The Essential Aesop - Introduction - Back to Basics Abridgment Series

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When asked why we, as father and son, wrote this book together, there is a clear answer: love and necessity.

There is no college course for wisdom, only tools.

Getting smart, and getting money, and getting wisdom, are not the same thing.

We love the positive impact of these fables, and we know that these short stories help us and others reconcile important life questions. That is exactly why these stories have withstood the test of time for more than 2,500 years.

Unfortunately, Aesop’s Fables has evolved over the course of time to be placed only into the children’s sections of most bookstores. And, while that is good for the children who receive Aesop’s Fables by inclination or direction, it remains a tragedy for the many adults who, therefore, presuppose that these fables are not important for adult contemplation.

The greatest teachers, of both adults and children, have used literary devices to convey very complex subjects within a framework of common understanding: parables, similes, allegories, metaphors, and fables. Aesop even drives it home with a “moral of the story,” a method so ubiquitous in our culture that we overlook the source.

Aesop’s Fables is unquestionably a “Great Books” important work. A work that everyone should read. These fables help us understand life, in a way that we apply throughout our life.

Yes, there is a cure for the intelligent fool.

But, you ask, how do these little fables help me make money or make the World a better place?

First, what we have done is to create a collection of Aesop’s Fables for which we have reduced each to its salient essence. Each fable is not more than one small page.

The common practice is to embellish the fables with words and pictures, but we find these create inertia for the adult. Accordingly, we have worked with the premise that a speaker, manager, writer or other business professional can always embellish for the particular context.

Such as it is with many textual works, the more difficult part is in reducing the text. We have done the work for you. You can easily reference any fable to use as a “hook,” at the beginning of a speech, with your staff, with your children, or at a board meeting.

“Well,” you say, “you expect me to talk of foxes with my board of directors?” That depends upon you. It worked for Abraham Lincoln.

What board member, attorney, politician, manager or parent will not think often of the story of the debating North Wind and the Sun [1], that persuasion is better than force?

Or, maybe your development team needs to be re-adjusted about the company’s core mission: the Frog and Ox [2] reminds us to stay true to ourselves. And, we can go on: how about the Donkey and Mule [4] to demonstrate that helping your team member is in your own best interest, or Belling the Cat [8] for the big ideas that cannot be implemented! The Lion in Love [85] and The Cat-Maiden [90] are sure to make you smile with Aesop’s characteristic wit.

Oh, the uses for Aesop’s Fables!

Maybe you don’t have time to retort with the full story, so you might just find yourself quoting the story name or moral, “sour grapes” [11], “boy who cried wolf” [16], the “bundle of sticks” [12], “goose that laid the golden eggs” [49], “don’t count your chickens” [89], or “wolf in sheep’s clothing” [98] and countless others.

And, if you are too shy to speak, the personal wisdom for you is no less than if you spoke it to another. You still get to keep it.

Second, there is another common evolution in education: “For what do I need this abstract wisdom, because I will attend a trade school?”

Philosophy may be thought to be abstract, but it reduces to life. Do you think Abraham Lincoln was a great president? Why was that?

Clever as a fox, Abraham Lincoln’s great human touch was his ability to hook the attention of his audience with simple stories, and with classic metaphors. Like many great speakers, we know this is how he conveyed complex wisdom for grasp by others, and in a manner that resonated. He had his audience’s immediate attention, being “reminded” of a story.

Where did he learn this people skill and many of his stories? Aesop’s Fables was one of Lincoln’s cherished books.

These fables are timeless power tools for managers, writers, speakers, and, dare we need be reminded, for the quintessential leaders, managers and teachers: parents.

If you already love Aesop’s Fables, thank you for adding this edition to your collection; if it has been a long time, or if you have never read Aesop’s Fables, you might be amazed how just one of these fables, at the right time, can change a life, or many lives, for the better.

We hope you create your own legacy with your professional teams—and your family—as we have done. And, we pray you can use this collection of wisdom to achieve a very special life.

~ Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli

Wisdom. Pass it Around.™

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The Essential Aesop – Introduction – Back to Basics Abridgment Series