AESOP


Many centuries ago, more than six hundred years before Christ was born,
there lived in Greece a man by the name of Aesop. We do not know very
much about him, and no one can tell exactly what he wrote, or even that
he ever wrote anything.

We know he was a slave and much wiser than his masters, but whether he
was a fine, shapely man or a hunchback and a cripple we cannot be sure,
for different people have written very differently about him.

No matter what he was or how he lived, many, many stories are still told
about him, and the greater part of the fables we all like to read are
said to have been written or told by him, and everybody still calls them
Aesop's fables.

Some of the stories told about him are curious indeed. Here are a few of
them.

In those days men were sold as slaves in the market, as cattle are sold
now. One day Aesop and two other men were put up at auction. Xanthus, a
wealthy man, wanted a slave, and he said to the men: "What can you do?"

The two men bragged large about the things they could do, for both
wanted a rich master like Xanthus.

"But what can you do?" said Xanthus, turning to Aesop.