Aesop

“ One of them again answered him: “We indeed wish you well, but the danger is not over. There is one other yet to pass through the shed, who has as it were a hundred eyes, and until he has come and gone, your life is still in peril.” At that moment the master himself entered, and having had to complain that his oxen had not been properly fed, he went up to their racks and cried out: “Why is there such a scarcity of fodder? There is not half enough straw for them to lie on. Those lazy fellows have not even swept the cobwebs away.” ”

“ The Ass and the Old Shepherd
A SHEPHERD, watching his Ass feeding in a meadow, was alarmed all of a sudden by the cries of the enemy. He appealed to the Ass to fly with him, lest they should both be captured, but the animal lazily replied, “Why should I, pray? Do you think it likely the conqueror will place on me two sets of panniers?” “No,” rejoined the Shepherd. “Then,” said the Ass, “as long as I carry the panniers, what matters it to me whom I serve?”
In a change of government the poor change nothing beyond the name of their master. ”

“ Now says Æsop (after the telling of this Fable) you are not to Flatter your Selves that the Prophaners of Holy Altars, and the Oppressors of the Innocent, shall ever Escape Divine Vengeance. This Enraged the Magistrates to such a Degree, that they commanded the Officers Immediately to take Æsop from the Altar, and Dispatch him away to his Execution. ”

“ Æsop stept out and came Immediately back again, and tols his Master that he had seen Two Crows. Hereupon Xanthus went out himself, and finding but One, (for the Other was flown away) he fell Outragiously upon Æsop for making Sport with him, And order’d him to be soundly Lash’d for’t, but just as they were stripping him for the Execution, In comes One to Invite Xanthus abroad to Supper. Well Master, says Æsop, and where’s the Credit of your Augury Now? When, I that say Two Crows, am to be beaten like a Dog, and You that saw but One, are going to make merry with your Friends? ”

“ IT was Æsop's Fortune to be sent to Ephesus, in Company with other Slaves to be sold. His Master had a great many Burdens to Carry, and Æsop begg'd of his Companions not to over Charge him. They found him a Weakling, and bad him please himself. ”

“ A lowly Bramble had often been made to feel the insults and gloomy frowns of his lofty neighbour, who, on the slightest rufflings of the winds, shook his extended arms over the humble shrub, and upbraided him with his contemptible situation. As for me, said the Fir, I am the first in the forest for beauty and rank: my top shoots up into the clouds, and my branches display a perpetual verdure, whilst you lie grovelling upon the ground, and could not live were I to leave off sprinkling you with the drops from my extremities. ”

“ Æsop, soon after This, returned to Samos with the News of the Peace, where he was Wellcomed with All the Instances of Joy and Thankfulness Imaginable; Insomuch that they Erected a Statue for him, with an inscription upon it, in Honour of his Memory. From Samos he returned afterwards to Crœsus, for whose Sake he Composed several of Those Apologues that Pass in the World to This Day under his Name. His Fancy lay extremely to travelling ”

“ This collection, therefore, is more recent than that other; and, coming first abroad with Aesop's 'Life,' written by Planudes, 'tis justly believed to be owing to the same writer. That idiot of a monk has given us a book which he calls 'The Life of Aesop,' that perhaps cannot be matched in any language for ignorance and nonsense. He had picked up two or three true stories,--that Aesop was a slave to a Xanthus, carried a burthen of bread, conversed with Croesus, and was put to death at Delphi; but the circumstances of these and all his other tales are pure invention.... ”

“ It was as big as a mountain, with horns on its head, and a long tail, and it had hoofs divided in two." "Tush, child, tush," said the old Frog, "that was only Farmer White's Ox. It isn't so big either; he may be a little bit taller than I, but I could easily make myself quite as broad; just you see." So he blew himself out, and blew himself out, and blew himself out. "Was he as big as that?" asked he.
"Oh, much bigger than that," said the young Frog.
Again the old one blew himself out, and asked the young one if the Ox was as big as that.
"Bigger, father, bigger," was the reply. ”

“ Æsop took as much care of his Institution, as if he had been his own Child, and Train'd him up in those Principles of Vertue and Knowledge that might most probably render him Great and Happy. But there's no working upon a Flagitious and Perverse Nature, by Kindness and Discipline, and 'tis time lost to think of Mattering so Incurable an Evil: So that Ennus, after the Manner of other Wicked Men, heaping One Villany on another, Counterfeits his Fathers Name and Hand to Certain Letters, wherein he Promises his Assistance to the Neighbour Princes against Labynetus. ”

“ This seemed to go beyond a joke, and Xanthus demanded in an angry manner of Aesop, "Did I not tell you to provide the choicest dainties that money could procure?" "And what excels the tongue?" replied Aesop, "It is the channel of learning and philosophy. By it addresses and eulogies are made, and commerce carried on, contracts executed, and marriages consummated. Nothing is equal to the tongue." The company applauded Aesop's wit, and good feeling was restored.
"Well," said Xanthus to the guests, "pray do me the favor of dining with me again to-morrow. ”

“ A Philosopher says Æsop should Value a man for his Mind, Not for his body. This presence of Thought gave Xanthus a High Opinion of the Wisdom of the Man; and so he bad the Merchant set him his Lowest Price of That Miserable Creature. Why says he, you had as good Cheapen a Dunghill; but if you'l bid me like a Chapman for either of the Other Two, you shall have this Phantome into the Bargaine. Very good says the Philosopher; and without any more ado what's your selling Price? The Merchant speaks the Word, The Philosopher pays the Money, and takes Æsop away with him. ”

“ No matter what he was or how he lived, many, many stories are still told about him, and the greater part of the fables we all like to read are said to have been written or told by him, and everybody still calls them Aesop's fables.
Some of the stories told about him are curious indeed. Here are a few of them.
In those days men were sold as slaves in the market, as cattle are sold now. One day Aesop and two other men were put up at auction. Xanthus, a wealthy man, wanted a slave, and he said to the men: "What can you do?" ”

“ MODERN versions of Æsop go back no further than 480 A.D. In their earliest use they are related to the folklore current among all primitive peoples. This folklore had risen in Greece to the rank of literary form a thousand years before the above-mentioned revival in Germany, France, and England. As the creation of Æsop it was the answer to a need for trenchant, but veiled, characterization of men and measures in the dangerous times of the Tyrants. ”

“ He resolved to cut it down, and taking his axe in his hand, made a bold stroke at its roots. The grasshoppers and sparrows entreated him not to cut down the tree that sheltered them, but to spare it, and they would sing to him and lighten his labors. He paid no attention to their request, but gave the tree a second and a third blow with his axe. When he reached the hollow of the tree, he found a hive full of honey. Having tasted the honeycomb, he threw down his axe, and looking on the tree as sacred, took great care of it.
Self-interest alone moves some men. ”

“ The ox could rebuke him."
"But not for indolence," said Spenser. "The trouble is I'm not in the picture myself. I should be a husbandman."
"You're near enough," said Miss Longwood. "Besides, Aesop wrote. But you will have some bees, won't you? Hullo, I believe they've found."
The Spanish youths at the well were speaking their father below. As the two came up to the wall, they pulled off their caps.
"My father can smell water," said the elder. "He has found a great stone and he says it must be beneath that."
"Lift me over," said the girl. "I want to be in at the death." ”

“ So He made an Offer to the Samians, upon their sending Æsop to him, to put a Stop at present to the course of his Arms. When Æsop came to hear of their Proposition, he told them That he was not against their sending of him, Provided only that he might tell them One Story before he Left them.
In Old Time, (says he) when some Beasts talked better Sence then Many Men do now a days, there happened to be a Fierce War betwixt the Wolves and the Sheep, And the Sheep, by the help of the Dogs, had rather the Better on't. ”

