Aesop's Fables Hardcover – September 10, 2013

This book is a collection of Aesop’s most famous fables. Some are so blunt and honest, like the story of the ass and the lap dog. Some are funny, such as the bear and the travellers. Some are well known, such as the boy who cried wolf. But most of them have some common traits: they are simple and inspirational, with lessons that have stood the test of time.At the introduction of the book, G. K. Chesterton highlighted some interesting insights into the world of fables and fairy tales. Firstly, fables are stories about talking animals, plants, or forces of nature with human-like characteristics, while fairy tales are mostly human characters that involve good and evil traits and may or may not have magical capabilities.Secondly, the fables in this book are not necessarily written by Aesop but rather collected by Aesop, just as Grimms’ fairy tales are well known as the best collection of fairy tales instead of written by the Grimm brothers.Thirdly, the origin of the fables themselves are mostly lost in history and have since become anonymous, universal, and have been passed down from generation to generation, which is a common theme in the earliest human history.And finally, through the analogies of animals we can learn so much about human emotions, about our shortcomings, about our hopes and dreams, about finding our place in the social hierarchy, about justice and injustice, about hard work that result to nothing if we doing it wrong and pure damn luck that result to everything, and so much more.Here are some of my favourite moral stories from this book:- “If you are wise you won’t be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.”- “Notoriety is often mistaken for fame.”- “Look and see which way the wind blows before you commit yourself.”- “Persuasion is better than force.”- “Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.”- “Boasters brag most when they cannot be detected.”- “Better poverty without a care than wealth with its many obligations.”- “We may often be of more consequence in our own eyes than in the eyes of our neighbours.”- “Misfortune tests the sincerity of friendship.”- “Do not waste your pity on a scamp.”- “You cannot believe a liar even when he tells the truth.”- “Look before your leap.”- “Show gratitude where gratitude is due.”- “Give assistance, not advice, in a crisis.”- “They complain most who suffer least.”- “Do not attempt too much at once.”- “What is worth most is often valued least.”- “Heaven helps those who help themselves.”- “Revenge is a two-edged sword.”- “If you choose bad companions no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself.”- “If you attempt what is beyond your power, your trouble will be wasted and you court not only misfortune but ridicule.”- “Injuries are never forgotten in the presence of those who caused them.”- “Precautions are useless after the event.”- “A man is known by the company he keeps.”- “Advantages that are dearly bought are doubtful blessings.”- “Servants don’t know a good master till they have served a worse.”- “It is no use being your own master unless you can stand up for yourself.”- “Think twice before you act.”- “Rude shocks await those who take to themselves the credit that is due to others.”- “It’s no use trying to hide what can’t be hidden.”- “What’s bred in the bone is sure to come out in the flesh.”- “There is no virtue in giving to others what is useless to oneself.”- “All men are more concerned to recover what they lose than to acquire what they lack.”- “Do not promise more than you can perform.”- “Happy is he who learns from the misfortunes of others.”- “Better servitude with safety than freedom with danger.”- “Those who pretend to be something they are not only make themselves ridiculous.”Imagine old age wisdom taught through hundreds of classic short stories. This is what this book is ultimately about. I enjoyed reading it so much.

Love these stories, untarnished by today’s conventional “wisdom.”

With this latest pop-up book the authors Chris Beatrice and Bruce Whatley have out done themselves in illustrating the classic Aesop Fables! Each story is breathtakingly illustrated with lush colour pictures and paper engineering by Kees Moerbeek! With the GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGG the surprises that the farmer and the wife find are well illustrated and presented with each turn of the pop-up page! And when the farmer has a look of concern over what his wife will do next as she decides to kill the goose to get all the eggs at once a flip of the page reveals the goose has been killed and the animals look sad at the loss! These smaller pop-ups reveal the full story while the large center piece shows the goose in full glory before her demise!In THE FOX AND THE CROW a spectacular tree stands in full view with the fox at bottom and the crow at the very top! When the fox compliments the crow and says I bet your voice is preetier then the other birds, the crow agrees and lets out a caw, caw sound and the fox gobbles up the cheese that the crow had in it's beak! The fox said, "You do have a beautiful voice but you don't seem to have a brain!"In the familar story The TORTOISE AND THE HARE the pop-ups present the wily hare who is outdone by the tortoise in the last pop-up page! The next 5 storys are presented with one pop-up for each story on a 2 page spread! THE HORSE AND THE STAG, THE DOG AND HIS BONE, TWO TRAVELERS AND A BEAR, THE WIND AND THE SUN, and THE FOX AND THE GRAPES each have an approprite pop-up to illustrate their tale. At times the pop-ups are tricky to fold back in but they fold in well for the most part!The next to last story is THE LION AND THE MOUSE with the tale starting out with the lion catching a mouse who has woken him up! When the mouse suggests he might help the lion some day the lion lets him go! The center pop-up shows the lion captured in a net and the last pop-up shows the lion freed by the mouse for a happy ending!Finnaly there is THE ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPER with this pop-up tale well presented and Aesop is presented as a boy surrounded by his animal friends! Highly recommended!

I read one every morning It is great

... in großem Format und mit schönen Illustrationen.Wer Pop-Up-Bücher sammelt, greife hier flugs zu, denn das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis ist sehr gut!Wenn es einem hauptsächlich um Aesops Fabeln geht, sollte man doch lieber einschlägige Klassiker kaufen, denn die Devise ist hier klar: VIIIIEL dreidimensionales Bild und SEEEEEHR wenig (englischer) Text.Und es sind natürlich nur wenige Fabeln zu finden, als da wären:Die Gans, die goldene Eier legte/ Der Fuchs und die Krähe/ Wettrennen zwischen Hase und Schildkröte/ Der Hund und sein Knochen/ Die Wanderer und der Bär/ Wind und Sonne/ Pferd und Hirsch/ Der Fuchs und die Trauben/ Löwe und Maus/ Die Ameisen und der Grashüpfer. (Bitte nicht wundern, falls Aesop-Fans jetzt die eine oder andere Fabel nicht kennen - das Buch ist in Englisch und ich habe hier nur die Titel übersetzt. Ob sie auf Deutsch die gleichen Namen haben, kann ich nicht sagen.)Mich als bekennenden Pop-Up-Fan hat das Buch begeistert!

著者が連名でわかりにくいですが、Kees Moerbeek さんが仕掛け担当のPaperEngeneeringで他の２名はイラスト担当です。モアビークさんは「６にんのゆうかんなたんけんか」をはじめ、もう20年以上も活躍されているベテラン。６つの見開きと14の小さな仕掛けで10のイソップ寓話を描いた本書は、「手堅くしっかりまとめた」そつのない構成でありながら大仕掛けもしっかり用意されていて見応えがあります。日本語版も発売されているのでお子さんがいるならそっちを買っても良いかと。

I am sure the stories are good but given my eyesight I need to be able to choose the font size which is not possible with this version. I have returned it.

ポップアップ絵本の中でもなかなかのスグレモノとオススメします♪(*^^)o∀*∀o(^^*)♪