Type a fable from a 1912 translation and see your words per minute and accuracy.
WPMType each word and press space after it. The clock starts on your first key.AhungryFoxsawsomefinebunchesofGrapeshangingfromavinethatwastrainedalongahightrellis,anddidhisbesttoreachthembyjumpingashighashecouldintotheair.Butitwasallinvain,fortheywerejustoutofreach:sohegaveuptrying,andwalkedawaywithanairofdignityandunconcern,remarking,"IthoughtthoseGrapeswereripe,butIseenowtheyarequitesour."
More options
–This run
–Your best
–Last run
1 minute of typing. Words per minute is correct characters divided by five; accuracy is correct keystrokes out of all keystrokes.
This Aesop's fables typing test gives you 42 whole fables to type, from The Fox and the Grapes at 80 words to Mercury and the Woodman at 312. All come from the 1912 Vernon Jones translation, with the moral last where he printed one. Your first key starts the clock: one, three or five minutes, or No timer to reach the end.
Read the full guide
Practice passages, not another site's test
These are this site's own practice passages, not the test from any other site. If a course or job portal sets you a typing test, Aesop fables and all, expect different wording there: every English translator tells the stories differently. Fables are full of talk, so you practise speech marks, the comma before a closing mark, and capitals on Fox, Crow and Lion in mid-sentence.
One minute or the whole fable
The shortest fable is 394 characters, or 79 standard words, so a one-minute run stops mid-story unless you pass 79 WPM. Pick No timer under Test length to type a fable to its last full stop at any speed: press the space bar after it, or Finish, and the run ends. Each title's note in the list below says what is awkward: The Bat and the Weasels packs eighteen speech marks into 150 words.
Start with a fable from the Short list under the tool, all under 120 words. Move up once you finish one with fewer than five errors.
Type the 1912 spellings as printed: savoury, recognise, waggon and neighbours are correct here, and Good-bye keeps its hyphen.
Mind the apostrophe. The fables are strict: couldn't, I'm and won't each need it.
Questions and answers
Which translation of the fables is this?
All 42 come from Aesop's Fables: A New Translation by V. S. Vernon Jones, first published in London in 1912. A book of 1912 is in the public domain in the United States. Two things were changed: one dash became a comma, and one missing full stop was added.
Is there an Aesop fables typing test, 1 minute long?
This is not another site's Aesop test, but yes: 1 min is the default Test length, with 3 min, 5 min and No timer on offer. One minute usually stops mid-story. As an Aesop typing test, each fable also ends at its last full stop, even with time left.
Why do some fables have no moral at the end?
Because Vernon Jones printed a moral under only some fables. In others, such as The Lion and the Mouse, a character speaks the lesson in the last line. Of the 42 fables, 32 have a printed moral and 10 do not.
All 42 fables
Short: under 120 words 13
The Boasting TravellerThe Latin tag Hic Rhodus, hic salta (here is Rhodes, jump here) comes from this fable. Rhodes is typed four times, always with a capital. The 1912 text sets a dash before the last word; here it is a comma, so any keyboard can type it.
The Boy and the FilbertsFilberts are hazelnuts. The story is credited to Aesop on no firm evidence and has no number in the Perry Index. Three contractions (couldn't, don't, you'll) make it the apostrophe drill of the short group.
The Crow and the PitcherPerry 390. In 2009 a study in Current Biology found that rooks raise a water level with stones just as the crow does. The first sentence runs 44 words before its full stop, and the moral is the proverb Necessity is the mother of invention.
The Dog and the ShadowPerry 133. The title says shadow where the story says reflection. Two semicolons, no speech and no printed moral: the lesson sits in the last sentence, where he got neither.
Show all 42 fables (38 more)
Short: under 120 words, continued
The Fox and the GrapesThe fable that gave English the phrase sour grapes, number 15 in the Perry Index. At 80 words it is the shortest fable here, with one colon and one line of speech, and the translator prints no moral after it.
The Fox and the StorkPerry 426. No speech and no moral line: the second dinner is the moral. Savoury keeps its British u, and Fox and Stork take a capital every time, which makes 12 capitals in 111 words.
The Frogs and the WellThree colons in 108 words, each where a modern editor would put a full stop or a dash. After a colon the next word stays lower case: for frogs like damp places.
The Goose That Laid the Golden EggsSource of the idiom about killing the goose that lays the golden eggs (Perry 87). There is no speech, so the work is in the capitals: Man, Wife, Goose and Golden Egg all take one, then the last goose is lower case. Type what you see.
Hercules and the WaggonerPerry 291, tied to the saying God helps those who help themselves; this translator prints Heaven in the moral. Waggoner and waggon take the older British double g, and Hercules is typed three times.
