Book excerpt: Most American readers have only heard of Aesop's Fables, as he is the most prominent fable writer. But there were three major regions of the world that produced prolific fables: China, Greece and India. This book is an English translation of a Chinese collection of fables from editor Gao Jing Xuan. While most fables use animals as their main characters, this book is unique in that it uses plants to teach moral lessons. The fables included are from both modern and classical Chinese authors. In Fables and Plants, we emphasize plants because they are often not given the same attention in fables as animals. But plants were created by God before He created animals and human beings. Plants are also colorful, beautiful and fragrant and can provide great comfort and pleasure to humans. The Three Friends of Winter (bamboo, pine and plum) and Four Gentleman's Flowers (Orchid in Spring, Lotus in summer, Chrysanthemum in the Fall and Plum in the winter) were highly praised and loved by Chinese poets and artists. All of these plants were included in these stories.