A review by theycallmelech
The Complete Fables by Aesop

2.0

I thought some of these fables were rather cynical, especially as written by a former slave. The moral out-takes of many of them were all about staying in your lane (to each his own trade mumbo jumbo), and stuff like "know your place in society." Maybe I'm just a post-modernist millennial, but those hard-boiled ones kinda sucked. However, I do have a few favourites:

The Fatal Marriage: A Mouse and a Lion? wtFFF

The Playful Ass: Although I hated the message (literally "those who do not know their right place must be taught it"), I thought that the moral in relation to the actual story was kinda comical. Like, this poor donkey just wants to play on the roof.

The Ass and his Purchaser: This fat-ass donkey I swear-to-godT is ME.

The Bear and the Two Travelers: ICONIC. Goldilocks and the three bears who? This fuckin bear sassed the hell out of that fake-ass backstabbing tree-climbing traveler.

The Kid and the Wolf: This damn Wolf just wanted to play his damn flute without people bothering him. But nO, I aM a BuTcHeR, tHiS iS mY lOt In LiFe.

The Great and the Little Fishes: "Our insignificance is often the cause of our safety." That was way existential.

The Bulls and the Frogs: "The poor and the weak are often made to suffer for the the follies of the great." This one was TOO real.

The Farmer and His Sons: Maaan. This dad really tricked his sons into working from beyond the grave, I wish I had such wit. I want a sequeeel. :)

Honourable mention:
The Ass, The Cock, and the Lion: Just... *sigh* pure innuendo. Here were my favourite parts;

"An ass and a Cock were together (...) He was about to spring upon the Ass, when the Cock (...) crowed loudly, and the Lion fled away as fast as he could. The Ass, observing his trepidation at the mere crowing of a Cock summoned courage to attack him."


And finally, what is UP with the abundance of Lions in the ancient mediterranean?