How Many Fables Are There?

acoulter — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 08:00:01 +0000

Most people can likely name a dozen or so of Aesop’s fables off the tops of their heads. There are the popular ones everyone knows, like The Fox and the Grapes, and lesser-known ones like The Dog and Its Reflection (that one is on our list to make soon!) and sort of weird ones like The Mountain in Labour.

But how many are there total?

The answer is sort of tricky, since most modern scholars believe that Aesop did not personally come up with all the tales attributed to him. In fact, many of the fables were known in some form before Aesop’s time (around 600 BC), so it’s hard to know for sure which ones Aesop came up with himself.

However, professor Ben Perry, who studied Aesop, created an index of fables that has become the “definitive edition of all fables reputed to be by Aesop” (from Wikipedia). Can you guess the number of fables in The Perry Index?

Take a second and think of all the fables you can count, and come up with a number. The answer is below (highlight to reveal)

584 fables!

Did you guess it? Did you come close? I sure didn’t!

There are even more fables in “Extended Perry” lists, and several fables not in the Perry Index at all. The total that Wikipedia lists: 731 (highlight to reveal)

That’s a LOT of fables!

The Difference Between a Fable and a Parable

vwenderlich — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:15:34 +0000

Have you ever wondered what makes a fable different from a parable? How about what makes a fable different from a fairy tale, or a folk tale? There is a lot of overlap among these genres, but here’s an overview:

Fables

Fables are stories that feature animals, plants, or forces of nature that have been given human qualities.

They teach moral and ethical lessons, like how to behave or how to treat people.

Since the main characters are animals, they are a good way to introduce serious topics to children. Each animal represents a particular human fault or virtue, and what happens in the story is directly related to the animal’s personality.

Parables

Parables also teach moral and ethical lessons, but they only have human characters.

They are set in the real world, with realistic problems and results. They often have spiritual aspects.

So what would a story be that features a human interacting with a talking animal? A fable, since parables exclude unrealistic things like chatty foxes.

Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

Fairy Tales include mythical creatures, like elves, fairies, and trolls. They feature enchantments, spells, and magical items. They are meant primarily to amuse.

Folk Tales are traditional stories from a particular culture. They are considered part of the history (imaginary or not) of that culture, and often they seek to explain why something is the way it is (why the seasons change, or why the leopard has spots).

Why Fables?

We chose to tell fables in our first interactive story app rather than another type of tale because:

Fables are short. This means we get to make several smaller stories, with different animals and different interactions.

The main characters are animals. Way more fun than people, and they are cuter!

They impart a moral. Who says learning can’t be fun and effortless?

When we were younger, we ate up fables like other kids ate cheerios. Since the main characters were animals, they captured our imagination, but the lessons learned were real and lasting. We just thought we were reading awesome animal stories!