Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables are animal stories told to illustrate human faults and virtues. Aesop's Fables have been used in many times and in many different countries to teach timeless morals. Aesop was a Greek slave who popularized dozens of fables around 600 BC. According to legend, his master rewarded his wisdom by setting him free. Aesop served Pisistratus (King of Athens) and King Croesus. Herodotus, the Greek historian, wrote of Aesop, and Plutarch praised his wisdom. Socrates wrote some of his fables into poems. The most enduring collection was translated into Latin by Phaedrus (Macedonia: 10 BC to 54 AD), who was a freed slave of Augustus Caesar. This collection uses fables translated into English by Rev. George Fyler Townsend (1814-1900) and into French poetry by the celebrated Jean De La Fontaine.

Each fable prints on a single page with a medium-sized font for easy-reading. They are excellent material for early readers. (Note: If you need an even larger font, you can increase the font size on your browser, or cut and paste them into a word processing program and set a larger font.) The fables can be illustrated by the students and stored in the literature section of their notebooks, or made into a booklet by printing all the fables. Use construction paper for a cover and staple the binding.

You can use fables in many ways in your school. Use them to practice reading or listening. Ask your students to tell the story in their own words, or act out the story using stuffed animals. (Our children asked me to videotape their production which they still enjoy watching.) Ask your students to identify the moral of the story. You will find many opportunities to harken back to that moral in daily life!

Fables not only impart useful morals, but they are part of our cultural literacy. They teach common sayings, such as "sour grapes" or "belling the cat." When people allude to the "ant and the grasshopper," your children will understand what they are saying. They also teach morals which have become popular sayings such as "Little by little does the trick."

Click here for the fables in English

Click here for fables in Latin

Click here for the fables in French

Click here for Fable Checklist