHE BEAR AND THE TRAVELLERSTHE SLAVE AND THE LIONTHE FLEA AND THE MANTHE BEE AND JUPITERTHE OAK AND THE REEDSTHE BLIND MAN AND THE CUBTHE BOY AND THE SNAILSTHE APES AND THE TWO TRAVELLERSTHE ASS AND HIS BURDENSTHE SHEPHERD'S BOY AND THE WOLFTHE FOX AND THE GOATTHE FISHERMAN AND THE SPRATTHE BOASTING TRAVELLERTHE CRAB AND HIS MOTHERTHE ASS AND HIS SHADOWTHE FARMER AND HIS SONSTHE DOG AND THE COOKTHE MONKEY AS KINGTHE THIEVES AND THE COCKTHE FARMER AND FORTUNEJUPITER AND THE MONKEYFATHER AND SONSTHE LAMPTHE OWL AND THE BIRDSTHE ASS IN THE LION'S SKINTHE SHE-GOATS AND THEIR BEARDSTHE OLD LIONTHE BOY BATHINGTHE QUACK FROGTHE SWOLLEN FOXTHE MOUSE, THE FROG, AND THE HAWKTHE BOY AND THE NETTLESTHE PEASANT AND THE APPLE-TREETHE JACKDAW AND THE PIGEONSJUPITER AND THE TORTOISETHE DOG IN THE MANGERTHE TWO BAGSTHE OXEN AND THE AXLETREESTHE BOY AND THE FILBERTSTHE FROGS ASKING FOR A KINGTHE OLIVE-TREE AND THE FIG-TREETHE LION AND THE BOARTHE WALNUT-TREETHE MAN AND THE LIONTHE TORTOISE AND THE EAGLETHE KID ON THE HOUSETOPTHE FOX WITHOUT A TAILTHE VAIN JACKDAWTHE TRAVELLER AND HIS DOGTHE SHIPWRECKED MAN AND THE SEATHE WILD BOAR AND THE FOXMERCURY AND THE SCULPTORTHE FAWN AND HIS MOTHERTHE FOX AND THE LIONTHE EAGLE AND HIS CAPTORTHE BLACKSMITH AND HIS DOGTHE STAG AT THE POOLTHE DOG AND THE SHADOWMERCURY AND THE TRADESMENTHE MICE AND THE WEASELSTHE PEACOCK AND JUNOTHE BEAR AND THE FOXTHE ASS AND THE OLD PEASANTTHE OX AND THE FROGTHE MAN AND THE IMAGEHERCULES AND THE WAGGONERTHE POMEGRANATE, THE APPLE-TREE, AND THE BRAMBLETHE LION, THE BEAR, AND THE FOXTHE BLACKAMOORTHE TWO SOLDIERS AND THE ROBBERTHE LION AND THE WILD ASSTHE MAN AND THE SATYRTHE IMAGE-SELLERTHE EAGLE AND THE ARROWTHE RICH MAN AND THE TANNERTHE WOLF, THE MOTHER, AND HER CHILDTHE OLD WOMAN AND THE WINE-JARTHE LIONESS AND THE VIXENTHE VIPER AND THE FILETHE CAT AND THE COCKTHE HARE AND THE TORTOISETHE SOLDIER AND HIS HORSETHE OXEN AND THE BUTCHERSTHE WOLF AND THE LIONTHE SHEEP, THE WOLF, AND THE STAGTHE LION AND THE THREE BULLSTHE HORSE AND HIS RIDERTHE GOAT AND THE VINETHE TWO POTSTHE OLD HOUNDTHE CLOWN AND THE COUNTRYMANTHE LARK AND THE FARMERTHE LION AND THE ASSTHE PROPHETTHE HOUND AND THE HARETHE LION, THE MOUSE, AND THE FOXTHE TRUMPETER TAKEN PRISONERTHE WOLF AND THE CRANETHE EAGLE, THE CAT, AND THE WILD SOWTHE WOLF AND THE SHEEPTHE TUNNY-FISH AND THE DOLPHINTHE THREE TRADESMENTHE MOUSE AND THE BULLTHE HARE AND THE HOUNDTHE TOWN MOUSE AND THE COUNTRY MOUSETHE LION AND THE BULLTHE WOLF, THE FOX, AND THE APETHE EAGLE AND THE COCKSTHE ESCAPED JACKDAWTHE FARMER AND THE FOXVENUS AND THE CATTHE CROW AND THE SWANTHE STAG WITH ONE EYETHE FLY AND THE DRAUGHT-MULETHE COCK AND THE JEWELTHE WOLF AND THE SHEPHERDTHE FARMER AND THE STORKTHE CHARGER AND THE MILLERTHE GRASSHOPPER AND THE OWLTHE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANTSTHE FARMER AND THE VIPERTHE TWO FROGSTHE COBBLER TURNED DOCTORTHE ASS, THE COCK, AND THE LIONTHE BELLY AND THE MEMBERSTHE