PREFACE 



T is difficult to say what are and what are 

 not the Fables of iEsop. Almost all the 

 fables that have appeared in the Western 

 world have been sheltered at one time or 

 another under the shadow of that name. I 

 could at any rate enumerate at least seven 

 hundred which have appeared in English 

 in various books entitled JEsop's Fables. 

 L'Estrange's collection alone contains over 

 five hundred. In the struggle for existence 

 among all these a certain number stand out 

 as being the most effective and the most 

 familiar. I have attempted to bring most of 

 these into the following pages. 



