Fables
A fable is a story that points out some aspect of human behaviour and has a moral attached to it. It usually features animals who talk and think like humans. It is often short.
Fables have been used since time immemorial to illustrate human behaviour, to teach and explain the ways of the world, and to counsel and advise. Travellers and traders carried these stories from one land to another, so that we often find the same story in countries as far apart as China and Greece. The Buddhist Jataka Tales and the Sanskrit Panchatantra, from ancient India, are amongst the oldest collection of fables known to us today. Other well-known collections from the ancient world include Aesop’s fables from Greece, and the fables of Phaedrus from Rome. We also have the 13th century Hitopdesha by Narayana, again from India, and the relatively recent collection by La Fontaine from 17th century France.
Traditionally, fables were not told only to children; rather, they were considered more relevant for grown-ups. In modern times, though, many regard fables to be meant for children only, mainly because of the presence of animals in the tales.
Here are some fables from around the world for you to enjoy.
Panchatantra
Composed in India around 300 CE, the Panchatantra contains some of the oldest fables in the world. Some of its stories can be traced as far back as 1500 BCE, to the ancient Sanskrit text, the Rig Veda; many of its stories are even older.
The Jataka Tales
The Jataka tales are stories that the Buddha told of his previous lifetimes as a Bodhisattva, before he attained final enlightenment. The Bodhisattva appears in each of these stories, in human or animal form, sometimes as the hero of the story, sometimes as one of the characters.
Aesop’s Fables
The supposed author of a collection of animal fables that teach worldly wisdom, Aesop lived during the 6th century BCE on the island of Samos in Greece. In later times his name became synonymous with ‘fable’ and many tales not composed by him were nevertheless attributed to him.
The Fables of Phaedrus
Phaedrus (c. 15 BCE – 50 CE) lived in ancient Rome and was the first person to translate into Latin and put into verse whole books of the Greek prose fables then circulating and attributed to Aesop.
Hitopadesha
Quite literally, ‘The Book of Good Counsels’, this is one of the best-loved works of Sanskrit literature. It was composed probably sometime between 800 and 950 CE, perhaps in eastern India. The oldest version of this work available to us today dates back to the 12th century CE.
The Fables of La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695), a French poet, is remembered today mainly for his Fables, a work considered to be one of the masterpieces of French literature. He based his fables mainly on Aesop, but also drew on Phaedrus, as well as the Indian Panchatantra.
