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Frank fables: New version of Aesop bares all Translation reveals bawdy tales that Victorians didn't want to recount

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From: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Date: 19980224
Author:HILLEL ITALIE

So you know the fables about the tortoise who outlasts the hare and the mouse who pulls the thorn from the paw of the lion. Heard the one about the camel who relieves himself in the river?

A new translation of "Aesop's Fables" reveals that the quaint children's tales were, in the original Greek, considerably rawer and racier. The book features gender-switching hyenas, hard-hearted frogs and a rather unsympathetic lion.

"The ones we're familiar with have been tampered with through the ages," said translator Olivia Temple, who collaborated on the book with her husband, Robert Temple. "The ...

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