Line #6 Main/Fable


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Literature/TheTortoiseAndTheHare https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_tortoise_and_the_hare___project_gutenberg_etext_19994.jpg]]]][[caption-width-right:350:[-"The Hare and the Tortoise", by Milo Winter-]]]
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3	A fable is a succinct, allegorical short tale in prose or verse that conveys, highlights and illustrates a moral lesson. Fables are some of the oldest, most enduring and widespread genres of storytelling, present in almost every country as amusing and humorous ways of teaching or reflecting on truth and morality, satirizing aspects of humanity, and passing down valuable folk wisdom. One who writes or tells fables is called a ''fabulist''.
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5	The plot of a fable often consists of a simple and concise narrative with a third-person narrator and accessible language. It often uses anthropomorphized [[BeastFable animals]], plants, [[AnimateInanimateObject inanimate objects]], fantastical creatures and forces of nature as main characters (differently from parables, which usually only use people). It frequently concludes with a maxim, summing up and explicitly stating the values arising from the story (called the ''moral'' of the story), which can often be -- or become -- a popular saying. Several common expressions come from these folk tales, such as ''"sour grapes"'' ("[[https://read.gov/aesop/005.html The Fox and the Grapes]]"), ''"slow and steady wins the race"'' ("[[https://read.gov/aesop/025.html The Hare and the Tortoise]]"), ''"look before you leap"'' ("[[https://read.gov/aesop/019.html The Fox and the Goat]]"), ''"to cry wolf"'' ("[[https://read.gov/aesop/043.html The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf]]") and so on. Keep in mind, however, that while the intention of teaching is clear, the exact meaning of the moral in fables [[AlternateAesopInterpretation might be open to interpretation and may change according to the point of view]], especially since the sayings explicitly recapping the lesson were sometimes added [[NewerThanTheyThink long after the original fables were written]].
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7	In the West, the most influential fabulists are the Greek [[Literature/AesopsFables Aesop]], considered to be the main definer of the genre as we know it, and the French [[Creator/JeanDeLaFontaine La Fontaine]], who retold and popularized several fables from Western and Eastern sources in the Modern age, including Aesop's. Fables from India also had great global importance, with the ''Literature/{{Panchatantra}}'' being translated to countless languages and influencing literature all across Eurasia. In Feudal Japan, fables can be seen among literature such as the ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon shoki'', reaching their height during the UsefulNotes/KamakuraShogunate.
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9	Like {{Fairy Tale}}s, fables were originally targeted towards a relatively wide age span -- many stories from Phaedrus and La Fontaine carry political overtones and irony satirizing elements of their time, and they were used to teach adults in the Middle Ages as well. However, they entered the school system and became more associated with ChildrensLiterature due to their didactic and fantastic nature.
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11	While both are traditional stories, fables traditionally differ from fairy tales by focusing on delivering the final life lesson, whereas fairy tales don't necessarily teach clear morals, or at least don't highlight their lesson as much or as explicitly. Similarly, they are often different from {{Legend}}s in that they are timeless and unconnected from specific locations and cultures, being able to be understood through several places and time periods far removed from their origins and still remain relevant. The term 'apologue' can also be used to refer to a fable, although some definitions consider this type to be more focused on the moral than on the narrative elements. That said, the line between fable, fairytale and other folktales is blurred, and the term fable has also been used for any fantastic, ludic or imaginative narrative in general.
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13	Despite its name, the genre isn't inherently the same as the BeastFable trope, as the latter is about stories using animals as allegories for human society in general, not necessarily to teach a moral like a fable classically does. They overlap and the trope was influenced by the genre (hence its name), but not all fables feature animals (such as "[[https://read.gov/aesop/143.html The North Wind and the Sun]]" and "[[https://read.gov/aesop/011.html The Oak and the Reeds]]") and not all {{Beast Fable}}s are brief stories focusing on conveying universal, everyday moral lessons (such as ''Literature/ReynardTheFox'' and ''Literature/AnimalFarm'').
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15	See also the JustSoStory, which explains the origins of some natural or social phenomenon through supernatural means.
