Aesop! Who doesn't know him and who hasn't read, heard, or been captivated by one of his fables?

Aesop is our faithful representative. A loving grandfather, he holds our hand tenderly and guides us with love through the magical paths of his animal world. In the difficult, harsh, and barren uphill of life, whenever the world's cruelty hurts us or its indifference surprises us, in Aesop we will find some consolation, realizing that he has painted all of these with his magical brush as our great teacher.

With my book, I wanted to add my own contribution to the wonderful monument that the centuries have erected for the great teacher.

In the form I chose, I tried to give the fable an epigrammatic character, encapsulating its entire meaning in four fifteen-syllable verses, which I made sure were also rhyming to appeal more to children.

DIONYSIOS A. TROVAS