About Easop’s Fables and a Wonderful Print
October 28th, 2009
Either I’m culturally behind, or Aesop’s fables are just less common in the Netherlands than in the rest of the world… But, before I laid eyes on Tara Hogan’s (from Ink+Wit) new print ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’ I had never heard of the good man Aesop!
Now that I’ve read a little more on the subject, I’m intrigued. Aesop was a slave and story-teller living in Ancient Greece around 600 BC and was known for the short, simple stories he told that all ended in great truths and morals. The timeless wisdom of Aesop’s stories outlived over 2500 centuries and are today ever as educating as they were in 500 BC…
The fable that inspired Tara for her ‘Hare and the Tortoise’ print goes as follows:
A Hare one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise. The latter, laughing, said: “Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race.” The Hare, deeming her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course, and fix the goal.
On the day appointed for the race they started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. The Hare, trusting to his native swiftness, cared little about the race, and lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortable dozing after her fatigue.
The moral of the story: PERSERVENCE IS SURER THAN SWIFTNESS.
Wonderful, don’t you think? And isn’t that print lovely? I’m excited, because it’s the first in a series and I think it’s a wonderful decoration for any kid’s room: stylish, not at all childish, and educational on top of it…
xxx Esther
P.S. It’s never too late to learn in life!
Entry Filed under: Décor, For Kids, Home, Kid's Room, Things We LOVE!
4 Comments Add your own
1. Courtney | October 28th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Isn’t it funny how culturally different our countries can be sometimes? I can’t believe you’ve never heard of Aesop! And the Tortoise and the Hare story is FAMOUS!!!
But then again… I remember sitting at your dining table a few months ago and you nearly had a heart-attack that I didn’t know who Prince was….
So I’m not poking fun at anyone for not being culturally aware!!!
xoxo
2. Esther | October 28th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
My husband also hadn’t heard of him, I think the fables have never been translated in Dutch so we didn’t grow up with them…
3. Nina van der Veen | October 29th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
May be you are right about culturally integrated fables. As Malaysia is an ex-British colony, I grew up with many tales which are common to the Anglo-Saxon’s culture including The Hare & The Tortoise. In fact, I grew up thinking “slow and steady wins the race” was better than “faster but arrogant” because of it.
Nice print!
4. Tara Hogan | November 1st, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Thank you for posting : )
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