Kid stuff

n

Iu2019ve been reading Aesopu2019s Fables. Most of us read some of Aesopu2019s stories as children: the conceited hare so impressed with his own speed that he took many diversions and even a nap and so lost the race to the slow but steady tortoise. This left us with a message to u201cFocus: the race isnu2019t always to the swift.u201d

n

Maybe we laughed at the fox who having tried in vain to achieve a goal, jumping as high as he could to grab some grapes, dusted himself off and said u201cthose grapes are sour anyway.u201d Maybe we even adopted that phrase into our vocabulary when a sore loser denigrates the prize someone else has won. u201cHeu2019s just talking u2018sour grapes.u2019u201d

n

Perhaps our parents admonished us about joking about serious subjects with the u201cBoy who cried u2018Wolf.u2019u201d

n

Who was this Aesop?

n

According to Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch, or more specifically according to Wikipediau2019s report of those gentlemen, Aesop was Phrygian slave who lived on the Isle of Samos between 620-564 BCE. Evidently he wasnu2019t great at physical work, and was considered u201csupremely ugly.u201d (Iu2019m going to question that characterization because Iu2019ve been told that the plaster cast of the Hellenistic bronze statue above u201ckind of looks like you, Alan.u201d)

n

It turns out that Aesop was good at one thing. He was a storyteller. Apparently he was a good enough storyteller that his skill ultimately won him his freedom and a job advocating for wealthy Samians at court and he rose to the role of diplomat for King Croesus. So I guess storytelling was a good career in ancient Greece.

n

Aesop may or may not have existed. He didnu2019t leave us a book with a Library of Congress number and a copyright page. Other writers have written about him because he is a very interesting character. In the second century CE, an anonymous writer wrote The Aesop Romance, which describes his life as a slave of the philosopher Xanthus and later an advocate in the court of Croesus. Most scholars maintain this u201cbiographyu201d is a work of pure fiction, even though it builds upon accounts of Aristotle and Herodotus.

n

Much of the fables that have come down to us probably come from later periods and so the 2016 digiReads reprint of V.S. Vernon James 1912 translation I just read is not really u201cAesopu2019s creation,u201d but a collection of folk tales over centuries that came to be attributed to Aesop. As described in the introduction by English author u00a0G.K. Chesterton in his introduction,

n

u201cAesop 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 of uncommon sense that characterize all the Fables belong not to him but to humanity.u201d

n

So Aesop is famous because some ancient Greeks said he was and then some ancient Romans rediscovered him, and then some Renaissance men rediscovered him again, and then some nineteenth century men rediscovered the Renaissance and Aesop. All the while, we everyday folk shared the Wisdom of the Fables with our children.

n

The wisdom of Aesop

n

These collected fables in the form I read them are 100-150 words each. The central characters are foxes, crows, hens, stags, oxen, horses, asses, wolves, eagles, cocks, hares, snakes. tortoises, and others. However, these animal stories communicate a great deal about human beings, our foibles, faults and failures, and occasionally some behavior worth emulating.u00a0 The Fables advise us about the world and our behavior:

n

n
• The world is full of trickery and liars who will tell you anything to gobble you up or take what you value. There are wolves who tell sheep to abandon the protection of sheep dogs with fatal consequence. There are poor woodsmen who will beg a branch from a generous ash tree to make a tool handle and return with his axe to cut the tree down. There are foxes who tell the goat to stand on hind legs so they can both escape the well. The fox promises to throw the rope down for the goat, but walks away as soon as he is free.

n

• Hypocrites speak loudly. The bear who wasnu2019t hungry turned up his nose at the foxes carrion meal saying u201dBears never bother a dead body.u201d u201cWhen you are hungry, I wish youu2019d leave the living alone,u201d said the fox.

n

• Be especially wary of flatterers. The fox tells a crow she has a beautiful singing voice so she opens her mouth to sing and drops the cheese she is holding, and the fox eats it.

n

• Pride and boastfulness frequently lead to doom. There is the boastful gnat who bites the lion, but as he gloats gets caught in the spideru2019s web.

n

• Be grateful for what you have donu2019t waste your energy on envy. There is the Wild Ass who envied the regular meals of the Pack Ass and who envied his wild brotheru2019s freedom. They change places and the Wild Ass hated the workload and the Pack Ass was eaten by a lion.

