1. The Fable “Folk Literature”

2. Characteristics Fables can be described as a didactic mode of literature. That is, whether a fable has been handed down from generation to generation as oral literature, or constructed by a literary tale-teller, its purpose is to impart a lesson or value, or to give sage advice.

3. Characteristics Fables frequently have as their central characters animals that are given anthropomorphic characteristics such as the ability to reason and speak. Fables also provide opportunities to laugh at human folly, when they supply examples of behaviors to be avoided rather than emulated.

4. History The fable is one of the most enduring forms of folk literature, spread abroad, modern researchers agree, less by literary anthologies than by oral transmission. Fables can be found in the literature of almost every country. The varying corpus denoted Aesopica or Aesop’s Fables includes most of the best- known western fables, which are attributed to the legendary Aesop, supposed to have been a slave in ancient Greece around 550 BC.

5. History Hundreds of fables were composed in ancient India during the first millennium BC. The most famous fables from the Middle East were the One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights. Fables had a further long tradition through the Middle Ages, and became part of European high literature.

6. History During the 17th century, the French fabulist Jean de la Fontaine (1621–1695) saw the soul of the fable in the moral — a rule of behavior. Starting with the Aesopian pattern, La Fontaine set out to satirize the court, the church, the rising bourgeoise, indeed the entire human scene of his time. In modern times, while the fable has been trivialized in children's books, it has also been fully adapted to modern adult literature.

7. History Wladyslaw Reymont's The Revolt (1924), a metaphor for the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, described a revolt by animals that take over their farm in order to introduce "equality." George Orwell's Animal Farm(1945) similarly satirized Stalinist Communism in particular, and totalitarianism in general, in the guise of animal fable.

8. The fable The fable, in keeping with its simple form, is easily defined. It is a short fictitious work, either in prose or in verse, frequently (but not necessarily) using animals or even inanimate objects as actors, and having the exposition of a moral principle as a primary function. It has an obvious relationship with other simple forms of literature such as the folk or fairy tale, the proverb and the riddle. At their best, fables are compactly composed and, like all allegories, gain extended, unwritten meaning through the use of symbols.

9. The fable Brevity is the fable’s first requirement, with many of the best samples of the genre comprising only three or four sentences. “The Fox and the Grapes”, with its mere three sentences, is exemplary in this regard. The first sentence sets the stage and introduces the problem: “A hungry fox saw some fine bunches of grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis and did his best to reach them by jumping as high as he could into the air.” The second sentence emphasizes the futility of the fox’s efforts: “But it was all in vain, for they were just out of reach.” And the final sentence describes how he salvaged psychological victory from physical defeat: “So he gave up trying and walked away with an air of dignity and unconcern, remarking, ‘I thought those grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour.’”

10. The fable Viewed as an allegory – and to an extent all fables are simple allegories – the grapes represent any unattainable goal, and because from time to time all humans are confronted with impossibilities, the story assumes universal applicability. Interpreted symbolically, the story is thus more than the description of one individual seeking a single goal; it is the account of everyone pursuing fulfillment.

11. The fable The crux of “The Fox and the Grapes” obviously is not the fox’s failure to get the grapes, but rather his response to that failure. In essence, he rescues his dignity by lying to himself. However, the narrator makes no value judgment here, and precisely therein lies this fable’s universal appeal. Each individual reader can respond to the fox’s self-deception according to his or her own expectations and needs. We can criticize the fox for his dishonesty and inconsistency, or we can congratulate him for his pragmatism and positive self-image.

12. The moral of the story The essential quality of a fable is that it delivers a moral teaching, or, at the very least, that it presents an ethical problem, with or without a suggested solution. Modern readers have come to expect a fable to end with a succinct, proverb- like restatement of the moral illustrated by the tale. However, there is good reason to believe that in their original oral form, Aesopic fables stopped short of this re-statement. After all, a well-crafted story does not require a summary any more that a well-told joke needs an explanation of the punch line. It could thus be argued that restating “the moral of the story” at the end of a fable is an insult both to the intelligence of the reader and to the skill of the author. Nevertheless, collectors and editors of Aesopic fables, almost from the beginning, have provided their readers with tacked-on explanations of some, if not most, of the fables in their collections.

13. The Shepherd’s Boy and the Wolf A shepherd’s boy was tending his flock near a village, and thought it would be great fun to hoax the villagers by pretending that a wolf was attacking the sheep; so he shouted out, “Wolf! Wolf!” and when the people came running up he laughed at them for their pains. He did this more than once, and every time the villagers found they had been hoaxed, for there was no wolf at all. At last a wolf really did come, and the boy cried, “Wolf! Wolf!” as loud as he could. But the people were so used to hearing him call that they took no notice of his cries for help. And so the wolf had it all his own way, and killed off sheep after sheep at his leisure. You cannot believe a liar even when he tells the truth.

14. The Lion and the Three Bulls Three bulls were grazing in a meadow, and were watched by a lion, who longed to capture and devour them, but who felt that he was no match for the three so long as they kept together. So he began by false whispers and malicious hints to foment jealousies and distrust among them. This stratagem succeeded so well that ere long the bulls grew cold and unfriendly, and finally avoided each other and fed each one by himself apart. No sooner did the lion see this than he fell upon them one by one and killed them in turn. The quarrels of friends are the opportunities of foes.

15. The lion and the mouse A lion asleep in his lair was waked up by a mouse running over his face. Losing his temper he seized it with his paw and was about to kill it. The mouse, terrified, piteously entreated him to spare its life. “Please let me go,” it cried, “and one day I will repay you for your kindness.” The idea of so insignificant a creature ever being able to do anything for him amused the lion so much that he laughed aloud, and good-humoredly let it go. But the mouse’s chance came, after all. One day the lion got entangled in a net which had been spread for game by some hunters, and the mouse heard and recognized his roars of anger and ran to the spot. Without more ado it set to work to gnaw the ropes with its teeth, and succeeded before long in setting the lion free. “There!” said the mouse, “you laughed at me when I promised I would repay you. But now you see, even a mouse can help a lion.”