What is a fable?
Fables are a style of literature where authors use fictional stories to help convey moral lessons and teach children how to live with integrity. Most frequently, fables have very easy-to-follow storylines with animals as characters in order to make the information digestible for young kids–whom are the targeted audience for most of these stories. Most children in the world are familiar with fables, though they may have grown up with different variations of the same story.
The most well-known collection of fables is Aesop’s Fables. According to history records, Aesop was a Greek slave who wrote a total of 725 fables in the mid-6th century BC . These stories were originally told as a form of entertainment, while also being educational. Later on, the stories were translated and compiled into a book.
Famous Fables:
The Tortoise and the Hare (yes, you’ve probably heard this countless times):
Summary: A tortoise challenges a hare to a race, to which the hare haughtily accepts. At the beginning of the race, the hare immediately pulls ahead. Since the hare is so confident, it decides to take a nap in the middle of the race as the tortoise continues to trudge on. Eventually, the tortoise is so close to the finish line that the hare is not able to catch up.
Analysis: This story is likely the most famous of Aesop’s fables. It teaches children about the importance of humility (hare) and persistence (tortoise). If the hare had not fallen asleep in the middle of the race because of its arrogance, there was no way that the tortoise could have won. From another perspective, it would also have been impossible for the tortoise to win the race if it weren’t for the tortoise’s unwavering determination . A common phrase related to this story is: “slow and steady wins the race.”
Summary: One day, a fox spies a [simple_tooltip content=’a group of something’]cluster [/simple_tooltip]of grapes hanging on the vine of a tall tree. After many attempts at trying to reach the grapes, all of which were unsuccessful, the fox scornfully exclaims that the grapes were probably sour anyway.
Analysis: Oftentimes, you despise the things you cannot have. This also relates to the popular explanation for why people feel the need to belittle others–it’s because of their jealousy.
Summary: While a lion is sleeping, a mouse clumsily scrambles onto its nose by accident. The lion instinctively threatens to kill the mouse, however, the mouse pleads to be let go and promises to repay the lion someday. At this, the lion reluctantly lets the mouse go. A few days later, the lion finds itself caught inside of a trap. The mouse, hearing the anguished cries of the lion, comes to its rescue and chews through the ropes that imprisoned it.
Analysis: This story can be interpreted to display many morals. The first of which is the importance of kindness and forgiveness. Had the lion killed the mouse, it would’ve found itself trapped with no one to come to its aid. Another is not to underestimate something due to its appearance. At first, the lion doubted that the little mouse could ever help, and yet that same mouse ended up saving its life. Lastly, some believe this story is related to the idea of karma . Although religious beliefs of karma frequently relate to the idea of one’s rebirth, the word itself can also represent the idea that a person’s (or lion’s, in this case) actions will affect future events in that person’s (or lion’s) life. For example, if a person did something good, something good would then happen to the person in the future. The first mentionings of karma can be traced back to Hindu texts from before c.1500 BC.
Discussion Questions:
- Can you think of any fables from your culture?
- If you were to write a fable, what would it be about?
- Which of the three fables given is your favorite? Why?
