Literature Glossary
Don’t be an oxymoron. Know your literary terms.
Over 200 literary terms, Shmooped to perfection.
Fable
Definition:
A form of folk literature, a fable is a short story meant to convey a moral. A fable usually involves talking animals—Disney style—but not always. Aesop's Fables is a famous collection of fables, featuring familiar stories like "The Tortoise and the Hare".
A fable is similar to an apologue or an allegory because it's less about the events on the page than it is about, well, our world.