History Literature / AesopsFables

** In "The Fox and the Crow", the hungry fox encounters a crow eating a piece of cheese and uses its charm to persuade the bird to sing. When the crow sings, it drops the cheese and the fox runs away with it.

** In "The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox", a bear and a lion find a lost goat and begin to argue about who gets to eat it. While the two are fighting, the fox grabs it and runs away with the body to eat it.

** In "The Fox and the Goat", a fox falls down a well and gets trapped. He sees a young goat and convinces the goat to join him because he was enjoying his time there. As soon as the goat lept into the well, the fox used him to escape and left the goat to die.
** In "The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox", a bear and a lion find a lost goat and begin to argue about who gets to eat it. While the two were fighting, the fox ate it and ran away with the body to eat it.
** In "The Fox and the Crow", the hungry fox encounters a crow eating a piece of cheese and uses its charm to convince the bird to sing. When the crow sings, it drops the cheese and the fox runs away with it.

* CunningLikeAFox: All foxes are wily in these tales. Some are a bit more noble, but most of them have a low cunning that helps only themselves.

* FoulFox: The fox character in Aesop's fables is portrayed as a clever and cunning antagonist who uses trickery to get what he wants. [[KarmaHoudini Sometimes it works]], but [[KarmicDeath sometimes it doesn’t]].
** In ''The Fox and the Goat'', a fox falls down a well and gets trapped. He sees a young goat and convinces the goat to join him because he was enjoying his time there. As soon as the goat lept into the well, the fox used him to escape and left the goat to die.
** In ''The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox'', a bear and a lion find a lost goat and begin to argue about who gets to eat it. While the two were fighting, the fox ate it and ran away with the body to eat it.
** In ''The Fox and the Crow'', the hungry fox encounters a crow eating a piece of cheese and uses its charm to convince the bird to sing. When the crow sings, it drops the cheese and the fox runs away with it.

* FoulFox: In most of the fables, a fox is the clever antagonist that uses trickery to get what he wants. [[KarmaHoudini Sometimes it works]], but [[KarmicDeath sometimes it doesn’t]].

* AnAesop

* BalloonBelly: Predating ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'', one fable is about a fox who discovers a stash of food hidden inside a tree. The fox gorges on the entire supply, becoming so fat that he is unable to get out. Depending on how the fable is translated, the fox is told by a weasel or another fox that he'll have to wait until he's back to his normal weight to come out of the tree.

%%* CunningLikeAFox: The UrExample.

%%* DownerEnding: A couple, such as "The Wolf and the Lamb" and "The Crab and the Fox".

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The fable "The Man his Wife, and The Boy Outside", sometimes explicitly named "Adulterer and Husband". Numbered 350 in the Perry index.

But European fables -- mostly {{Beast Fable}}s -- have 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.

* BiggerIsBetter: The frog thinks so in "The Frog and the Ox".
* BrokenAesop: "The Moon and her Mother" has the Moon's mother deny making her daughter a dress, because it could never fit her because she keeps changing size. [[http://childhoodreading.com/wp-content/illustrations/Arthur_Rackham/Rackham-MoonAndMother.jpg In one accompanying illustration]], the "moon" part is ''her head'', so the dress's size shouldn't be a problem.
** FridgeBrilliance: A larger head makes it harder to put a shirt on.
* BystanderSyndrome: The attitude of the ass in "The Ass and The Old Peasant".

* CatsAreMean / KingOfBeasts: Lions are the king of beasts, and in Aesop's Fables they won't let you forget it.

* CunningLikeAFox: The UrExample.
* DirtyCoward: One of the soldiers in "The Two Soldiers and the Robber".
* DownerEnding: A couple, such as "The Wolf and the Lamb" and "The Crab and the Fox".

* HealThyself

* SweetAndSourGrapes
* WhoWillBellTheCat

* NeverMyFault: "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. He tricked his mother by wanting to whisper something in her ear and when she leaned in close, he tried to bite off her ear. His reason was that he blamed her for his predicament as she had never disciplined him when he was a child after he started stealing. Due to the values of the era, the priest takes his side and blames her as well.
* TheOldNorthWind: "The North Wind and the Sun" describes a contest between the two titular entities over who will be able to strip a passing traveler of his cloak. The North Wind blew his harshest, strongest winds to tear the garment away from the man, but the more he did so the more the traveler pulled his cloak close to himself. The Sun simply shone brightly and warmly, and the traveler took off his cloak of his own accord in the pleasant weather. The story is meant to teach a moral about the value of civility and persuasion, as embodied by the Sun, instead of using the North Wind's brute force to solve problems.
* ScienceIsBad: "The Satyr and the Traveller" is a story about a Satyr meeting a traveller and being introduced to thermodynamics. The satyr is intrigued and then frustrated after the traveller explains how he can warm his hands and cool his food with his breath, leading to the moral "A man who talks for both sides is not to be trusted by either".