Favourite Aesop's Fables

Abstract

Is this a large-format work combining three smaller works from Parragon? The three stories presented here are TMCM, TH, and GA. Parragon did versions of all three in 2001 in Bright Sparks editions. The cartoon-work is fun here. Still, I wonder how successful Gardner is in depicting Town Mouse. His image does not fit with the text's description that his whiskers were smart and elegant. (In the other version, that last phrase had been fancy and elegant.) In town, Country Mouse gets a tummy ache from all the rich food he has eaten. A woman with a broom and a cat threaten the two mice. Country Mouse stays one night in town but is too unhappy to sleep. He tries hard not to cry. Country Mouse never, ever goes back to the city again. This version of TH sets out to have fun with the story. After the race's start, we read this of Hare: When there was no one to show off for, he slowed down just a bit. When Tortoise--unusually upright in this version, I think--comes upon Hare sleeping, he does not wake him and says He must have a reason for sleeping. He would only be cross if I woke him! (In the other version, that last phrase had used angry rather than cross. GA is told here in traditional fashion and is illustrated with lively cartoon characters including Bee, Ladybug, and Spider. When we meet Ant, she is struggling to balance a number of grains on her back. Grasshopper annoys the other insects by dancing and singing at night when the other insects are trying to sleep. By the end of the summer, Ant has four little children ants. She asks Grasshopper at this point what he is doing about building a nest and storing food. In the end, Ant relents and lets Grasshopper in. Grasshopper learns his lesson and is ready to build a nest of his own when spring arrives.