The greatest fabulist of all times!

Aesop is considered the greatest writer of fables of all times! His fables known generally as Aesop’s Fables are timeless. They have been published variably in school readers of virtually all languages on earth. Every time that you come across an Aesopian tale, you recall that it has been somehow retold before in your village or town. The great fabulist of all times is thought to have been a Greek slave in the late to mid 6th century BCE. It is often argued that with the possible exception of the New Testament, no works written in Greek are more widespread and better known than Aesop’s Fables. For at least 2 500 years they have been teaching people of all ages and every social status lessons how to choose correct actions and the likely consequences of choosing incorrect actions. Aesop, is reported to have been a slave from Samos, a Greek island in the Northern Aegean. He is even associated with Africa, with some scholar saying, “Aesop was a Black slave of Iadmon, located in the south of Greece near northern Africa. Most accounts describe Aesop as a deformed man whose name came from the Greek word Aethiops which means Ethiopia.” Aesop is reported to have had a number of distinctive traits. Oral tradition says he was remarkably ugly, and is frequently compared to animals in terms of his appearance. They even say he was born mute, entirely unable to speak, which is another trait usually associated with animals, who can make sounds but cannot make words or speeches. However, it is agreed that Aesop was also remarkably intelligent and resourceful. It is said that Aesop successfully defended himself from a false accusation of eating stolen figs by getting the slaves who were the actual culprits to unwillingly reveal their guilt even though he is unable to tell the master what has happened. Aesop does this by drinking warm water and vomiting, which reveals that he had not recently eaten figs. He then gets their master to make the other slaves drink warm water and vomit, which leads to them vomiting up the evidence. He is spared, and they are beaten. Aesop’s tales often portray animals or insects like foxes, frogs, dogs, monkeys and others, representing humans engaged in human-like situations, a belief known as animism. The animals talk and behave like humans. This is also common in African and Arabian tales today. Amongst Aesop’s tales, there are often some about the so-called powerful being helped out by the seemingly powerless just like the tale of Lion and Mouse below: Once when a Lion was asleep, a little Mouse began running up and down upon him; this soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him. “Pardon, O King,” cried the little Mouse: “forgive me this time, I shall never forget it: who knows but what I may be able to do you a turn some of these days?” The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him that he lifted up his paw and let him go. Sometime after, the Lion was caught in a trap, and the hunters who desired to carry him alive to the King, tied him to a tree while they went in search of a waggon to carry him on. Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the sad plight in which the Lion was, went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the King of the Beasts. “Was I not right?” said the little Mouse. This tale really shows that indeed little fellows may actually prove great friends to those who appear powerful and seemingly never in need of help. The vast difference in sheer size between Lion and Mouse make this tale very memorable and tickling. Aesop also told tales that warned people to be wary of being fooled by cunning people as in “The Man and the Wood:” A Man came into the Wood one day with an axe in his hand, and begged all the Trees to give him a small branch which he wanted for a particular purpose. The Trees were good-natured and gave him one of their branches. What did the Man do but fix it into the axe head, and soon set to work cutting down tree after tree. Then the Trees saw how foolish they had been in giving their enemy the means of destroying themselves. The man with the axe is ungrateful. In the world today it is often possible that we could be taken advantage of by people we raise from nothing to stardom. In another tale by Aesop, a fox does almost the same to a poor goat. The tale goes like: By an unlucky chance a Fox fell into a deep well from which he could not get out. A Goat passed by shortly afterwards, and asked the Fox what he was doing down there. “Oh, have you not heard?” said the Fox; “there is going to be a great drought, so I jumped down here in order to be sure to have water by me. Why don’t you come down too?” The Goat thought well of this advice, and jumped down into the well. But the Fox immediately jumped on her back, and by putting his foot on her long horns managed to jump up to the edge of the well. “Good-bye, friend,” said the Fox, “remember next time, “Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties.” Aesop has yet another intriguing tale warning us never to blindly trust people. We should never blindly respond to challenges from strangers. We may never partake in an activity without thinking about the consequences. The tale is about the Fox and the Crow. It goes: A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its beak and settle on a branch of a tree. ‘That’s for me, as I am a Fox,’ said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the tree. ‘Good-day, Mistress Crow,’ he cried. ‘How well you are looking to-day: how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I feel sure your voice must surpass that of other birds, just as your figure does; let me hear but one song from you that I may greet you as the Queen of Birds.’ The Crow lifted up her head and began to caw her best, but the moment she opened her mouth the piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by Master Fox. ‘That will do,’ said he. ‘That was all I wanted. In exchange for your cheese I will give you a piece of advice for the future.’ ‘Do not trust flatterers.’ Often greed is lampooned in Aesopian tales. Aesop hated greed. You find it in the tale about the man with the golden goose. It goes something like this: One day a countryman going to the nest of his Goose found there an egg all yellow and glittering. When he took it up it was as heavy as lead and he was going to throw it away, because he thought a trick had been played upon him. But he took it home on second thoughts, and soon found to his delight that it was an egg of pure gold. Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon became rich by selling his eggs. As he grew rich he grew greedy; and thinking to get at once all the gold the Goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find nothing. Greed often over-reaches itself, is the bitter lesson from that tale. Greed knows no bounds and is self-destructive. Aesop also told tales about how crucial freedom is. This was possible seeing that Aesop was a slave himself. One such tale goes: Now you must know that a Town Mouse once upon a time went on a visit to his cousin in the country. He was rough and ready, this cousin, but he loved his town friend and made him heartily welcome. Beans and bacon, cheese and bread were all he had to offer, but he offered them freely. The Town Mouse rather turned up his long nose at this country fare, and said: “I cannot understand, Cousin, how you can put up with such poor food as this, but of course you cannot expect anything better in the country; come you with me and I will show you how to live. When you have been in town a week you will wonder how you could ever have stood a country life.” No sooner said than done: the two mice set off for the town and arrived at the Town Mouse’s residence late at night. “You will want some refreshment after our long journey,” said the polite Town Mouse, and took his friend into the grand dining-room. There they found the remains of a fine feast, and soon the two mice were eating up jellies and cakes and all that was nice. Suddenly they heard growling and barking. “What is that?” said the Country Mouse. “It is only the dogs of the house,” answered the other. “Only!” said the Country Mouse. “I do not like that music at my dinner.” Just at that moment the door flew open, in came two huge mastiffs, and the two mice had to scamper down and run off. “Good-bye, Cousin,” said the Country Mouse, “What! going so soon?” said the other. “Yes,” he replied; “Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.” And that very last line is loaded. It is the moral at the centre of that tale. Nothing is more important than one’s freedom. There are also Aesopian tales that warn you against attacking the essence of colleagues. These are tales that teach you to respect the standing of other people in society. It is found in a tale about the Fox and the Cat: A Fox was boasting to a Cat of its clever devices for escaping its enemies. ‘I have a whole bag of tricks,’ he said, ‘which contains a hundred ways of escaping my enemies.’ ‘I have only one,’ said the Cat; ‘but I can generally manage with that.’ Just at that moment they heard the cry of a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the Cat immediately scampered up a tree and hid herself in the boughs. ‘This is my plan,’ said the Cat. ‘What are you going to do?’ The Fox thought first of one way, then of another, and while he was debating the hounds came nearer and nearer, and at last the Fox in his confusion was caught up by the hounds and soon killed by the huntsmen. Miss Puss, who had been looking on, said: ‘Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon.’ There is yet another tale by Aesop that insists we should not criticise the appearance or the essence of others because our case is not necessarily the best amongst other case. It is a tale of the Tree and the Reed. It goes: ‘Well, little one,’ said a Tree to a Reed that was growing at its foot, ‘why do you not plant your feet deeply in the ground, and raise your head boldly in the air as I do?’ ‘I am contented with my lot,’ said the Reed. ‘I may not be so grand, but I think I am safer.’ ‘Safe!’ sneered the Tree. ‘Who shall pluck me up by the roots or bow my head to the ground?’ But it soon had to repent of its boasting, for a hurricane arose which tore it up from its roots, and cast it a useless log on the ground, while the little Reed, bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright again when the storm had passed over. Obscurity often brings safety, is the lesson at the heart of that tale. There are interesting issues raised even from Aesop’s circumstances when telling these stories. We ask, what can we take away from these stories about what fables are and how they were regarded in ancient Greece? First, it is widely accepted that attributing authorship of the fables to a slave means that the messages of the fables were primarily intended for slaves, or that they were created by slaves, or both. Why would slaves be thought to be particularly appropriate as the creators and audience for animal fables? First, many authors have noted that fables allow for the possibility of hidden messages. They also allow slaves to tell stories to one another about the cruelty of slavery and how its effects can be mitigated or evaded, without communicating in a way that will get them caught and punished by their masters! That is why they use animal characters, avoiding names of real people. The fables of Aesop also provide messages about how to successfully survive in a world in which the odds are stacked against you. Memory Chirere