What is a fable and its characteristics

When you were little, surely you have been told more than once the story of the fox and the grapes or the story of the tortoise and the hare; You may have also heard the expression "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs" hundreds of times. Now you may be wondering what all of them have in common: they are fables. The fable is a literary tale which is characterized, mainly, for being brief, simple and, especially, for having as protagonists to animals.

Fables meet a eminently didactic function, since they aim to transmit a teaching, known as a moral, at the end of the story. In this lesson from a teacher we explain in detail what is a fable and what are its characteristics main.

To know what a fable is, we have to know that, as we have said before, the fable consists of a brief literary composition, easy to read and understand since, in general, it is intended for the little ones. Similar to a children's story, the fable hides a very specific purpose, which is to convey a moralizing teaching through story.

This truth that is revealed at the end of the story is called moral and it is present in each and every one of the fables. Some of the best known fables are, for example, "The Raven and the Fox" or "The Cicada and the Ant". Both belong to the Greek fabulist Aesop whose work written in Classical Antiquity is still valid today.