The introduction, by GK Chesterton, says fables are stories where the main characters are animals. Each character is defined by its nature, for example, foxes are always sly and crows are always greedy. I'd read some of these fables as a child but didn't realise how many there were.
Each fable has a moral. I was surprised to discover how many of the morals from Aesop's Fables are still referred to today, without knowing the source: the goose that laid the golden egg; who is going to bell the cat; one swallow doesn't make a summer; honesty is the best policy; necessity is the mother of invention; don't count your chickens before they are hatched; the boy who cried wolf.
I'm fascinated that the fables and their morals are still referred to, and are still relevant, today - about 2000 years later. You could build a whole ethics course for kids around these fables
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