English Children's Literature(Week Twelve)

12.3.2015
Week 12: Aesop's Fables

1. Introduction
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with Aesop's name have descended to modern times through a number of sources. They continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic mediums.
*Aesop was an Ancient Greek fabulist or story teller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. Although his existence remains uncertain and (if he ever existed) no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales are characterized by animals and inanimate objects that speak, solve problems, and generally have human characteristics.

2.  Some fables and morals
* Jean de La Fontaine rewrited and extended the content of Aesop's Fables.
(1)  The Ass Eating Thistles--One man's meat is another man's poison. 各有所好（你不是我的菜）
       a. be content with
       

       Today(I can't be contented with yesterday's glory)-- John Denver

       "Today"

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine,

I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine.

A million tomorrow shall all pass away, 'ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today.

I'll be a dandy and I'll be a rover, you'll know who I am by the songs that I sing.

I'll feast at your table, I'll sleep in your clover, who cares what tomorrow shall bring?

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine,

I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine.

A million tomorrow shall all pass away, 'ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today.

I can't be contented with yesterday's glory, I can't live on promises winter to spring.

Today is my moment, now is my story, I'll laugh and I'll cry and I'll sing.

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine,

I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine.

A million tomorrow shall all pass away, 'ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today.

       b. 詩歌可以分為narrative poetry(敘事詩)和lyric poetry(抒情詩)
           *Lyric poetry is a form of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person.
           *Carpe Diem 主題詩歌："Today", " To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time", " To His Toy Mistress"(Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run.)

(2)  The Farmer and His Dogs--When a neighbor's house is on fire, you better look at yours.
(3)  The Ass Carrying Salt--The same measures will not suit all circumstances.
(4)  The Wolf and the Shepherd-- If you entrust your bank deposits to greedy men, you are certain to get robbed.
      a. Let them out of the sight.
      b.  I trust my sheep to a wolf. 引申為所託非人 
(5) The Lioness--The value is in the worth, not in the number.
(6) The Monkey and the Camel--Don't stretch your arm any farther than your sleeve will reach.
      a. farther/further
          前者指具象化距離，後者為抽象化距離。



3. Fable vs. Parable vs. Allegory
(1)Fable is a literary genre. A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities such as verbal communication), and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (such as "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", "The Fox and the Grapes", "The North Wind and the Sun"), which may at the end be added explicitly in a pithy maxim. 
    A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech and other powers of humankind.

  "The Fox and the Grapes"  "The North Wind and the Sun"  

(2) A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters. A parable is a type of analogy.
* c. It was always used in New Testament (新約聖經).  
         eg. Prodigal Son浪子回頭 
         If you are willing to believe in god, even in the last time, the god will still hold you in his arm.
         eg. Lost Sheep 迷途羔羊

 Prodigal Son

Lost Sheep

(3) Allegory has been used widely throughout history in all forms of art, largely because it can readily illustrate complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.An allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor.



4.Vocabularies and Phrases
(1) cling to    堅持;依附
(2) vine         葡萄
(3) carpe diem= seize the day
(4) dandy     花花公子
(5) coy          adj. 羞怯的
(6) my vegetable love    不斷滋長的愛
(7) turn to dust   變成灰燼
(8) savory    adj. 可口的
     relishing
(9) bitter      adj. 苦的
      prickly   adj.  多刺的
(10) value     v.
       evaluate v. 評價
(11) slaughter v./n. 屠殺
(12) spare     v. 饒了
(13) assemble v.集合
        assembly n. 
(14) sermon     v./n. 說教
        summit     n. 頂點；最高層會議
        summon   v. 召集
(15)  attention  立正
        at ease      稍息
(16) put a bolder face upon his misfortune
(17) -al n.
       proposal n.
       removal n.
(18) fail to do  沒有完成
(19) dispense with   無需
(20) sneakily    adv. 偷偷摸摸地
(21) -ly
       adj. lovely, elderly, friendly, deadly sin, the cowardly lion
(22) in the guise of   偽裝
(23) be apt to    習慣於
(24) rationale    下意識的解釋
(25) anthropomorphize   v. 人格化
   human     form
(26) --ous adj.
       desirous   adj. 渴望的
       envious  adj. 羨慕的