Product Description

Aesop's celebrated collection of fables has always been popular with both adults and children. These simple tales embody truths so powerful, the titles of the individual fables - the fox and the grapes, the dog in the manger, the wolf in sheep's clothing and many others - have entered the languages and idioms of most European tongues. This edition is beautifully illustrated in black and white by the great Arthur Rackham, and has an introduction by G.K. Chesterton.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8697 in Books
• Published on: 1994-02-24
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

Aesop's Fables
This `Aesops Fables' is a beautifully illustrated, but inexpensive, edition of this book beloved by adults and children everywhere. You get all the fables with the addition of excellent line drawings to illustrate the various tales. The fables are very short and simple and are usually only a paragraph or two. Occasionally they will have a sentence underneath explaining the moral of the fable but generally you are left to work it our for yourself. A few of the fables seem to have no point whatsoever, they are simply a telling of a conversation between two animals for example, but not every fable has to have a moral or meaning behind it for you to enjoy it. As one of my friends pointed out, there are some quite dark tales in here, like one animal flaying another animals skin to wear it, and I guess in todays sanitised society this may shock some parents or kids, but this is pretty benign stuff and classic children's literature that can teach some valuable lessons. It is surprising just how many of these fables you know from your own childhood and how many of todays everyday phrases come from these stories. This would be perfect for bedtime stories as the fables are short, often involve talking animals and carry a message. A classic book and a simple yet attractive edition. Worth a look.

A welcome return to morality.
The truisms reflected in the immortal tales of Aesop are twofold. Firstly, they are unforgettable fairy stories that I recall even after 23 years. Secondly, they are a fun and distracting way of reacquainting our dwindling youth with the concept of morals. It is a marvellous example of seduction rather than instruction. Take,for example, 'The boy who cried wolf.' Children get so carried away with the flow of the story that they absorb the moral without realising it. By the end the child is commenting on how the boy was silly and should not have lied. Brilliant. Highly recommended.