The Lion and the Three BullsPerry 372, a fable about friendship that later writers turned to politics. No speech and only four commas. Watch ere long, an old way of saying before long, and opportunities, 13 letters, in the moral.
The Mischievous DogPerry 332. The old dog's speech breaks a question in two with commas: You don't think, do you, that your bell was given you as a reward of merit? Every one is printed as two words, as it is all through the 1912 text.
The Oak and the ReedsPerry 70. Almost all of it is speech: the Oak asks one long question and the Reeds reply in a sentence the narrator interrupts. That makes six speech marks, and the comma or question mark always sits inside the closing one.
The Wolf in Sheep's ClothingThe phrase is older than the fable. It comes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:15), and the first fable of a wolf in a sheepskin was told by the Greek writer Nikephoros Basilakis in the 12th century. No speech and no moral line.
Medium: 120 to 169 words 18
The Ass and His PurchaserEnds on the proverb A man is known by the company he keeps. Likely-looking is the only hyphen, newcomer is one word, and the latter, meaning the owner, appears once.
The Bat and the WeaselsEighteen speech marks in 150 words, the most on the page, and I'm is typed four times. The Bat is always it, never he or she. The moral is about waiting to see which way the wind blows.
The Bear and the TravellersPerry 65. The one line of speech is the last sentence. The aside for they say that a bear will not touch a dead body follows a colon and stays lower case. Travellers and Traveller both take a capital and a double l.
The Cage-Bird and the BatSinging-bird takes a hyphen and only one capital. A fowler is a bird catcher. One colon follows said the Bird and the other sits inside the Bat's reply. The word night is typed four times.
The Crow and the RavenThe raven was held to be a bird of omen, and the crow wants the same respect. Omen is typed twice and so is it's, once with a capital. Both semicolons are followed by a lower-case word.
The Dog and the WolfMoral: Once bitten, twice shy. Three colons, each in the middle of a speech. This is the thin dog who talks his way out of being eaten, not the better known fable of the dog's collar that shares the title.
The Farmer and the StorkPerry 194, where the index entry has a bird catcher rather than a farmer. Cranes stays lower case while Stork and Farmer are capitalised, so you cannot capitalise by habit. The moral is 16 words without a comma.
Father and SonsPerry 53, the bundle of sticks. Quarrelling has the British double l, two colons split the long sentences, and the moral is only three words: Union is strength.
The Fox and the CrowPerry 124. The Fox's flattery is the typing test: noble, plumage, exquisite, Queen of the Birds. No moral is printed, because the Fox delivers it himself in the last line: what you want is wits.
The Grasshopper and the AntsPerry 373. The Ants and the Grasshopper trade short lines, which makes 16 speech marks in 126 words, plus four contractions: I'm, didn't, hadn't, can't. No moral is printed; the Ants' last joke does the work.
The Hare and the TortoisePerry 226, and the home of Slow and steady wins the race. One tricky spot: after let's try and see the semicolon sits outside the closing speech mark, which is how the 1912 text prints it.
The Man and the LionPerry 284. Dense punctuation: eight speech marks, two exclamation marks and a question mark in 123 words. Cross-road carries a hyphen, and Lions takes a capital even in the plural.
The Mice in CouncilThe source of the idiom bell the cat. It is number 613 in the Perry Index, a range kept for medieval stories, because no record of it is older than the Middle Ages. The closing question is the moral, so no moral line follows.
The Mouse and the BullThe only speech is the last sentence, so both speech marks come in the final 31 words. Two colons, and the Bull is left to bellow and fume, two short words that are easy to swap.
The North Wind and the SunPerry 46. Phoneticians use this fable to show how a language sounds: the International Phonetic Association prints it transcribed for each language it describes. There is no speech here. The 1912 text leaves the full stop off the moral, and it is added so the run ends cleanly.
The Shepherd's Boy and the WolfPerry 210, the origin of the idiom to cry wolf. All four exclamation marks are in the cry Wolf! wolf!, and the second wolf is lower case both times. Hoax and hoaxed both appear.
The Stag at the PoolThe stag admires his antlers and despises his legs; the legs nearly save him and the antlers trap him. Slenderness is the longest word. Woe is me! keeps its exclamation mark inside the closing speech mark.
The Travellers and the Plane-TreePerry 175. Three exclamation marks: one from the traveller, two from the tree. In the running text Plane-tree has a hyphen and a lower-case t, and Travellers keeps the British double l.
Long: 170 words or more 11
The Ass and His BurdensNo speech in 200 words, so it is the longest run of plain prose on the page. A pedlar is a travelling seller and panniers are the baskets slung across the ass. Eighteen commas set the rhythm.