BALD MAN AND THE FLYTHE ASS AND THE WOLFTHE MONKEY AND THE CAMELTHE SICK MAN AND THE DOCTORTHE TRAVELLERS AND THE PLANE-TREETHE FLEA AND THE OXTHE BIRDS, THE BEASTS, AND THE BATTHE MAN AND HIS TWO SWEETHEARTSTHE EAGLE, THE JACKDAW, AND THE SHEPHERDTHE WOLF AND THE BOYTHE MILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR ASSTHE STAG AND THE VINETHE LAMB CHASED BY A WOLFTHE ARCHER AND THE LIONTHE WOLF AND THE GOATTHE SICK STAGTHE ASS AND THE MULEBROTHER AND SISTERTHE HEIFER AND THE OXTHE KINGDOM OF THE LIONTHE ASS AND HIS DRIVERTHE LION AND THE HARETHE WOLVES AND THE DOGSTHE BULL AND THE CALFTHE TREES AND THE AXETHE ASTRONOMERTHE LABOURER AND THE SNAKETHE CAGE-BIRD AND THE BATTHE ASS AND HIS PURCHASERTHE KID AND THE WOLFTHE DEBTOR AND HIS SOWTHE BALD HUNTSMANTHE HERDSMAN AND THE LOST BULLTHE MULETHE HOUND AND THE FOXTHE FATHER AND HIS DAUGHTERSTHE THIEF AND THE INNKEEPERTHE PACK-ASS AND THE WILD ASSTHE ASS AND HIS MASTERSTHE PACK-ASS, THE WILD ASS, AND THE LIONTHE ANTTHE FROGS AND THE WELLTHE CRAB AND THE FOXTHE FOX AND THE GRASSHOPPERTHE FARMER, HIS BOY, AND THE ROOKSTHE ASS AND THE DOGTHE ASS CARRYING THE IMAGETHE ATHENIAN AND THE THEBANTHE GOATHERD AND THE GOATTHE SHEEP AND THE DOGTHE SHEPHERD AND THE WOLFTHE LION, JUPITER, AND THE ELEPHANTTHE PIG AND THE SHEEPTHE GARDENER AND HIS DOGTHE RIVERS AND THE SEATHE LION IN LOVETHE BEE-KEEPERTHE WOLF AND THE HORSETHE BAT, THE BRAMBLE, AND THE SEAGULLTHE DOG AND THE WOLFTHE WASP AND THE SNAKETHE EAGLE AND THE BEETLETHE FOWLER AND THE LARKTHE FISHERMAN PIPINGTHE WEASEL AND THE MANTHE PLOUGHMAN, THE ASS, AND THE OXDEMADES AND HIS FABLETHE MONKEY AND THE DOLPHINTHE CROW AND THE SNAKETHE DOGS AND THE FOXTHE NIGHTINGALE AND THE HAWKTHE ROSE AND THE AMARANTHTHE MAN, THE HORSE, THE OX, AND THE DOGTHE WOLVES, THE SHEEP, AND THE RAMTHE SWANTHE SNAKE AND JUPITERTHE WOLF AND HIS SHADOWTHE PLOUGHMAN AND THE WOLFMERCURY AND THE MAN BITTEN BY AN ANTTHE WILY LIONTHE PARROT AND THE CATTHE STAG AND THE LIONTHE IMPOSTORTHE DOGS AND THE HIDESTHE LION, THE FOX, AND THE ASSTHE FOWLER, THE PARTRIDGE, AND THE COCKTHE GNAT AND THE LIONTHE FARMER AND HIS DOGSTHE EAGLE AND THE FOXTHE BUTCHER AND HIS CUSTOMERSHERCULES AND MINERVATHE FOX WHO SERVED A LIONTHE QUACK DOCTORTHE LION, THE WOLF, AND THE FOXHERCULES AND PLUTUSTHE FOX AND THE LEOPARDTHE FOX AND THE HEDGEHOGTHE CROW AND THE RAVENTHE WITCHTHE OLD MAN AND DEATHTHE MISERTHE FOXES AND THE RIVERTHE HORSE AND THE STAGTHE FOX AND THE BRAMBLETHE FOX AND THE SNAKETHE LION, THE FOX, AND THE STAGTHE MAN WHO LOST HIS SPADETHE PARTRIDGE AND THE FOWLERTHE RUNAWAY SLAVETHE HUNTER AND THE WOODMANTHE SERPENT AND THE EAGLETHE ROGUE AND THE ORACLETHE HORSE AND THE ASSTHE DOG CHASING A WOLFGRIEF AND HIS DUETHE HAWK, THE KITE, AND THE PIGEONSTHE WOMAN AND THE FARMERPROMETHEUS AND THE MAKING OF MANTHE SWALLOW AND THE CROWTHE HUNTER AND THE HORSEMANTHE GOATHERD AND THE WILD GOATSTHE NIGHTINGALE AND THE SWALLOWTHE TRAVELLER AND FORTUNECopyright

Aesop's Fables

Aesop

INTRODUCTION

Aesop embodies an epigram not uncommon in human history; his fame is all the more deserved because he never deserved it. The firm foundations of common sense, the shrewd shots at uncommon sense, that characterise all the Fables, belong not him but to humanity. In the earliest human history whatever is authentic is universal: and whatever is universal is anonymous. In such cases there is always some central man who had first the trouble of collecting them, and afterwards the fame of creating them. He had the fame; and, on the whole, he earned the fame. There must have been something great and human, something of the human future and the human past, in such a man: even if he only used it to rob the past or deceive the future. The story of Arthur may have been really connected with the most fighting Christianity of falling Rome or with the most heathen traditions hidden in the hills of Wales. But the word "Mappe" or "Malory" will always mean King Arthur; even though we find older and better origins than the Mabinogian; or write later and worse versions than the "Idylls of the King." The nursery fairy tales may have come out of Asia with the Indo-European race, now fortunately extinct; they may have been invented by some fine French lady or gentleman like Perrault: they may possibly even be what they profess to be. But we shall always call the best selection of such tales "Grimm's Tales": simply because it is the best collectionThe historical Aesop, in so far as he was historical, would seem to have been a Phrygian slave, or at least one not to be specially and symbolically adorned with the Phrygian cap of liberty. He lived, if he did live, about the sixth century before Christ, in the time of that Croesus whose story we love and suspect like everything else in Herodotus. There are also stories of deformity of feature and a ready ribaldry of tongue: stories which (as the celebrated Cardinal said) explain, though they do not excuse, his having been hurled over a high precipice at Delphi. It is for those who read the Fables to judge whether he was really thrown over the cliff for being ugly and offensive, or rather for being highly moral and correct. But there is no kind of doubt that the general legend of him may justly rank him with a race too easily forgotten in our modern comparisons: the race of the great philosophic slaves. Aesop may have been a fiction like Uncle Remus: he was also, like Uncle Remus, a fact. It is a fact that slaves in the old world could be worshipped like Aesop, or loved like Uncle Remus. It is odd to note that both the great slaves told their best stories about beasts and birds.But whatever be fairly due to Aesop, the human tradition called Fables is not due to him. This had gone on long before any sarcastic freedman from Phrygia had or had not been flung off a precipice; this has remained long after. It is to our advantage, indeed, to realise the distinction; because it makes Aesop more obviously effective than any other fabulist. Grimm's Tales, glorious as they are, were collected by two German students. And if we find it hard to be certain of a German student, at least we know more about him than We know about a Phrygian slave. The truth is, of course, that Aesop's Fables are not Aesop's fables, any more than Grimm's Fairy Tales were ever Grimm's fairy tales. But the fable and the fairy tale are things utterly distinct. There are many elements of difference; but the plainest is plain enough. There can be no good fable with human beings in it. There can be no good fairy tale without them.Aesop, or Babrius (or whatever his name was), understood that, for a fable, all the persons must be impersonal. They must be like abstractions in algebra, or like pieces in chess. The lion must always be stronger than the wolf, just as four is always double of two. The fox in a fable must move crooked, as the knight in chess must move crooked. The sheep in a fable must march on, as the pawn in chess must march on. The fable must not allow for the crooked captures of the pawn; it must not allow for what Balzac called "the revolt of a sheep" The fairy tale, on the other hand, absolutely revolves on the pivot of human personality. If no hero were there to fight the dragons, we should not even know that they were