Fable

Lore & Background

The fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphised, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson (a 'moral'), which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise maxim or saying. A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind. Conversely, an animal tale specifically includes talking animals as characters. Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished; in the King James Version of the New Testament, 'μῦθος' ('mythos') was rendered by the translators as 'fable' in several epistles. When Babrius set down fables from the Aesopica in verse for a Hellenistic Prince 'Alexander', he expressly stated that this type of 'myth' that Aesop had introduced to the 'sons of the Hellenes' had been an invention of 'Syrians' from the time of 'Ninos' and Belos. Epicharmus of Kos and Phormis are reported as having been among the first to invent comic fables. Many familiar fables of Aesop include 'The Crow and the Pitcher', 'The Tortoise and the Hare' and 'The Lion and the Mouse'. In the first century AD, Phaedrus produced Latin translations in iambic verse of fables then circulating under the name of Aesop. In the 2nd century AD, Babrius wrote beast fables in Greek in the manner of Aesop. India has a rich tradition of fables, many derived from traditional stories and related to local natural elements. Indian fables often teach a particular moral. Hundreds of fables were composed in ancient India during the first millennium BCE, often as stories within frame stories. Prime examples are the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales. The word 'Panchatantra' blends 'pancha' (five) and 'tantra' (weave), implying weaving together multiple threads of narrative and moral lessons.

Reader's Guide

The fable is an enduring form of folk literature, spread abroad less by literary anthologies than by oral transmission, appearing throughout a number of cultures. In ancient Greek and Roman education, the fable was the first of the progymnasmata—training exercises in prose composition and public speaking, wherein students would learn fables, expand upon them, invent their own, and use them as persuasive examples in longer speeches. The need for a wide range of fables for declamations resulted in collections like those of Aesop. Fables had a further long tradition through the Middle Ages and became part of European high literature. The Roman writer Avianus wrote Latin fables mostly based on Babrius. Collections titled Romulus inspired medieval authors to translate, versify and rewrite fables. In the Renaissance, Aesopic fables were hugely popular, published in luxurious illuminated manuscripts and in print. During the 17th century, the French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine saw the soul of the fable in the moral, satirising the court, the church, and the rising bourgeoisie. His model was emulated by writers across Europe, including England's John Gay, Poland's Ignacy Krasicki, and Russia's Ivan Krylov. In contemporary periods, while the fable has been trivialized in children's books, it has also been fully adapted to modern adult literature. During the 1880s, Joel Chandler Harris wrote African-American fables in the Southern context of slavery under the name of Uncle Remus.

Did You Know?

• A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind.
• In the King James Version of the New Testament, the Greek word 'μῦθος' ('mythos') was translated as 'fable' in several epistles.
• During the 17th century, French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine saw the soul of the fable in the moral and used the form to satirise the court, church, and rising bourgeoisie.