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Aesop's Fables, Volume 01 (Fables 1-25)

<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> 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 collection. The 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 <hr> <h2>CONTENTS</h2> THE FOX AND THE GRAPES THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS THE CAT AND THE MICE THE MISCHIEVOUS DOG THE CHARCOAL-BURNER AND THE FULLER THE MICE IN COUNCIL THE BAT AND THE WEASELS THE DOG AND THE SOW THE FOX AND THE CROW THE HORSE AND THE GROOM THE WOLF AND THE LAMB THE PEACOCK AND THE CRANE THE CAT AND THE BIRDS THE SPENDTHRIFT AND THE SWALLOW THE OLD WOMAN AND THE DOCTOR THE MOON AND HER MOTHER MERCURY AND THE WOODMAN THE ASS, THE FOX, AND THE LION THE LION AND THE MOUSE THE CROW AND THE PITCHER THE BOYS AND THE FROGS THE NORTH WIND AND THE SUN THE MISTRESS AND HER SERVANTS THE GOODS AND THE ILLS THE HARES AND THE FROGS THE FOX AND THE STORK THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING THE STAG IN THE OX-STALL THE MILKMAID AND HER PAIL THE DOLPHINS, THE WHALES, AND THE SPRAT THE FOX AND THE MONKEY THE ASS AND THE LAP-DOG THE FIR-TREE AND THE BRAMBLE THE FROGS' COMPLAINT AGAINST THE SUN THE DOG, THE COCK, AND THE FOX THE GNAT AND THE BULL THE BEAR AND THE TRAVELLERS THE SLAVE AND THE LION THE FLEA AND THE MAN THE BEE AND JUPITER THE OAK AND THE REEDS THE BLIND MAN AND THE CUB THE BOY AND THE SNAILS THE APES AND THE TWO TRAVELLERS THE ASS AND HIS BURDENS THE SHEPHERD'S BOY AND THE WOLF THE FOX AND THE GOAT THE FISHERMAN AND THE SPRAT THE BOASTING TRAVELLER THE CRAB AND HIS MOTHER THE ASS AND HIS SHADOW THE FARMER AND HIS SONS THE DOG AND THE COOK THE MONKEY AS KING THE THIEVES AND THE COCK THE FARMER AND FORTUNE JUPITER AND THE MONKEY FATHER AND SONS THE_LAMP THE OWL AND THE BIRDS THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN THE SHE-GOATS AND THEIR BEARDS THE OLD LION THE BOY BATHING THE QUACK FROG THE SWOLLEN FOX THE MOUSE, THE FROG, AND THE HAWK THE BOY AND THE NETTLES THE PEASANT AND THE APPLE-TREE THE JACKDAW AND THE PIGEONS JUPITER AND THE TORTOISE THE DOG IN THE MANGER THE TWO BAGS THE OXEN AND THE AXLETREES THE BOY AND THE FILBERTS THE FROGS ASKING FOR A KING THE OLIVE-TREE AND THE FIG-TREE THE LION AND THE BOAR THE WALNUT-TREE THE MAN AND THE LION THE TORTOISE AND THE EAGLE THE KID ON THE HOUSETOP THE FOX WITHOUT A TAIL THE VAIN JACKDAW THE TRAVELLER AND HIS DOG THE SHIPWRECKED MAN AND THE SEA THE WILD BOAR AND THE FOX MERCURY AND THE SCULPTOR THE FAWN AND HIS MOTHER THE FOX AND THE LION THE EAGLE AND HIS CAPTOR THE BLACKSMITH AND HIS DOG THE STAG AT THE POOL THE DOG AND THE SHADOW MERCURY AND THE TRADESMEN THE MICE AND THE WEASELS THE PEACOCK AND JUNO THE BEAR AND THE FOX THE ASS AND THE OLD PEASANT THE OX AND THE FROG THE MAN AND THE IMAGE HERCULES AND THE WAGGONER THE POMEGRANATE, THE APPLE-TREE, AND THE BRAMBLE THE LION, THE BEAR, AND THE FOX THE BLACKAMOOR THE TWO SOLDIERS AND THE ROBBER THE LION AND THE WILD ASS THE MAN AND THE SATYR THE IMAGE-SELLER THE EAGLE AND THE ARROW THE RICH MAN AND THE TANNER THE WOLF, THE MOTHER, AND HER CHILD THE OLD WOMAN AND THE WINE-JAR THE LIONESS AND THE