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About||other uses||a comparison of fable with other kinds of stories|Traditional story Fable is a literary genre. A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse , that features animals, mythical creatures , plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities such as verbal communication), and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly in a pithy maxim (saying)|maxim .
A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech and other powers of humankind.
Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished. In the King James Version of the New Testament , " µ???? " (" mythos ") was rendered by the Translation|translators as "fable"For example, in First Epistle to Timothy|First Timothy , "neither give heed to fables...", and "refuse profane and old wives' fables..." (1 Tim 1:4 and 4:4, respectively). in First Epistle to Timothy|First and Second Epistle to Timothy|Second Timothy , in Titus and in First Epistle of Peter|First Peter . Strong's 3454. µ???? muthos moo’-thos; perhaps from the same as 3453 (through the idea of tuition); a tale, i.e. fiction ("myth"):—fable. "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2nd Peter 1:16)
History
The fable is one of the most enduring forms of folk tales|folk literature , spread abroad, modern researchers agree, Enzyklopädie des Märchens (1977), see "Fabel", "Äsopica" etc. less by literary anthologies than by oral transmission. Fables can be found in the literature of almost every country.
Ante-Aesopic fable
Several parallel animal fables in Sumerian language|Sumerian and Akkadian language|Akkadian are among those that Erich Ebeling introduced to modern Western readers;Ebeling, Die Babylonishe Fabel und ihre Bedeutung für die Literaturgeschichte (1931). there are comparable fables from Egypt's Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom ,E. Brunner-Traut, Altägyptische Tiergeschichte und Fabel (1970) and Hebrew fables such as the "king of trees" in Book of Judges 9:8-15 and "the thistle and the cedar tree" in II Kings 14:9.Both noted by Walter Burkert , The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Early Archaic Greek Culture (1992), p 121 note 4. The most recent study on the ante-Aesopic fables or the fables in ancient Near Eastern languages by Akimoto discovers the rich fable traditions in ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia ; for example, the Ninurta-uballitsu Assyrian fable collection which is the oldest known fable collection with the compiler's autograph and the completion date 883 BCE, the Hurrian - Hittite bilingual fable collections are embedded in a long myth and the storyteller tells after each fable his/her own moral.Kazya Akimoto, Ante-Aesopica: Fable Traditions of Ancient Near East (Vanderbilt University 2010: ProQuest)
Aesopic or Aesop's fable
The varying corpus denoted Aesopica or '' Aesop's Fables includes most of the best-known western fables, which are attributed to the legend ary Aesop , supposed to have been a slave in ancient Greece around 550 BCE . When Babrius set down fables from the Aesopica in verse for a Hellenistic Prince "Alexander," he expressly stated at the head of Book II that this type of "myth" that Aesop had introduced to the "sons of the Hellenes" had been an invention of "Syrians" from the time of " Ninos " (personifying Nineveh to Greeks) and Belos ("ruler").Burkert 1992:121 Epicharmus of Kos and Phormis are reported as having been among the first to invent comic fables.P. W. Buckham, p. 245 Many familiar fables of Aesop include " The Crow and the Pitcher ", " The Tortoise and the Hare " and " The Lion and the Mouse ". In ancient Greek and Roman education, the fable was the first of the progymnasmata --training exercises in prose composition and public speaking—wherein students would be asked to learn fables, expand upon them, invent their own, and finally use them as persuasive examples in longer forensic or deliberative speeches. The need of instructors to teach, and students to learn, a wide range of fables as material for their declamations resulted in their being gathered together in collections, like those of Aesop.
Africa
Oral tradition|African oral culture cite web|url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/atim-oton/arits-fables-kids-series_b_1001656.html |author=Atim Oton |title=Reaching African Children Through Fables and Animation |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |date=October 25, 2011 |accessdate=May 8, 2012 has a rich story-telling tradition. As they have for thousands of years, people of all ages in Africa continue to interact with nature, including plants, breathtaking animals and earthly structures such as rivers, plains and mountains. Grandparents enjoy enormous respect in African societies and fill the new role of story-telling during retirement years. Children and, to some extent, adults are mesmerized by good story-tellers when they become animated in their quest to tell a good fable.
