Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Aesop trickster tale The Fox and the Stork

Recently my friend the Teacher-Librarian from Kinderbookswitheverything gifted (loaned) an Aesop fable or a folktale to each teacher in her school. I always cheer when teachers ask to read Aesop's fables with their class. There are so many and they are such wonderful stories. I plan to borrow various Aesop stories and talk about them here over the coming months. They often contain the most scrumptious illustrations too.

The Fox and the Stork is a trickster tale. The Fox thinks he has tricked the hungry Stork when she cannot eat the soup he has prepared. Her long beak makes soup in a shallow dish an impossible meal. But later it is the Stork who tricks that silly Fox when she offers him a dinner in a narrow jar - perfect for her beak but impossible for the fox. 

Here are some editions of this story. I love the illustrations in the retelling by Karl Ruhmann illustrated by Alessandra Roberti (North South Books 2003). Of course you will also find this story included in most Aesop anthologies.





Karl Ruhmann is the author of another book I loved to read in my former library when we were exploring books about penguins - Filbert flies.



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