n

• Think things through. Two very thirsty frogs sit on the edge of a deep well. One smells the sweet water and encourages the other to jump in, but the older says u201care there flies to eat? And how do you propose we get out of the well?u201d

n

• Be prepared. The fox chides the boar for sharpening his tusks when there are no huntsmen around. u201cWhen there are huntsmen around I likely wonu2019t have time to sharpen my tusks,u201d replied the boar.

n

• Sometimes there is justice. A slave escaped from his cruel master who had beat him and worked him near death. The slave hid in a cave, which turned out to be a lionu2019s den. The lion roared, but it soon became obvious this ferocity came from pain. The lion had a thorn in his paw that was infected. The slave removed the thorn and nursed the lion back to health. Later the slave was recaptured and as punishment for escaping thrown to a lion in the arena. The same lion licks his face and the slave is freed.

n

n

This fable is the plot of Androcles and the Lion, a 1912 play by George Bernard Shaw immortalized movies in 1948, 1952u00a0 and dozens of cartoons and childrenu2019s books. I guess Iu2019m not the only writer who steals from Aesop.

n

Aesop, or at least the Fables have a sense of humor. One fable tells about Demades, a famous Athenian orator who couldnu2019t get legislators to listen, so he told a fable of a swallow, an eel, and Demeter who while traveling together came upon a river with no bridge. The eel swam over and the swallow flew over,u201d Demades said and proceeded with his oration on needed infrastructure. u201cWhat happened to Demeter?u201d The crowd screamed. Demades responded, u201cDemeter is very angry because you spend your time on fables and ignore the work of the people!u201d Listen up politicians.

n

Hercules upon achieving godhood was chided by Zeus for being nice to everyone at the feast except Plutus, god of wealth, whom Hercules openly dissed. u201cYeah,u201d said Herc, u201cwhenever I met Plutus on Earth, he was in the company of scoundrels.u201d

n

Another chuckle came from the story of the fox helping the sick lion hunt. The fox talked a stag into the lionu2019s den with flattery, but the lion lunged too soon and the stag got away. Reluctantly the fox went back to the stag and using deceit and even more flattery talked the stag back to his demise. The lion ate the whole deer and then looked for the delicacy, the stagu2019s brains, which the fox had stolen. The fox said, u201cthis stag let himself be talked into the lionu2019s denu2019 not once, but twice. Clearly he had no brains.u201d

n

Aesop also presaged the Heisinger Uncertainty Principle and Schrodingeru2019s Cat. A rustic was determined to demonstrate that the Delphic Oracle could be proved wrong. He hid a bird in his pocket and asked the Oracle if the bird was alive or dead, preparing to release it if the Oracle said dead or kill it if it was predicted alive. The Oracle spoke, u201cthe answer is in your hands.u201d

n

One wonders if the rustic was Aesop himself, because Aristotle tells us that Aesop died while on a diplomatic mission to Delphi for Croesus. Apparently Aesop was proud and boastful and insulted the Oracle. He was thrown off a cliff to his death.

n

Aesop apparently missed one of his major lessons:

n

n

Wisdom without humility is arrogance and hazardous to your health.

“,”tablet”:”

Kid stuff

n

Iu2019ve been reading Aesopu2019s Fables. Most of us read some of Aesopu2019s stories as children: the conceited hare so impressed with his own speed that he took many diversions and even a nap and so lost the race to the slow but steady tortoise. This left us with a message to u201cFocus: the race isnu2019t always to the swift.u201d

n

Maybe we laughed at the fox who having tried in vain to achieve a goal, jumping as high as he could to grab some grapes, dusted himself off and said u201cthose grapes are sour anyway.u201d Maybe we even adopted that phrase into our vocabulary when a sore loser denigrates the prize someone else has won. u201cHeu2019s just talking u2018sour grapes.u2019u201d

n

Perhaps our parents admonished us about joking about serious subjects with the u201cBoy who cried u2018Wolf.u2019u201d

n

Who was this Aesop?

