What is a fable?
Q: What is a fable?
A: A fable is a type of story which shows something in life or has a meaning to it. It teaches a lesson or suggests a moral from it and usually starts in the middle of the story without detailed introduction of characters.
Q: Who are the characters in a fable?
A: The characters of a fable may be animals, plants and legendary creatures. When animals are used they think and talk like people, even though they act like animals.
Q: Who wrote some famous fables?
A: The most famous fables are those attributed to Aesop (6th century B.C.).
Q: What does "sour grapes" mean?
A: "Sour grapes" refers to "The Fox and the Grapes". This fable is about a fox who saw beautiful bunch of grapes hanging on a vine but was too tired to jump high enough to pull them down so he went away saying "I'll bet those grapes were sour!" So, if someone sees something beautiful that they want but cannot have, sometimes they say "I don't want it anyway! I'll bet it's really no good!" This way of thinking is called "sour grapes".
Q: What does "crying wolf" mean?
A: "Crying wolf" comes from "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". This fable is about a boy who was sent to mind the sheep and got lonely so he shouted “Wolf! Wolf!” multiple times until no one came when there actually was one. So, if someone cries wolf too often then people will not believe them when there actually is an emergency.