VIXEN THE VIPER AND THE FILE THE CAT AND THE COCK THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE THE SOLDIER AND HIS HORSE THE OXEN AND THE BUTCHERS THE WOLF AND THE LION THE SHEEP, THE WOLF, AND THE STAG THE LION AND THE THREE BULLS THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER THE GOAT AND THE VINE THE TWO POTS THE OLD HOUND THE CLOWN AND THE COUNTRYMAN THE LARK AND THE FARMER THE LION AND THE ASS THE PROPHET THE HOUND AND THE HARE THE LION, THE MOUSE, AND THE FOX THE TRUMPETER TAKEN PRISONER THE WOLF AND THE CRANE THE EAGLE, THE CAT, AND THE WILD SOW THE WOLF AND THE SHEEP THE TUNNY-FISH AND THE DOLPHIN THE THREE TRADESMEN THE MOUSE AND THE BULL THE HARE AND THE HOUND THE TOWN MOUSE AND THE COUNTRY MOUSE THE LION AND THE BULL THE WOLF, THE FOX, AND THE APE THE EAGLE AND THE COCKS THE ESCAPED JACKDAW THE FARMER AND THE FOX VENUS AND THE CAT THE CROW AND THE SWAN THE STAG WITH ONE EYE THE FLY AND THE DRAUGHT-MULE THE COCK AND THE JEWEL THE WOLF AND THE SHEPHERD THE FARMER AND THE STORK THE CHARGER AND THE MILLER THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE OWL THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANTS THE FARMER AND THE VIPER THE TWO FROGS THE COBBLER TURNED DOCTOR THE ASS, THE COCK, AND THE LION THE BELLY AND THE MEMBERS THE BALD MAN AND THE FLY THE ASS AND THE WOLF THE MONKEY AND THE CAMEL THE SICK MAN AND THE DOCTOR THE TRAVELLERS AND THE PLANE-TREE THE FLEA AND THE OX THE BIRDS, THE BEASTS, AND THE BAT THE MAN AND HIS TWO SWEETHEARTS THE EAGLE, THE JACKDAW, AND THE SHEPHERD THE WOLF AND THE BOY THE MILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR ASS THE STAG AND THE VINE THE LAMB CHASED BY A WOLF THE ARCHER AND THE LION THE WOLF AND THE GOAT THE SICK STAG THE ASS AND THE MULE BROTHER AND SISTER THE HEIFER AND THE OX THE KINGDOM OF THE LION THE ASS AND HIS DRIVER THE LION AND THE HARE THE WOLVES AND THE DOGS THE BULL AND THE CALF THE TREES AND THE AXE THE ASTRONOMER THE LABOURER AND THE SNAKE THE CAGE-BIRD AND THE BAT THE ASS AND HIS PURCHASER THE KID AND THE WOLF THE DEBTOR AND HIS SOW THE BALD HUNTSMAN THE HERDSMAN AND THE LOST BULL THE MULE THE HOUND AND THE FOX THE FATHER AND HIS DAUGHTERS THE THIEF AND THE INNKEEPER THE PACK-ASS AND THE WILD ASS THE ASS AND HIS MASTERS THE PACK-ASS, THE WILD ASS, AND THE LION THE ANT THE FROGS AND THE WELL THE CRAB AND THE FOX THE FOX AND THE GRASSHOPPER THE FARMER, HIS BOY, AND THE ROOKS THE ASS AND THE DOG THE ASS CARRYING THE IMAGE THE ATHENIAN AND THE THEBAN THE GOATHERD AND THE GOAT THE SHEEP AND THE DOG THE SHEPHERD AND THE WOLF THE LION, JUPITER, AND THE ELEPHANT THE PIG AND THE SHEEP THE GARDENER AND HIS DOG THE RIVERS AND THE SEA THE LION IN LOVE THE BEE-KEEPER THE WOLF AND THE HORSE THE BAT, THE BRAMBLE, AND THE SEAGULL THE DOG AND THE WOLF THE WASP AND THE SNAKE THE EAGLE AND THE BEETLE THE FOWLER AND THE LARK THE FISHERMAN PIPING THE WEASEL AND THE MAN THE PLOUGHMAN, THE ASS, AND THE OX DEMADES AND HIS FABLE THE MONKEY AND THE DOLPHIN THE CROW AND THE SNAKE THE DOGS AND THE FOX THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE HAWK THE ROSE AND THE AMARANTH THE MAN, THE HORSE, THE OX, AND THE DOG THE WOLVES, THE