Aesop's Fables
Religious themes
As the fables moved out of the Greek-speaking world and were adapted to different times and religions, it is notable how radically some fables were reinterpreted. Thus one of the fables collected under the title of the Lion's share and originally directed against tyranny became in the hands of Rumi a parable of oneness with the God of Islam and obedience to divine authority. In the Jewish 'fox fables' of Berechiah ha-Nakdan, the humorous account of the hares and the frogs was made the occasion to recommend trust in God, while Christian reinterpretation of animal symbolism in Mediaeval times turned The Wolf and the Crane into a parable of the rescue of the sinner's soul from Hell.
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