The Gift Of Figs To Aesop's Story

Almost everyone has heard about Aesop’s fables, but most people know very little about Aesop himself. Most of what we know about Aesop is a mixture of hearsay and conjecture. We do know that he was a slave in Greece. One theory is that before ^ had he came to Greece he lived in Ethiopia for most of his life and that “Aesop” is a muchshortened form of “the Ethiopian.” Aesop was not a storyteller then, though he would have loved to have spoken well enough to tell a good story. He stuttered so badly that he did not even try to talk. In one story we learn, however, that he could communicate. A neighbor brought a gift of figs to Aesop’s master. Greatly pleased, the master planned to enjoy the figs after his bath and directed that they were put in a cool place until he was ready.

When the master discovered the loss of his figs, the other slaves placed the blame on Aesop. They knew that if Aesop was able to speak, he could defend himself, but they did not fear this stammering slave. The master ordered that Aesop be flogged, but Aesop got the master to delay punishment briefly. After drinking a glass of warm water, Aesop ran his fingers down his throat and vomited only water. Pointing at the overseer, he made gestures that the overseer and his friends should do as he did. They drank the water, ran their fingers down their throats—and vomited figs. Although Aesop’s cleverness saved him from a flogging, it also made an enemy of the overseer. Aesop discovered a basic truth about life: Being right didn’t always