The fable is a literary genre that consists of a short narrative with a didactic or moralizing intention, whose characters, almost always animals or humanized things, develop actions and behaviors whose consequences embody a lesson.
Let’s learn one by one what are the main characteristics of the fable to better understand this important genre.
1. It is a popular genre
Illustration from the fable The Fox and the Raven by Aesop.
The fable is a genre of popular character, which means that it is related to the structure of values and interests of society as a whole. For the same reason, it is usually orally transmitted, although since ancient times it was incorporated into the educational plans of young generations according to the customs of the time.
2. It is brief
The fables are short stories, so that they focus the reader’s attention in a few lines, in order to guarantee the effectiveness of the message.
3. It can be related in prose or verse
Fables written in both verse and prose can be found. Everything will depend on the writer’s choice based on his style, use or objective.
4. The narrative structure is simple
The narrative structure of the fable is usually simple, and is divided into the following parts:
- Initial situation,
- conflict,
- outcome or resolution,
5. The story is linear
Due to the brevity and purpose of the fable, the story is linear. This means that the story is told from beginning to end without time jumps that could risk understanding the message. In this sense, the fables are direct.
6. Has a third-person narrator
The fable is told by a third-person narrator, who, in addition to telling the story and knowing everything the characters do, acts as a sanctioner who directs the interpretation of the facts.
7. Has a moralizing or didactic character
The fable always sanctions characters who commit vice or sin, that is, it always deals with giving them an exemplary punishment that serves to teach correlative virtue.
Fables seek to expose the consequences of certain actions or behaviors, in order to extract from them a moral or ethical teaching. For this reason, fables are usually aimed at children.
See also What is a fable?
8. Contains a moral
All fables contain a moral. Moral is called a moral teaching that is evidenced from the succession of the facts of the story. In this literary genre, the moral is not left to the reader’s interpretation, but is explicit in the text, either as brief as a phrase or as a stanza. It can be said then that the moral is part of the structure of a fable.
For example , the fable The Labrador and the Wolf of Aesop.
A farmer led his team toward a stream after daily labor. The oxen dejected with exhaustion exclaimed: —At last the day is over! The work was hard and a little fresh water doesn’t hurt us. Let’s leave the yoke and let’s drink. While they were talking like this, a hungry wolf passed by and, looking for food, found the plow and began to lick the two inner sides of the yoke. Then, little by little and without realizing it, he put his neck inside and, unable to free himself from the yoke, in his jerks, dragged the plow through the furrow. The farmer returned to that, when he saw him he said: Ah, you damned bug! If only you gave up your robberies and robberies to dedicate yourself to working the land …
Moral
If chance gives you work, stop trickery and relax.
9. The moral can be in the introduction or in the conclusion
According to the type of fable or narrative style of the author, the moral may be in the introduction —that is, in the promise— ; or in the conclusion – in the epimitio .
10. You can go to dialogues or accounts of events
The fable as a story can go to dialogues between characters or accounts of events. It will depend on the author and its stylistic context. For example, Aesop’s fable frequently comes to dialogue.
11. Characters can be humanized people, gods or animals and objects
As a general rule, the characters in a fable are animals or humanized objects. This facilitates the understanding of those aspects that you want to highlight, since characteristic elements of animals or objects that are easily understandable are used.
For example , the fable The Hare and the Turtle of Aesop. Let’s see:
A turtle and a hare were arguing over who was faster. Thus, they fixed a date and a place and separated. The hare, due to his natural speed, neglected to run, fell to the edge of the road and fell asleep. But the turtle, aware of its own slowness, did not stop running, and thus took the sleeping hare ahead and took the prize of triumph.
In some cases, there may be fables containing human characters, and these may or may not be mixed with anthropomorphized animal characters.
12. Characters are archetypal
The characters embody archetypes of values or anti-values that they want to contrast to cause a sense effect. Thus, the characters in the fables always act as antagonists. This means that each character represents a virtue or a sin, from whose contrast the moral arises.
13. It is timeless
Because they focus on the educational purpose, the fables are timeless, that is, they do not obey a specific historical context, but rather claim universality.
14. Topics
Due to the moralizing nature of fables, the themes usually revolve around the behavior of subjects in society, that is, they are oriented to expose codes of values and behavior. For this reason, the fable exposes the dangers of vices and antisocial attitudes. For example: greed, envy, lack of empathy, pride, greed, excess self-confidence, etc.
15. There are different types of fables
There are different types of fables, although they all comply with the elements that we have exposed. Let’s see below the main types or classes of fable:
- Situation fables: theyare those that contain two moments:
- a character is in trouble,
- Another character verbalizes his misfortune, even though it does not affect the development of the story.
- Agonal fables:are those structured in three parts:
- expose a character to a dilemma
- another character antagonizes and represents a second position
- the situation is evaluated and sanctioned.
- Etiologicalfables : very short fables headed or crowned by the moral.
16. It is an ancient genre
Fables have existed since ancient times. There is news that fables circulated in the ancient culture of India, from where they would have reached the Hellenic world. It was the Greek Aesop who compiled the fables in writing and gave them literary form.
