Friday’s Library Snapshot … Celia Fiennes and Aesop’s Fables.

Aesop’s Fables are a collection of stories credited to Aesop; a slave and story teller who lived in Greece in 5th Century BCE.  It was at the time of the first enlightenment when scholars, slaves and singing bards where beginning to question their existence and the notion of good and evil. Long before the words were recorded so the tales and songs were memorised and passed down through the ages.  

The fables have been compared with Buddhist Jataka Tales and the Hindu Panchatantra; as some of the tales are similar.  There is some debate over who actually began the tradition.  Although Buddha and Aesop were contemporaries; the stories would have not been written down until centuries later and no scholar is interested enough to take a stand either way.  This particular book was reprinted (1926) from a 1692 edition translated by Sir Roger L’Estrange (1616-1704) and the wood engravings are by Celia Fiennes.