Fables

Fables have been around for thousands of years. And its no wonder because even thousands of years ago people were bright enough to figure out that one could gossip about anybody – as long as they change their name to something like “Mouse” or “Donkey” or “Lion” first. The stories created usually took from the experience of life and were told to children to teach morals. However, when the story is finished, what does fable really mean?

The dictionary definition of “fable” is a brief story not founded on fact, usually with animal characters, that teaches a lesson or moral. The origin and history of the word fable is “fabula” which means “a story” in Latin, and “fari” which means “to speak” (“Fable.” Random House). The difference between a fable and a parable is that a parable is defined as a brief story usually with human characters, that teaches a moral lesson (“Parable”). The most famous example of a parable is Christ in the Bible.

Aesop is probably the most famous of all fabulists, or creator of fables. Aesop was a slave 3000 ago in Greece who became known for his animal fables through which he showed the wise and foolish behavior of men. For this cleverness, it is told that his master gave him his freedom (McGovern). Jean de La Fontaine is also a well-known fabulist, along with Ivan Krylov, Gotthold Lessing, and an unknown fabulist that wrote the Panchatantra which is a collection in Sanskrit of the oldest known fables. In England, the tradition of the fable was continued in the 17th and 18th centuries by John Dryden and John Gay (“Fable.” Columbia-Viking).

Some famous fables are those of The Crab and His Mother. In this story, the mother crab had always been proud of her son, but she kept nagging