India
Hundreds of fables were composed in History of India|ancient India during the 1st millennium BC|first millennium BC , often as Story within a story|stories within frame story|frame stories . These included Vishnu Sarma 's Panchatantra , the Hitopadesha , Baital Pachisi|Vikram and The Vampire , and Syntipas ' Seven Wise Masters , which were collections of fables that were later influential throughout the Old World . Ben E. Perry (compiler of the " Perry Index " of Aesop's fables)has argued controversially that some of the Buddhist Jataka tales and some of the fables in the Panchatantra may have been influenced by similar Greek language|Greek and Near East ern ones.Ben E. Perry, "Introduction", p. xix, in Babrius and Phaedrus (1965) Earlier Indian epic poetry|Indian epics such as Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa|Vyasa's Mahabharata and Valmiki 's Ramayana also contained fables within the main story, often as side story|side stories or back-story . The most famous fables from the Middle East were the One Thousand and One Nights , also known as the Arabian Nights .
Europe
Fables had a further long tradition through the Middle Ages , and became part of European high literature. During the 17th century, the France|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 bourgeoisie , indeed the entire human scene of his time.Translations of his 12 books of fables are available online at http://oaks.nvg.org/fontaine.html oaks.nvg.org La Fontaine's model was subsequently emulated by England's John Gay (1685–1732);His two collections of 1727 and 1738 are available in one volume on Google Books at http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=X_Y0AAAAMAAJ& printsec=frontcover& dq=john+gay+++%22fables%22& source=bl& ots=_ChY5dZunN& sig=5qBAeejDOY8U5EgxDr4Pgnw68ao& hl=en& ei=EcNNTLKfGpL24AbX5uCaDA& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=7& ved=0CCsQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage& q& f=false books.google.co.uk Poland's Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801);His Bajki przypowiesci (Fables & Parables, 1779) are available online at http://literat.ug.edu.pl/ikbajk/index.htm ug.edu.pl Italy's :it:Lorenzo Pignotti|Lorenzo Pignotti (1739–1812)cite web|url= http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=6CSQZlaZjE0C& printsec=frontcover& dq=pignotti+++favola& source=bl& ots=n8Mlm8LQld& sig=ubnkrD47WARSbDJKUXgNCj7_Vgo& hl=en& ei=8DhNTP-rOt3NjAeEtLDYDA& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=1& ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q& f=false |title=His '& #39;Favole e Novelle'& #39; (1785) is available on Google Books |publisher=Books.google.co.uk |date= |accessdate=May 8, 2012Verify source|date=May 2012 and :it:Giovanni Gherardo de Rossi|Giovanni Gherardo de Rossi (1754–1827);cite web|url= http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=rKoTAAAAQAAJ& printsec=frontcover& dq=pignotti+++favola& source=gbs_similarbooks_s& cad=1#v=onepage& q& f=false |title=His '& #39;Favole'& #39; (1788) is available on Google Books |publisher=Books.google.co.uk |date= |accessdate=May 8, 2012Verify source|date=May 2012 Serbia's Dositej Obradovic (1742–1811); Spain's Félix María de Samaniego (1745–1801)9 books of fables are available online in Spanish at http://amediavoz.com/samaniego.htm amediavoz.com and Tomás de Iriarte y Oropesa (1750–1791);cite web|url= http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=Zr0DAAAAQAAJ& printsec=frontcover& dq=Tom%C3%A1s+de+Iriarte+y+Oropesa+fabulas& source=bl& ots=WbHNxf22GV& sig=zrfOpn4x0K8bAykQBwrXmq_zHfQ& hl=en& ei=mElNTMGZO5mW4gbNyLCaDA& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=4& ved=0CCUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage& q& f=false |title=His '& #39;Fabulas Literarias'& #39; are available on Google Books |publisher=Books.google.co.uk |date= |accessdate=May 8, 2012Verify source|date=May 2012 France's Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755–94);His five books of fables are available online in French at http://www.shanaweb.net/florian/la-vie-de-florian.htm shanaweb.net and Russia's Ivan Krylov (1769–1844).5 books of fables are available online in Russian at http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/literature/19century/krylov2.html friends-partners.org
