Aesop's Fables (Signet Classics)

It is both amazing and wonderful that so much of the richness of our language and our moral education still owes a huge debt to a Greek slave who was executed more than two thousand years ago. Yet €œsour grapes,€ €œcrying €˜wolf,€€ €œactions speak louder than words,€ €œhonesty is the best policy,€ and literally hundreds of other metaphors, axioms, and ideas that are now woven into the very fabric of Western culture all came from Aesop€s Fables. An extraordinary storyteller who used cunning foxes, surly dogs, clever mice, fearsome lions, and foolish humans to describe the reality of a harsh world, Aesop created narratives that are appealing, funny, politically astute, and profoundly true. And Aesop€s truth€"often summed up in the pithy €œmoral of the story€€"retains an awesome power to affect us, reaching us through both our intellects and our hearts.

This exclusive Signet Classic edition contains 203 of Aesop€s most enduring and popular fables, translated into readable, modern American English and beautifully illustrated with classic woodcuts by the great French artist J. J. Grandville.

Includes:
€œThe Fox and the Grapes€
€œThe Ants and the Grasshopper€
€œThe Country Mouse and the Town Mouse€

Edited and with an Afterword by Jack Zipes

With an Introduction by Sam Pickering