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What The Fox Learnt: Four Fables from Aesop

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Four fox tales from Aesop's fables presented with modern The Fox and the Crow, The Fox and the Goat, The Fox and the Grapes and The Fox and the Cat. These are short stories that are fun and easy to read. Each story is summarized with a moral that you might have even heard of.

12 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 13, 2011

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974 people want to read

About the author

Aesop

2,539?books1,008?followers
620 BC - 564 BC
Tradition considers Greek fabulist Aesop as the author of Aesop's Fables , including "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "The Fox and the Grapes."

This credited ancient man told numerous now collectively known stories. None of his writings, if they ever existed, survive; despite his uncertain existence, people gathered and credited numerous tales across the centuries in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Generally human characteristics of animals and inanimate objects that speak and solve problems characterize many of the tales.

One can find scattered details of his life in ancient sources, including Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch. An ancient literary work, called The Aesop Romance tells an episodic, probably highly fictional version of his life, including the traditional description of him as a strikingly ugly slave (¦Ä¦Ï?¦Ë¦Ï?), whose cleverness acquires him freedom as an adviser to kings and city-states. Older spellings of his name included Esop(e) and Isope. A later tradition, dating from the Middle Ages, depicts Aesop as a black Ethiopian. Depictions of Aesop in popular culture over the last two and a half millennia included several works of art and his appearance as a character in numerous books, films, plays, and television programs.

Abandoning the perennial image of Aesop as an ugly slave, the movie Night in Paradise (1946) cast Turhan Bey in the role, depicting Aesop as an advisor to Croesus, king; Aesop falls in love with a Persian princess, the intended bride of the king, whom Merle Oberon plays. Lamont Johnson also plays Aesop the Helene Hanff teleplay Aesop and Rhodope (1953), broadcast on hallmark hall of fame.

Brazilian dramatist Guilherme Figueiredo published A raposa e as uvas ("The Fox and the Grapes"), a play in three acts about the life of Aesop, in 1953; in many countries, people performed this play, including a videotaped production in China in 2000 under the title Hu li yu pu tao or ºüÀêÓëÆÏÌÑ .

Beginning in 1959, animated shorts under the title Aesop and Son recurred as a segment in the television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, its successor. People abandoned the image of Aesop as ugly slave; Charles Ruggles voiced Aesop, a Greek citizen, who recounted for the edification of his son, Aesop Jr., who then delivered the moral in the form of an atrocious pun. In 1998, Robert Keeshan voiced him, who amounted to little more than a cameo in the episode "Hercules and the Kids" in the animated television series Hercules.

In 1971, Bill Cosby played him in the television production Aesop's Fables.

British playwright Peter Terson first produced the musical Aesop's Fables in 1983. In 2010, Mhlekahi Mosiea as Aesop staged the play at the Fugard theatre in Cape Town, South Africa.

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5 stars
994 (38%)
4 stars
520 (20%)
3 stars
530 (20%)
2 stars
252 (9%)
1 star
267 (10%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
Profile Image for Vicki.
1,206 reviews176 followers
June 3, 2017
Read this with the seven-year-old before bed last night and she was really involved and loved the different messages that we discussed after reading. She insisted on a 5-star rating, and I agreed with her completely. the stories are interesting and they still ring true even today.

Profile Image for A'Lora Hamilton.
146 reviews3 followers
August 23, 2019
Enjoyful

What the fox learnt was so confused when the fox was called master .. is a good book with a good lesson
13 reviews1 follower
July 16, 2013
This book is a collection of fables all involving a Fox called Master Reynard. I like these fables as each one end with a lesson/moral for the children to learn. They are short (so keeping the children's attention whilst you read to them should be a cinch!) and they use relatively simple language.

I would say that the age range for this book would be the 5-7 range.

This book could be read to a class with a teacher then discussing the moral of each story with the children and asking them questions about what they thought the moral from each fable meant and what they could learn from it.
Profile Image for Tony Parsons.
4,156 reviews95 followers
March 26, 2021
The Fox and the Crow
Master Fox saw Mistress Crow fly off with a piece of cheese & land in a branch of a tree.
What did he say to her?

The Fox and the Goat
Master Fox fell into a deep well & Goat was passing by.
What did he say to him?

The Fox and the Grapes
One hot summer¡¯s day Master Fox spied a bunch of grapes ripening on a vine.
He tried several times to obtain them, but to no avail.
What did Master Fox reply?

The Fox and the Cat
Master Fox was boasting about his clever bag of tricks to a Cat.
I have lots of ways to escape my enemies.
What did the cat say/show to Master Fox?

What do you think the moral of the stories are?
I do not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing free books from publishers & authors. Therefore, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one.
An awesome book cover, great hand-drawn colored pictures, charming illustrations & proper font & writing style. 4 very professionally written children¡¯s (preschool/elementary age) Fables storybook. They were all quite easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters, settings, etc. to keep track of. 4 of them could also make another great children¡¯s educational presentation (moral¡¯s), Fables movie, an animated cartoon, or better yet a mini-TV series. There is no doubt in my mind this is an extremely easy rating of 5 stars.
Thank you for the free author(s); Ripple Digital Publishing; eBookStage; Amazon Digital Services LLC.; book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
Profile Image for Cynthia  Gutzwiller.
1,778 reviews22 followers
July 19, 2019
All the links on this website work. The Kindle Educational APP even works. The story titled , The Fox and the Crow. A crow jumped into a tree with a piece of cheese in her mouth. A Fox saw and wanted the cheese. This was a sly Fox who told great stories. He told the Crow how beautiful she was and how much her singing voice must be. What does the Fox ask the Crow to do?
The Fox also comes upon a Goat, a Cat, and some grapes. What happens? These stories are for older children. One who understand what a fable is.
I found this book on a website for Kindle Unlimited books . You can too.
1 review
May 21, 2018
Crac

