Aesop's Fables

Though many modern scholars dispute his existence, Aesop's life was chronicled by first century Greek historians who wrote that Aesop, or Aethiop, was born into Greek slavery in 620 B.C. Freed because of his wit and wisdom, Aesop supposedly traveled throughout Greece and was employed at various times by the governments of Athens and Corinth. Some of Aesop's most recognized fables are The Tortoise and the Hare, The Fox and the Grapes, and The Ant and the Grasshopper. His simple but effective morals are widely used and illustrated for children.

A native of Nashville, Sam Pickering is a professor of English at the University of Connecticut & author of eleven previous books of essays. His most recent collections are Living to Prowl, Deprived of Unhappiness, & A Little Fling & Other Essays.