Fable

From Wikinfo

In its strict sense a fable is a short story or folk tale with a moral at the end. It often, but not necessarily, makes metaphorical use of an animal as its central character. In some cases usage the term has been extended to include stories with mythical or legendary elements. An author of fables is a fabulist. The word fabulous strictly means pertaining to fables, although in recent decades its metaphorical meanings have been taken to be literal meanings.

Notable fabulists:

• Aesop
• Berechiah ha-Nakdan (1200s Jewish author, Berechiah the Punctuator)
• Jean de La Fontaine
• Ivan Krylov
• Marie de France

Notable fables

• Stone Soup
• The Little Engine that Could
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull
• Watership Down
• The Lion King

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Fable" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable, used under the GNU Free Documentation License