Animals were thought to be lesser (utilitarian, food sources) in the society's hierarchy in Aesop's time so he could use them as an example to show ignorance or silliness without being directly degrading to people. These sides of being human and making mistakes could be suggested through an animal's character without being as insulting as it might be to someone who identified with the position in which the character was found.
This is a collection of tales from the Greek story teller, Aesop. Aesop was a slave in ancient Greece. He was a keen observer of both animals and people. Most of the characters in his stories are animals, some of which take on human characteristic and are personified in ways of speech and emotions. However, the majority of his character retain their animalistic qualities; tortoise are slow, hares are quick, tigers eat bird, etc. Aesop uses these qualities and natural tendencies of animals to focus on human traits and wisdom. Each fable has an accompanying moral to be learned from the tale.