Aesop's Fables Research Paper

Aesop’s Fables From early childhood children begin to learn the ways of the world. They learn what society expects from them as well as morals and humility. Aesop's Fables are a great collection of influencing tales that teach children about right and wrong, good and bad, kindness and meanness, generosity and greediness, just to name a few. In fact, fables and fairy tales have been used throughout history as a popular method in the instructions of developing good morals. These stories point out right from wrong, as well as wisdom by which to live life. From Aesop’s Fables come the lessons in life that one never forgets. The story of the Tortoise and the Hare teaches children perseverance. The story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf teaches children the dangers of lying. These stories come from a time
of very different lives and social rules, yet they are still a very important tool for learning today for both children and adults. The story of the life of Aesop is somewhat controversial. Some say that he did not exist, while others say he did exist, but was not the actual creator of the fables, but just gathered them together. The best evidence we have on Aesop's life comes from off hand remarks in early ancient sources like Herodotus, Aristotle, Aristophanes and Plato. Several different places claim the honor of being his place of birth. Following you will find the most popular version of Aesop’s history I was able to find. Aesop was born a slave around 620 BC in Phyrgia and then moved to Samos. He is thought to have been a hunchback with a speech impediment. Aesop had two masters. The second recognized his intelligence and wit. He eventually freed Aesop. Freed slaves were allowed to participate in civic activities as well as travel. Aesop did both. He made his way to Sardis, which was ruled by King Croesus. Croesus was also impressed with Aesop’s intelligence, so he allowed him to study with other wise men of the times. Eventually Croesus began to send Aesop on diplomatic missions for Sardis. On his final mission to Delphi, Croesus asked Aesop to deliver some gold to the people there. Unfortunately Aesop was disgusted by the greed that the Delphi people showed so he sent the gold back. When the townspeople heard what he had done, he was killed like a common criminal and flung over a cliff. It is said that the town suffered a series of catastrophic mishaps which they blamed on the murder of Aesop, calling it “beset with the blood of Aesop”. A fable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson. Aesop’s fables continued to be past down through oral tradition until about 300 BC when an Athenian politician named Demetrius Phalereus compiled about two hundred of the stories in the book Assemblies of Aesop. About three centuries later the book was translated into Latin for wider consumption. About 230 AD a Greek poet combined Aesop’s fables with Indian fables to create the literature that is widely known and read today. It has been translated several times to different languages, but the lesson stays the same. Aesop’s fables began as stories that reflected philosophical thought. In the fourth century BC, Demetrius first recorded the fables as a handbook for writers and speakers. Each fable was preceded by a brief interpretation of the fable to help the writer or speaker deliver his message without having to read the entire fable. Because the only accepted literature of the times was poetry, the fables were eventually put into verse by the Roman Phaedrus (in Latin) and Babrius ( in Greek). The charming collection by Babrius remains the most widely read collection today. His collection was translated to English by William Caxton on March 26th 1484. Caxton was the first printer of books in England. His edition was later brought up to date by Rev George Fyler Townsend. It remains the version we read today. Aesop’s tales were originally passed down in the late fifth century BC orally. The only know written, or in this case drawn, work of this time is an Athenian Vase with a picture of a fox and a bunch of grapes. The vase illustrates that even before the fables were written word, they were influential in other parts of life. The fables were used in that time to illustrate points of morality. In the Late centuries of BC Aesop’s fables were mainly used by scholars and sages. They were handed down through the uncertain oral tradition. They were used as not only and exercise in morality, but as a tool for teaching grammar and proper wording. It was often given as an exercise to translate the fables into different wording, but not lose the original idea or thought. Though Aesop came from the lowest class of human in that day, his fables were never the special property of on particular class. Socrates is said by Plato to have put some of the fables that he had memorized into verse while he was in prison. The fables were also translated by numerous scholars and slaves until the beginning of the 1st century AD. At the end of the 1st century BC a roman Orator named Quintilian recommended the use of the fables in educating children. This was the first time the fables were introduced for this use. He recommended first letting the children learn their letters and words with the fables and from there move to understanding sentences and putting the fables into their own words. Not much is known abut Aesop’s fables until the beginning of the Renaissance Period. During this time the Dutch humanist Erasmus wrote The Education of a Christian Prince. In it he writes, “When the little fellow has listened with pleasure to Aesop’s fable of the lion and the mouse… and when he has finished with his laugh, then the teacher should point out the new moral: the fable teraches the prince to despise no on… for one one is so weak that on occasion he may help you.” Erasmus’s enthusiasm for the learning value of Aesop’s fables influenced educational practices in England and also had a hand in the reforms urged by political philosopher John Locke. Locke urged that nothing was better than Aesop for children to begin learning with while still holding such a useful reflection to an adult. In this sense the stories were finally seen as something for all the ages to enjoy. Children could learn from them while adults could still use them to guide everyday life. Thanks to scholars like these who championed Aesop’s learning value, the fables became a common learning tool in Europe. In school the fables helped children to learn Greek and Latin as well as how to write effectively in their native language. Another point in the fables favor according to Locke was the ability to illustrate the fables. He reasoned the if a child’s copy of Aesop has pictures in it, it will entertain him more as well as encourage him to read by giving him something to identify the words against. This theory was also being adapted in other areas of the world around the same time period. The book that William Caxton put out soon became the most widely illustrated book in the world, although not much effort was made to make the fables easier for children to understand until much later. This gave children a whole new way to learn their letters