Editing Fable (section)

{{short description|Short fictional story that anthropomorphises non-humans to illustrate a moral lesson}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Cat guarding geese c1120 BC Egypt.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Anthropomorphism|Anthropomorphic]] cat guarding geese, Egypt, {{Circa|1120 [[BCE]]}}]]
'''Fable''' is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in [[prose]] or [[verse (poetry)|verse]], that features [[animal]]s, [[legendary creature]]s, [[plant]]s, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphized]], and that illustrates or leads to a particular [[moral]] lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise [[maxim (philosophy)|maxim]]<!-- ''most'' of this page is too specific to serve as the only target --> or [[saying]]<!-- this is too much of a compendium to serve as the only target -->.

A fable differs from a [[parable]] in that the latter ''excludes'' animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind. Conversely, an [[animal tale]] specifically includes talking animals as characters.

Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished. In the [[King James Version]] of the [[New Testament]], "{{lang|grc|μῦθος}}" ("''[[mythos]]''") was rendered by the [[Translation|translators]] as "fable"<ref>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).</ref> in the [[First Epistle to Timothy]], the [[Second Epistle to Timothy]], the [[Epistle to Titus]] and the [[First Epistle of Peter]].<ref>
Strong's 3454. μύθος muthos moo’-thos; perhaps from the same as 3453 (through the idea of tuition); a tale, i.e. <U>fiction</U> ("myth"):—fable.<br />"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)</ref>

A person who writes fables is referred to as a '''fabulist'''.