Aesop Presentation Script

Hi, today my presentation is going to me about me. Well, not me, Alexandra,
but my stage me, Aesop. Unless you haven’t been listening in class, then you
would know that I am the proud storyteller of over 140 fables. The reason I
didn’t say writer is because I didn’t write them. I never wrote them down. I
just told my stories verbally. I began to tell my stories as a child, when I was
working as a slave. I was born 620 BC, and grew up as a slave for many
different masters, one of them named Jedmond. Through my entire
childhood, I was whipped for the smallest infractions. My typical day as a
child slave would be waking up at four o’clock in the morning, eating a very
small piece of bread for breakfast, then setting straight out to work in the
fields. It was when my master heard my stories that he promoted me from
working in the harsh conditions out in the fields, to working in the house,
which is much more sophisticated.

I began to reach fame in my early adulthood. My stories stretched across

Greece, and even royalty managed to get a piece of them. I spent my
adulthood working as a servant for a very rich and powerful king. From
this, I became wealthy. Soon after, they were the gossip in Mesopotamia
too. I believe my fables are so famous because they contain morals that are
expressed in a unique way, and almost everyone can relate to them, which
is what keeps the audience engaged. In my time, my fables are aimed at
adults, but I can see that they’ve slowly developed into children’s stories. I
do believe that children should hear these stories, since the messages are
ones that should be taught to children at a very early age.

The fables were originally told in Greek, and then they got translated into
English, Latin, Chinese, Spanish and French. A few examples of my fables
are: The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Ant and the Dove, and the Hare and the
Tortoise (my favourite), which is the one I will read to you now.

One day, a hare was boasting to the tortoise about how fast and victorious
he was.
“Though you are as swift as the wind, I could beat you in a race.” Protested
the tortoise.
The hare, believing that his thought was completely impossible, challenged
him to a race.
The fox started the race. The hare shot off down the path and left the
tortoise plodding along slowly behind him. The hare laughed as he ran.
“You’ll never catch me!”
The tortoise was keeping a slow but steady pace, and kept a calm face.
The hare was reaching the end of the course, but decided to take a short
nap.
“Even if I take a short nap, he still won’t pass me!” laughed the hare, and fell
into a deep sleep.
The hare had not realized that the tortoise happened to be just around the
corner, and so he plodded on, passed the sleeping hare, and through the
finish line.
It’s pretty obvious that the moral here is “Slow and steady wins the race”,
which means to take your time on things, don’t rush them, and don’t get too
carried away.

So, if you want to grow up writing fables, remember that even when times
get tough, always keep perseverance in mind. Thank you for listening!