András Fáy

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András Fáy (30 May 1786 - 26 July 1864) was a Hungarian poet and author.

He was born at Kohány in the county of Zemplén, and was educated for the law at the Protestant college of Sárospatak. His Mesék (Fables), the first edition of which appeared at Vienna in 1820, evinced his powers of satire and invention, and won him the well-merited applause of his countrymen. These fables, which, on account of their originality and simplicity, caused Fay to be regarded as the Hungarian Aesop, were translated into German by Petz (Raab, 1825), and partly into English by E. D. Butler, Hungarian Poems and Fables (London, 1877). Fay wrote also numerous poems, the chief of which are to be found in the collections Bokréta (Nosegay) (Pest, 1807), and Friss Bokréta (Fresh Nosegay) (Pest, 1818). He also composed plays, romances and tales.

In 1835 Fáy was elected to the Hungarian diet, and was for a time the leader of the opposition party. It is to him that the Pest Savings Bank owes its origin, and he was one of the chief founders of the Hungarian National Theatre. He died in 1864.

His earlier works were collected at Pest (1843-1844, 8 vols.). The most noteworthy of his later works is a humorous novel entitled Jávor orvos és szolgája, Bakator Ambrus (Jávor the Doctor and his servant Ambrose Bakator), (Pest 1855, 2 vols.).

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.