The man who created so many beautiful stories for children, deleted his career as a “puppet” so that they could eat their food! From his time Solon and his Thali still, in the 8th century BC, there was the fear of unruly children. The pair performed bogus debt of the time Mormolis and I mumblethe latter being depicted everywhere as a monstrous deity of mythology. Thus, the great storyteller Aesop also turned into Mormoli. It’s not that he didn’t love children. The opposite. But he had to live and the only tool he had for survival was his monumental ugliness!

The native of Phrygia Aesop (Aristotle and his students, who researched the man’s life, insisted that it was Thrace and not Phrygia) he not only had the misfortune of being born a slave in ancient times (his birth is placed in the 8th century BC and others in the 6th century), but it was also better than Mormo. Ugly, hunchbacked and stammering. “Stravocanis, head, belly with a broad nose, wide neck, fearful fleshy lips and black skin color, which justified his name (Aesop from Ethiopia)» the Byzantine writer describes him Maximos Planoudiswhose relevant manuscript was found (and saved) in his library Adamantiou Korai.

[Ο γλωσσολόγος Γ. Μπαμπινιώτης ετυμολογεί το όνομα ως «ο βλέπων το πεπρωμένο», προερχόμενο από τις λέξεις αίσα (=πεπρωμένο) και ωψ, ωπός (=όψη)].

In fact, Aesop’s case is somewhat reminiscent of Homer’s. Just as the exact period of his life is unknown, so the place of his birth remains unknown (several cities claim the title of his birthplace). As for his teaching experiences and his stories, it is assumed that several of them, over the centuries, were enriched by folk mythology. For some scholars, Aesop’s fables are products of an archaic popular literary genre with a didactic role (like tragedies). Therefore, Aesop, as their originator, never existed. It is these same historical researchers who estimate that Homer was also a product of the popular imagination. According to others, he himself existed but the myths with which he connected his name and life were not his. They were stories he collected from his travels and slightly modified to make them sound nicer to children.

In any case, apart from his hideous form, Aesop also possessed something else repulsive: he was slow-tongued with a metallic voice that sounded like the chirping of a bird.

ATTACKING LOOKS AND A SHARP MIND

However, the gods? The rule of law? Whatever it is that takes care of the cosmic balance took care of the naturally wronged Aesop. The bad-nosed bogeyman of the children had such a strong mind that, although a slave of low -due to his appearance- monetary value, he often brought him from the position of the negotiator to that of the negotiator. Even more important were his ethics and sense of justice, which distinguished him.

His name traveled through the centuries and reached today, synonymous with a storyteller, who with his rich experience set up stories that are worth reading by young and old. But “the mistake we are making is big” emphasizes George Katsos, translator of the book Planoudis and explains: “Aesop surpasses many teachers of moral philosophy, since he was given as a divine gift the ability to create didactic fables. It does not exhort man to become moral. But it shows him the consequences of immoral behavior. Because it is not only his myths that are worthy of study. It is also his whole life.”

According to tradition, Aesop has a life full of suffering and adventure, which he overcomes with the power of his mind. He changes several hands of masters and adjusts his offer as they require it. Centuries later, Planoudis, sometimes with disgust, sometimes with compassion and sometimes with mockery, will present stories from that adventurous life, often causing embarrassment to the reader, who will not know whether to laugh or cry at the sufferings of the evil-doer. slave…

As noted by professor of History in the Department of History and Archaeology, Costas Vlasopoulos “slaves’ love lives did not revolve solely around their masters […]. The need for sex, for emotional cover, for the creation of strong relationships was one of the most important ways in which slaves manifested their autonomy and their desire to create a meaningful life even within slavery.” Such a need the slaves of the house of the philosopher Xanthos aspired to fill, when they were delighted to learn that their master had purchased a male slave. However, when they saw the ugly Aesop, they preferred to sit round in the dry land of their loneliness…

THE Blond decided to buy him Aesop after a short conversation with him, from which he appreciated the man’s straightforwardness and readiness.

– I want to buy you, but in case you run away…

-That’s not up to me. It depends on you.