dragons. If no adventurer were cast on the undiscovered island—it would remain undiscovered. If the miller's third son does not find the enchanted garden where the seven princesses stand white and frozen—why, then, they will remain white and frozen and enchanted. If there is no personal prince to find the Sleeping Beauty she will simply sleep. Fables repose upon quite the opposite idea; that everything is itself, and will in any case speak for itself. The wolf will be always wolfish; the fox will be always foxy. Something of the same sort may have been meant by the animal worship, in which Egyptian and Indian and many other great peoples have combined. Men do not, I think, love beetles or cats or crocodiles with a wholly personal love; they salute them as expressions of that abstract and anonymous energy in nature which to any one is awful, and to an atheist must be frightful. So in all the fables that are or are not Aesop's all the animal forces drive like inanimate forces, like great rivers or growing trees. It is the limit and the loss of all such things that they cannot be anything but themselves: it is their tragedy that they could not lose their souls.This is the immortal justification of the Fable: that we could not teach the plainest truths so simply without turning men into chessmen. We cannot talk of such simple things without using animals that do not talk at all. Suppose, for a moment, that you turn the wolf into a wolfish baron, or the fox into a foxy diplomatist. You will at once remember that even barons are human, you will be unable to forget that even diplomatists are men. You will always be looking for that accidental good-humour that should go with the brutality of any brutal man; for that allowance for all delicate things, including virtue, that should exist in any good diplomatist. Once put a thing on two legs instead of four and pluck it of feathers and you cannot help asking for a human being, either heroic, as in the fairy tales, or un-heroic, as in the modern novels.But by using animals in this austere and arbitrary style as they are used on the shields of heraldry or the hieroglyphics of the ancients, men have really succeeded in handing down those tremendous truths that are called truisms. If the chivalric lion be red and rampant, it is rigidly red and rampant; if the sacred ibis stands anywhere on one leg, it stands on one leg for ever. In this language, like a large animal alphabet, are written some of the first philosophic certainties of men. As the child learns A for Ass or B for Bull or C for Cow, so man has learnt here to connect the simpler and stronger creatures with the simpler and stronger truths. That a flowing stream cannot befoul its own fountain, and that any one who says it does is a tyrant and a liar; that a mouse is too weak to fight a lion, but too strong for the cords that can hold a lion; that a fox who gets most out of a flat dish may easily get least out of a deep dish; that the crow whom the gods forbid to sing, the gods nevertheless provide with cheese; that when the goat insults from a mountain-top it is not the goat that insults, but the mountain: all these are deep truths deeply graven on the rocks wherever men have passed. It matters nothing how old they are, or how new; they are the alphabet of humanity, which like so many forms of primitive picture-writing employs any living symbol in preference to man. These ancient and universal tales are all of animals; as the latest discoveries in the oldest pre-historic caverns are all of animals. Man, in his simpler states, always felt that he himself was something too mysterious to be drawn. But the legend he carved under these cruder symbols was everywhere the same; and whether fables began with Aesop or began with Adam, whether they were German and mediAeval as Reynard the Fox, or as French and Renaissance as La Fontaine, the upshot is everywhere essentially the same: that superiority is always insolent, because it is always accidental; that pride goes before a fall; and that there is such a thing as being too clever by half. You will not find any other legend but this written upon the rocks by any hand of man. There is every type and time of fable: but there is only one moral to the fable; because there is only one moral to everything.G. K. CHESTERTON