n

According to Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch, or more specifically according to Wikipediau2019s report of those gentlemen, Aesop was Phrygian slave who lived on the Isle of Samos between 620-564 BCE. Evidently he wasnu2019t great at physical work, and was considered u201csupremely ugly.u201d (Iu2019m going to question that characterization because Iu2019ve been told that the plaster cast of the Hellenistic bronze statue above u201ckind of looks like you, Alan.u201d)

n

It turns out that Aesop was good at one thing. He was a storyteller. Apparently he was a good enough storyteller that his skill ultimately won him his freedom and a job advocating for wealthy Samians at court and he rose to the role of diplomat for King Croesus. So I guess storytelling was a good career in ancient Greece.

n

Aesop may or may not have existed. He didnu2019t leave us a book with a Library of Congress number and a copyright page. Other writers have written about him because he is a very interesting character. In the second century CE, an anonymous writer wrote The Aesop Romance, which describes his life as a slave of the philosopher Xanthus and later an advocate in the court of Croesus. Most scholars maintain this u201cbiographyu201d is a work of pure fiction, even though it builds upon accounts of Aristotle and Herodotus.

n

Much of the fables that have come down to us probably come from later periods and so the 2016 digiReads reprint of V.S. Vernon James 1912 translation I just read is not really u201cAesopu2019s creation,u201d but a collection of folk tales over centuries that came to be attributed to Aesop. As described in the introduction by English author G.K. Chesterton in his introduction,

n

u201cAesop 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 of uncommon sense that characterize all the Fables belong not to him but to humanity.u201d

n

So Aesop is famous because some ancient Greeks said he was and then some ancient Romans rediscovered him, and then some Renaissance men rediscovered him again, and then some nineteenth century men rediscovered the Renaissance and Aesop. All the while, we everyday folk shared the wisdom of the Fables with our children.

n

The wisdom of Aesop

n

These collected fables in the form I read them are 100-150 words each. The central characters are foxes, crows, hens, stags, oxen, horses, asses, wolves, eagles, cocks, hares, snakes. tortoises, and others. However, these animal stories communicate a great deal about human beings, our foibles, faults and failures, and occasionally some behavior worth emulating. The Fables advise us about the world and our behavior:

n

n
• The world is full of trickery and liars who will tell you anything to gobble you up or take what you value. There are wolves who tell sheep to abandon the protection of sheep dogs with fatal consequence. There are poor woodsmen who will beg a branch from a generous ash tree to make a tool handle and return with his axe to cut the tree down. There are foxes who tell the goat to stand on hind legs so they can both escape the well. The fox promises to throw the rope down for the goat, but walks away as soon as he is free.

n

• Hypocrites speak loudly. The bear who wasnu2019t hungry turned up his nose at the foxes carrion meal saying u201dBears never bother a dead body.u201d u201cWhen you are hungry, I wish youu2019d leave the living alone,u201d said the fox.

n

• Be especially wary of flatterers. The fox tells a crow she has a beautiful singing voice so she opens her mouth to sing and drops the cheese she is holding, and the fox eats it.

n

• Pride and boastfulness frequently lead to doom. There is the boastful gnat who bites the lion, but as he gloats gets caught in the spideru2019s web.

n

• Be grateful for what you have donu2019t waste your energy on envy. There is the Wild Ass who envied the regular meals of the Pack Ass and who envied his wild brotheru2019s freedom. They change places and the Wild Ass hated the workload and the Pack Ass was eaten by a lion.

n

• Think things through. Two very thirsty frogs sit on the edge of a deep well. One smells the sweet water and encourages the other to jump in, but the older says u201care there flies to eat? And how do you propose we get out of the well?u201d

n

• Be prepared. The fox chides the boar for sharpening his tusks when there are no huntsmen around. u201cWhen there are huntsmen around I likely wonu2019t have time to sharpen my tusks,u201d replied the boar.

n

• Sometimes there is justice. A slave escaped from his cruel master who had beat him and worked him near death. The slave hid in a cave, which turned out to be a lionu2019s den. The lion roared, but it soon became obvious this ferocity came from pain. The lion had a thorn in his paw that was infected. The slave removed the thorn and nursed the lion back to health. Later the slave was recaptured and as punishment for escaping thrown to a lion in the arena. The same lion licks his face and the slave is freed.