-Why from me?

-Because if you are good to your slaves, none will run away. Who leaves to go from good to bad? Who chases hunger and fear? But if you’re bad, yes. I don’t stay a moment with you.

Xanthos bought Aesop and when they reached the house, he asked him to stay on the threshold to prepare his wife “do not suddenly see the ugliness and ask for her dowry back!”. “Lady, you will no longer murmur that my female slaves serve you. I bought you a male slave” said the merchant to his wife and she thanked the goddess Aphrodite for making her dream come true that she was served by a handsome slave. But the little maids were also happy, because, you see, it was the master who had to take care of the male who would become their partner in work and their… bed. They were fighting among themselves who will be the lucky one to enjoy him. And when the time came for them to meet the slave, a little girl timidly exclaimed: “Are you the new one? And where is your tail?”!

In another incident of Aesop’s life, the intelligence of the man is captured, which saved him from certain abuse.

He is working in the fields when two of his servants decide to eat their master’s figs and blame it on the dyslexic Aesop:

-When our master turns the tables, what will we do?

-Say that Aesop found the cellar open at the right moment and after jumping in, he ate all the figs. And Aesop, since he cannot speak, will eat wood…

So it happened, but the dyslexic Aesop asked his master, before beating him, to let him prove to him that he did not eat figs. He made himself vomit and of course he didn’t come up with anything since he hadn’t eaten anything. He accordingly demanded the same from his guilty accomplices. And they got their guilt out of their stomachs…

Wronged, therefore, as he was by nature and powerless to defend with a stentorian voice his arguments in order to escape from mischief, he became a victim of plagiarism, and he often paid for it for the misfortunes of others. Such a pity he found himself paying when in the fields, where his master had sent him to work, he saw the overseer Zenas beating a slave and stepped in to protect him. Zenas got angry and lied to their boss to get rid of Aesop by selling him in the bazaar. A prospective buyer who saw the malevolent man reproached Zenas for having for sale “a trunk of a tree, a sack, a worthless stinking dog…”. Then, Aesop himself took the floor and asked the buyer: “Don’t you have naughty and whiny children in your house? Buy me and I will be of great use to you as I am.’ He was convinced. He gave Zenas three obolus and bought Aesop. “When they reached the house, the children, seeing him, cried out in fear and then Aesop turns and says to his master: Here is the proof of what I told you. He laughed and introduced him to his comrades” describes O Planoudisexplaining the beginning of Aesop’s journey as a bogeyman.

It seems, however, that this very role of the man brought him so close to the children, which led him to weave stories to attract their attention and calm them down. Because of their fear and terror, Aesop with his charming speech, which “traveled” the children’s imagination (as a “rhetoric” is mentioned by Herodotus), turned into a favorite fairy tale. He didn’t write. He was saying. Stories of animals with a human voice and behavior (his favorite animals, the donkey, the fox, the ant, the cicada), who with their suffering and simple words, understood by children, distinguished right from wrong, justice from the unjust, the moral from the immoral. It was his own experiences, which he turned into charming adventures to pass on to children messages about an ideal world, just and moral. His stories were etched into tender, virgin minds and saved by being retold from generation to generation.

The sins of others will follow him as the end of his life. A gross injustice, after all, will be the one that will sign his conviction. When he will find himself serving him Lydian King Croesuswill undertake the mission of transporting a significant amount of gold to Oracle of Delphiin order to receive an oracle on behalf of Croesus. But Aesop, angered by the avarice of the servants of the altar of Apollo, not only refuses the oracle and sends back the gold to Croesus, but also attacks with cruelty the priests of the oracle, shouting that they are deceiving the world and profiting in the name of the god. Enraged, they hide a sacred vessel in Aesop’s luggage, accuse him of sacrilege and summarily sentence him to death. During the punishment imposed on him, the children’s favorite storyteller – bogeyman is thrown from the top of Parnassus. But the god Apollowho sees the injustice, punishes the people of Delphi with famine. And they, regretting their foolish act, set up a marble column in honor of Aesop.