If you have ever heard phrases like, "look before you leap," "necessity is the mother of invention," or "two wrongs don"t make a right," you are not alone. These phrases and many like them, which have become so commonplace, were first coined by Aesop. Born into slavery in ancient Greece, Aesop supposedly won his freedom with his learned wit. Collected here are his famous fables translated by George Fyler Townsend with a short biography of Aesop and a preface to the fables.