Aesop's Fables; a new translation [Paperback]

Aesop (Author), V. S. Vernon Jones (Translator), Arthur Rackham (Contributor), G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1444450182 | ISBN-13: 978-1444450187 | Edition: 1

Aesop (c620-560 BC), known only for the genre of fables ascribed to him, was by tradition a slave who was a contemporary of Croesus and Peisistratus in the mid-sixth century BC in ancient Greece. The various collections that go under the rubric Aesop's Fables are still taught as moral lessons and used as subjects for various entertainments, especially children's plays and cartoons. Most of what are known as Aesopic fables is a compilation of tales from various sources, many of which originated with authors who lived long before Aesop. Aesop himself is said to have composed many fables, which were passed down by oral tradition. Socrates was thought to have spent his time turning Aesop's fables into verse while he was in prison. Demetrius Phalereus, another Greek philosopher, made the first collection of these fables around 300 BC. This was later translated into Latin by Phaedrus, a slave himself, around 25 BC. The fables from these two collections were soon brought together and were eventually retranslated into Greek by Babrius around A. D. 230. Many additional fables were included, and the collection was in turn translated to Arabic and Hebrew, further enriched by additional fables from these cultures.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: ValdeBooks; 1 edition (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1444450182
• ISBN-13: 978-1444450187
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,986,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a bit odd, October 11, 2009

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Khloie - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Aesop's Fables; a new translation (Paperback)

The stories are fine and there are a lot of them in this book. They don't capitalize any letters in the stories and it makes it a bit difficult to read. I didn't enjoy it like I thought I would because of that. This might not bother others like it does me.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected, March 9, 2010

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JBA (Utah) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: AESOP'S FABLES: A NEW TRANSLATION (UPDATED w/LINKED TOC) (Kindle Edition)

It is delightful to have Aesop's fables in such a handy, readable format. And the $1.05 version with the linked TOC (table of contents) is great. From reading another review I thought it would he hard to navigate, but the table of contents takes you to whichever story you want. The only problem is that you cannot access the table of contents from inside the book, but that is not really serious -- you can always jump back to the beginning.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aesop's Fables, once more. . . ., April 8, 2010

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Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL)) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Aesop's Fables; a new translation (Paperback)

"This is the immortal justification of the Fable: that we could not teach the plainest truths so simply without turning men into chessmen. We cannot talk of such simple things without using animals that do not talk at all." So says G. K. Chesterton in the introduction.

This is a translation of Aesop, published in 2009. The Fables are brief, but they are telling. The first one--"The Fox and the Grapes." A hungry fox saw some grapes on a high trellis. He tried to reach and eat them by jumping, but he could not jump high enough. So, he concludes (Page 1): ""I thought those grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour." Interesting take on how people will downgrade things that they cannot accomplish by denigrating those very things.

There are 284 pages of Fables, each brief, many familiar to all of us, and many with insightful conclusions. Others? I learned some Fables that I do not recall having read as a kid. For instance, "The Mice in Council." Mice agree that to be protected against cats, they should put a bell around the cat's neck so that they know of the cat's presence. One wise mouse observed (page6): ". . . may I ask who is going to bell the cat?" And so on and so on and so on. A lot of wisdom in these brief stories. . . .

A nice version of this classic.