Xsss??ssswszw . Chugging along with a new album and it seems as 33percent to not let him and really good time for t shirt that the government has an average and really need a few more minutes of them are the same ones that we could be wrong but if I get a few things are as you will want each time sock monkey y do it on my room at school?you have time what was going out of your way in the morning and you should try it seems keeps going e
Profile Image for Rachel.
51 reviews1 follower
February 17, 2018
This is a book containing four short fables, each of which contains an important moral which would be useful and relevant to young readers. Each fable is only two pages long with only one framed illustration at the start of the story.
1 review1 follower
February 23, 2018
Never be off guard

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Profile Image for Catriona Lovett.
613 reviews13 followers
March 3, 2023
Short But Still Wise

Aesop's fables have been around for a long time, but they're based on truths that are so enduring they're translated in many languages and have endured through centuries. This book has some amusing, colorful illustrations as well as four of the fables.
Profile Image for Cyndy.
1,726 reviews7 followers
January 23, 2024
Four fables are included in this book. Included fables are The Fox and the Crow, The Fox and the Goat, The Fox and the Grapes, and The Fox and the Cat. With a children's book, I expected more illustrations.
1 review
December 15, 2017
Nice children's book

I read this with my grandson. We enjoyed the book. Interesting and fun activity to do together. He is 4
Profile Image for Jagdeep Sarangal.
3 reviews
July 11, 2019
,,

Jje I sosossj ssososjsj sksosjs. Smacks a. As a s s s s s x x x. S w w w s. F ALLAL aka,Koi
Profile Image for Nomy Jackson.
8 reviews
October 21, 2019
Dang,no beating around the bush to get to the point! A little harsh,but true,lol. Thanks Ishi <3
5 reviews
November 23, 2019
A Very interesting book

This was a quick read. I did enjoy it. It showed how manipulative can be used for gains. I would recommend it.
Profile Image for Lila Babb.
4 reviews
November 11, 2020
Okay Book

It's for older children then it says. Beautiful drawings and bright use of colors. It's interesting how the author used stores to teach a lesson.
47 reviews
January 9, 2021
I liked it but it was a little bit random. The morals sometimes don¡¯t connect to the story.
Profile Image for Patricia Kaniasty.
1,489 reviews59 followers
March 14, 2021
Liked this story until the end. There was no ending. Just suddenly stopped.
Profile Image for PurpleLadi.
368 reviews4 followers
June 24, 2021
Cute

Excellent way to teach important lessons to children. Each story gives ample opportunities for discussion and formulations of alternative endings.
Profile Image for Edie Walls.
1,121 reviews9 followers
March 3, 2022
This is exactly what it says: 4 of Aesop's fables, each with an accompanying illustration. The illustrations are a bit lazy so I refuse to rate this any higher.
148 reviews
March 3, 2022
Very short

The lessons were excellent. The four tales were excruciatingly short. The book could have been better with a few more tales.
14 reviews1 follower
April 2, 2022
Mini Aesop

This is exactly what it says it is.
Four one page fables about a smart alec fox with a saying or proverb to sum it up at the end. Suitable for somewhat older children
Profile Image for Amber DiTullio.
Author?1 book15 followers
March 7, 2012
Ever since I bought my Kindle, I have been searching through the free books to find some to read to my boys. They boy are enamored with Mommy's latest toy (though more because of the apps that I have downloaded than the books). I also feel that it gives me a chance to mix it up a bit when it comes to reading to them at bedtime.

They were both familiar with some of Aesop's fables, thanks to story time and random books pulled from the library shelves. But they hadn't heard any of these stories involving Fox before. The four stories contained within are short - a page or two of writing each with a beautifully drawn picture to go with each story - so we were able to get through all four stories relatively quickly.

The first story is The Fox and the Crow, where Fox gets crow to drop some bread that he'd like to eat by complimenting her wonderful singing voice. The moral for this one is, "Do not trust flatterers."

The second story is The Fox and the Goat, in which Fox tricks Goat into coming down into a well. Fox had fallen and, rather than ask for Goat's help getting out, tricks Goat into coming in with him then climbs out over Goat's horns. This moral is, "Never trust a man in difficulties."

While the first two stories showed Fox tricking others, the second two are more humbling for the crafty being. The third story is The Fox and the Grapes, which is the only one that I was previously familiar with. In it, the Fox is trying to reach grapes that are out of his reach. When he realizes that he won't be able to get them, he leaves mumbling about how they are probably sour anyway. While the phrasing of the words - "It is easy to despise what you cannot get" - didn't make as much sense to my boys, the idea behind it was one they struggle with.

The final story is The Fox and the Cat. This was, by far, my favorite of the set. Fox is bragging how he has so many different ways to escape the hunters, while Cat admits he only has one. When they here the hunters coming, Cat hides among the trees. Fox, however, is struck with indecision on which of his escape tricks will work best and ends up getting caught and killed. The moral, "Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon," is one that resonates with me because I'm often confronted with far too many things to that need to be done and, in my indecision over where to start, never get to any of them.

While the words of the moral are a bit above my three year old's understanding, the rest of the story is very easy for him to understand. The bite-sized portions also keep his attention better than some of the longer stories do. It's one that he has asked for repeatedly. My six year old understands quite a bit more of it, but the stories are too short for him. So this is one that is usually pulled out at nap time rather than bedtime.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews

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