Aesop's Fables · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Aesop's Fables by Aesop.
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The Fox
major
Also known as A Fox, Fox, the Fox, Reynard the Fox
The Fox moves through these fables as the great improviser, partnering with an Ass one moment and whispering the Ass's location to a Lion the next. His flaw is that cleverness without conscience keeps him calculating the odds even as the jaws close around him. He matters because his betrayals set the moral machinery in motion: readers learn early that the trickster's escape is rarely the last word.
The Lion
major
Also known as A Lion, The Lion, the Lion, The Wily Lion
As king of beasts, the Lion commands fear and deference, yet he is often swayed by flattery, bargains, or the promise of an easy meal. In the tale of the Ass and the Fox, he accepts a whispered deal and then casually devours the very ally who delivered it, showing that his mercy is as unreliable as his hunger. His presence forces every other creature to reveal what they truly value: loyalty, survival, or the hope of outwitting him.
The Ass
major
Also known as Ass, The Ass, the Ass, an Ass, the Wild Ass
The Ass hauls, grazes, and partners with creatures who see him less as a companion than as a stepping stone. In one fable he forages alongside a Fox only to be led into a hunter's pit, betrayed for the sake of another's skin. His vanity—mistaking reverence for an image on his back as reverence for himself—makes him both pitiable and instructive, the reader's mirror for every time flattery has been mistaken for worth.
The Wolf
major
Also known as A Wolf, The Wolf, the Wolf, Wolf
The Wolf stalks the edges of these fables as hunger in fur, willing to slip into a sheepskin and graze among his prey if it means a night of easy slaughter. His confidence in his own cunning is his undoing: the shepherd's knife finds him before the flock ever does. He embodies the fable's recurring warning that the scheme which deceives everyone else may still leave the schemer standing exactly where the blade falls.
Jupiter
major
Also known as Jupiter, Great Jupiter
Jupiter sits above the fables as the final court of appeal, the god to whom the oppressed and the covetous alike bring their grievances. When the Goods complain of being overrun by the Ills, he grants protection but decrees that they must travel singly and unseen—a ruling that explains why blessings are rare and troubles constant. His verdicts are just but unsentimental, and they remind readers that even divine intervention tends to preserve the world's hard balance rather than undo it.
The Mouse
supporting
Also known as a Mouse, the Mouse, The Mouse, The unhappy Mouse
The Mouse lives at the bottom of the food chain, dodging cats and surviving on the wisdom of narrow escapes. In the council of mice, one proposes belling the cat to a round of applause, until an elder asks the question no one can answer: who will do it? That gap between a brilliant plan and the courage to execute it is the Mouse's gift to the fables—proof that the smallest voice in the room is often the one that names the truth.
The Monkey
supporting
Also known as The Monkey, the Monkey, O Monkey
In Aesop's world the Monkey belongs to that restless tribe of creatures who mistake imitation for intelligence and applause for wisdom. He watches, copies, and overreaches, driven less by hunger than by the itch to seem as clever as he thinks he looks. His misadventures anchor the fables' running argument that wit without judgment is just another kind of foolishness.
The Eagle
supporting
Also known as An Eagle, The Eagle, the Eagle
The Eagle moves through these fables as the recognized monarch of birds, hunting from lofty rocks and settling disputes with talons rather than argument. Yet his majesty is precarious: an arrow fletched with his own feathers can bring him down, and a small Beetle's grudge can scatter his eggs. He embodies the book's recurring warning that strength, however lofty, is never beyond reach of the weak or the cunning.
The Frogs
supporting
Also known as The Frogs, the Frogs, Frog, The Frog, the Frog
The Frogs live at the water's edge, a community quick to grumble about their lot and quicker to demand a king to rule them. Their dissatisfaction is comic and tragic at once: what they want is order, but what they get, again and again, is a stork or a serpent with an appetite. Their fables form one of the collection's sharpest meditations on the cost of ungrateful discontent.
