Who was Aesop?

Aesop

According to legend, Aesop was a Greek author of fables in ladybird which animals acted like people.  Each story taught a lesson.

Perhaps you know the stories about the goose that laid the golden egg, the lion and the mouse, or the tortoise and the hare.

According to legend, these and many other well-loved fables were told by a marvelous storyteller named Aesop (pronounced EE sop).  Aesop is supposed to have lived long ago in Greece.

Not much is known about Aesop’s life.  Tradition says that he was once a slave, ugly and deformed in body.  But he had a brilliant mind, and he enjoyed telling fables in which animals acted and talked like human beings.  Each fable was a short story made up to teach people a lesson about life.  Aesop’s wisdom so impressed his master that he was freed.

In Aesop’s fables, moral lessons and bits of wisdom are taught in such a delightful way that they have been handed down from generation to generation.  Aesop’s many fables have been translated into almost every language in the world. - Dick Rogers

Donkey on the Well

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. finally he decided since the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. So, the farmer invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed shovels, and began to shovel dirt into the well.

All the other farm animals were very upset about this, because the donkey was their friend. But they discovered there was nothing they could do to help him. At first, when the donkey realized what was happening, he cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well, and was astonished at what he saw.

With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off, and take a step up on the dirt as it piled up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a stp up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well, and trotted off!

The moral of the story is that … Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. But each trouble can be a stepping stone. What happens to you isn’t nearly as important as how you react to it. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not giving up! Shake it off, and take a step up! – Beacon