Between 1928 and 1931 Miller Parker created a series of 37 engraved illustrations for the fine art book ‘The Fables of Esope’. Her prints illustrate scenes from Aesop’s ancient, moralistic fables which have been collected and published for centuries. The book was published in a limited edition of 250 by Gregynog Press in 1931. This print illustrates the fable ‘Carpenter and Mercury’, in which a carpenter loses his axe in a river. The God Mercury appears and offers him two other axes made of silver and gold which the carpenter refuses. He waits until Mercury find his own modest axe made of wood and metal, and in return Mercury gives him all three axes, as a reminder that honesty will always be rewarded.