Aesop’s Fables: The fascinating story behind them
The ultimate beauty of Greek Literature is how it always features morality lessons making it so timeless and universal. Greek Literature is the finest form of literature with oldest forms of writing, and magnified storytelling.
Aesop’s Fables brings out a lot of it out on the table. Written by a former Greek slave, in the late mid-6th century BCE, Aesop’s Fables are the world’s best known collection of morality tales. The fables, numbering 725, were originally told from person-to-person for entertainment purposes but also as a means for relaying or teaching a moral or lesson. Aesop’s Fables is the most sincere form of literature with multiple morality tales featuring, animals or insects in contrast to early myths and representing them in various Human-like situations (animism), to showcase the tendencies of humans in different situations with a unique form of storytelling. Fables were specifically designed to highlight both desired and undesirable human behaviours, with lessons on what to do and what not to do. It had various criticising comments on the government and the society, and was directed to remind the lower class about their strengths clearly offering a necessary message through the greatest thing created by mankind, Literature!
The fascinating story behind Aesop’s Fables
The origins of the fables pre-date the Greeks. Sumerian proverbs, written some 1,500 years before Christ (BC), share similar physiognomies and structure as the later Greek fables. As mentioned above, fables were designed to highlight both desirable and undesirable human behaviours and with that, every tale offered a lesson to learn.
The events that transpired re-counted in the stories begin with some kind of occurrence and conclude with a punch line which would transform into the presumably recognized moral of the tale. It is much later that the writers would begin to include the moral, either at the beginning of the story or was added to the end, in order to instruct the readers about the involvement of morals.
The technique used for storytelling through animals behaving in humanly way was unique, universal and created with a view of making it accessible to every age-group.
Often the focus of Greek learning, especially regarding instruction for children in reading and writing, Aesop’s Fables served a multitude of additional purposes. The Greek Literature featured many moral values and that was the main plot that subverted the text around that time.
Interesting lessons from Aesop’s Fables
Don’t we all remember the bed-time story our parents used to read to us about the turtle and the rabbit? Well, it is originated from the Aesop’s Fables, ‘the Tortoise and the Hare’ with the lesson that, “slow and steady wins the race so never give up”. And with this one, it offered various stories with important lessons so let’s take a look.
- Be prepared for the days of necessity ( The Ants and the Grasshopper)
- Be happy with what you have (The Dog and the Shadow)
- One good turn deserves another ( The Serpent and the Eagle)
- Example is more powerful than precept (The Two Crabs)
- A man may smile yet be evil (The Horse and the Groom)
…to name a few!
Aesop’s Fables have been taught, read from generations to generations and were written down in Greek between 10th to 16th century and yet, the relatability stays the same as before. It has been one of the best forms of entertaining and educative learning method for children and we must hope that the next generations also get to learn about morals through such classics.
The tales will always be timeless and fresh as they were before and isn’t that amazing? That’s the beauty of Greek literature.
If you wish to contribute to BeStorified and be featured, read the guidelines.
