Fable

A fable is a short story that teaches a lesson. The characters in fables are usually animals, plants, or objects that talk and act like people. At the end of the story, the lesson is often stated as a short sentence called a moral. Fables have been told all over the world for thousands of years.

The most famous fables in the Western world are linked to a man named Aesop. Aesop is said to have lived in ancient Greece around 600 BCE, more than 2,500 years ago. Stories say he was once an enslaved person who won his freedom by being clever with words. Historians are not sure if Aesop was a real person or a made-up name. Either way, more than 700 short stories are now grouped together as Aesop's Fables.

Many of these stories are still famous today. In "The Tortoise and the Hare," a slow turtle beats a fast rabbit in a race because the rabbit gets lazy and takes a nap. The moral is that slow and steady wins the race. In "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," a boy lies about a wolf so many times that no one believes him when a real wolf finally comes. In "The Ant and the Grasshopper," an ant works hard all summer while a grasshopper plays. When winter comes, the ant has food and the grasshopper does not.

Fables come from many other cultures too. In India, a collection called the Panchatantra was written around 200 BCE. Its talking animal stories spread across Asia and the Middle East and shaped storytelling everywhere they went. West Africa has a long tradition of stories about Anansi the Spider, a tricky character who outsmarts bigger animals. Native American storytellers tell stories about Coyote, who is sometimes a hero and sometimes a fool.

Why do so many cultures use animals in their fables? One reason is that animal characters are easy to understand. A fox stands for cleverness. A lion stands for strength. A turtle stands for patience. A child does not need to know history or politics to follow the story. Another reason is safety. In times when speaking against a king or a powerful person was dangerous, a fable about a greedy lion or a foolish donkey could share a hard truth without naming names.

Fables are some of the shortest stories ever told. They are also some of the longest remembered.