Aesop's Fables stands as one of the world's first printed literary treasures, reaching readers across centuries and cultures in countless languages. The source of enduring proverbs such as "Honesty is the best policy," "Necessity is the mother of invention," and "Slow and steady wins the race," Aesop's Fables is a timeless guide that offers both advice and amusement. Each fable, though brief, echoes persistent truths with pithy lessons: "Don't count your chickens before they are hatched" and "Pride comes before a fall." Enduring and entertaining, this compendium of human wisdom speaks to us to this day with the force of universal truth. This Warbler Classics edition reproduces sixty-seven whimsical black-and-white drawings by renowned illustrator Arthur Rackham and includes an essay on the history and origins of Aesop's Fables.

AESOP (c. 620-564 BCE) was a Greek storyteller credited with a collection of fables that have come to be known as Aesop's Fables. Little is known of his life, although ancient sources suggest that he might have been a slave who, by his cleverness, acquired freedom and became an adviser to kings and city-states.