[pinko]

Fascinating: the author cheats!

E.g., "butch-ers" appears*, as if hyphenation makes it not a two-syllable word!

* https://archive.org/details/aesopsfablesinwo00aeso/page/12/m...

[chrismorgan]

I don’t know what’s going on, but that doesn’t match https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/76243/pg76243-images.ht....

Your source has “the dog and the shadow” (which subsequently uses “sha-dow”) and “the oxen and the butchers” (and note that “oxen” is not hyphenated). The Gutenberg edition instead has “the child and the brook” in their stead, and “the bear in the wood” inserted after the next one.

[scandox]

No but it might help a younger reader and it avoids an absurd consistency

[pinko]

I don't disagree, but I still think it's funny that, not six pages in, they compromise the central conceit...