What is the difference between fiction and fable

Folktales can include material from other sources such as history and religion. Folktales are anonymous; they have no exact author, and they passed on by word of mouth. Folktales are also place-specific; different countries their own folktales. Some folktales have different versions in different regions.

Folktales can have different types of characters — humans, animals, demons, gods, plants, etc. Folktales also can teach a moral lesson to their listeners, but not all folktales have lessons. Fables are a particular type of stories, in which animals, plants, mythical creatures, or other similar characters are given human qualities so that they act like humans. This quality of attributing human qualities to animals is known as anthropomorphism. Like a fable, a parable is a short story that has a moral or teaches a lesson.

However, parables are different from fables because they employ humans as the main characters, whereas fables feature animals, objects, etc. The most well-known parables are spoken by Jesus in the Bible. Fairy tales and fables share many of the same elements, particularly their uses of animals with human abilities. In fact, the lines between these two types of stories are sometimes blurred.

In conclusion, fable is a timeless genre that continues to be popular and relevant thousands of years after the first stories were told. They are successfully passed on and shared through both literature and oral storytelling, making them a typical and essential part of folklore across the world. Fables are appealing to people of all ages, and share lessons that are useful to any audience. List of Terms Action. Ad Hominem. Alter Ego. APA Citation. Comic Relief. Deus ex machina. Double Entendre.

Dramatic irony. Extended Metaphor. Opinions vary about the length of a short story. Some say short stories have between 2, and 10, words, while others feel that anything over 5, words is a novella. Many claim that readers should be able to read a short story in one sitting, although some people obviously have longer attention spans than others.

A fable and a short story can both be written to inform and entertain readers, and both can make statements about life. A short story, however, does not necessarily take the moral high ground the way a fable does. Debra Barnhart.