The Bat, the Bramble, and the SeagullA just-so story: why gulls dive, bats fly by night and brambles catch your clothes. Four semicolons, the most on the page, hold two very long sentences together. Recognise keeps its British s.
The Cat and the MiceThe moral is 22 words, the longest on the page. The Cat talks to herself twice, both times opening with That's. Won't is typed twice, once in the story and once in the moral.
The Eagle, the Jackdaw, and the ShepherdA jackdaw is a bird of the crow family. Fourteen speech marks and five contractions: I'll, that's, you'd, didn't, It's. The title keeps the comma before and, as the 1912 text prints it.
The Fox and the GoatThe 1912 text prints the moral as Look before your leap, with your where the proverb has you. Type what is printed. The Fox's closing sentence runs 32 words inside its speech marks without a single comma.
The Lark and the FarmerOne capital to watch: after he said and a semicolon, the 1912 text opens the next speech with This, capital T, though the sentence has not ended. Neighbours keeps its u, and the moral, Self-help is the best help, has the only hyphen.
The Lion and the MousePerry 150. Good-humouredly is the longest word on the page at 15 characters, with a hyphen and a British u. Recognised keeps its s. The Mouse speaks the moral, so none is printed.
Mercury and the WoodmanPerry 173, the honest woodcutter, ending on Honesty is the best policy. The longest fable here: 324.6 standard words, so finishing inside one minute would take about 325 WPM. Axe keeps its British e and is typed nine times.
The Mice and the WeaselsThe generals' straw plumes stop them fitting down their own holes. Distinguished and scampering are the words to watch, and rank and file is an idiom still in use.
The Peasant and the Apple-TreeIn the running text Apple-tree has a hyphen and a lower-case t. Sparrows and grasshoppers stay lower case while Peasant is capitalised. The moral holds the only possessive: most men's test of worth.
The Town Mouse and the Country MousePerry 352. The capitals are the test: Town Mouse and Country Mouse are typed in full six times between them. Good-bye has its old hyphen and some one is two words. No moral is printed; the Country Mouse says it on his way out.
How this list was compiled: Forty-two whole fables chosen from "Aesop's Fables: A New Translation" by V. S. Vernon Jones, with an introduction by G. K. Chesterton and illustrations by Arthur Rackham, first published in 1912 (London: William Heinemann). The transcription used is headed "1912 EDITION". The 1912 date was confirmed against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop%27s_Fables (the 1912 London translation by V. S. Vernon Jones with Arthur Rackham's pictures) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rackham (which lists the book under William Heinemann, London, 1912), so the edition is before 1931 and in the public domain in the United States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_in_the_United_States). Each fable is whole, from its first word to its last, with the moral last where the translator prints one, and with these changes only: hard-wrapped lines were joined, the illustration captions between paragraphs were dropped, the one double hyphen that stands for a dash (in The Boasting Traveller, "and now--jump!") was set as a comma, and the full stop the edition leaves off the moral of The North Wind and the Sun was added. Nothing else was altered: the British spellings (savoury, recognise, waggon, neighbours), the old hyphens (Good-bye, cross-road), "every one" and "some one" as two words, the capitals on the animals, and the moral "Look before your leap" are the edition's own. The translator prints a moral line under only some fables; where none was printed, none has been written in. Characters and words were counted, characters divided by five give standard words (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute), every character is plain ASCII, and every count quoted in a note matches the text. A fable's number in the Perry Index (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Index) is given only where the Wikipedia article for that same story states it; where the match was not certain it is left out. Idioms, origins and other facts in the notes were checked against the Wikipedia articles The Fox and the Grapes, The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, The Crow and the Pitcher (the 2009 rook study in Current Biology), The Dog and Its Reflection, Wolf in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15; Nikephoros Basilakis), The Oak and the Reed, Hic Rhodus, hic salta, The Bulls and the Lion, The Boy and the Filberts, Filbert, Hercules and the Wagoner, The Fox and the Stork, The Mischievous Dog, The Man and the Lion, The Old Man and his Sons, The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Farmer and the Stork, The Travellers and the Plane Tree, The Fox and the Crow (Aesop), Belling the Cat, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Tortoise and the Hare, The North Wind and the Sun (its use by the International Phonetic Association), The Bear and the Travelers, The Dog and the Wolf (the collar fable, Perry 346, which is a different story from the one here), The Lion and the Mouse, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, The Honest Woodcutter and Jackdaw, all on the English Wikipedia. All checked 2026-09-19. Licence: Public domain in the United States: a translation first published in 1912 (London: William Heinemann), before 1931 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_in_the_United_States). Notes and grouping are own work.