Aesop's ancient animal tales meet Victorian wit in this illustrated collection that refuses to let old wisdom gather dust. Randolph Caldecott's charming illustrations bring the fox, the stag, and the crow to vivid life, but make no mistake: these are not gentle nursery rhymes. Each fable strips human nature down to its bones, the fool who destroys what he has seeking more, the vain creature undone by his own reflection, the cunning mind that overreaches. The 'modern instances' appending these tales take aim at the very flaws that have plagued humanity for millennia: greed wearing a new hat, envy speaking a new language, pride disguised in contemporary dress. The moral arrives not as lecture but as punchline, the lesson embedded so thoroughly in the story that you absorb it before you recognize you've learned anything. These are stories adults need more than children, delivered with the kind of tart clarity that makes you uncomfortable in the best way.
