NOTE. Since the purpose of the fable is not merely to entertain but
especially to point some general truth or to draw a helpful lesson,
no two versions of the same fable are exactly alike. In editions of
Æsop intended for young children, it has been the custom to elaborate
the slender story in such a way as to arouse thoroughly the child’s
interest before the moral is drawn. Hence the modern popular versions
often contain conversations and descriptive details not to be found
in the accounts which are truest to the Greek versions. This popular
elaborated form of the fable, however, needs no apology so long as
the editor is true to the spirit of the original. In the preceding
fables, the spirit, if not the letter of the most trustworthy account
available, has been carefully adhered to, but the editor has had always
in mind the youthful readers and has neglected no opportunity to make
the text fit their limited experience and understanding. But to both
teacher and pupil the current short forms of some of the longer fables
will have interest. In this Appendix, therefore, have been collected
the short forms of the first fables which appear in the text. Much
pleasure and profit can be had from a comparison of the two renderings,
and such a comparison will open the way to a discussion of the
difficulties in handing down literature orally and in preserving it in
correct form.