THE FOX AND THE GRAPES

A hungry Fox saw some fine bunches of Grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis, and did his best to reach them by jumping as high as he could into the air. But it was all in vain, for they were just out of reach: so he gave up trying, and walked away with an air of dignity and unconcern, remarking, "I thought those Grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour."

THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS

A Man and his Wife had the good fortune to possess a Goose which laid a Golden Egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it in order to secure the whole store of precious metal at once. But when they cut it open they found it was just like any other goose. Thus, they neither got rich all at once, as they had hoped, nor enjoyed any longer the daily addition to their wealth.Much wants more and loses all.

THE CAT AND THE MICE

There was once a house that was overrun with Mice. A Cat heard of this, and said to herself, "That's the place for me," and off she went and took up her quarters in the house, and caught the Mice one by one and ate them. At last the Mice could stand it no longer, and they determined to take to their holes and stay there. "That's awkward," said the Cat to herself: "the only thing to do is to coax them out by a trick." So she considered a while, and then climbed up the wall and let herself hang down by her hind legs from a peg, and pretended to be dead. By and by a Mouse peeped out and saw the Cat hanging there. "Aha!" it cried, "you're very clever, madam, no doubt: but you may turn yourself into a bag of meal hanging there, if you like, yet you won't catch us coming anywhere near you."If you are wise you won't be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.

THE MISCHIEVOUS DOG

There was once a Dog who used to snap at people and bite them without any provocation, and who was a great nuisance to every one who came to his master's house. So his master fastened a bell round his neck to warn people of his presence. The Dog was very proud of the bell, and strutted about tinkling it with immense satisfaction. But an old dog came up to him and said, "The fewer airs you give yourself the better, my friend. You don't think, do you, that your bell was given you as a reward of merit? On the contrary, it is a badge of disgrace."Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.

THE CHARCOAL-BURNER AND THE FULLER

There was once a Charcoal-burner who lived and worked by himself. A Fuller, however, happened to come and settle in the same neighbourhood; and the Charcoal-burner, having made his acquaintance and finding he was an agreeable sort of fellow, asked him if he would come and share his house: "We shall get to know one another better that way," he said, "and, beside, our household expenses will be diminished." The Fuller thanked him, but replied, "I couldn't think of it, sir: why, everything I take such pains to whiten would be blackened in no time by your charcoal."

THE MICE IN COUNCIL

Once upon a time all the Mice met together in Council, and discussed the best means of securing themselves against the attacks of the cat. After several suggestions had been debated, a Mouse of some standing and experience got up and said, "I think I have hit upon a plan which will ensure our safety in the future, provided you approve and carry it out. It is that we should fasten a bell round the neck of our enemy the cat, which will by its tinkling warn us of her approach." This proposal was warmly applauded, and it had been already decided to adopt it, when an old Mouse got upon his feet and said, "I agree with you all that the plan before us is an admirable one: but may I ask who is going to bell the cat?"

THE BAT AND THE WEASELS