n

n

This fable is the plot of Androcles and the Lion, a 1912 play by George Bernard Shaw immortalized movies in 1948, 1952 and dozens of cartoons and childrenu2019s books. I guess Iu2019m not the only writer who steals from Aesop.

n

Aesop, or at least the Fables have a sense of humor. One fable tells about Demades, a famous Athenian orator who couldnu2019t get legislators to listen, so he told a fable of a swallow, an eel, and Demeter who while traveling together came upon a river with no bridge. The eel swam over and the swallow flew over,u201d Demades said and proceeded with his oration on needed infrastructure. u201cWhat happened to Demeter?u201d The crowd screamed. Demades responded, u201cDemeter is very angry because you spend your time on fables and ignore the work of the people!u201d Listen up politicians.

n

Hercules upon achieving godhood was chided by Zeus for being nice to everyone at the feast except Plutus, god of wealth, whom Hercules openly dissed. u201cYeah,u201d said Herc, u201cwhenever I met Plutus on Earth, he was in the company of scoundrels.u201d

n

Another chuckle came from the story of the fox helping the sick lion hunt. The fox talked a stag into the lionu2019s den with flattery, but the lion lunged too soon and the stag got away. Reluctantly the fox went back to the stag and using deceit and even more flattery talked the stag back to his demise. The lion ate the whole deer and then looked for the delicacy, the stagu2019s brains, which the fox had stolen. The fox said, u201cthis stag let himself be talked into the lionu2019s denu2019 not once, but twice. Clearly he had no brains.u201d

n

Aesop also presaged the Heisinger Uncertainty Principle and Schrodingeru2019s Cat. A rustic was determined to demonstrate that the Delphic Oracle could be proved wrong. He hid a bird in his pocket and asked the Oracle if the bird was alive or dead, preparing to release it if the Oracle said dead or kill it if it was predicted alive. The Oracle spoke, u201cthe answer is in your hands.u201d

n

One wonders if the rustic was Aesop himself, because Aristotle tells us that Aesop died while on a diplomatic mission to Delphi for Croesus. Apparently Aesop was proud and boastful and insulted the Oracle. He was thrown off a cliff to his death.

n

Aesop apparently missed one of his major lessons:

n

n

Wisdom without humility is arrogance and hazardous to your health.

“,”phone”:”

Kid stuff

n

Iu2019ve been reading Aesopu2019s Fables. Most of us read some of Aesopu2019s stories as children: the conceited hare so impressed with his own speed that he took many diversions and even a nap and so lost the race to the slow but steady tortoise. This left us with a message to u201cFocus: the race isnu2019t always to the swift.u201d

n

Maybe we laughed at the fox who having tried in vain to achieve a goal, jumping as high as he could to grab some grapes, dusted himself off and said u201cthose grapes are sour anyway.u201d Maybe we even adopted that phrase into our vocabulary when a sore loser denigrates the prize someone else has won. u201cHeu2019s just talking u2018sour grapes.u2019u201d

n

Perhaps our parents admonished us about joking about serious subjects with the u201cBoy who cried u2018Wolf.u2019u201d

n

Who was this Aesop?

n

According to Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch, or more specifically according to Wikipediau2019s report of those gentlemen, Aesop was Phrygian slave who lived on the Isle of Samos between 620-564 BCE. Evidently he wasnu2019t great at physical work, and was considered u201csupremely ugly.u201d (Iu2019m going to question that characterization because Iu2019ve been told that the plaster cast of the Hellenistic bronze statue above u201ckind of looks like you, Alan.u201d)

n

It turns out that Aesop was good at one thing. He was a storyteller. Apparently he was a good enough storyteller that his skill ultimately won him his freedom and a job advocating for wealthy Samians at court and he rose to the role of diplomat for King Croesus. So I guess storytelling was a good career in ancient Greece.

n

Aesop may or may not have existed. He didnu2019t leave us a book with a Library of Congress number and a copyright page. Other writers have written about him because he is a very interesting character. In the second century CE, an anonymous writer wrote The Aesop Romance, which describes his life as a slave of the philosopher Xanthus and later an advocate in the court of Croesus. Most scholars maintain this u201cbiographyu201d is a work of pure fiction, even though it builds upon accounts of Aristotle and Herodotus.

