T-Shirts
1990 Long-sleeved black "Aesop Lives" t-shirt, with a gray fox. Gift of the Ehrle family, Christmas, '90.
2018 Long-sleeved t-shirt featuring "Everyone wants to steal your cheese" with images of a fox and crow. $27.99 from Amazon, Oct., '18.
The crow in this fable does not really ride the back of the fox, but it is nonetheless wonderful to see the fable's wise lesson take hold broadly in our present culture. Well, maybe not everyone does!
2019 T-shirt with Harrison Weir's illustration of TH and "Aesop's Fables The Tortoise and the Hare." Gift. Christmas, 2018.
What a treat to see an old classic illustration like this still alive land well! The bunny sleeps as the turtle trudges
2020 T-shirt featuring "Quid rides? De te fabula narratur" from Horace. Short sleeves. $22.99 from Goathead Tees, Brown City, MI, through Etsy.
This has been a favorite line of mine from Horace's Satire I 1, verse 69. He has just been retelling the story of Tantalus as part of his satirical attack on people's wayward desires. "Why do you laugh? Just change the name and the story is about you!"
2023 "Mr. Fables" T-shirt. $15 from GRRetroStore on Etsy, March, '23.
The seller quotes "People like Mr. Fables- People like yoooou!" Mr. Fables was a chain of cafeteria-style family restaurants located throughout Western Michigan. If you grew up around the area you probably have rosy memories of their huge onion rings and awesome Mr. Fabulous burgers with their "secret recipes." Alas, they fell victim to the national chains and the last of them vanished in the late 90s." I thought the composite photo on Etsy also too good to miss!
2023 T-shirt with image and lines from "The Scorpion and the Frog." $17.44 from strtwr at redbubble.com, Nov., '23.
This shirt image represents a surprising choice. Most people do not know this fable of a frog who offers a ride to a scorpion. The scorpion stings and kills him along the way. "Why?" the dying frog asks. "Because I am a scorpion!" It is typical fable wisdom: learn or get destroyed; or never trust a killer. This design-artist adds "Laugh out loud!" and "In my arrogant opinion."