Fables

Dear You,

Whilst rereading my earlier blog posts, I realised the my revelation of a purchase of teenage fiction may have made me appear a foolish ignoramus, and I am correcting this now.

For my birthday a couple of years ago, I was given '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die'. A tall order, I thought. But although the title is somewhat demanding ('Must'? Really?), I have decided to take on this mammoth task, whilst telling you all about it. You lucky devil.

Anyhow, I bought the ebook version ('bought'; it was free, and I couldn't wait for the arrival of an actual book by post. I'm sorry) of the guide's first book; Aesop's Fables. By Aesop, obviously. I seem to recall that this was written in jail (I think) by Aesop, a slave. What I remember more fervently is that a travelling puppet theatre would often come into our primary school and perform some of the fables. What I've now realised, almost a decade later, is this:

They're not too great. Yes, they all end with a wise old man hobbling over and telling us a moral, but mostly they're just common sense; I mean, counting unhatched eggs is like watching a play you have yet to buy tickets for. But some of them are just plain ridiculous- come on, Aesop, how does 'he that has many friends, has no friends' even work? Maybe someone was just bitter about being picked last for discus.

If I had to pick my favourite fable title, I think that The Cat-Maiden takes the biscuit, purely for being such a bizarre concept. Top line, by far, has to be "untie the faggots". Although it is in regard to a pile of sticks, I still nearly soiled myself.

Next time, it's Ovid's 'Metamorphoses'. Let's hope it's not full of foolish mottos.

Yours fabled-outly,

M.

P.S. I know what you're thinking- '1001 Books? That's going to take you years!' Well yes, You, 19.25 years at a rate of one book per week, not counting the 14 books I have already read. But seeing as I did Aesop in an hour (cheeky), I think I'll be finished before my hair goes grey.

P.P.S. It wasn't that bad. I especially liked the moral of 'Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing,' which was swiftly followed by a fable that opened with 'You must know that sometimes old women like a glass of wine.' Too true. One minor quibble, however, was the fact that almost every noun was capitalised, like Horse, Mosquitoes and Pot. It's not alright. Actually, I hope the Aesop estate doesn't sue me (irony very much intended).