The full title of this book is actually The Lion & the Mouse and Other Aesop’s Fables. The 12 stories in the book were retold by world-renowned author Doris Orgel, and the illustrator was Bert Kitchen (known for his realistic portrayals of animals).

Aesop lived in ancient Greece almost 3,000 years ago … around 620-564 BCE. It’s believed that he shared thousands of fables with people in his day, but a few (like “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Wind and the Sun,” and “The Fox and the Grapes”) are so familiar that many of us have memorized both the stories AND the morals.

In fact, word-of-mouth is probably how Aesop shared these tales with the people he came in contact with, since it’s very likely he couldn’t write. (Back then, slaves didn’t go to school, and that was how he started out in life. Eventually, though, he was set free.)

So what was the moral of “The Lion and the Mouse”? It was this: Kindness is never wasted. Even the smallest friend can be the greatest helper. 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

My own introduction to Aesop’s Fables was through record albums. My mom had several records she let my sisters and me listen to. One of those was a compilation of Aesop’s Fables

The fable that always stuck in my memory bank was the “Wind and the Sun.” I never forgot the moral of that tale – that kindness always works better than force when you’re trying to convince someone about something.

INTRODUCTION SETS THE TONE

The one-page introduction that Orgel included at the front of this book does a good job of engaging children before they even get to the first story. She explains that she is answering questions she thinks it likely that readers would be asking. For instance:

Who was Aesop?    What are the fables about?    How could Aesop have written them all?

* * * * *

One thing about Aesop’s fables is that there are SO MANY versions of those tales floating around, you’re likely to find different fables than the ones in this book.

(One thing I did notice in this book that’s different from other versions I’ve seen … the moral of the story isn’t listed at the end. But the book DOES have an interesting tidbit of information at the end of each fable. One I’d never heard before was at the end of “The Jackdaw” – that the peacock was Hera’s favorite bird. [Hera was married to Zeus, the king of the gods.] )