History Literature / AesopsFables

* "Literature/TheBoyWhoCriedWolf": A shepherd boy {{troll}}s the villagers by [[CryingWolf yelling that he's being attacked by a wolf]]. Eventually they get so annoyed by his lying that when the wolf really does come to kill the sheep, nobody believes him.

* ''Literature/TheGrasshopperAndTheAnts'': A grasshopper is lazy and does nothing during spring and summer, while the ants work. When winter arrives the ants survive because they harvested food and had built a warm home, while the grasshopper dies from cold and starvation.
* ''Literature/TheTortoiseAndTheHare'': A slow tortoise and a speedy hare decide to hold a race. The hare, overconfident in his victory, takes a nap during the race, and as a result the tortoise wins through his perseverance.
* ''[[CryingWolf The Boy Who Cried Wolf]]'': A shepherd boy {{troll}}s the villagers by yelling that he's being attacked by a wolf. Eventually they get so annoyed by his lying that when the wolf really does come to kill the sheep, nobody believes him.

* EpicFail: The hare from "The Tortoise and the Hare" '''loses''' to the tortoise. Even better? The hare could have won easily, and the only reason why he lost was because he took a nap ''in the middle of their race'', arrogant enough to [[TemptingFate believe he would still win]] owing to the tortoise's slow speed.

* IdiotBall: In "The Tortoise and the Hare", the hare would have easily curb-stomped the tortoise in their race if he hadn't decided to take a nap under a tree in the middle of it, arrogantly believing that [[TemptingFate the tortoise is so slow that falling asleep would change nothing]]. [[EpicFail We all know how well that went for the hare.]]

* LastSecondShowoff: "The Tortoise and the Hare" is the TropeCodifier. During a race between the two titular characters, the Hare gains such a massive lead over the Tortoise that the Hare takes a nap under a tree. By the time the Hare wakes up, the Tortoise has almost crossed the finish line. Despite a frantic scramble from the Hare, the Tortoise ultimately wins the race thanks to the Hare's hubris.

* PrideBeforeAFall: ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' sees the titular hare with natural speed losing a race to a slow tortoise, because the hare was so arrogant that he'd win that he took a nap in the middle of the race. One of the lessons of the fable is to keep your pride in check, lest you make an easily-avoidable mistake.

* SturdyAndSteadyTurtles: One of the most famous fables, ''The Tortoise and the Hare'', tells of a race between a proud, speedy hare and a slow, plodding tortoise. The hare, being the fastest animal around, has no doubts that he will win, quickly gains a large lead and stops partway through to nap under a tree, confident in his advantage. The tortoise instead keeps making his slow but steady progress towards the finish line. By the time the hare finally wakes up and realizes that the tortoise has passed him and is approaching the finish, it's too late for even his speed to close the distance and the tortoise wins. The moral of the story is not to let oneself be blinded by arrogance, and that determination and perseverance can make up for a lack of natural advantages.

* TemptingFate: ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' tells of a race between a proud, speedy hare and a slow, plodding tortoise. The hare quickly gains a large lead and stops partway through to nap under a tree, confident in his advantage. The tortoise creeps by, making his slow but steady progress towards the finish line. By the time the hare finally wakes up and realizes that the tortoise is about to win, even the hare's great speed isn't enough close the gap, and the tortoise wins the race. The moral of the story is not to let oneself be blinded by arrogance, and that determination and perseverance can make up for a lack of natural advantages.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

Aesopos (Greek Αἴσωπος, shortened to Aesop in modern English) was a {{fab|le}}ulist and slave, later freedman, living somewhere in Asia Minor in the sixth century BC. If, that is, he existed at all.

But European fables -- mostly {{Beast Fable}}s -- had a marvelous tendency to accrete onto the collections claimed to be his. Being fables, they have rather obvious morals, which are sometimes (but not always) explicitly pointed out at the end. The most famous writer of this trend is certainly Creator/JeanDeLaFontaine.

* TemptingFate: ''The Tortoise and the Hare'' tells of a race between a proud, speedy hare and a slow, plodding tortoise. The hare quickly gains a large lead and stops partway through to nap under a tree, confident in his advantage. The tortoise eeps making his slow but steady progress towards the finish line. By the time the hare finally wakes up and realizes that the tortoise is about to win, even the hare's great speed isn't enough close the gap, and the tortoise wins the race. The moral of the story is not to let oneself be blinded by arrogance, and that determination and perseverance can make up for a lack of natural advantages.

