A fable is a short story, written in prose or verse, that includes animals, plants, objects, or natural forces. These characters are given human traits, such as the ability to speak or think. The story usually teaches a lesson, called a "moral," which may be stated clearly at the end as a short saying.

Fables are different from parables because parables do not use animals, plants, objects, or natural forces as characters that act like humans. Instead, parables focus on human characters. Animal tales, on the other hand, specifically feature animals that can talk.

In the past, the difference between fables and parables was not always clear. For example, in the King James Version of the New Testament, the Greek word "μῦθος" ("mythos") was translated as "fable" in several letters, including the First Epistle to Timothy, the Second Epistle to Timothy, the Epistle to Titus, and the First Epistle of Peter.

Global history

The fable is one of the oldest forms of folk literature. Modern researchers believe fables spread mostly through spoken stories, not through books. Fables can be found in the literature of nearly every country.

A collection of fables called the Aesopica includes many well-known Western fables. These stories are said to be from Aesop, a person believed to have been a slave in ancient Greece around 550 BCE. Babrius, a writer, recorded some of these fables in verse for a prince named Alexander. He wrote that Aesop’s stories were originally created by people from Syria during the time of Ninos and Belos. Other early writers, like Epicharmus of Kos and Phormis, are known for creating comic fables. Some famous Aesop fables include "The Crow and the Pitcher," "The Tortoise and the Hare," and "The Lion and the Mouse."

In the first century AD, a writer named Phaedrus translated Aesop’s fables into Latin verse. His translations became widely used, though they were later attributed to a legendary figure named Romulus. At the same time, another writer named Babrius wrote fables in Greek, similar to Aesop’s, which also became popular.

In ancient Greece and Rome, fables were part of education. Students learned fables, expanded on them, and used them in speeches. This need for many fables led to collections like those of Aesop.

Africa has a long tradition of storytelling. People of all ages continue to share stories about nature, including animals and landscapes. Children and some adults enjoy listening to skilled storytellers who share fables.

The Anansi story comes from Ghana. A book called "All Stories Are Anansi's" tells of a clever spider named Anansi who wants to own all the stories in the world. Anansi is often shown as a spider and is known for tricking other animals.

India has a rich tradition of fables, many based on stories connected to nature. These fables often teach a moral lesson. Some stories include gods with animal forms, while others feature talking animals. Many fables from ancient India were written in frame stories, where one story is told within another. These fables mix humans and animals, and the dialogues are often longer and more humorous than Aesop’s. Examples include the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales. Some scholars believe these stories may have been influenced by Greek and Near Eastern fables. Ancient Indian stories like the Mahabharata and Ramayana also include fables. The most famous stories from the Near East are the One Thousand and One Nights.

The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian collection of fables. It is believed to have been written by Vishnu Sharma around 300 BCE, though the stories were likely told long before that. The name "Panchatantra" means "five weaves," showing how the stories combine different lessons.

Fables were widely shared during the Middle Ages and became part of European literature. A writer named Avianus created Latin fables based on Babrius’s work, using few stories from Aesop. Collections of Aesop’s fables were often attributed to a legendary figure named Romulus. These collections inspired many medieval writers to translate, rewrite, and create new fables.

In the later Middle Ages, Aesop’s fables were collected with a made-up story about Aesop’s life. This story, called the "Life of Aesop," was as popular as the fables themselves. A scholar named Maximus Planudes helped gather and edit these fables. During the Renaissance, Aesop’s fables were printed in beautiful books, like the "Medici Aesop" made in Florence. A German writer named Heinrich Steinhöwel published a version of the fables in both Latin and German, which became a bestseller.

In the 17th century, a French writer named Jean de La Fontaine used fables to teach lessons about human behavior. His work inspired other writers in England, Poland, Italy, Serbia, and Spain.

Contemporary works

In modern times, fables have been simplified in children's books but also used in adult literature.

In the 1880s, Joel Chandler Harris, an Irish-American journalist and folklorist, wrote African-American fables set in the South during the time of slavery. He used the name Uncle Remus for his stories, which included characters like Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear. Scholars like Louis D. Rubin Jr. have praised these stories as examples of modern storytelling. However, Rubin also noted that Harris’ work has been criticized for appearing to support ideas that supported racial separation and for showing slaves in a way that might have made their hardships seem less serious.

Felix Salten’s Bambi (1923) is a coming-of-age story told as a fable. James Thurber used the fable style in books like Fables for Our Time (1940) and Further Fables for Our Time (1956), as well as in stories such as “The Princess and the Tin Box” and “The Last Clock: A Fable for the Time, Such As It Is, of Man.” Władysław Reymont’s The Revolt (1922) used a fable about animals taking over a farm to represent the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) used a fable to criticize Stalinist Communism and other forms of dictatorship.

In the 21st century, Sabatino Scia, a Neapolitan writer and painter, has written over 100 fables. His characters include animals, objects, and natural elements that show aspects of human society. Scia also uses painting to tell fables, such as in his collection “Не забувати ніколи. Never forget,” which comments on the Holodomor. In Latin America, Juan and Victor Ataucuri Garcia have collected myths, legends, and beliefs from Andean and Amazonian Peru and rewritten them as fables in their book Fábulas Peruanas (2003).

African-American author Octavia E. Butler, who began writing in 1971, has seen a renewed interest in her work since her death in 2006. The MacArthur Foundation described her stories as “transcendent fables” that address issues like climate change and racial inequality in ways that remain important to readers today.