Aesop was an ancient Greek storyteller who lived over two and a half thousand years ago. He told short, simple stories with a moral at the end - these stories are known as Aesop's Fables. Aesop was originally a slave but his fables were so good that he was eventually given his freedom.
Tonight's Songbirds drama episode on RTHK Radio 4 (FM 97.6) at 9.30pm takes one of Aesop's fables and turns it into a short drama set in present-day Hong Kong. At the start of the episode, you will hear Aesop telling one if his famous fables, The Old Man Meets Death, after which the modern version of the story unfolds.
Ruth is mean to her younger sister Poppy. Poppy is upset and tells her best friend that she wishes her sister were dead. But Poppy regrets making this wish when she discovers why her sister is acting so badly towards her.
Below is the opening part of tonight's Songbirds drama for you to read either before or while listening to the programme.
Aesop: Hello there. No doubt you've come along to hear one of my famous fables ... well come in, come in there's plenty of room ... Funny isn't it ... I'm a slave, you are all free and yet you have come to listen to me ... There's a moral there somewhere.
Today's story is about a poor old man, a woodcutter who lived alone in the forest ... he was sick and lonely, poor old thing, and one rainy day while he was gathering wood, he felt so tired and hopeless that he threw down his bundle of wood, and cried out: 'I'm sick of living. Death where are you? ... I wish you'd come and take me away!'
A tall skeleton suddenly appeared next to him and with a clacking jaw said: 'I heard you calling me. What do you want?'