translated by V.S. Vernon Jones
Started: June 16
Finished: June 21
Notes: A number of my readings of late have been related to myth, fairy tales and fables, so I thought I would continue this trend a little longer by turning to one of the original authors of fables. Or, at the least, Aesop is one of the earliest whose writings we still have. I have read or am aware of many of these short tales, mostly from my childhood, but there are also a number here with which I'm not familiar. Most of these are quite short, perhaps making Aesop one of the first flash fiction writers. Also, though this is titled a "New" translation, it actually was first published in 1912.
Mini review: Some of it's corny, some of it funny, some of it fairly serious, but there was a lot of simple wisdom to be found here in a common sense sort of way, a lot of it even appropriate today, more than 2,000 years after Aesop put together this collection. Upon reflection, my guess is Aesop probably didn't create most of these, though I guess it's not impossible that he did; I'm assuming he probably collected these fables from a variety of sources, sort of like some writers do rural tales today.
2 comments:
I've never set down and read the whole collection of the fables at once, but have read most of them over time. Some strange stuff in those fables.
Ha! Yeah, I had to wonder a few times what ole Aesop had been smoking.
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