Æsop's fables: a new version, chiefly from original sources

Aesop's Fables, or Aesopica, is a collection of fables attributed to Aesop. This collection of fables is the most popular moral and political textbook in more than two thousand years. The Translator's goal was to return, in a more authentic form than had been done so far, into the hands of the present generation, from which the tedious and otherwise objectionable retelling of conventional versions had almost driven it out. In the current version, however, there was no strict and definite translation plan. Although the general rule was to give a free translation from the oldest source to which the Fable could be traced, or from its best later form in dead languages, exceptional cases of all kinds will be found. Some are composed of many ancient versions: some are juxtapositions of ancient and modern: some are abbreviated, some are interpolated: one repeats the Greek epigram, the other follows the lively and vague gossip of Horace: some follow the trail of the Greek verse of Babrius, some the Latin verse of Psedrus: some accept the formulation given by L'Estrange is either spoken in much the same words by Croxall or Dodsley. This volume is adorned with numerous illustrations, beautifully fitting Aesop's Fables.