SHEEP, AND THE RAM THE SWAN THE SNAKE AND JUPITER THE WOLF AND HIS SHADOW THE PLOUGHMAN AND THE WOLF MERCURY AND THE MAN BITTEN BY AN ANT THE WILY LION THE PARROT AND THE CAT THE STAG AND THE LION THE IMPOSTOR THE DOGS AND THE HIDES THE LION, THE FOX, AND THE ASS THE FOWLER, THE PARTRIDGE, AND THE COCK THE GNAT AND THE LION THE FARMER AND HIS DOGS THE EAGLE AND THE FOX THE BUTCHER AND HIS CUSTOMERS HERCULES AND MINERVA THE FOX WHO SERVED A LION THE QUACK DOCTOR THE LION, THE WOLF, AND THE FOX HERCULES AND PLUTUS THE FOX AND THE LEOPARD THE FOX AND THE HEDGEHOG THE CROW AND THE RAVEN THE WITCH THE OLD MAN AND DEATH THE_MISER THE FOXES AND THE RIVER THE HORSE AND THE STAG THE FOX AND THE BRAMBLE THE FOX AND THE SNAKE THE LION, THE FOX, AND THE STAG THE MAN WHO LOST HIS SPADE THE PARTRIDGE AND THE FOWLER THE RUNAWAY SLAVE THE HUNTER AND THE WOODMAN THE SERPENT AND THE EAGLE THE ROGUE AND THE ORACLE THE HORSE AND THE ASS THE DOG CHASING A WOLF GRIEF AND HIS DUE THE HAWK, THE KITE, AND THE PIGEONS THE WOMAN AND THE FARMER PROMETHEUS AND THE MAKING OF MAN THE SWALLOW AND THE CROW THE HUNTER AND THE HORSEMAN THE GOATHERD AND THE WILD GOATS THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE SWALLOW THE TRAVELLER AND FORTUNE <hr> <h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> <h3>IN COLOUR</h3> THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE THE MOON AND HER MOTHER THE FIR-TREE AND THE BRAMBLE THE CRAB AND HIS MOTHER THE QUACK FROG THE SHIPWRECKED MAN AND THE SEA THE BLACKAMOOR THE TWO POTS VENUS AND THE CAT THE TRAVELLERS AND THE PLANE-TREE THE TREES AND THE AXE THE LION, JUPITER, AND THE ELEPHANT THE GNAT AND THE LION <h3>IN BLACK AND WHITE</h3> THE FOX AND THE GRAPES THE FOX AND THE CROW THE CAT AND THE BIRDS THE CROW AND THE PITCHER THE NORTH WIND AND THE SUN THE FOX AND THE STORK THE GNAT AND THE BULL THE FLEA AND THE MAN THE OAK AND THE REEDS THE THIEVES AND THE COCK THE OWL AND THE BIRDS THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN THE BOY BATHING THE DOG IN THE MANGER THE FROGS ASKING FOR A KING KING LOG THE FOX WITHOUT A TAIL THE FOX AND THE LION THE DOG AND THE SHADOW THE BEAR AND THE FOX THE OX AND THE FROG THE MAN AND THE SATYR THE OLD WOMAN AND THE WINE-JAR THE CAT AND THE COCK THE SHEEP, THE WOLF, AND THE STAG THE GOAT AND THE VINE THE HOUND AND THE HARE THE WOLF AND THE CRANE THE TOWN MOUSE AND THE COUNTRY MOUSE THE WOLF, THE FOX, AND THE APE THE COCK AND THE JEWEL THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANTS THE BALD MAN AND THE FLY THE MONKEY AND THE CAMEL THE MILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR ASS THE WOLF AND THE GOAT THE KINGDOM OF THE LION THE KID AND THE WOLF THE MULE THE FROGS AND THE WELL THE GOATHERD AND THE GOAT THE WOLF AND THE HORSE THE FISHERMAN PIPING THE MONKEY AND THE DOLPHIN THE WOLF AND HIS SHADOW THE LION, THE FOX, AND THE ASS THE GNAT AND THE LION THE FOX AND THE LEOPARD THE MISER THE HUNTER AND THE WOODMAN THE HORSE AND THE ASS <hr> <h1>AESOP'S FABLES</h1> <hr> <div class="figcenter"><ANTIMG src="images/030-1.jpg" alt= "GRAPES"></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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