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17	Common characters from fables can appear in FairyTaleFreeForAll settings, as well as in a FracturedFairyTale. If you are searching for the video game series, check [[VideoGame/{{Fable}} here]]. For the comic book, see ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'', and for the manga, see ''Manga/TheFable''.
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19	[[index]]
20	[[header:Fabulists]]
21	* [[Literature/AesopsFables Aesop]]
22	* Gáspár Heltai
23	* Ivan Krylov
24	* Creator/JeanDeLaFontaine
25	* Vishnu Sharma
26	* Vardan Aygektsi
27	* Phaedrus
28	* Creator/LeonardoDaVinci
29	* Creator/LeoTolstoy
30	* John Gay
31	* Creator/MarieDeFrance
32	* Robert Dodsley
33	* Tomás de Iriarte
34	[[header:Collections, Compilations and Individual Fables]]
35	* ''Literature/AesopsFables''
36	** "Literature/TheGrasshopperAndTheAnts"
37	** "Literature/TheTortoiseAndTheHare"
38	* ''Fables'' by La Fontaine
39	* ''Fábulas'' by Monteiro Lobato, as part of the ''Sítio do Picapau Amarelo'' series.
40	* ''Hitopadesha''
41	* ''Kalila wa-Dimna''
42	* ''Literature/{{Panchatantra}}''
43	* "Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs"[[note]]Sometimes. It is more often considered to be a fairy tale[[/note]]
44	[[/index]]
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47	!!Common tropes in fables:
48
49	* AnAesop: Fables are the TropeCodifier for the main moral lesson teached in a work. They may be either subtle or resumed in a final phrase or stanza, but they always intend to pass a message about how to differenciate right and wrong, properly behave in an ethical way, foresee attempts at deceit, lead with difficult situations and live life.
50	* {{Allegory}}: These stories usually make use of metaphors through facets of nature to tell stories relating to the human experience.
51	* BeastFable: Fables are famous for usually featuring animal characters with human qualities, thus using [[AnimalStereotypes the traits associated with them and their roles in nature]] to further convey the moral: [[CunningLikeAFox the fox is cunning]], the [[KingOfBeasts lion]] and the tiger are mighty, [[SavageWolves the wolf is vicious]], [[DiligentDraftAnimal the ox is strong]], the ant is hard-working etc.. This also allows fables to save text, since the symbolism already associated with specific animals means the story can reduce the amount of description and make itself briefer.
52	* NamelessNarrative: Being meant to be universal and straightforward tales, rarely do fables name any of their characters, who are instead called after their [[ADogNamedDog species]] or [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep role]].
53	* OlderThanDirt: They are some of the oldest forms of storytelling out there: anthropomorphic animals, at least, date far back to engravings in Ancient Egypt.
54	* {{Satire}}: Alongside their moralizing lessons, some fables also allegorically criticized powerful people of their time, acting as a folk expression against dominant classes; in fact, Aesop and Phaedrus, two of the most important fabulists in History, were probably both slaves. For example, "The Animals Sick of the Plague" ends with the council of animals flattering predators like lions, tigers and wolves despite their admittedly evil deeds and instead declaring a donkey wicked merely for having eaten a little grass from someone else once, and its moral is that the judgement of a court will be biased towards the more powerful. In addition, the moral of "The Wolf and the Lamb" is that tyrants always find pretext for tyranny.
55	* TalkingAnimal: Most of the most famous fables incorporate animals with human characteristics, talking either [[AnimalTalk between each other]] or with humans and other kinds of characters. If they are otherwise normal animals, {{Civilized Animal}}s or {{Funny Animal}}s depends on the author and illustrator, though.
