My Treasury of Aesop's Fables
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Authors
Payne, Jan
Issue Date
2016
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Abstract
This book is built off a 2013 publication by the same team and still has that 2013 copyright. It has reduced from 25 fables on 192 pages to 23 fables on 176. Dropped from there are BC and "The Gnat and the Lion." The cover has changed from being puffy and featuring TH to colored boards with a dozen characters. On the earlier cover was "A Beautiful Collection of Timeless Tales"; now we find "A classic collection of fantastic fables." What was there a cockerel has here become a rooster. "A" treasury has become "My" treasury, and the book's fancy ribbon has disappeared. I continue to find the versions and the illustrations playful and helpful. As I observed then, the versions routinely soften drastic outcomes in the fables. In BW, the boy says the first two times that the shepherd's shouting scared the wolf off (9-10). In this version of GA, the ant happens by the grasshopper in winter and helps the grasshopper on condition that he promise to change next summer (27). A snail travelling with the tortoise in TH is so exhausted that we can see his breath (33). A mouse rides on the tortoise's back in the same picture. There is a fine double-page (38-39) of the dramatic moment in LM. Another happy ending comes in DS (49) when the dog's mistress gives him the bone which he lost and which she then found in the stream. In FG, the fox tries to pole vault and to let the breeze carry him and his umbrella (69). In GGE, the farmer and his wife demand more production from the "Golden Goose" (84), threatening otherwise to take her to market. This goose leaves, and the couple bickers until they get over their greed and return to their former way of life. The occasion for TT is that the tortoise wants to have some fun and has envied other animals. There is a fine illustration of the larger tortoise between the two ducks just after takeoff on 116. The tortoise answers a crow "I am special" and tumbles to the ground but only has the wind knocked out of him. "From now on I will be happy just being me!" (119). The donkey does a fine dance on the table (125) before the lapdog explains the donkey to the farmer. Another fine image has the farmer's wife running to help punish the crazy donkey . "The Lion and the Elephant" is also well done: "Everyone has something they are afraid of" (155). "The Hare and the Hound" moralizes aptly: "Winning often depends on who needs to win the most" (161). The fox tries several approaches with the crow in FC: the cheese is too large for one bird; the cheese will make the crow fat; we need to talk closer to each other; people say you have a great singing voice (163-66).
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Igloo Books Ltd.
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11424 (Access ID)