Stories – Page 3 – Interesting Literature

The Best Fables by Aesop Everyone Should Know

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Aesop wasn’t the first person to write animal fables. Several centuries earlier, Hesiod had written one about a hawk and a nightingale, while a poet named Archilochus penned several, including one about an eagle and a vixen, and one about a fox and a monkey. But Aesop, a writer about whom very little is known with any real certainty, would turn the fable into a popular form. William Caxton printed the first English translation of the Fables in 1484, enabling such phrases as ‘sour grapes’ to enter the language.

10 of the Best Very Short Stories That Can Be Read Online

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

One very short story – often attributed to Ernest Hemingway but actually the work of another writer – is just six words long: ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn’. And some of the greatest fiction-writers of the last two centuries have written memorable short stories which stretch to little more than a few pages: short enough to be read in a coffee break.

A Summary and Analysis of the Three Billy Goats Gruff Fairy Tale

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff is well-known throughout Europe, and perhaps even further afield. But what is less well-known is that the story has its origins, not in French or German or Danish literature, like many other fairy tales that are well-known to English-speaking readers, but in Scandinavian literature.

A Summary and Analysis of the David and Goliath Story

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The story of David and Goliath is one of the most iconic and celebrated tales from the Old Testament. Virtually everyone vaguely acquainted with Bible stories knows that David, as a young boy, slew the giant Goliath. The story is an inspiring example of how the plucky underdog could defeat someone much bigger than him, against the odds.

Except, there are two problems with this story, a story that virtually everyone ‘knows’. First, was it actually David who slew Goliath? And second, and perhaps even more intriguingly: was David really the underdog in that fight?

A Summary and Analysis of the Rapunzel Fairy Tale

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

One central feature of the story of ‘Rapunzel’ is well-known: the beautiful blonde woman, imprisoned in a tower, who lets down her long hair for her lover. But what does the story of ‘Rapunzel’ mean? And how does the meaning of the very name ‘Rapunzel’ offer a clue?