This timeless collection brings together three hundred of the most enduringly popular of Aesop’s fables in a collection that will delight young and old readers alike. Here are all the age-old favourites – the wily fox, the vain peacock, the predatory cat and steady tortoise – just as endearingly vivid and relevant now as they were for their very first audience. While their lifespan over several millennia marks them out as one of the most enduring staples of world literature, they have also been the inspiration for countless other forms of narrative in various languages. For all their entertainment value – this is a world where even a lamp and the moon can speak, and mice taunt bulls – they have also come to be fondly regarded as a playful compendium of secular wisdom. Illustrations by Arthur Rackham, a leading decorative illustrator of the Edwardian period. With an Afterword by Anna South