Literary notes about fable (AI summary)
In literature, "fable" is employed as a versatile term that spans simple moral tales, allegorical narratives, and even veiled historical or political commentary. It is often used to denote a story whose embellishments conceal deeper truths, as when a narrative of vanity leads to self-destruction [1] or is dismissed as mere myth in contrast to observable reality [2]. At times, it functions as an instrument for expressing ethical systems and social critiques—transforming a seemingly innocuous story into a commentary on power, riches, or state affairs [3, 4]. Some works treat fables as a repository of cultural insight and historical memory, subtly intertwining fact and fiction to illuminate human behavior and societal norms [5, 6]. This rich tradition underscores the fable's enduring role in literature as both a didactic device and a reflection of collective belief.
- The latter animal is made, in AEsop's fable of the 'Ox and the Frog,' to blow itself up from vanity and envy until it burst.
— from The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin - All is turned to smoke; all to ashes, and a mere fable; and perchance not so much as a fable.
— from Meditations by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius - This Fable is thought by some to bear reference to the interference of Livia in affairs of state.
— from The Fables of Phædrus by Phaedrus - —This fable seems to contain a little system of morality, so that there is scarce any better invention in all ethics.
— from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon - Yet this fable must have been invented before the reign of Edward III.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The tortoise, according to the fable, by his perseverance, gained the race of the hare, though possessed of much superior swiftness.
— from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume
