Hi friends and happy Wednesday! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m back with another classic read! Today I’m posting my reading update thoughts on Aesop’s Fables.

The fables of Aesop have become one of the most enduring traditions of European culture, ever since they were first written down nearly two millennia ago. Aesop was reputedly a tongue-tied slave who miraculously received the power of speech; from his legendary storytelling came the collections of prose and verse fables scattered throughout Greek and Roman literature. First published in English by Caxton in 1484, the fables and their morals continue to charm modern readers: who does not know the story of the tortoise and the hare, or the boy who cried wolf?


Goodreads synopsis

The next classic on my list to read, and one that was hard to find – I’ve been searching for almost a year now, so I’m happy to be diving in! So this is a collection of very short stories (they’re all less than a page long) so I feel like this might get slightly repetitive for updates. I may talk about the fables that speak to me the most, like this week it was:

The Lion and the Mouse – talking about no matter how small your act of kindness is, it shouldn’t be wasted. 

The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – we’ve all heard this one about deceptive appearances. I liked reading the original source, gave it more meaning.

The Milkmaid and Her Pail: where you make all these grand plans before even starting step one.

The Bear and the Travellers: talking about seeing people at their worst in times of desperation and who you can count on. 

These were all fables that made me go, hmm, and I can’t wait to read more! I’m on fable 45 of 283!

I’m really enjoying this so far! I’ve started to flag the stories that really speak to me (as you can see) and I feel like I’m getting a little out of hand with it. Some fables just have more meaning than others for instance, The Crab and His Mother, was about following by example and not principle, which I liked because it’s true, we lead by example, not always by the rules. 

I also liked The Ass in the Lion’s Skin talking about how clothes can disguise a foolish person, but his words will always give him away. The Boy Bathing had a great lesson that is always good to remember about giving assistance and not advice when in crisis – I think a lot of people forget that, myself included. 

I like that there was a fable about how the tortoise got his shell (Jupiter and the Tortoise). The Boy and The Hazelnuts had a great message about not taking more than you can chew. The Fox Without a Tail was a great story about how misery loves company. The Quack Frog was good about healing yourself, before others. I also learned that these fables are where the boy who cried wolf came from (The Shepard’s Boy and the Wolf).

I’m excited to keep going to find out what else I’m going to find! I’m now at 113 of 283!

Another good progress made this week! I’ve now read 191 of 283, so I’m onto the last 100 fables! I’ve been reading this very slowly in the sense that I’ve liked taking my time with it; even reading some stories a second time to get their full impact. 

In this week’s collection of memorable stories, I learned this is where the tortoise and the hare story comes from (The Hare and the Tortoise). The Wolf and the Sheep was all about how easy it is to see through a hypocrite. The Mouse and the Bull I thought was great because it talked about how you don’t have to be the strong one to win the battle. The Farmer and the Fox was about revenge being a two edged sword. I also learned that the term ‘Birds of a feather, flock together’ comes from the story The Farmer and the Stork… it was actually a sad tale. There were a few that talked about trying to please people, but ending up pleasing no one, which I thought were really good lessons. (The Man and his Two Sweethearts, The Miller, His Son, and Their Ass). The Wolf and the Goat was about being weary of friends with ulterior motives, and the last story, the Caged Bird and the Bat was about precautions are useless after an event, which makes a lot of sense. 

I hope to be finished next week, so look out for my final thoughts then!

I’ve finally finished Aesop’s Fables and I had such a great time reading it! I can’t believe it’s already come to an end. I mean, it’s only 239 pages so it’s short, but I’ve had such a great time diving into these fables, reading the lessons that these stories provide. This was a good read, I liked more than I didn’t and so that’s a win. Reading them slowly really helped take them in too. Sometimes I read some of them more than once because they were either just that good, or I needed to read it again to fully grasp it. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant experience and I highly recommend everyone read this. You’ll also see a lot of sayings that get thrown around come from these fables, which I thought was cool. Like for example, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire” (The Stag and the Lion), “Do unto others as you would have them do to you” (The Eagle and the Fox).

In the last few stories I read this week, some that stood out were, The Frogs and the Well about looking before you leap. Demades and his Fables, was basically a meta story about fables… referring to these Aesop’s Fables… usually I don’t like meta things, but I liked this. The Monkey and the Dolphin was about pretending to be something you’re not… and paying the price. The Lion, the Fox and the Ass is about learning from other’s misfortunes. The Old Man and Death was a really good look at getting what we wish for. The Gnat and the Lion was about overcoming something bigger than you, only to be taken out by something smaller than you. I thought that was a great lesson. The Serpent and the Eagle was about one good deed deserves another. And the last story, The Goatherd and the Wild Goats was about how you treat old friends, don’t neglect them for new ones. 

All in all, I will miss reading these, but I look forward to coming back to them in the future!

 Have you read Aesop’s Fables? Let me know in the comments!