DeDanaan

Filed by Aine MacDermot

Fable : A fable is a story, usually but not always about animals with human qualities, that illustrates some moral truth or wisdom. The familiar fable of “The Fox and the Grapes,” for example, suggests that people will belittle what they cannot get. The fox, after using all his wiles to reach the grapes hanging beyond his reach, concludes that they are sour anyway. Though fables have been discovered even among the Egyptian papyri (500BC), the development of the fable is most often associated with the Greek slave, Aesop. The French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine made perhaps the most celebrated collection of fables. Uncle Remus fables by Joel Chandler Harris celebrate the exploits of Brer Rabbit. “Animal Farm” by George Orwell and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson are more up-to-date examples of fables.