CHARLES BROOKS INTL LET US TALK ABOUT IT

Aesop Fables 620 to 560 BCE

The idea that Aesop was Ethiopian has been further encouraged by the presence of camels, elephants, and apes in the fables, even though these African elements are more likely to have come from Egypt, Libya, and/or Ethiopia. Popular perception of Aesop as black may have been further encouraged by a perceived similarity between fables of the trickster Br'er Rabbit, told by African-American slaves, and the traditional role of the slave Aesop as 'a kind of culture hero of the oppressed, and the Life [of Aesop] as a how-to handbook for the successful manipulation of superiors.