Editing Fable (section)

===Europe===
[[File:Fabel van de smid en de hond.jpg|thumb|Printed image of ''the fable of the blacksmith and the dog'' from the sixteenth century<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fabel van de smid en de hond|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:B04BBED2-F681-11E9-9639-C36B765DA7FD#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-675,0,4065,2270|access-date=2020-09-28|website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>]]

Fables had a further long tradition through the [[Middle Ages]] and became part of European high literature. The Roman writer [[Avianus]] (active around 400 AD) wrote Latin fables mostly based on [[Babrius]], using very little material from Aesop. Fables attributed to Aesop circulated widely in collections bearing the title of ''[[Romulus (fabulist)|Romulus]]'' (as though an author named Romulus had translated and rewritten them, though today most scholars regard this Romulus to be a legendary figure). Many of these Latin version were in fact Phaedrus's 1st-century versified Latinizations. Collections titled ''Romulus'' inspired a flurry of medieval authors to newly translate (sometimes into local vernaculars), versify and rewrite fables. Among them, [[Adémar de Chabannes]] (11th century), [[Alexander Neckam]] (12th century, ''Novus Aesopus'' and shorter ''Novus Avianus''), [[Gualterus Anglicus]] (12th century) and  Marie de France (12th-13th century) wrote fables adapted from models generally understood to be Aesop, Avianus or the so-called "Romulus".{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

In the later Middle Ages, Aesop's fables were newly gathered and edited with a prefatory biography of Aesop. This biography, usually simply titled ''Life of Aesop'' (''Vita Aesopi''), is more invented than factual, and itself a sort of moralistic fable; known in several versions, this ''Aesop Romance'', as scholars term it today, enjoyed nearly as much fame as the fables themselves by the end of the fifteenth century. The most common version of this tale-like biography is attributed to the Byzantine scholar [[Maximus Planudes]] (1260–1310), who also gathered and edited fables for posterity. In the Renaissance, Aesopic fables were hugely popular. They were published in luxurious illuminated manuscripts, such as the so-called "Medici Aesop" made around 1480 in Florence based on the corpus established by Planudes, probably for the [[Piero the Unfortunate|son]] of [[Lorenzo de' Medici]] (now kept in the New York Public Library). Early on, Aesopic fables were also disseminated in print, usually with Planudes's ''Life of Aesop'' as a preface. The German humanist [[Heinrich Steinhöwel]] published a bilingual (Latin and German) edition of the fables in Ulm in 1476. This publication gave rise to many re-editions of the sole German prose translation (known as the ''Esopus'' or ''Esopus teutsch''). It became one the great bestsellers of the last decades of the fifteenth century. Several authors adapted or versified fables from this corpus, such as the German poet and playwright Burkard Waldis, whose versified ''Esopus'' of 1548 was influential. Even the artist and polymath [[Leonardo da Vinci]] (1452–1519) composed some fables in his native Florentine dialect.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

During the 17th century, the [[France|French]] fabulist [[Jean de La Fontaine]] (1621–1695) saw the soul of the fable in the moral—a rule of behavior. Starting with the Aesopian pattern, La Fontaine set out to satirize the court, the church, the rising [[bourgeoisie]], indeed the entire human scene of his time.<ref>Translations of his 12 books of fables are available online at [http://oaks.nvg.org/fontaine.html oaks.nvg.org]</ref> La Fontaine's model was subsequently emulated by England's [[John Gay]] (1685–1732);<ref>His two collections of 1727 and 1738 are available in one volume on Google Books at [https://archive.org/details/fablesjohngayil00owengoog <!-- quote=john gay   "fables". --> books.google.co.uk]</ref> Poland's [[Ignacy Krasicki]] (1735–1801);<ref>His ''Bajki i przypowieści'' (Fables and Parables, 1779) are available online at [http://literat.ug.edu.pl/ikbajk/index.htm ug.edu.pl]</ref> Italy's Lorenzo Pignotti (1739–1812)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/favoleenovelle01pigngoog |quote=pignotti   favola. |title=His ''Favole e Novelle'' (1785) is available on |via=[[Internet Archive]] |year=1830 |publisher=da'torchi di R.di Napoli |access-date=May 8, 2012}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=May 2012}} and Giovanni Gherardo de Rossi (1754–1827);<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rKoTAAAAQAAJ&q=pignotti+++favola |title=His ''Favole'' (1788) is available on Google Books |access-date=May 8, 2012|last1=Rossi |first1=Giovanni Gherardo De |year=1790 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=May 2012}} Serbia's [[Dositej Obradović]] (1745–1801);<ref>9 books of fables are available online in Spanish at [http://amediavoz.com/samaniego.htm amediavoz.com]</ref> Spain's [[Tomás de Iriarte y Oropesa]] (1750–1791);<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Zr0DAAAAQAAJ |quote=Tomás de Iriarte y Oropesa fabulas. |title=His ''Fabulas Literarias'' are available on |via=[[Internet Archive]] |year=1816 |access-date=May 8, 2012}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=May 2012}} France's [[Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian]] (1755–1794);<ref>His five books of fables are available online in French at [http://www.shanaweb.net/florian/la-vie-de-florian.htm shanaweb.net] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612144726/http://shanaweb.net/florian/la-vie-de-florian.htm |date=2010-06-12 }}</ref> and Russia's [[Ivan Krylov]] (1769–1844).<ref>5 books of fables are available online in English at [http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/literature/19century/krylov2.html friends-partners.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221221002/http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/literature/19century/krylov2.html |date=2011-02-21 }}</ref>