Modern era
In modern times, while the fable has been trivialized in children's books, it has also been fully adapted to modern adult literature. Felix Salten 's Bambi, A Life in the Woods|Bambi (1923) is a Bildungsroman — a story of a protagonist 's coming-of-age — cast in the form of a fable. James Thurber used the ancient fable style in his books Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated|Fables for Our Time (1940) and Further Fables for Our Time (1956), and in his stories " The Princess and the Tin Box " in The Beast in Me and Other Animals (1948) and "The Last Clock: A Fable for the Time, Such As It Is, of Man" in Lanterns and Lances (1961). Wladyslaw Reymont 's The Revolt (1922), a metaphor for the Bolshevik Russian Revolution of 1917|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.
Classic fabulists
Aesop (mid-6th century BCE), author of '' Aesop's Fables .
Vishnu Sarma (ca. 200 BCE), author of the anthropomorphic political treatise and fable collection, the Panchatantra .
Bidpai (ca. 200 BCE), author of Sanskrit ( Hindu ) and Pali ( Buddhist ) animal fables in verse and prose, somethimes derived from Jataka tales.
Syntipas (ca. 100 BCE), India n philosopher , reputed author of a collection of tale s known in Europe as Seven Wise Masters|The Story of the Seven Wise Masters .
Gaius Julius Hyginus (Hyginus, Latin author, native of Spain or Alexandria , ca. 64 BCE - 17 CE), author of Fabulae .
Phaedrus (fabulist)|Phaedrus (15 BCE – 50 CE), Roman Republic|Roman fabulist, by birth a Ancient Macedonians|Macedonian .
Walter of England c.1175
Marie de France (12th century).
Vardan Aygektsi (died 1250), Armenian priest and Fabulist
Berechiah ha-Nakdan (Berechiah the Punctuator, or Linguist|Grammarian , 13th century), author of Jewish fables adapted from Aesop 's Fables.
Robert Henryson ( Scotland|Scottish , 15th century), author of The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian .
Leonardo da Vinci ( Italy|Italian , 1452–1519).
Biernat of Lublin ( Poland|Polish , 1465? & ndash; after 1529).
cite book | last = Buckham | first = Philip Wentworth | title = Theatre of the Greeks | year = 1827|url= http://books.google.com/books? id=IjAZAAAAYAAJ& printsec=frontcover& dq=The+Theatre+of+the+Greeks
http://www.studylight.org/desk/? l=en& query=fable& section=0& translation=kjv& oq=& sr=1 King James Bible; New Testament (authorised) .
DLR David Lee Rubin. "Fable in Verse", The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics .
External links
http://www.itellyouastory.com Fairy tales and fables traditions and reality through imagination
http://www.elfproject.org/category/fables Fables from around the world
http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html The Dragon-Tyrant
http://fablesforall.org/databases/cgi-bin/main.asp? libgroup=std A collection of Fables and Teaching-Stories from All Cultures and Traditions
http://www.lefavole.org/en/ Fables - Collection and guide to fables for children
http://www.communitywiki.org/odd/Imaginexus/ Imaginexus A collection of interconnected stories that anyone can edit
http://www.circleofreason.org/ Parable of the Week Modern fables, parables and maxims
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fables-of-Fabulous-Animals-ebook/dp/B006FPFDT2 Fables of Fabulous Animals, E-book
Fiction writing Category:Fables|Fables Category:Literary techniques Category:Persuasion techniques Category:Short story types