The Goat
supporting
Also known as The Goat, the Goat, A Goat
The Goat turns up in Aesop's pastures and stables as a creature of plain sense and stubborn endurance, often paired with more cunning animals who underestimate him. Where the Fox schemes and the Lion devours, the Goat tends to hold his ground, and his caution sometimes exposes the traps laid for him. He gives the collection a working animal's perspective on the predators and tricksters who dominate its pages.
The Hares
supporting
Also known as The Hares, the Hares
The Hares inhabit Aesop's world as the byword for timidity, startled by their own shadows and ready to abandon life at the first sign of danger. Their panic is so total that it becomes a kind of lesson: when they flee in terror, they sometimes discover creatures even more frightened than themselves. Their fables turn cowardice inside out, showing how fear, examined closely, can shrink into something almost like resolve.
Mercury
supporting
Also known as Mercury
Mercury appears in these fables as the divine auditor of human conduct, arriving in disguise to see whether woodsmen, travelers, and tradesmen will tell the truth when no one is watching. His tests are simple and his judgments swift: the honest are rewarded, the greedy and the lying are exposed. He gives the collection a rare note of cosmic justice, reminding readers that some reckonings come from above the forest floor.
The Stag
supporting
Also known as The Stag, the Stag, A Stag, The unlucky Stag, The Sick Stag
A one-eyed deer who guards against hunters on land but never thinks to watch the sea, where his ruin waits.
The Sheep
supporting
Also known as The Sheep, the Sheep, A Sheep, The foolish Sheep
A wool-bearing flock animal who grumbles at the shepherd's favoritism until the Dog reminds them who keeps the wolves away.
The Crow
supporting
Also known as The Crow, the Crow, A Crow, Crow
A vain bird who loses her cheese to flattery and caws for attention she hasn't earned, mistaking noise for prophecy.
The Tortoise
supporting
Also known as The Tortoise, the Tortoise, Tortoise
A slow, steady creature whose patient persistence proves that plodding beats sprinting when the race is long enough.
The Ant
supporting
Also known as Ants, The Ants, the Ants, Ant
A tireless forager, once human and punished by Jupiter for covetousness, still hoarding others' harvests by ancient habit.
The Dog
supporting
Also known as A Dog, the Dog, The Dog, the Hound, The Hound
A loyal guardian who trades table scraps for vigilance, quick to remind the sheep that without him they'd be wolf-meat.
The Farmer
supporting
Also known as A Farmer, The Farmer, the Farmer, The Ploughman, the Ploughman
An orchard-keeper who judges his barren apple tree worthless until a hidden swarm of bees proves that even hollow things hold honey.
The Woodman
supporting
Also known as The Woodman, the Woodman, A Woodman, The Hunter
A laborer whose honesty is tested when Mercury offers him a golden axe he never lost, and he refuses it.
The Miller
supporting
Also known as The Miller, the Miller, the unfortunate Miller
A tradesman whose misfortunes and dealings test whether patience and plain sense can survive a world of sharp bargains.
The Goatherd
supporting
Also known as The Goatherd, the Goatherd, A Goatherd
A tender of goats whose trust in his flock is tested when a wolf slips in wearing borrowed wool.
The Jackdaw
supporting
Also known as The Jackdaw, the Jackdaw, Jackdaw, The Vain Jackdaw, The Escaped Jackdaw
A drab bird who dresses himself in peacock feathers and struts among the flock until the disguise is torn away.
The Bramble
minor
Also known as a Bramble, the Bramble, The Bramble
A thorny bush that argues with other plants about usefulness.
The Bull
minor
Also known as The Bull, the Bull, A Bull, Bull
A strong animal often used to represent brute force or stubbornness.
The Cat
supporting
Also known as The Cat, the Cat, A Cat, Cat
A patient predator who stalks a house of mice, then hangs herself from a peg pretending to be dead to lure them out.
The Cock
minor
Also known as The Cock, the Cock, Cock
A proud bird who crows at dawn and sometimes falls prey to the Fox.
