The Army, The Navy and The Air Force: The Three Tradesmen: from Aesop Said So

Hugo Gellert

According to the Ryan catalogue the portfolio 'Aesop Said So' included 20 lithographs with accompanying text, drawn and written by Hugo Gellert in 1936, in the middle of the Great Depression in America. The planned edition was 50, but according to Gellert's notes, only 33 were printed. The portfolio was also printed in a book form by Covici Friede, New York with the images reproduced and also titled 'Aesop Said So.' The images are all based on the tales of the ancient Greek fabulist Aesop.

To illustrate the Aesop 'Tale of the Three Tradesmen' Gellert uses the three branches of the military; the Army as a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Navy as a Liopleurodon and the Air Force as a Pterodactyl, are represented as dinosauria with bags of money held in their jaws or beaks.

Aesop's 'Tale of the Three Tradesmen' reads:

"A great city was besieged, and its inhabitants were called together to consider the best means of protecting it from the enemy. A Bricklayer earnestly recommended bricks as affording the best material for an effective resistance. A Carpenter, with equal enthusiasm, proposed timber as a preferable method of defense. Upon which a Currier stood up and said, "Sirs, I differ from you altogether: there is no material for resistance equal to a covering of hides; and nothing so good as leather. EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF." The moral of this tale is that advice is usually framed by self-interest. Expect people to watch out for themselves.