fables
Stories with lessons
Fables are short stories, typically featuring animals or mythical creatures as characters, that convey a moral lesson.
Aesop's fables are the most famous examples in Western tradition, teaching practical wisdom through tales of foxes, tortoises, and ants.
The term extends to any fictitious narrative or falsehood: His account of that night was pure fable.
As a verb, to fable means to tell or invent such stories, though this use is now rare and literary.
Unit of teaching
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
- cautionaryServing as warning
proverb · teaching · guidance · morality · principle · admonitory · rectitude · homily
Instructive allegorical narrative
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- moralConcerning right conduct
- personificationAttributing humanity to non-humans
allegory · didactic · figurative · cautionary · emblematic · archetype · allusion · anecdote
Land-dwelling shelled reptile
mouse · ant · grasshopper · wolf · stork · frog · donkey · goose
lesson
Unit of teaching
cautionary · proverb · teaching · guidance · morality · principle · admonitory · rectitude · homily · maxim
parable
Instructive allegorical narrative
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- moralConcerning right conduct
personification · allegory · didactic · figurative · cautionary · emblematic · archetype · allusion · anecdote · exemplum
tortoise
Land-dwelling shelled reptile
lion · mouse · ant · grasshopper · wolf · stork · frog · donkey · goose · dog
Aesop
Ancient Greek fable writer
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- antiquityGreat age, ancient era
- papyrusAncient plant-derived writing material
scrolls · storytelling · proverbs · Sanskrit · classical
gods
Supernatural beings worshipped
titans · creation · origin · Prometheus · trickster · demigod · divine · supernatural · Zeus · Anansi
- children's literaturefairy tales, picture books, young adult, fantasy, nursery rhymes
- folklorefairy tales, fairytales, folktales, folk tales, folk tale
- Literary traditionsmythology, folklore, fairy tales, legends, epics
- animal fablesAesop, ant and grasshopper, lion and mouse, tortoise and hare, ugly duckling
- folklore of childhoodnursery rhymes, fairy tales, lullabies, bedtime stories, folktales
- heritage talesfolk tales, folk stories, legends, myths, origin stories
fablesfacts
Verifiable pieces of truth
truths · realities · histories · nonfiction · actualities
fableshistorical records
Preserved accounts of the past
historical accounts · documentations · eyewitness accounts · case studies · biographies
- animal fableMoral story with talking creatures
- moral fableDidactic story with lesson
- Aesop's fablesAncient Greek moral stories
- children's fablesShort moral stories for youth
- classic fablesAncient morality stories
- Aesop fablesMoralistic animal stories