Aesop's Stories

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Recommended: Harvard classics aesops fables

Almost every kid knows the story of both “The Ants and The Grasshoppers” and “The Tortoise and the Hare”. Written in the 6th century, Aesop’s fables have dominated children’s stories because of their clear morals and simple application. To emphasize the well-known morals of these two stories, which, respectively, are “It is best to prepare for the days of necessity” and “Plodding wins the race”, would be pointless. With this in mind, looking at the difference between the original morals and the new ones become extremely important. In original “The Ants and the Grasshopper” by Aesop, the Ants do not help the Grasshopper. Whereas in “The Ants and the Grasshoppers” by Ross Mihalko and Donna Swift, the Ants and the Grasshoppers begin a new tradition where the ants and the grasshoppers did work and play, side by side, each one learning from the other!” (Mihalko and Swift 33). Similarly, in “The Tortoise and the Hare” by Aesop, the moral, the Rabbit loses because he runs too fast at the beginning and is too tired to continue the race, and the tortoise wins. In the version by Candice Cain, the rabbit still loses and at the end, he also learns that “slow and steady wins the race”, but that is not the only thing he talks about, the rabbit, or Flash, also mentions how he should always try his best. …show more content…

Instead, focusing on the changed, or added, morals of the shows would give the audience a new perspective on the stories, along with showing how theatre can present the same stories in a different

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