The Crane
minor
Also known as A Crane, The Crane, the Crane
A long-legged bird who competes with the Peacock in beauty.
The Doctor
minor
Also known as the Doctor, The Doctor, The Quack Doctor
A medical professional who appears in fables about false expertise.
The Dolphins
minor
Also known as The Dolphins, the Dolphins
Sea creatures who interact with a Sprat in a fable about size and power.
The Flea
minor
Also known as The Flea, the Flea, A Flea
A tiny insect who boasts about his exploits to a Man.
The Fly
minor
Also known as The Fly, the Fly, A Fly
A buzzing insect who annoys animals and learns about his own insignificance.
Fortune
minor
Also known as Fortune, Dame Fortune
The personification of luck who appears to a farmer.
The Fowler
minor
Also known as The Fowler, the Fowler, A Fowler, Fowler
A bird catcher who sets traps and snares for various birds.
The Gnat
minor
Also known as The Gnat, the Gnat, A Gnat
A tiny insect who challenges the Bull and the Lion.
The Grasshopper
minor
Also known as The Grasshopper, the Grasshopper, a Grasshopper, Grasshopper
A carefree insect who sings all summer and suffers in winter.
The Hare
supporting
Also known as The Hare, the Hare, a Hare, A Hare
Swift, cocksure, and built for showing off, the Hare treats a footrace as a formality — until the Tortoise's slow, unglamorous persistence turns speed into a liability.
Hercules
minor
Also known as Hercules
A divine hero who appears in fables about strength and wisdom.
The Horse
minor
Also known as The Horse, the Horse, A Horse
A proud animal who often seeks help from humans against other animals.
The Kid
minor
Also known as The Kid, the Kid
A young goat who is warned about the Wolf.
The Lamb
minor
Also known as The Lamb, the Lamb, Lamb
An innocent young sheep who is unjustly accused by the Wolf.
The Mice
supporting
Also known as the Mice, Mice, The Mice
A besieged community of small rodents whose councils produce brilliant plans and awkward questions, forever one brave volunteer short of safety from the Cat.
The Old Man
minor
Also known as An Old Man, Man
An elderly human who calls upon Death to end his suffering.
The Owl
minor
Also known as The Owl, the Owl, Owl
A wise bird who advises other birds but is often ignored.
The Ox
minor
Also known as the Ox, The Ox, an Ox, Ox
A strong and patient work animal who appears in several fables.
The Peacock
minor
Also known as The Peacock, the Peacock, A Peacock, Peacock
A vain bird who is proud of his beautiful feathers.
The Pig
minor
Also known as The Pig, the Pig, A Pig, Pig
A farm animal who argues with the Sheep about their different fates.
The Shepherd
minor
Also known as the Shepherd, A Shepherd
A caretaker of sheep who cries wolf as a joke.
The Snake
supporting
Also known as a Snake, the Snake, A Snake, Snake
A venomous creature whose warmth-seeking and hunger make it the fable world's most reliable betrayer — kindness offered to it is repaid with a bite.
The Sow
minor
Also known as the Sow, The Sow, the Wild Sow
A female pig who appears in fables about motherhood and danger.
The Spendthrift
minor
Also known as The Spendthrift, the Spendthrift
A wasteful man who sells his possessions and learns a hard lesson.
The Stork
minor
Also known as the Stork, The Stork, Stork
A long-beaked bird who outwits the Fox at dinner.
The Swallow
minor
Also known as a Swallow, the Swallow, The Swallow, the unfortunate Swallow
A migratory bird who returns too early and suffers the consequences.
The Swan
minor
Also known as the Swan, The Swan, Swan
A graceful bird who sings beautifully before death.
The Thief
minor
Also known as The Thief, the Thief, Thief
A criminal who appears in fables about justice and punishment.
The Weasel
minor
Also known as The Weasel, the Weasel, Weasel
A sly predator who tries to catch mice and birds.
