Audiobook · read by volunteers
Aesop's Fables, Volume 01 (Fables 1-25)
Aesop (620–564 BC)
Read by Chip, Joplin James, Kristin LeMoine, worraps, Annie Coleman Rothenberg, Beth Dudek, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Robert Garrison, Alice Elizabeth Still · 26 chapters · 45 min
About the book
Why does the fox despise the grapes he cannot reach, and what happens to the greedy farmer whose goose lays golden eggs? The first volume of Aesop's Fables opens with a short introduction by G. K. Chesterton and then gives us twenty-five of the best-known animal stories ever told, among them The Fox and the Grapes and The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs. Each fable takes only a minute or two and ends with a plain moral that every listener can carry away. Wolves, lambs, lions, mice and crows act out human weaknesses, vanity, greed, laziness and trust misplaced, with a light touch and a wry smile. Nine LibriVox volunteers share the reading, so the voices change with the creatures. With 26 short tracks and a total of under an hour, the volume is easy to dip into with children or to enjoy on a short walk.
Introduction
Aesop is the name attached to a vast body of animal fables that have been told and retold for some two and a half thousand years. According to tradition he lived in the sixth century BC, with the years 620 to 564 BC often cited, but almost nothing is truly known about him, and some scholars doubt that he existed at all. Whoever shaped them, the stories stand as classics, known in almost every culture, and have supplied many everyday phrases such as sour grapes.
The method is simple. A short tale with talking animals sets a problem, a character makes a choice, and the outcome speaks for itself. Allegory lets the teller criticise pride, flattery or cruelty without naming anyone. Chesterton, whose introduction opens this volume, was one of the most celebrated English essayists of his day, and his name lends the collection a distinguished welcome.
This recording is the first of a numbered series covering fables 1 to 25, in the English translation of V. S. Vernon Jones (1875-1955), dating from 1912. It has 26 tracks, including the introduction, and lasts about 0.8 hours, shared among nine LibriVox volunteers, including Chip and Joplin James.
Why listen? Because the fables are brief, memorable and endlessly discussable. They work for bedtime, in the classroom, or whenever you want a small story that leaves a thought behind. The short length makes the volume a good place to start with the whole series. If you enjoy these stories, you can continue through the twelve numbered volumes, or you can return to favourites and compare how different voices handle the same moral.
Public domain
Aesop died in 564 BC: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text