Introduction
Fables are told all through the world. The characters of fables are usually animals that attract children to learn lesson from the stories. When I lived in China, I read many kinds of fables, including ancient Chinese fables, Arabic fables, and Greek fables. I have been interested in Aesop’s Fables from Greece since I was a child. The fables in Aesop’s collection usually have simple context, but they reveal deep meanings. My passion of reading fables was inspired by my grandpa, who was always trying to educate me with morals. Every time I went visit him, he would spend a long time telling me stories about the fox that could not reach the grapes, or the grasshopper who did not prepare food for the winter. As I grow up, my curiosity of fables has been increased. I wonder the origin of all these interesting fables and the social meanings they have revealed in the society.
The Search I started off my study of Aesop’s fables by reading an article named “Fable” from the website Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. This article detailedly introduced the origin of fable, especially the …show more content…
Aesop’s collection of fables can be considered as the starting point of the development of fables. The article “Fable”, from Encyclopædia Britannica, suggests that “the Western tradition of fable begins effectively with Aesop” (par. 2). “Fable” also talks about that there is a very high possibility that Aesop was actually a fictional figure, but there is no doubt that Aesop’s fables had contributed and impacted literature. In the article, “Introduction to Aesop’s Fables”, the author G. K. Chesterton portrays Aesop’s work of characterising the fables as a crystallization of humanity. Chesterton believes that “all the persons must be impersonal” for a fable (18). Through Aesop’s great work, all mankind is able to enjoy the wisdom of ancient Greek