Richard Heighway & Joseph Jacobs 
Fables of Aesop 
Selected, Told Anew, and Their History Traced

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. There is no fixed text even for the nucleus collection contained in this book. Fesop himself is so shadowy a figure that we might almost be forgiven if we held, with regard to him, the heresy of Mistress Elizabeth Prig. What we call his fables can in most cases be traced back to the fables of other people, notably of Phaedrus and Babrius. It is usual to regard the Greek Prose Collections, passing under the name of fesop, as having greater claims to the eponymous title; but modern research has shown that these are but medieval prosings of Babrius’s verse. Ihave therefore felt at liberty to retell the fables in such a way as would interest children, and have adopted from the various versions that which seemed most suitable in each case, telling the fable anew in my own’ way.