100 Classic Fables That Benefit Chinese Children's Lives

Author: Xu Lu (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: A small, snow-white, smooth-furred rabbit says to the hedgehog, "Brother, your clothes are really ugly, full of thorns!"
"Not bad," the hedgehog replies, "but my spines help me avoid being bitten by dogs and wolves. Can your beautiful fur do the same for you?"
The rabbit didn't answer, just sighed. This fable has a similar effect to Aesop's "The Fox and the Leopard." Aesop said that inner, wise beauty surpasses outward splendor; while this fable says: Sometimes, things that are practical may not look beautiful, or even ugly. It actually tells us: Don't judge a book by its cover.
This book selects over 100 classic fables from around the world that have profoundly influenced the growth of generations of Chinese children, accompanied by brief appreciations and comments. The arrangement of the works intentionally breaks the conventional practice of categorizing them by country or era, instead grouping them by themes such as vanity, lying, diligence and laziness, humility and pride, friendship, ignorance, perseverance, and so on. Works with similar themes are grouped together. Additionally, some works are collected that come from different eras or even different ethnic fable tellers, offering their own interpretations and reimaginings of the same "mother theme," such as "The Farmer and the Snake" and "The Crow and the Fox." We group these together as well.
The purpose of this arrangement is twofold: first, to give us a rough sense of which fables and in what aspects have played an educational and enlightening role in the growth of children across different eras; second, to help us understand the intergenerational and interethnic transmission of fables, as well as the creative collaborations that pay "homage" to justice, truth, and wisdom.