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Aesop's Fables: The Classic Edition by acclaimed illustrator, Charles Santore
Kindle Edition
Published May 3, 2022
287 people are currently reading
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About the author
Aesop
2,480 books1,123 followers620 BC - 564 BC
Tradition considers Greek fabulist Aesop as the author of Aesop's Fables , including "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "The Fox and the Grapes."
This credited ancient man told numerous now collectively known stories. None of his writings, if they ever existed, survive; despite his uncertain existence, people gathered and credited numerous tales across the centuries in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Generally human characteristics of animals and inanimate objects that speak and solve problems characterize many of the tales.
One can find scattered details of his life in ancient sources, including Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch. An ancient literary work, called The Aesop Romance tells an episodic, probably highly fictional version of his life, including the traditional description of him as a strikingly ugly slave (δοῦλος), whose cleverness acquires him freedom as an adviser to kings and city-states. Older spellings of his name included Esop(e) and Isope. A later tradition, dating from the Middle Ages, depicts Aesop as a black Ethiopian. Depictions of Aesop in popular culture over the last two and a half millennia included several works of art and his appearance as a character in numerous books, films, plays, and television programs.
Abandoning the perennial image of Aesop as an ugly slave, the movie Night in Paradise (1946) cast Turhan Bey in the role, depicting Aesop as an advisor to Croesus, king; Aesop falls in love with a Persian princess, the intended bride of the king, whom Merle Oberon plays. Lamont Johnson also plays Aesop the Helene Hanff teleplay Aesop and Rhodope (1953), broadcast on hallmark hall of fame.
Brazilian dramatist Guilherme Figueiredo published A raposa e as uvas ("The Fox and the Grapes"), a play in three acts about the life of Aesop, in 1953; in many countries, people performed this play, including a videotaped production in China in 2000 under the title Hu li yu pu tao or 狐狸与葡萄 .
Beginning in 1959, animated shorts under the title Aesop and Son recurred as a segment in the television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, its successor. People abandoned the image of Aesop as ugly slave; Charles Ruggles voiced Aesop, a Greek citizen, who recounted for the edification of his son, Aesop Jr., who then delivered the moral in the form of an atrocious pun. In 1998, Robert Keeshan voiced him, who amounted to little more than a cameo in the episode "Hercules and the Kids" in the animated television series Hercules.
In 1971, Bill Cosby played him in the television production Aesop's Fables.
British playwright Peter Terson first produced the musical Aesop's Fables in 1983. In 2010, Mhlekahi Mosiea as Aesop staged the play at the Fugard theatre in Cape Town, South Africa.
Tradition considers Greek fabulist Aesop as the author of Aesop's Fables , including "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "The Fox and the Grapes."
This credited ancient man told numerous now collectively known stories. None of his writings, if they ever existed, survive; despite his uncertain existence, people gathered and credited numerous tales across the centuries in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Generally human characteristics of animals and inanimate objects that speak and solve problems characterize many of the tales.
One can find scattered details of his life in ancient sources, including Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch. An ancient literary work, called The Aesop Romance tells an episodic, probably highly fictional version of his life, including the traditional description of him as a strikingly ugly slave (δοῦλος), whose cleverness acquires him freedom as an adviser to kings and city-states. Older spellings of his name included Esop(e) and Isope. A later tradition, dating from the Middle Ages, depicts Aesop as a black Ethiopian. Depictions of Aesop in popular culture over the last two and a half millennia included several works of art and his appearance as a character in numerous books, films, plays, and television programs.
Abandoning the perennial image of Aesop as an ugly slave, the movie Night in Paradise (1946) cast Turhan Bey in the role, depicting Aesop as an advisor to Croesus, king; Aesop falls in love with a Persian princess, the intended bride of the king, whom Merle Oberon plays. Lamont Johnson also plays Aesop the Helene Hanff teleplay Aesop and Rhodope (1953), broadcast on hallmark hall of fame.
Brazilian dramatist Guilherme Figueiredo published A raposa e as uvas ("The Fox and the Grapes"), a play in three acts about the life of Aesop, in 1953; in many countries, people performed this play, including a videotaped production in China in 2000 under the title Hu li yu pu tao or 狐狸与葡萄 .
Beginning in 1959, animated shorts under the title Aesop and Son recurred as a segment in the television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, its successor. People abandoned the image of Aesop as ugly slave; Charles Ruggles voiced Aesop, a Greek citizen, who recounted for the edification of his son, Aesop Jr., who then delivered the moral in the form of an atrocious pun. In 1998, Robert Keeshan voiced him, who amounted to little more than a cameo in the episode "Hercules and the Kids" in the animated television series Hercules.
In 1971, Bill Cosby played him in the television production Aesop's Fables.
British playwright Peter Terson first produced the musical Aesop's Fables in 1983. In 2010, Mhlekahi Mosiea as Aesop staged the play at the Fugard theatre in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
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March 30, 2025Classical wisdom of the West. You don’t realize how many sayings, puns and axioms are rooted in Aesops fables. Great for children to learn real lessons of life, not the stupid woke political brainwashing so popular these days.
March 31, 2025
You can’t lose with Aesop’s fables!A whimsical
A whimsical book, one remembers old sayings from childhood. It is delightfully illustrated! A book for everyone, no matter how old the reader.
A whimsical book, one remembers old sayings from childhood. It is delightfully illustrated! A book for everyone, no matter how old the reader.
October 11, 2025
Many stories end with an animal eating another or some such depressing content; that aside, they're not very encouraging or easy to understand - find other options for virtue and character instruction (not just moralistic platitudes).
November 13, 2025
it's funny how I'm rereading my childhood stories and realize how brutal the ending was, but I don't remember those ending; only the lesson. I personally wouldn't recommend this as a children's book, though no matter how beautiful the illustrations are.
December 19, 2025
Picked this up at the library with my youngest grandchildren. Short stories with a moral at each ending using animals as the example. The Boys and I shared examples of the moral of the stories using people in place of the animals.
January 19, 2026
I really like this book because it includes all the stories that I grew up hearing about from my grandparents or in school. It includes famous stories like the hare and the tortoise and the lion and the mouse. It is a good source to teach older kids about folklore and what it is.
October 2, 2025
Selection of 24 of the most famous Aesop's Fables, almost all illustrated with a full-page painting.
I just wish Charles Santore had illustrated hundreds of them.
I just wish Charles Santore had illustrated hundreds of them.
November 6, 2025
A nostalgic book from my childhood! loved reading these fables!
February 9, 2026
classic fables well worth re-reading!
Aesop’s classic fables with their pithy morals are well worth reading-reading, or, if you’ve never read them reading them for the first time is a special pleasure!
“Wolf in sheep’s clothing”, “sour grapes”, “slow and steady wins the race” so many saying derive from these fables and many people probably have no idea of their origins. And the illustrations are charming and perfect for each story. Loved this book!
Aesop’s classic fables with their pithy morals are well worth reading-reading, or, if you’ve never read them reading them for the first time is a special pleasure!
“Wolf in sheep’s clothing”, “sour grapes”, “slow and steady wins the race” so many saying derive from these fables and many people probably have no idea of their origins. And the illustrations are charming and perfect for each story. Loved this book!
September 12, 2025
Interesting stories with life lessons albeit a bit repetitive. Also, not all the morals make sense.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews