I used to like Aesop's Fables when I was a boy. But when I read them as a grown up, they seemed rather fatalistic. The moral of the fables was often about not getting above your station and being content with your lot. Re-reading them reminded me that Aesop was supposedly a slave. Another moral was that you should be good to people, especially those who have been good to you. It seemed rather platitudinous.
