The Most Famous Writer You’ve Never Heard Of
When you think of the greatest writers of all time who comes to your mind?
Is it John Steinbeck, J.R.R. Tolkien, or Ernest Hemingway?
Those are all great writers, but today we are talking about Aesop.
Aesop is a man that lived in Ancient Greece from 620 BCE to 564 BCE.
And I have a feeling you are going to recognize a few of his pieces.
Here are a few of his numerous fables.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
The Hare and the Tortoise.
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs.
Have you heard of any of those?
The craziest part is that these stories were written nearly 2600 years ago, yet have withstood the test of time. They have been passed down from generation to generation.
To top it off, Aesop did not go to a fancy Ivy League school. He was a slave for most of his life and did not receive a formal education.
So what can we learn from Aesop?
There is a lot that we can take away from him, however, here are the 3 most powerful lessons.
Quantity. Aesop was prolific. He has been credited with creating 100+ fables, of which many are still relevant to this day. It is quite inspiring how many fables he created in his lifetime. Here is a link to some of his works: https://read.gov/aesop/001.html
Simplicity. The lessons contained within Aesop’s fables are very easy to understand, and with that are very easy to share. The ease of sharing is the main contributing factor to why these stories have lasted for as long as they have.
Timelessness. Aesop’s fables are just as relevant today as they were 1000s of years ago. Mothers and fathers have been telling their kids about the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf for generations, and I don’t see that stopping any time soon.
Aesop is a perfect example of what high-quality timeless creation looks like. So go out, and write short stories that will be read 1000s of years from now.