The Tiger King....an animated Aesop Fable

The Dog and the Shadow

A Dog was crossing a river, with a piece of meat in his mouth, when he saw his own shadow reflected in the stream below. Thinking that it was another dog, with a piece of meat, he resolved to make himself master of that also; but in snapping at the supposed treasure he dropped the bit he was carrying, and so lost all.

Grasp at the shadow, and lose the substance.

The Fox and the Mask.....an Aesop Fable

A fox entered the house of an actor, and, rummaging through all his properties, came upon a Mask, an admirable imitation of a human head.

He placed his paws on it, and said: "What a beautiful head! yet it is of no value, as it entirely wants brains."

Moral: A fair face is of little use without sense.

The Fox and the Grapes---an Aesop Fable

One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard when he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine.
"Just the thing to quench my thirst," thought the fox.
Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success.
Again and again he tried to reach the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up.
Finally, the fox walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour."

Moral: It is easy to despise what you cannot get.

Picture from The Baby's Own Aesop (verse fables by W.J. Linton), 1887. Illustrations by Walter Crane

The Lion Beaten by Man....a fable by Jean de la Fontaine

A picture once was shown,
In which one man, alone,
Upon the ground had thrown
A lion fully grown.

Much gloried at the sight the rabble.
A lion thus rebuked their babble:—

That you have got the victory there,
There is no contradiction.
But, gentles, possibly you are
The dupes of easy fiction:
Had we the art of making pictures,
Perhaps our champion had beat yours!"


Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.
An African Proverb

Little Fables

Not only a fabulous fable but excellent shadow puppetry!
Actually it's animation that looks like shadow puppetry but it's great no matter what it is.
Enjoy!

Two Hungry Cats.......a fable

Two hungry cats, having stolen some cheese, could not agree how to divide it.
So they called in a monkey to decide the case.

"Let me see" says the monkey with an arch look, "this slice weighs more than the other."
With that, he bit off a large piece, in order, as he said, to make them balance.
The other scale was now too heavy.
This gave the upright judge a fine pretense to take a second mouthful.

"Hold! Hold!" cried the two cats, "give each of us his share of the rest and we will be content."

"If you are content," says the monkey, "justice is not. The law my friends, must have its course."
So he nibbled first one piece, and then the other.

The poor cats, seeing their cheese in a fair way to be eaten up, most humbly begged the judge to give himself no further trouble.

"Not so fast, I beseech you, my friends",says the judge. "We owe justice to ourselves as well as to you. What is left is due to me in right of my office."
So saying, he crammed the whole into his mouth, and very gravely dismissed the court.

Moral: This fable teaches us that it is better to bear a slight wrong, rather than to resort to the law for trifles.
(Taken from McGuffey’s Third Reader, c 1836)

Hmmmmm.....what do you think?
Is that really the moral of this story???

The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg...an Aesop Fable

Here's a two in one blog.
The story is written out for you to read and...
Read to you!

The Fox and the Cat - An Aesop's Fable

A Fox was boasting to a Cat of its clever devices for escaping its enemies.

"I have a whole bag of tricks," he said, "which contains a hundred ways of escaping my enemies."

"I have only one," said the Cat, "but I can generally manage with that."

Just at that moment they heard the cry of a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the Cat immediately scampered up a tree and hid herself in the branches.

"This is my plan," said the Cat. "What are you going to do?"

The Fox thought first of one way, then of another, and while he was debating the hounds came nearer and nearer, and at last the Fox in his confusion was caught up by the hounds and soon killed by the huntsmen.

The Cat, who had been looking on, said:
"Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot decide."

Aesop's The Bear and the Two Travelers

TWO MEN were hiking in Denali together, when a Bear suddenly appeared on their path.

One of them climbed up quickly into a tree and managed to hide himself in the branches.
The other, not being as quick as his companion, realized that he was going to be attacked by the bear.
He quickly fell flat on the ground.
The Bear came up and felt him with his snout, and smelt him all over.
The man held his breath and remained as still as death.
The Bear soon left him, for it is said he will not touch a dead body.
When the bear was long gone, his friend climbed down from the tree.
Jokingly, he asked his friend what it was the Bear had whispered in his ear.

"He gave me this advice," his friend replied. "Never travel with a friend who deserts you at the approach of danger."

Moral: Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends.

retold by LLL,Storysinger

The Grasshopper and the Ant - Disney's Version

The Fox Who Had Lost His Tail

An Aesop Fable retold by LaurenLanita

Once a fox, who had been running in the forest, became caught in a trap.
With a great deal of pulling and tugging and pain, the fox finally escaped. Unfortunately, in order to escape the trap, the fox lost his tail.

Without his tail, the fox did not feel like himself.
All the other foxes still had their big bushy tails and
he felt ashamed that he was different.
The fox decided to hide from everyone.
While he was hiding, he thought and thought.
Finally he decided that if he could convince the other foxes that being
tailless was much more attractive,they would be like him and he would not feel so ashamed.

The fox quickly gathered together a large group of foxes.
He told them that they too should cut off their tails.
He went on to praise the joys of being tailless.
How much faster he could run and how he never got caught in traps.
Of course, none of this was true but he didn't care.

The fox went on like this for several minutes.
Finally, one of the older foxes interrupted him saying, "If you had
not lost your tail, would you still give us this advice?"

The fox, having no answer to this question, quickly ran home.

Moral: Misery loves company.