Aesop Research Paper

As with many of the writings of ancient Greece and Rome, “Aesop” (ca. 620-564 B.C.E.) can be attributed to many authors and oral traditions rather than a single author. The folk tales and fables of Aesop read like children’s stories regardless, they convey much about the adult traditions and attitudes of the time.
Several of the fables show how society views the different classes of people and how they should best represent themselves. The Two Men, The Eagle, and The Fox is a particularly good example of a fable used in this way. The first man caged the eagle with the chickens as they could both be said to be birds and it is acceptable treatment of the chickens, so why not the eagle as well. Once the eagle is rescued by the other man and set free, he rewards the man by catching him prey. The fox however, sees that the wiser thing to have done would have been to show the first man the benefit of his wings and how he could provide for the man, if only the man would see his usefulness. This, the fox believed, would prevent unfair treatment by the first man toward eagles. Another

example that shows how society must depend on everyone is the fable, The Stomach and The Body. In this story the different parts of the body are portrayed as individuals some of which feel they are superior and all parts are currently mad at the stomach because they do not feel it is doing its part. When the other parts of the body refuse to work with the stomach the whole system, society, body wastes away. In any society this is often the case. We may not always be equal, but we are all essential in our own way.
Other fables have a more direct moral and are obviously intended to teach us a lesson, through the experiences of others.

The Man and The Golden Egg, is a story everyone can easily relate to because I feel it is truly human nature to want more than what we have and in doing so we very often lose what we had, and possibly even what would have benefitted us more, even if we couldn’t see it at the time. One of the fables in this section that I had not read prior is now one of my favorites, The Monkey and Her Two Children. In this story the mother monkey has two babies, one she adores and devotes all her time to, while the other she ignores and leaves to his own means. One would assume that the offspring that is adores would do better; however, the mother monkey smothers it with her embrace and it dies. The neglected offspring goes off and though life is hard he does better for

it.
Whether there is an indication of the attitudes of the time or a more clearly defined moral these fables are enjoyable to read and allow the authors to present lessons in a completely none confrontational format regardless of the fact that the subjects and characters often are dealing with a conflict.