* AnAesop: Yes, pretty much all the fables have the moral lesson spelled out at the end.
* BeastFable

Aesopos (Greek Αἴσωπος, shortened to Aesop in modern English) was a slave, later freedman, living somewhere in Asia Minor in the sixth century BC. If, that is, he existed at all.

* IFightForTheStrongestSide: In "The Birds, The Beasts, and The Bat," the birds and the beasts are at war. The bats repeatedly switch sides to fight for whichever side is currently winning. When the war is over, neither the birds nor the beasts want anything to do with the bats for being so two-faced, and that's why they hide in caves during the day and only come out at night.

** "The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs" combines this trope with FarmingYourFriend. A man finds that his goose can lay golden eggs, so he has her lay many of them so that he can make a profit off of her. He becomes impatient and concludes that if he cuts her stomach open, he'll be able to find lots of eggs to sell by himself. He does just that, and the inside of the goose is completely empty. The man is devastated that he's ruined his one source of income for nothing.

* FarmingYourFriend: In "The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs", a man finds that his goose can lay golden eggs, so he has her lay many of them so that he can make a profit off of her. He becomes impatient and concludes that if he cuts her stomach open, he'll be able to find lots of eggs to sell by himself. He does just that, and [[DidntThinkThisThrough the inside of the goose is completely empty]]. The man is devastated that he's ruined his one source of income for nothing.

* ''Literature/TheTortoiseAndTheHare'': A slow tortoise and a speedy hare decide to hold a race. The hare, confident in his victory, takes a nap during the race, and as a result the tortoise wins through his perseverance.

* ''Literature/TheTortoiseAndTheHare'': A tortoise and a hare decided to hold a race. The tortoise wins because the hare fell asleep during the race and wasn't in time to cross the finish first.

* KnightTemplarParent: "The Young Thief and His Mother"; in the story, a thief is condemned to die for stealing and as a final request he wanted to see his mother one last time. When she arrived, he suddenly bit off her ear and blamed her for his situation because she never disciplined him. The thief started stealing as a child and his mother chose to help him hide the evidence than punish him for it.

[[caption-width-right:267: Pictured: Exactly one [[AnAesop Aesop]]]]

[[caption-width-right:267: Pictured: [[IncrediblyLamePun Exactly one]] [[AnAesop Aesop]]]]

* BeingGoodSucks: "The Wolf and the Crane" shows the dangers of thoughtless altruism. The premise of the story is that a wolf gets a bone stuck in his throat and promises a reward to anyone who can dislodge it. Naturally, nobody wants to help him until a crane hears the wolf's pleas and begrudgingly agrees to dislodge the bone with her beak. When it was dislodged the wolf was grateful and started walking away. When the crane asked about the reward, the wolf said she should be grateful that he didn't bite off her head during the procedure. Later versions of the story have the wolf receiving [[ItOnlyWorksOnce his comeuppance]] and the crane feeling disappointed yet wiser by her experience with him.

[[caption-width-right:267: Aesop.]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough: In "Belling the Cat", a herd of mice living in the walls of a house hold a meeting to determine how to deal with the constant threat of the family cat. One of them proposes, as you might suspect from the title, tying a bell around the neck of the cat so that they'll always hear her when she's coming for them. The other mice are like "Eureka!" until an old mouse reveals the only hiccup of the plan: ''who'' among them will put the bell on the cat?
* DiligentDraftAnimal: In "The Horse and the Donkey", a horse and a donkey are travelling together and the donkey is carrying all the items. The struggling donkey asks for help by sharing the load but the horse refuses to help. The overworked donkey eventually dies and the horse is now forced to carry the very load that killed the donkey, as well as the donkey's body.

* EpicFail: The Hare from "The Tortoise and the Hare" '''loses''' to the Tortoise. Even better? The Hare could have won easily, and the only reason why he lost was because he took a nap ''in the middle of their race'', arrogant enough to [[TemptingFate believe he would still win]] owing to the Tortoise's slow speed.

* ResourcefulRodent: The Lion and the Mouse is about a lion sparing a mouse and laughing off the idea of the mouse helping him in return since the lion considers the mouse to be too small and weak to be of any use. When the lion is caught in a net trap, the mouse is able to free him by gnawing at the rope so the lion could escape.
* RevengeIsNotJustice: The Horse and The Stag has shades of this; in the story, a horse is in a feud with a stag. The vengeful horse makes an arrangement with a hunter to kill the stag and the two successfully hunt the stag. When the horse asks for its freedom, the hunter refuses to take off the bit and bridle and instead enslaves the horse since its too useful to release. The moral of the story is that revenge isn't worth it and always comes with a cost, for the horse, it lost its freedom.