Aesop’s Fables has been a timeless staple of childhood reading for centuries. The enduring lessons from the ancient Greek storyteller’s captivating collection of tales remain essential and relevant even today.
From the iconic story of the boy who cried wolf to the cunning fox and the sour grapes, these classic fables have become the basis for many common English idioms. Here are five useful idiomatic expressions derived from Aesop’s Fables that can add colour to your writing.
Cry wolf
Meaning: to raise a false alarm. The idiom comes from a fable of a boy tasked with protecting a flock of sheep from wolves. However, he soon grew bored with the job. One day, he shouted, “Help, there’s a wolf!” when there was no actual wolf. The farmers came to help, only to discover the boy had tricked them. He repeated this a few times. Eventually, when a wolf did come, and the boy cried out for help, the people did not believe him. The wolf ate all his sheep.
Example: Susie had made up fake stories and cried wolf several times to get attention, and no one believed her when she was telling the truth.
Dog in the manger
Meaning: refers to someone who keeps something they do not want to prevent someone else from getting it. In the story, a dog was asleep in a manger filled with hay. Even though the dog did not want to eat the hay, it refused to allow the cattle to eat it. Ultimately, the dog’s selfish act caused the farmer to storm in angrily, rousing the dog from the manger.
Example: James refuses to rent his vacant flat to anyone, even though he lives outside the country. He is being a dog in the manger about it.
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Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
Meaning: to not rely on something happening before it occurs. The fable has it that one day, a milkmaid was carrying a pail of milk to the market, balancing it on her head. As she walked, she started daydreaming about the profits she would make by selling the milk. She then imagined using that money to buy eggs, which would hatch into chickens that she could sell for a profit. Lost in her imagination, the milkmaid shook her head, causing the milk to spill to the ground, shattering her anticipated earnings.
Example: Although you have made it to the final round of the job interview, don’t count your chickens before they hatch; announce it to your family only after you confirm the offer.
Sour grapes
Meaning: refers to when someone is angry because they did not get something they wanted. In the fable, a fox came across a bunch of juicy-looking grapes hanging high on a vine, just out of his reach. The fox tried repeatedly to jump up and grab the grapes, but he could not. Eventually, the frustrated fox convinced himself that the grapes must be sour anyway and, therefore, not worth having.
Example: When Hani failed to enter her dream college, she told everyone that it was not a good school, but this was clearly sour grapes.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire
Meaning: to move from a bad situation to one that is worse. Picture a stag being chased by hounds and seeking refuge in a cave, only to find a lion resting inside. The stag had escaped one danger but ended up in an even more difficult situation.
Example: The family thought moving from their small town to the big city would provide better opportunities, but they just ended up going from the frying pan into the fire because of the city’s high cost of living and crime rate.