as well as the important moral lessons they would carry with them into adulthood. The fables are a great example to illustrate for many of the same reason they are good to tell and hear. They are simplified stories that contain only two characters. If there are more, they usually fall into groups. This allows them to concentrate on one crucial act in the story that can be drawn and will tell the story in the picture. It also helps that the fables are bound to no particular time or place. The fable may be updated of varied to fit into the proper time and place for the relevance. In about 1453, with the fall of Constanople learning was rapidly brought back into focus in Italy. One of the first works to be brought back into attention was Aesop’s Fables. They took their place next to the Holy Scriptures and the other ancient classic authors in the mind of students in those days. These fables, again, were among the books brought into an extended circulation by the agency of the printing press. Bonus Accursius, as early as 1475-1480, printed the collection of these fables, made by Planudes, which, within five years afterwards, Caxton translated into English, and printed at his press in West- minster Abbey, 1485. The knowledge and common use of the fables quickly spread from Italy into Germany, and their popularity was increased by the favor and sanction given to them by the great fathers of the Reformation, who frequently used them as vehicles for satire and protest against the tricks and abuses of the Roman ecclesiastics. The greatest advance, however, towards a re-introduction of the Fables of Aesop to a place in the literature of the world, was made in the early part of the seventeenth century. In the year 1610, a learned Swiss, Isaac Nicholas Nevelet, published the third printed edition of these fables, in a work entitled "Mythologia Aesopica." This was a noble effort to do honor to the great fabulist, and was the most concise collection of Aesopian fables ever yet published. During the interval of three centuries which has elapsed since the publication of this volume of Nevelet's, no book, with the exception of the Holy Scriptures, has had a wider circulation than Aesop's Fables. They have been translated into the greater number of the languages both of Europe and of the East, and have been read, and will be read, for generations, alike by Jew, Heathen, Mohammedan, and Christian. They are, at the present time, not only engrafted into the literature of the civilized world, but are familiar as household words in the common intercourse and daily conversation of the inhabitants of all countries. Aesop’s fables slowly traveled across the world, becoming more and more used in everyday teaching of children.
The fables became a colonial best seller in Puritan time in England. The fables were used at much different times to illustrate different points for different parties. In Czarist Russia, the fables were used as arguments against a repressive regime. In the nineteenth century, the fables were called the tools of American capitalism, teaching American school children to emulate the persistence of the tortoise and the diligence of the ant. The fables continued to grow in popularity as they spread. Aesop’s fables were on the curriculum of America’s first college preparatory school, Boston Latin. They constituted the backbone of the spellers, which taught children their letters and simpler reading exercises. His morals were also emphasized to the children as rules to live by. Aesop became a staple of the nineteenth century Readers, in which his morals were emphasized. The fables were circulated widely on the frontier. A home on the frontier may have only had a couple of books, but Aesop’s Fables was most often among them along with the Holy
Bible. Abraham Lincoln was a great fan of Aesop. He knew the majority of the fables by heart. He is remembered to be reading the fables at night as a child. He later used variations of the fables in his political career. Lincoln hallmark as a storyteller was his ability to adapt the fables to an immediate political or social situation. Lincoln often referred to Aesop directly. While appealing for party unity in the 1835 election, he first cited Aesop’s fable of the bundle of sticks. He then varied it to come out with the famous saying “a house divided against itself cannot stand”. When urged to give up Fort Sumter, he reminded people of the fable of the Lion and the woodsman’s daughter. In this fable, in order to marry the woodsman’s daughter, the lion gives up his long teeth and his claws. For this he receives a beating instead of a wife. Lincoln is quoted saying after this tale, “May it not be so with me, if I give up all that is asked?” In modern day times, Aesop’s fables are still used to teach children values and morals. There are hundreds of different books that translate the fables into easier reading for children. These stories are ones that most of us grew up with and learned from primary school. While Aesop’s fables were originally created for adult consumption, today they are mainly used for children’s learning skills. Some of the fables have recently been adapted to fit back into the adult world. In David Noonan’s Aesop and the CEO, the fables are put into a business setting and the morals are adapted to provide ways to runt he business world morally. Noonan felt that though the business world had changed much since Aesop’s time, people hadn’t. His book states that there is a need for strong and moral leadership in the business world today more than ever. With all of the lawsuits and other corruption that we see in politics and high power business today, there is obviously a missing link in some business men’s morality code. Noonan seeks to change that by using fables over 2600 years old. He tells the fable and then relates the moral to how it can be used as a business lesson. There are several other references that translate Aesop’s old fables into our modern world to teach adults lessons. They range from the business world, to the education of the future children of our world. We even see some of the fables that have been translated into audio with mp3s to convey some of the details. You can’t get more modern than that. Aesop’s fables were created over 2600 years ago. They were used for everything from writing to language to the education of children. Today they are still used in our learning scopes. Our children learn the morals that we learned when we were children. These lessons help to create the people we are today or will become. Through out history, some of the most influential and important people we know of have used Aesop’s fables publicly and in their everyday lives. These people alone show how important these little tales are to our history and our culture. These fables have touched nearly every generation of people since they were first created. They were originally passed down orally and then made into the books that we read and read to our children today. After 2600 years, Aesop is still teaching us how to be good and moral human beings. I don’t think there are many other works that can truly say they have had the moral impact on centuries of people the way Aesop has.

