Q 01/05

In the fable of the tortoise and the hare, what does the hare do that costs him the race?

A) Stops to eat

B) Takes a nap

C) Runs the wrong way

D) Turns back to gloat

Answer · why

B) Takes a nap

Takes a nap, sure that his speed will save him. The old Greek moral blames the hare more than it praises the tortoise: natural talent, it says, is rui...

Q 02/05

In the Greek original of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, what does the wolf eat when no one comes?

A) The boy himself

B) The whole flock

C) The sheepdog

D) A single sheep

Answer · why

B) The whole flock

The whole flock, as no one believes his real alarm; Aristotle is said to have remarked that this is all liars gain, and a later English verse version ...

Q 03/05

Which everyday expression comes from Aesop's fable of a fox who scorns the fruit he cannot reach?

A) Low-hanging fruit

B) Sour grapes

C) Forbidden fruit

D) Cherry-picking

Answer · why

B) Sour grapes

Sour grapes: the fox decides that what he cannot have was never worth having. Swedish took over the fable with rowanberries instead, in the saying 'so...

Q 04/05

In the original Greek of The Ant and the Grasshopper, which insect begs the ants for food?

A) A butterfly

B) A cicada

C) A firefly

D) A mantis

Answer · why

B) A cicada

A cicada, tettix in the Greek and still 'la cigale' in the best-known French telling; English versions turned it into a grasshopper, and one Oxford tr...

Q 05/05

How does the mouse repay the lion that spared its life?

A) Gnaws through the hunters' ropes

B) Leads it to a hidden spring

C) Warns it about a pit trap

D) Fetches the other animals to help

Answer · why

A) Gnaws through the hunters' ropes

When Buddhist monks carried the story to China, the rescued animal became a tiger.