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Title
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en_US
Ancient Fables
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en_US
Classic Stories of China
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Description
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Compiled by Wu Min
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Creator
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en_US
Min, Wu
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Date
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2020-01-23T17:39:25Z
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2019-01
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en_US
2011
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Date Available
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2020-01-23T17:39:25Z
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Date Issued
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en_US
2011
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Abstract
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en_US
This is a well-produced book. 4¼" x 7⅝". The art, apparently not acknowledged, is delightful and surprisingly contemporary. My sense is that the stories here are more anecdotes than fables. They are often wisdom stories. Thus in the very first, a wise official from one state outwits the leader of another state trying to one-up him. The character of these stories is well represented, I believe, by the story "Pao Ding Kills an Ox" (39). I take the point of the story to be that Pao Ding is so good a butcher by now that he knows what he is doing by a kind of feel. "Today, when I kill a bull, I don't have to use my eyes, but just touch the bull with my heart and spirit, and its sensory organs and senses no longer function. I just kill the bulls with my hands through a mysterious intuition." "The Snipe and the Clam" (88) is very like some things from the Western fable tradition. The snipe and clam are in a standoff, and they both will die if neither yields. "Soon a fisherman appeared and caught them both." "Break Arrows" on 109 is a replay of BS from Aesop. I notice a typo on 20: "roasters" for "roosters."
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Identifier
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en_US
11915 (Access ID)
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Language
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en_US
eng
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Publisher
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en_US
China Intercontinental Press
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Subject
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Chinese