“ Ought I not to be acknowledged as King of all the collected beasts?" While he was indulging in these proud thoughts, a Lion fell upon him, and killed him. He exclaimed with a too-late repentance, "Wretched me! this over-estimation of myself is the cause of my destruction."
It is not wise, to hold too exalted an opinion of one's self.
The Miller, his Son and their Ass.
A miller and his Son were driving their Ass to a fair. On the way, they met a troop of girls. "Look there!" cried one of them, "did you ever see such fools, to be trudging along on foot when they might be riding?" ”

“ Æsop shews him what he reckoned the oppressions of the administration, flowed from the prejudices of ignorance, contemplated through the medium of popular discontent. In the interview between the Beau and the Philosopher, there is the following pretty fable. The Beau observes to Æsop, ‘It is is very well; it is very well, old spark; I say it is very well; because I han’t a pair of plod shoes, and a dirty shirt, you think a woman won’t venture upon me for husband.—Why now to shew you, old father, how little you philosophers know the ladies.——I’ll tell you an adventure of a friend of mine.’ ”

“ Æsop made his wishes clear. "There is a little lodge yonder in the darkness at the end of that alley, hard by the small gate that is seldom used. You know the gate, for you sometimes used to wait in that little lodge when a late exalted personage chose to walk abroad incognito."
Breant frowned at him. "You know much, Master Æsop."
Æsop shrugged his shoulders. "I am a wizard. But it needs no wizard to guess that, as the exalted personage is no longer with us, he will not walk abroad to-night, and you will not have to yawn and doze in the lodge till he return." ”

“ So the Boar came up and drove at him with his tusks; then a Bull gored him with his horns; still the Lion lay helpless before them: so the Ass, feeling quite safe from danger, came up, and turning his tail to the Lion kicked up his heels into his face. “This is a double death,” growled the Lion.
Only cowards insult dying majesty.
The Ass and the Lapdog
A Farmer one day came to the stables to see to his beasts of burden: among them was his favourite Ass, that was always well fed and often carried his master. ”

“ Again, if we compare the fables which generally pass for Æsop's, with those written by Mary, we shall perceive that the translation of the latter could never have been regarded as a literal version of the former. She is a great deal more particular than Æsop; her moralizations are not the same. In a word, I think me comes nearer to Phædrus than to the Greek writer. ”

“ LABOURER lay listening to a Nightingale's song throughout the summer night. So pleased was he with it that the next night he set a trap for it and captured it. "Now that I have caught thee," he cried, "thou shalt always sing to me." "We Nightingales never sing in a cage," said the bird.
"Then I'll eat thee," said the Labourer. "I have always heard say that nightingale on toast is a dainty morsel."
"Nay, kill me not," said the Nightingale; but let me free, and I'll tell thee three things far better worth than my poor body." ”

“ In other words, the fables of Aesop in their original form are just such a mode of conceiving a natural relation or event between single natural objects generally, mainly between animals, whose intercourse with one another is based on the same practical necessities of life that are the motive force in that of humanity. This relation or occurrence, as viewed in its more general characters, is consequently of a kind that may happen in the sphere of human life, and as such carries with it a significance for man. ”

“ This Petulant Liberty of Æsop, Gall'd his Master to the very Soul of him, and one of the Guests, to Help forward his Evil Humour; Cry'd out, This Fellow is enough to make a Body Mad. Sr (says Æsop) you have very Little Business to doe of your own I perceive, by the Leizure you have to Intermeddle in Other Peoples Matters; You would find some other Employment else, then to Irritate a Master against his Servant. ”

“ The main truth about the former was laid down by the master-hand of Bentley during a skirmish in the Battle of the Books; the equally great critic Lessing began to unravel the many knotty points connected with the medieval Latin Æsop. His investigations have been carried on and completed by three Frenchmen in the present century, Robert, Du Méril, and Hervieux; while three Germans, Crusius, Benfey, and Mall, have thrown much needed light on Babrius, on the Oriental Æsop, and on Marie de France. ”

“ Aesop embodies an epigram not uncommon in human history; his fame is all the more deserved because he never deserved it. The firm foundations of common sense, the shrewd shots of uncommon sense, that characterize all the Fables, belong not to him but to humanity. In the earliest human history, whatever is authentic is universal ”