Fairy Tales: Lack of Romance in Aesop's Fables

I discuss Aesop's Fables on my main blog. 

I noted after a brief perusal of the fables that few of the tales have romantic content.

Some of the truths/lessons embedded in the tales crop up more than once; overall, the truths tackle many facets of the human condition--they apply to romance but don't tackle it specifically. 

The one tale that uses romance provides a lesson that applies to the general human condition. 

That one tale is "The Rose & the Butterfly."  The Butterfly falls in love with the Rose. However, then the Butterfly flits off to do its stuff. When the Butterfly returns, the Rose complains. The Butterfly replies:

I had no sooner left you than I saw Zephyr kissing you. You carried on scandalously with Mr. Bumble Bee and you made eyes at every single Bug you could see. You can't expect any constancy from me!

The larger truth is that one cannot expect constancy if one doesn't practice it.

The reality of Aesop is that Aesop used observations of the non-human world to craft the fables. Animals and plants behave in accordance with pre-determined natures. Butterflies don't stay in one place. Sheep are often eaten. Wolves are wholly dangerous. Foxes are sneaky and clever. As for amphibians and reptiles: watch out! 

The one creature that behaves contrary to a pattern is Man, as in the Man & the Satyr, in which the Man blows on his hands to warm them and on his soup to cool it. The attached moral is rather belabored (I think the story is supposed to be a joke, not a lesson). The point is: the man (unlike the animals) behaves unpredictably. 

It is out of unpredictability that romance arises.