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57	!!Adaptations, pastiches, parodies or other uses of fables in works
58	[[AC:Comic Books]]
59	* ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'' occasionally adapts famous fables with their characters, both in the main line and in additional educational books. For example, in the edition Mônica n° 127/Globo, the story "Fables" has Blue, Franklin's dog, disdain the book of fables his owner was reading, since the dog's individual stories in the comics already have talking animals that [[AnimalTalk only humans can't understand]]. However, Blue accidentally [[PortalBook falls into the book, ending up in a land where all the classic fables take place]] and the morals appear as [[MetafictionalDevice literal pieces of paper delivering the lesson]]. He loses a bet after betting on the hare from "The Hare and the Tortoise", gets chased by the wolf from "The Wolf and the Lamb", gets tricked by the fox from "The Fox and the Goat" and in return tricks her into tasting castor beans in "The Fox and the Grapes", until he finally returns home.
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61	[[AC:Film -- Animated]]
62	* ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'''s premise is inspired by "The Grasshopper and the Ants", portraying the grasshoppers as bullying the ants into giving them food.
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64	[[AC:Literature]]
65	* ''Literature/SitioDoPicapauAmarelo'': Besides the book ''Fábulas'', in which [[FramingDevice Mrs. Benta tells several classic fables and some of her own to the folks of the farm]], some of the chapters from ''Reinações de Narizinho'', the first novel of the series, involve the characters using the Pirlimpimpim Dust to travel to the Land of Fables. There, they witness famous stories and rescue the donkey from the fable "The Animals Sick of the Plague" from being killed by the King Lion and the council of animals, welcoming him to go back with them to live in the farm afterwards. The Talking Donkey then becomes a somewhat recurring character in the franchise, being named "Counselor" by Emília in the following book ''Viagem ao Céu'' due to the former's words of wisdom.
66	* ''Literature/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'': InUniverse, Souma illustrates a flaw he noticed in the [[FictionalGenevaConventions Mankind Declaration]] with a parable about a DivineConflict between a God of the East who believed all mankind should be equal, and a God of the West who believed all mankind should be free. The God of the East eventually broke up, but this caused unforeseen problems in countries that had declared themselves neutral. This story is [[FantasyConflictCounterpart an in-universe allegory]] to the Helsinki Accords ratified by several countries during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, and how they later hampered the international response to UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars in the 1990s.
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68	[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
69	* ''Series/WaltDisneyPresents'': The first half of "From Aesop to Hans Christian Andersen" is devoted to the fables of Aesop and La Fontaine. The former's segment features a biography of Aesop and a brief adaptation of "The Frog and the Ox" before presenting the Disney version of ''WesternAnimation/TheTortoiseAndTheHare''. La Fontaine's segment gives an overview of some of his "elegant" takes of Aesop's tales, including "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse", before segueing into Disney's modern retelling, ''WesternAnimation/TheCountryCousin''.
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71	[[AC:Music]]
72	* Music/SasakureUK's "A Soliloquy of The Boy who Cried Wolf" is based on the eponymous Aesop's fable.
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74	[[AC:Western Animation]]
75	* ''Aesop's Fables'' was a series began by Creator/{{Terrytoons}} creator Paul Terry in the silent era and continued by Creator/VanBeurenStudios. They were only fables in the loosest sense, consisting mostly of aimlessly plotted stories starring FunnyAnimals, with the moral at the end most likely being a SpoofAesop.
76	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheCrow'' is a series of animated shorts whose first episode is based on "The Fox and the Grapes", with the title also being the same as the eponymous fable.
77	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
78	** "Foney Fables" is a collection of shorts that spoofs several fairy tales and fables.
79	** "Literature/TheTortoiseAndTheHare" is spoofed in a trio of WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoons -- "WesternAnimation/TortoiseBeatsHare", "WesternAnimation/TortoiseWinsByAHare" and "WesternAnimation/RabbitTransit" -- in which Bugs races against Cecil Turtle. They are among the few cartoons in which Bugs is the loser of the story.
80	* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'': The "Aesop and Son" segments have Aesop try to teach his son a lesson by telling one of his fables, after which the son would provide an alternative joke moral.
81	* Many of the ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' were adapted from fables, such as "WesternAnimation/TheTortoiseAndTheHare", "Literature/TheGrasshopperAndTheAnts", "WesternAnimation/TheWiseLittleHen" and "WesternAnimation/TheCountryCousin".
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Context Main / Fable