n

Much of the fables that have come down to us probably come from later periods and so the 2016 digiReads reprint of V.S. Vernon James 1912 translation I just read is not really u201cAesopu2019s creation,u201d but a collection of folk tales over centuries that came to be attributed to Aesop. As described in the introduction by English author G.K. Chesterton in his introduction,

n

u201cAesop 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 of uncommon sense that characterize all the Fables belong not to him but to humanity.u201d

n

So Aesop is famous because some ancient Greeks said he was and then some ancient Romans rediscovered him, and then some Renaissance men rediscovered him again, and then some nineteenth century men rediscovered the Renaissance and Aesop. All the while, we everyday folk shared the wisdom of the Fables with our children.

n

The wisdom of Aesop

n

These collected fables in the form I read them are 100-150 words each. The central characters are foxes, crows, hens, stags, oxen, horses, asses, wolves, eagles, cocks, hares, snakes. tortoises, and others. However, these animal stories communicate a great deal about human beings, our foibles, faults and failures, and occasionally some behavior worth emulating. The Fables advise us about the world and our behavior:

n

n
• The world is full of trickery and liars who will tell you anything to gobble you up or take what you value. There are wolves who tell sheep to abandon the protection of sheep dogs with fatal consequence. There are poor woodsmen who will beg a branch from a generous ash tree to make a tool handle and return with his axe to cut the tree down. There are foxes who tell the goat to stand on hind legs so they can both escape the well. The fox promises to throw the rope down for the goat, but walks away as soon as he is free.

n

• Hypocrites speak loudly. The bear who wasnu2019t hungry turned up his nose at the foxes carrion meal saying u201dBears never bother a dead body.u201d u201cWhen you are hungry, I wish youu2019d leave the living alone,u201d said the fox.

n

• Be especially wary of flatterers. The fox tells a crow she has a beautiful singing voice so she opens her mouth to sing and drops the cheese she is holding, and the fox eats it.

n

• Pride and boastfulness frequently lead to doom. There is the boastful gnat who bites the lion, but as he gloats gets caught in the spideru2019s web.

n

• Be grateful for what you have donu2019t waste your energy on envy. There is the Wild Ass who envied the regular meals of the Pack Ass and who envied his wild brotheru2019s freedom. They change places and the Wild Ass hated the workload and the Pack Ass was eaten by a lion.

n

• Think things through. Two very thirsty frogs sit on the edge of a deep well. One smells the sweet water and encourages the other to jump in, but the older says u201care there flies to eat? And how do you propose we get out of the well?u201d

n

• Be prepared. The fox chides the boar for sharpening his tusks when there are no huntsmen around. u201cWhen there are huntsmen around I likely wonu2019t have time to sharpen my tusks,u201d replied the boar.

n

• Sometimes there is justice. A slave escaped from his cruel master who had beat him and worked him near death. The slave hid in a cave, which turned out to be a lionu2019s den. The lion roared, but it soon became obvious this ferocity came from pain. The lion had a thorn in his paw that was infected. The slave removed the thorn and nursed the lion back to health. Later the slave was recaptured and as punishment for escaping thrown to a lion in the arena. The same lion licks his face and the slave is freed.

n

n

This fable is the plot of Androcles and the Lion, a 1912 play by George Bernard Shaw immortalized movies in 1948, 1952 and dozens of cartoons and childrenu2019s books. I guess Iu2019m not the only writer who steals from Aesop.

n

Aesop, or at least the Fables have a sense of humor. One fable tells about Demades, a famous Athenian orator who couldnu2019t get legislators to listen, so he told a fable of a swallow, an eel, and Demeter who while traveling together came upon a river with no bridge. The eel swam over and the swallow flew over,u201d Demades said and proceeded with his oration on needed infrastructure. u201cWhat happened to Demeter?u201d The crowd screamed. Demades responded, u201cDemeter is very angry because you spend your time on fables and ignore the work of the people!u201d Listen up politicians.

