Aesop

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Aesop was a slave and storyteller who lived in Ancient Greece between 620 and 560 B.C. He is best known, and well remembered for his fables. A fable is s a story, in prose or verse, that features animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson, which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim. In his lifetime, Aesop told many of these, which were later written and compiled into what we now know as Aesop's fables or Aesopica. These fables are commonly use to teach and instill values and morals and are especially used for children. Below is a copy of one of Aesop's Fables.

The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs

A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it. Then, they thought, they could obtain the whole store of precious metal at once; however, upon cutting the goose open, they found its innards to be like that of any other goose.

More about Aesop's Fables can be read here.
You can find an online collection of Aesop's fables here. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aesop