2012 Aesop's Fables: Volume One. Two CDs. 20 stories. Various narrators. Kingston, RI: AudioGO.
The special value of this set lies in the gifted British narrators and expansive development of the storylines. The actors employ various voices within each fable and have sound effects and occasional musical background to help them. I listened to the first two fables on each disc. In this version of TH, the hare runs back to tell the tortoise that the race has started! He then announces that he will take a nap, apparently near the starting line. "Slow and steady is sometimes better than fast and flashy." In OF, one of the mother frog's 247 children tells her of the ox. She is overweight and hates exercise. She does not make it all the way to see the ox, but whizzes around like a balloon and lands at the ox's feet. Her mistake relied on her perception that "No creature in the pond is bigger than me." The wolf in WC spends most of his time thinking of food. He would love to try eating the moon and stars if he could. A fishbone gets stuck. This version of the story thus cleverly uses the river to introduce the heron as the wolf's savior. "I didn't bite your head off: that is your reward!" The "hee-haw" of the donkey in DLS gives him away to the fox. This donkey had long wanted to be something else. The other animals had laughed at him before and now they do again. In something of a surprise, the other animals tell the donkey "We like you just as you are."
2001 Aesop's Fables: Two Enchanting Tales in Story & Song. CD. "Donkey and Wolf" and BW. Purchased used. Los Angeles: Liberty International Publishing with Drive Entertainment. Unknown source.
Wow! A full orchestra leads us, with a full chorus, into a narrator's energetic telling of the hungry wolf's approach to the waterhole. "I'm a Lone Wolf" is a great lonely monologue-song! A flirtatious donkey knows nothing of the wolf's eating intentions, even when he says she could use a little make-up, like ketchup! When she understands, she sings "Why Me?" to a cha-cha rhythm. This is perhaps the most professional musical presentation of Aesop I have run into. He answers with "Nothing Personal." He is just a wolf! She mentions the nasty thorn in her hoof…. Aesop comes through! She is just being herself! The shepherd boy is just lonely. He makes his cries in order to see another human face. The recording has the chorus singing the same "To the Rescue" song more and more slowly with each of his several calls for help. It is a delight to listen through this performance!
1923 Aesop's Fables: Kroma-Paket. Kroma Paket No. 1. Pictures to Color--A New Kind of Outline Reproduction. Sandusky, OH/NY: The American Crayon Company. $18 from Lisa Bouchard, Melrose, MA, through eBay, Jan., '13.
The pictures are acknowledged as coming from The Aesop for Children with pictures by Milo Winter, published by Rand McNally & Company. The cover shows the rooster telling the fox to come up, while the "doorman" dog awaits the fox inside the tree's opening. The package includes two colored illustrations, SS and "The Cock and the Fox." This set includes five "outline sketches" still waiting to be colored in and six rather well executed by someone with crayons. "The Wolf and the Kid" may be missing, as it is indicated on one of the three sheets of specific color instructions for each outline. The child is assumed not to need instructions for the two already colored illustrations. The three added sheets are fascinating. One advertises The Aesop for Children. Another advertises "Kroma Paket Awards." A third shows "How to Use Kroma Water Colors" and "How to Use Kroma Crayons."
1994 Aesop's Fables: Kids Can Read! Interactive CD-ROM. No authors acknowledged. Illustrations after Arthur Rackham. Buffalo, NY: Kids Can Read!: Discis Knowledge Research. $4.99 from Tabo O'Connor, Mesa AZ through Ebay, Feb., '99.
Ten fables are presented with one illustration adapted from Arthur Rackham for each. One can hear the text read in English. One can also click on objects or words for names, sound effects, syllables, Spanish, or more explanation. Included are "The Crab & his Mother," FG, GA, "The Travellers & the Plane Tree," CP, DS, TMCM, "The Cat & the Birds," "The Quack Frog," and FC. Technology moves quickly enough that this disk may have some compatibility problems with computers younger than it. I had to go to "Start," "Run," and "D: install" with a double click on "Discis.exe" to get it going in my new machine.