n

Hercules upon achieving godhood was chided by Zeus for being nice to everyone at the feast except Plutus, god of wealth, whom Hercules openly dissed. u201cYeah,u201d said Herc, u201cwhenever I met Plutus on Earth, he was in the company of scoundrels.u201d

n

Another chuckle came from the story of the fox helping the sick lion hunt. The fox talked a stag into the lionu2019s den with flattery, but the lion lunged too soon and the stag got away. Reluctantly the fox went back to the stag and using deceit and even more flattery talked the stag back to his demise. The lion ate the whole deer and then looked for the delicacy, the stagu2019s brains, which the fox had stolen. The fox said, u201cthis stag let himself be talked into the lionu2019s denu2019 not once, but twice. Clearly he had no brains.u201d

n

Aesop also presaged the Heisinger Uncertainty Principle and Schrodingeru2019s Cat. A rustic was determined to demonstrate that the Delphic Oracle could be proved wrong. He hid a bird in his pocket and asked the Oracle if the bird was alive or dead, preparing to release it if the Oracle said dead or kill it if it was predicted alive. The Oracle spoke, u201cthe answer is in your hands.u201d

n

One wonders if the rustic was Aesop himself, because Aristotle tells us that Aesop died while on a diplomatic mission to Delphi for Croesus. Apparently Aesop was proud and boastful and insulted the Oracle. He was thrown off a cliff to his death.

n

Aesop apparently missed one of his major lessons:

n

n

Wisdom without humility is arrogance and hazardous to your health.

“}},”slug”:”et_pb_text”}” data-et-multi-view-load-tablet-hidden=”true” data-et-multi-view-load-phone-hidden=”true”>

Kid stuff

I’ve been reading Aesop’s Fables. Most of us read some of Aesop’s stories as children: the conceited hare so impressed with his own speed that he took many diversions and even a nap and so lost the race to the slow but steady tortoise. This left us with a message to “Focus: the race isn’t always to the swift.”

Maybe we laughed at the fox who having tried in vain to achieve a goal, jumping as high as he could to grab some grapes, dusted himself off and said “those grapes are sour anyway.” Maybe we even adopted that phrase into our vocabulary when a sore loser denigrates the prize someone else has won. “He’s just talking ‘sour grapes.’”

Perhaps our parents admonished us about joking about serious subjects with the “Boy who cried ‘Wolf.’”

Who was this Aesop?

According to Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch, or more specifically according to Wikipedia’s report of those gentlemen, Aesop was Phrygian slave who lived on the Isle of Samos between 620-564 BCE. Evidently he wasn’t great at physical work, and was considered “supremely ugly.” (I’m going to question that characterization because I’ve been told that the plaster cast of the Hellenistic bronze statue above “kind of looks like you, Alan.”)

It turns out that Aesop was good at one thing. He was a storyteller. Apparently he was a good enough storyteller that his skill ultimately won him his freedom and a job advocating for wealthy Samians at court and he rose to the role of diplomat for King Croesus. So I guess storytelling was a good career in ancient Greece.

Aesop may or may not have existed. He didn’t leave us a book with a Library of Congress number and a copyright page. Other writers have written about him because he is a very interesting character. In the second century CE, an anonymous writer wrote The Aesop Romance, which describes his life as a slave of the philosopher Xanthus and later an advocate in the court of Croesus. Most scholars maintain this “biography” is a work of pure fiction, even though it builds upon accounts of Aristotle and Herodotus.

Much of the fables that have come down to us probably come from later periods and so the 2016 digiReads reprint of V.S. Vernon James 1912 translation I just read is not really “Aesop’s creation,” but a collection of folk tales over centuries that came to be attributed to Aesop. As described in the introduction by English author  G.K. Chesterton in his 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 of uncommon sense that characterize all the Fables belong not to him but to humanity.”

So Aesop is famous because some ancient Greeks said he was and then some ancient Romans rediscovered him, and then some Renaissance men rediscovered him again, and then some nineteenth century men rediscovered the Renaissance and Aesop. All the while, we everyday folk shared the wisdom of the Fables with our children.

