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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.