Folktales from Europe/ Aesop and La Fontaine

One of the oldest collections of folk tales is Aesop's fables. Written by Aesop, a slave who lived in Ancient Greece, the fables represent one of the oldest tales that personify animals. Aesop was mentioned by great Greek figures like the historian Herodotus, the philosophers Plato and Socrates and the dramatist Aristophanes. Historians believe that many of the tales were written to criticize and make fun of authorities and aristocracy, something that caused Aesop to lose his life after being sentenced to death for such act. As children, we were brought up listening to many of these tales like The Boy who cried "wolf!", The Tortoise and the Rabbit, The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, The Ant and the Grasshopper, and many others. Each tale has personified animals that play the roles and although they are mainly regarded as children's tales, the morale from them shows wisdom and philosophy of great depth, something that made Aesop's fables still alive till our time. It is from these tales that we are still attributing some traits to animals like the lion as king of the jungle, the cunning fox…etc One of my favorite tales that –in my point of view- carries a lot of depth is The Fox and the Grapes, where a fox sees a cluster of ripe red grapes hanging on a vine. Seeing the delicious grapes, he desired them a lot but they were too high for his reach. After a lot of trials, the fox walked away telling himself "the grapes are sour anyway". The morale of the story says that it is always easy to despise what you cannot get. But how did Aesop's fables remained alive and reached our lands after all this time? The first translation of the fables into Latin is dated back to the Fourth Century AD, about a hundred years later; they were translated into English from which they were translated to almost all spoken languages including Arabic. One of the most famous collections of fables, the fables of La Fontaine, was mainly influenced by Aesop's tales. Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) was a poet who lived in France and produced a collection of tales very similar to those of Aesop, written in poetical form and are still studied by scholars till our days as a milestone of French literature. The Fables of Aesop and La Fontaine represent some classical forms of folk tales, simple and short as they are, they still carry the depth of ancient Greek and French Philosophy. Below are links to the collections, so start reading and enjoy! http://www.aesopfables.com/ http://www.aesopfables.com/aesopjdlf.html