The wisdom of Aesop

These collected fables in the form I read them are 100-150 words each. The central characters are foxes, crows, hens, stags, oxen, horses, asses, wolves, eagles, cocks, hares, snakes. tortoises, and others. However, these animal stories communicate a great deal about human beings, our foibles, faults and failures, and occasionally some behavior worth emulating.  The Fables advise us about the world and our behavior:

• The world is full of trickery and liars who will tell you anything to gobble you up or take what you value. There are wolves who tell sheep to abandon the protection of sheep dogs with fatal consequence. There are poor woodsmen who will beg a branch from a generous ash tree to make a tool handle and return with his axe to cut the tree down. There are foxes who tell the goat to stand on hind legs so they can both escape the well. The fox promises to throw the rope down for the goat, but walks away as soon as he is free.
• Hypocrites speak loudly. The bear who wasn’t hungry turned up his nose at the foxes carrion meal saying ”Bears never bother a dead body.” “When you are hungry, I wish you’d leave the living alone,” said the fox.
• Be especially wary of flatterers. The fox tells a crow she has a beautiful singing voice so she opens her mouth to sing and drops the cheese she is holding, and the fox eats it.
• Pride and boastfulness frequently lead to doom. There is the boastful gnat who bites the lion, but as he gloats gets caught in the spider’s web.
• Be grateful for what you have don’t waste your energy on envy. There is the Wild Ass who envied the regular meals of the Pack Ass and who envied his wild brother’s freedom. They change places and the Wild Ass hated the workload and the Pack Ass was eaten by a lion.
• Think things through. Two very thirsty frogs sit on the edge of a deep well. One smells the sweet water and encourages the other to jump in, but the older says “are there flies to eat? And how do you propose we get out of the well?”
• Be prepared. The fox chides the boar for sharpening his tusks when there are no huntsmen around. “When there are huntsmen around I likely won’t have time to sharpen my tusks,” replied the boar.
• Sometimes there is justice. A slave escaped from his cruel master who had beat him and worked him near death. The slave hid in a cave, which turned out to be a lion’s den. The lion roared, but it soon became obvious this ferocity came from pain. The lion had a thorn in his paw that was infected. The slave removed the thorn and nursed the lion back to health. Later the slave was recaptured and as punishment for escaping thrown to a lion in the arena. The same lion licks his face and the slave is freed.

This fable is the plot of Androcles and the Lion, a 1912 play by George Bernard Shaw immortalized movies in 1948, 1952  and dozens of cartoons and children’s books. I guess I’m not the only writer who steals from Aesop.

Aesop, or at least the Fables have a sense of humor. One fable tells about Demades, a famous Athenian orator who couldn’t get legislators to listen, so he told a fable of a swallow, an eel, and Demeter who while traveling together came upon a river with no bridge. The eel swam over and the swallow flew over,” Demades said and proceeded with his oration on needed infrastructure. “What happened to Demeter?” The crowd screamed. Demades responded, “Demeter is very angry because you spend your time on fables and ignore the work of the people!” Listen up politicians.

Hercules upon achieving godhood was chided by Zeus for being nice to everyone at the feast except Plutus, god of wealth, whom Hercules openly dissed. “Yeah,” said Herc, “whenever I met Plutus on Earth, he was in the company of scoundrels.”

Another chuckle came from the story of the fox helping the sick lion hunt. The fox talked a stag into the lion’s den with flattery, but the lion lunged too soon and the stag got away. Reluctantly the fox went back to the stag and using deceit and even more flattery talked the stag back to his demise. The lion ate the whole deer and then looked for the delicacy, the stag’s brains, which the fox had stolen. The fox said, “this stag let himself be talked into the lion’s den’ not once, but twice. Clearly he had no brains.”

Aesop also presaged the Heisinger Uncertainty Principle and Schrodinger’s Cat. A rustic was determined to demonstrate that the Delphic Oracle could be proved wrong. He hid a bird in his pocket and asked the Oracle if the bird was alive or dead, preparing to release it if the Oracle said dead or kill it if it was predicted alive. The Oracle spoke, “the answer is in your hands.”

One wonders if the rustic was Aesop himself, because Aristotle tells us that Aesop died while on a diplomatic mission to Delphi for Croesus. Apparently Aesop was proud and boastful and insulted the Oracle. He was thrown off a cliff to his death.

Aesop apparently missed one of his major lessons:

Wisdom without humility is arrogance and hazardous to your health.