Aesop Fable information part 1
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Preface^15
The Tale, the Parable, and the Fable are all common and popular modes
of conveying instruction. Each is distinguished by its own special
characteristics. The Tale consists simply in the narration of a story
either founded on facts, or created solely by the imagination, and not
necessarily associated with the teaching of any moral lesson. The
Parable is the designed use of language purposely intended to convey a
hidden and secret meaning other than that contained in the words
themselves; and which may or may not bear a special reference to the
hearer, or reader. The Fable partly agrees with, and partly differs
from both of these. It will contain, like the Tale, a short but real
narrative; it will seek, like the Parable, to convey a hidden meaning,
and that not so much by the use of language, as by the skilful
introduction of fictitious characters; and yet unlike to either Tale
or Parable, it will ever keep in view, as its high prerogative, and
inseparable attribute, the great purpose of instruction, and will
necessarily seek to inculcate some moral maxim, social duty, or
political truth. The true Fable, if it rise to its high requirements,
ever aims at one great end and purpose representation of human motive,
and the improvement of human conduct, and yet it so conceals its
design under the disguise of fictitious characters, by clothing with
speech the animals of the field, the birds of the air, the trees of
the wood, or the beasts of the forest, that the reader shall receive
advice without perceiving the presence of the adviser. Thus the
superiority of the counsellor, which often renders counsel
unpalatable, is kept out of view, and the lesson comes with the
greater acceptance when the reader is led, unconsciously to himself,
to have his sympathies enlisted in behalf of what is pure, honorable,
and praiseworthy, and to have his indignation excited against what is
low, ignoble, and unworthy. The true fabulist, therefore, discharges
a most important function. He is neither a narrator, nor an
allegorist. He is a great teacher, a corrector of morals, a censor of
vice, and a commender of virtue. In this consists the superiority of
the Fable over the Tale or the Parable. The fabulist is to create a
laugh, but yet, under a merry guise, to convey instruction. Phaedrus,
the great imitator of Aesop, plainly indicates this double purpose to
be the true office of the writer of fables.
Duplex libelli dos est: quod risum movet,
Et quod prudenti vitam consilio monet.
The continual observance of this twofold aim creates the charm, and
accounts for the universal favor, of the fables of Aesop. "The
fable," says Professor K. O. Mueller, "originated in Greece in an
intentional travestie of human affairs. The 'ainos,' as its name
denotes, is an admonition, or rather a reproof veiled, either from
fear of an excess of frankness, or from a love of fun and jest,
beneath the fiction of an occurrence happening among beasts; and
wherever we have any ancient and authentic account of the Aesopian
fables, we find it to be the same."
The construction of a fable involves a minute attention to (1) the
narration itself; (2) the deduction of the moral; and (3) a careful
maintenance of the individual characteristics of the fictitious
personages introduced into it. The narration should relate to one
simple action, consistent with itself, and neither be overladen with a
multiplicity of details, nor distracted by a variety of circumstances.
The moral or lesson should be so plain, and so intimately interwoven
with, and so necessarily dependent on, the narration, that every
reader should be compelled to give to it the same undeniable
interpretation. The introduction of the animals or fictitious
characters should be marked with an unexceptionable care and attention
to their natural attributes, and to the qualities attributed to them
by universal popular consent. The Fox should be always cunning, the
Hare timid, the Lion bold, the Wolf cruel, the Bull strong, the Horse
proud, and the Ass patient. Many of these fables are characterized by
the strictest observance of these rules. They are occupied with one
short narrative, from which the moral naturally flows, and with which
it is intimately associated. "'Tis the simple manner," says Dodsley,
"in which the morals of Aesop are interwoven with his fables that
distinguishes him, and gives him the preference over all other
mythologists. His 'Mountain delivered of a Mouse,' produces the moral
of his fable in ridicule of pompous pretenders; and his Crow, when she
drops her cheese, lets fall, as it were by accident, the strongest
admonition against the power of flattery. There is no need of a
separate sentence to explain it; no possibility of impressing it
deeper, by that load we too often see of accumulated reflections."
An equal amount of praise is due for the consistency with which the
characters of the animals, fictitiously introduced, are marked. While
they are made to depict the motives and passions of men, they retain,
in an eminent degree, their own special features of craft or counsel,
of cowardice or courage, of generosity or rapacity.
These terms of praise, it must be confessed, cannot be bestowed on all
the fables in this collection. Many of them lack that unity of
design, that close connection of the moral with the narrative, that
wise choice in the introduction of the animals, which constitute the
charm and excellency of true Aesopian fable. This inferiority of some
to others is sufficiently accounted for in the history of the origin
and descent of these fables. The great bulk of them are not the
immediate work of Aesop. Many are obtained from ancient authors prior
to the time in which he lived. Thus, the fable of the "Hawk and the
Nightingale" is related by Hesiod; the "Eagle wounded by an Arrow,
winged with its own Feathers," by Aeschylus; the "Fox avenging his
wrongs on the Eagle," by Archilochus. Many of them again are of later
origin, and are to be traced to the monks of the middle ages: and yet
this collection, though thus made up of fables both earlier and later
than the era of Aesop, rightfully bears his name, because he composed
so large a number (all framed in the same mould, and conformed to the
same fashion, and stamped with the same lineaments, image, and
superscription) as to secure to himself the right to be considered the
father of Greek fables, and the founder of this class of writing,
which has ever since borne his name, and has secured for him, through
all succeeding ages, the position of the first of moralists.
