Ae'sop, a famous Greek writer of fables, is said to have been a contemporary of Croesus and Solon, about the middle of the sixth century B. C. He visited the court of Croesus, and is also said to have visited Pisistratus at Athens. Finally he was sent by Croesus to Delphi to distribute a sum of money to each of the citizens. For some reason he refused to distribute the money, whereupon the Delphians, enraged, threw him from a precipice and killed him. Much of the account of Aesop is probably only legend and it is possible that such a man never existed. The fables called by his name were not written until long after he is supposed to have lived. In modern times several collections have been published. Among the most familiar of these fables are The Fox and the Grapes, The Wolf and the Lamb, The Ass in the Lion's Skin, The Lion and the Mouse and The Ox and the Frog.