The Bat
minor
Also known as A Bat, the Bat, The Bat, Bat
A creature who claims to be both bird and mammal to escape danger.
The Bear
minor
Also known as The Bear, the Bear, A Bear, Bear
A large predator who appears in fables about friendship and danger.
The Beetle
minor
Also known as the Beetle, a Beetle, The Beetle, Beetle
A small insect who seeks revenge against the Eagle.
The Birds
minor
Also known as the Birds, The Birds, Birds
A collective group of feathered creatures who appear in several fables.
The Blind Man
minor
Also known as The Blind Man, the Blind Man, The Man
A sightless man who raises a wolf cub and learns a hard lesson.
The Boy
minor
Also known as a Boy, the Boy, A Boy, The Boy Bathing
A young human who appears in fables about honesty and danger.
The Crab
minor
Also known as The Crab, the Crab, Crab
A sideways-walking creature who learns about walking straight.
The Fir Tree
minor
Also known as The Fir Tree, the Fir Tree, Fir Tree
A proud tree who boasts about his height and is cut down.
The Fisherman
minor
Also known as The Fisherman, the Fisherman, A Fisherman
A man who catches fish and learns lessons about patience and greed.
Juno
minor
Also known as Juno
The queen of the gods who appears in fables about the Peacock.
The Nightingale
minor
Also known as The Nightingale, the Nightingale, Nightingale
A sweet-singing bird who is caught by the Hawk.
The Parrot
minor
Also known as The Parrot, the Parrot, Parrot
A talking bird who appears in fables about imitation and wisdom.
The Partridge
minor
Also known as The Partridge, the Partridge, Partridge
A game bird who is caught by the Fowler.
The Sprat
minor
Also known as the Sprat, a Sprat, A Sprat
A small fish who mediates between the Dolphins and Whales.
Death
minor
Also known as Death
The personification of death who appears to an old man seeking relief.
The Miser
minor
Also known as The Miser, A Miser, the Miser
A greedy man who hoards gold and loses everything.
The Moon
minor
Also known as The Moon, the Moon
A celestial body personified in fables about mothers and children.
The Satyr
minor
Also known as the Satyr, The Satyr
A mythical creature who tests a man's character with hot and cold breath.
The Bee
minor
Also known as The Bee, the Bee, A Queen Bee
A hardworking insect who appeals to Jupiter for a sting.
The Camel
minor
Also known as the Camel, The Camel, Camel
A large desert animal who appears in fables about adaptation.
Demades
minor
Also known as Demades
An Athenian orator who tells a fable to silence the assembly.
The Elephant
minor
Also known as the Elephant, The Elephant, Elephant
A large and wise animal who is chosen as king by the beasts.
The Heifer
minor
Also known as The Heifer, the Heifer, A Heifer
A young cow who mocks the Ox for his hard work.
The Ills
minor
Also known as the Ills, Ills
Personified misfortunes that plague mankind.
Minerva
minor
Also known as Minerva
The goddess of wisdom who advises Hercules.
Plutus
minor
Also known as Plutus
The god of wealth who appears in a fable with Hercules.
The Pomegranate
minor
Also known as The Pomegranate, the Pomegranate, A Pomegranate
A fruit tree that argues with the Bramble about usefulness.
Prometheus
minor
Also known as Prometheus
The Titan who created mankind and gave them fire.
The Raven
minor
Also known as the Raven, The Raven, Raven
A black bird who appears in fables about omens and deception.
The Rose
minor
Also known as the Rose, The Rose, Rose
A beautiful flower who argues with the Amaranth about permanence.
The Serpent
minor
Also known as the Serpent, The Serpent, Serpent
A snake who fights with the Eagle in a fable about rescue.
Venus
minor
Also known as Venus
The goddess of love who appears in fables about beauty.
The Wasp
minor
Also known as the Wasp, The Wasp, Wasp
A stinging insect who appears in fables about justice.