Bibliography
28 June 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop%27s_fables>.
28 June 2008 <http://www.bookrags.com/Aesop%27s_Fables>.
28 June 2008 <http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/aesop.htm>.
28 June 2008 <http://www.online-literature.com/aesop/aesops-fables/>.
28 June 2008 <http://www.umass.edu/aesop/index.php>.
"Aesop's Fables." 28 June 2008 <http://www.aesopfables.com/>.
"Aesop's Fables." 28 June 2008 <http://www.allreaders.com/topics/info_1649.asp>.
"Aesop's Fables." 28 June 2008 <http://www.lefavole.org/en/esopo.htm>.
"Aesop's Fables." Encyclopedia. 28 June 2008 <http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Aesops_Fables/id/1904211>.
"Aesop's Life and Biography." 28 June 2008 <http://www.eddery.com/aesops_life_biography.html>.
Bader, Barbara. Aesop & Co. H Mufflin Co, 1991.
"Biography of Aesop." 26 June 2008 <http://www.tcnj.edu/~chai2/literature/author/2_Aesop-.htm>.
Bragard, Veronique. "Opening Up Aesop's Fables." Image TXT (2007). 28 June 2008 <http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_3/bragard/>.
Clayton, Edward. "The Political Philosophy of Aesop's Fables." 26 June 2008 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/8/6/6/1/p86613_index.html>.
"Dream Wolf Analysis." 28 June 2008 <http://www.experiencefestival.com/dream_analysis_wolf/page/3>.
Gibbs, Laura. "Aesop as an Archetypal Hero." Bryn Mawr Classical Review (1997). 28 June 2008 <http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1999/1999-05-25.html>.
Gibbs, Laura. "The Ancient Fable." Journal of American Folklore 120 (2007). 28 June 2008.
Green, Melanie C. "Storytelling in Teaching." Teaching Options 7 (2004). 26 June 2008 <http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/cut/options/juin_04/ENG/article1_0.htm>.
Grisby, Leslie B. "Aesop's Fables on English Ceramics." Aesop's Fables on English Ceramics. 01 June 1994. 26 Jan. 2008 <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1026/is_n6_v145/ai_15516666>.
Noonan, David C. Aesop & the CEO. Nelson Books, 2005.
Patterson, Annabel. Fables of Power. Durham NC: Duke UP, 1991.
Regier, Willis G. "No Children's Tale." The Chronicle Review (2008). 26 June 2008 <http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=28q1gbsyq6hr9j017jvf9g7r1d1qlp8n>.
Short, Jeremy C., and David J. Ketchen Jr. "Teaching Timeless Truths Through Classic Literature." Journal of Management Education 29 (2005). 28 June 2008 <http://jme.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/29/6/816>.
"The Aespoic Fable Critism." 28 June 2008 <http://www.enotes.com/literary-criticism/aesopic-fable>.
"Translating Aesop's Fables." The Book SHow. ABC National Radio. ABC. 31 Mar. 2008. 26 June 2008 <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2008/2201706.htm>.
Ward, Helen. Unwitting Wisdom. Chronicle, 2004.
West, Jim. "Aesop's Fables II." Theatre Works. 26 June 2008 <http://www.theatreworksusa.org/uploads/studyguide/studyguide_304.pdf>.
Zafiropoulos, Christos A. Ethics in Aesop's Fables. Boston: Brill, 2001.