Preface^15
The Tale, the Parable, and the Fable are all common and popular modes
of conveying instruction. Each is distinguished by its own special
characteristics. The Tale consists simply in the narration of a story
either founded on facts, or created solely by the imagination, and not
necessarily associated with the teaching of any moral lesson. The
Parable is the designed use of language purposely intended to convey a
hidden and secret meaning other than that contained in the words
themselves; and which may or may not bear a special reference to the
hearer, or reader. The Fable partly agrees with, and partly differs
from both of these. It will contain, like the Tale, a short but real
narrative; it will seek, like the Parable, to convey a hidden meaning,
and that not so much by the use of language, as by the skilful
introduction of fictitious characters; and yet unlike to either Tale
or Parable, it will ever keep in view, as its high prerogative, and
inseparable attribute, the great purpose of instruction, and will
necessarily seek to inculcate some moral maxim, social duty, or
political truth. The true Fable, if it rise to its high requirements,
ever aims at one great end and purpose representation of human motive,
and the improvement of human conduct, and yet it so conceals its
design under the disguise of fictitious characters, by clothing with
speech the animals of the field, the birds of the air, the trees of
the wood, or the beasts of the forest, that the reader shall receive
advice without perceiving the presence of the adviser. Thus the
superiority of the counsellor, which often renders counsel
unpalatable, is kept out of view, and the lesson comes with the
greater acceptance when the reader is led, unconsciously to himself,
to have his sympathies enlisted in behalf of what is pure, honorable,
and praiseworthy, and to have his indignation excited against what is
low, ignoble, and unworthy. The true fabulist, therefore, discharges
a most important function. He is neither a narrator, nor an
allegorist. He is a great teacher, a corrector of morals, a censor of
vice, and a commender of virtue. In this consists the superiority of
the Fable over the Tale or the Parable. The fabulist is to create a
laugh, but yet, under a merry guise, to convey instruction. Phaedrus,
the great imitator of Aesop, plainly indicates this double purpose to
be the true office of the writer of fables.
Duplex libelli dos est: quod risum movet,
Et quod prudenti vitam consilio monet.
The continual observance of this twofold aim creates the charm, and
accounts for the universal favor, of the fables of Aesop. "The
fable," says Professor K. O. Mueller, "originated in Greece in an
intentional travestie of human affairs. The 'ainos,' as its name
denotes, is an admonition, or rather a reproof veiled, either from
fear of an excess of frankness, or from a love of fun and jest,
beneath the fiction of an occurrence happening among beasts; and
wherever we have any ancient and authentic account of the Aesopian
fables, we find it to be the same."
The construction of a fable involves a minute attention to (1) the
narration itself; (2) the deduction of the moral; and (3) a careful
maintenance of the individual characteristics of the fictitious
personages introduced into it. The narration should relate to one
simple action, consistent with itself, and neither be overladen with a
multiplicity of details, nor distracted by a variety of circumstances.
The moral or lesson should be so plain, and so intimately interwoven
with, and so necessarily dependent on, the narration, that every
reader should be compelled to give to it the same undeniable
interpretation. The introduction of the animals or fictitious
characters should be marked with an unexceptionable care and attention
to their natural attributes, and to the qualities attributed to them
by universal popular consent. The Fox should be always cunning, the
Hare timid, the Lion bold, the Wolf cruel, the Bull strong, the Horse
proud, and the Ass patient. Many of these fables are characterized by
the strictest observance of these rules. They are occupied with one
short narrative, from which the moral naturally flows, and with which
it is intimately associated. "'Tis the simple manner," says Dodsley,
"in which the morals of Aesop are interwoven with his fables that
distinguishes him, and gives him the preference over all other
mythologists. His 'Mountain delivered of a Mouse,' produces the moral
of his fable in ridicule of pompous pretenders; and his Crow, when she
drops her cheese, lets fall, as it were by accident, the strongest
admonition against the power of flattery. There is no need of a
separate sentence to explain it; no possibility of impressing it
deeper, by that load we too often see of accumulated reflections."
An equal amount of praise is due for the consistency with which the
characters of the animals, fictitiously introduced, are marked. While
they are made to depict the motives and passions of men, they retain,
in an eminent degree, their own special features of craft or counsel,
of cowardice or courage, of generosity or rapacity.
These terms of praise, it must be confessed, cannot be bestowed on all
the fables in this collection. Many of them lack that unity of
design, that close connection of the moral with the narrative, that
wise choice in the introduction of the animals, which constitute the
charm and excellency of true Aesopian fable. This inferiority of some
to others is sufficiently accounted for in the history of the origin
and descent of these fables. The great bulk of them are not the
immediate work of Aesop. Many are obtained from ancient authors prior
to the time in which he lived. Thus, the fable of the "Hawk and the
Nightingale" is related by Hesiod; the "Eagle wounded by an Arrow,
winged with its own Feathers," by Aeschylus; the "Fox avenging his
wrongs on the Eagle," by Archilochus. Many of them again are of later
origin, and are to be traced to the monks of the middle ages: and yet
this collection, though thus made up of fables both earlier and later
than the era of Aesop, rightfully bears his name, because he composed
so large a number (all framed in the same mould, and conformed to the
same fashion, and stamped with the same lineaments, image, and
superscription) as to secure to himself the right to be considered the
father of Greek fables, and the founder of this class of writing,
which has ever since borne his name, and has secured for him, through
all succeeding ages, the position of the first of moralists.
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