According to legend, born in approximately 620 BC, the Greek fabulist and story teller, Aesop, has been accredited with a plethora of stories each serving to teach invaluable lessons through the use of animals and inanimate objects that speak, problem solve and are generally anthropomorphic.  He is said to have passed away in the year 564 BC.

The lack of clarity as to his actual life is due to these stories being handed down as oral tradition for some three hundred years after his death prior to being recorded in a written form.  Over time, stories that were clearly not from the original Aesopica have come to be included.  Interestingly, his tales were among the first to find their way to being published on the advent of the printing press.  Through this, the tales were transmitted throughout the world.

The fable were originally intended for adults and covered political, social and religious themes  Used as ethical guides, the came to be used in the education of children beginning in the Renaissance period.

You may read further Aesop’s Fables here:

http://www.bartleby.com/17/1/51.html

Alternatively, you may continue to listen to Aesop’s Fables in an audiobook format here: