One of the texts that Eliana has been working with in her third-grade online school is the classic tale of the Tortoise and the Hare. It’s a simple story that we all know and grew up with. As Eliana worked her way through the assignment at the speed of a certain titular reptile, I went down a rabbit’s hole of my own.

Who was this Aesop fellow, and what was his deal? It turns out that according other writings near that time, he was a Greek slave a half a century before Christ and a contemporary of Buddha. Since both of Aesop and Buddha told wise sayings that others wrote down and no one has the original writings, only versions of versions, there is still debate over who influenced whom.

Aesop left the world a large collection fables that have been translated into many languages and cultures. Some of his more famous tales include the Tortoise and The Hare, the Ant and the Grasshopper, the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, and the Fox and the Grapes. So well known are these tales that in writing and speaking we use them as shorthand for the point we are making. The phrase “sour grapes” means that we have a tendency to run something down that we couldn’t achieve just like the Fox in the story. Simply saying the title “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” or the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” is enough to keep most of us on the straight and narrow.

One of his less famous stories is the Pig and Donkey. In this tale a farmer fattens up a pig from basket of grain. Then the farmer slaughters and eats the pig. Later, he tries to feed the donkey from the same basket, but the donkey refuses, saying he saw what happened to the pig. The story is funny and yet carries a deeper meaning. We know the nature of animals and humans because the patterns are recognizable and universal. My boss fired the last guy he promoted, what’s going to happen to me if I take the promotion?

Another less common story is the Body and it’s Parts. In that one the legs become jealous of the stomach because it gets all the food, so they refuse to carry the body to food resulting in whole body becoming weak. Wait, I do know that story, because Paul in the New Testament retells it as parable about the Church. What is a body without all its members?

In the meantime, my little scholar finished up her work. I asked her to tell me the moral of the story. “Never underestimate tortoises,” she said. Indeed.