Daniela McManus is a consultant and academic director based in Davis, California. She received her PhD in English Language and Literature from the University of California, Davis in 2013.
Number of sources used in this article: . You will find a list of them at the bottom of the page.
A fable is a short allegorical work, usually with a moralizing conclusion. The actors, as a rule, are animals, plants, objects. A classic fable begins or ends with morality - a conclusion, a lesson, where the meaning of the fable is explained. A fable is a short story in which every element—the characters, the setting, and the action itself—contribute to a valuable lesson for the reader.
Steps
Part 1
The content of the fable- The setting should be related to the characters and their relationships.
- The place where events take place should be simple and easily recognizable. Readers should easily learn and understand where the events are taking place. Thanks to this, you do not have to include additional description of the area in your work.
- For example, in the aforementioned fable "The Tortoise and the Hare", the place where events take place is the road through the forest, which creates the conditions for action (competition along the road) and which is associated with the characters of the fable (forest animals).
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Think about the resolution of the conflict or problem. The denouement should be interesting to the reader, as well as be related to the main characters, their relationships and the place where the events take place.
- Think about how the characters can resolve the conflict and what the reader can learn from the fable.
- For example, in the fable "The Tortoise and the Hare", the hare resolves the conflict. With his haste, he loses the competition to the persistent turtle.
Part 2
writing a fable-
Make a plan. Once you've mapped out the main points of the story, start describing each one step by step.
- Describe the place where the events take place, as well as the relationship of the characters to this place. As already mentioned, the setting or place should be easily recognizable and should be directly related to the events referred to in the fable.
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Describe the plot. Describe the conflict between the characters in sufficient detail to make the reader understand the problem. In addition, the reader should be interested in how the conflict will be resolved.
- Your story should be rooted in causality.
- Everything that happens in history should be clearly related to the conflict and its resolution.
- Remember, your fable should be simple and concise. Don't waste time detailing unnecessary details.
- For example, in the fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" events develop quite quickly: the hare invites the tortoise to compete, and then the tortoise wins the competition.
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Make up a dialogue. Well-written dialogue will show the reader what character traits your main character has. If you have composed the dialogue correctly, there will be no need to indicate the distinguishing features of your character - the reader will understand this from your dialogue.
Write a resolution to the conflict. After you describe the characters and the conflict, move on to resolving it.
- At this stage of writing a fable, there should be a clear connection between the actions of the characters, the development of the conflict and its resolution.
- Make sure that each problem mentioned in the fable has its own logical resolution.
- To return to the fable of the tortoise and the hare, the resolution of the conflict occurs when the boastful hare, rushing forward, stops to take a nap, and the balanced tortoise, slowly moving towards its goal, finally wins the competition.
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State the moral. When the plot of the fable is completed, formulate a moralizing conclusion.
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Come up with a name. The title should be related to the general content of the fable, and should also be interesting to grab the reader's attention.
- It is better to first write a fable, or at least think over its plot, and only then come up with a name. Thanks to this, the name will be associated with the content of the fable.
- You can choose a simple name, like the names of Aesop's fables (for example, "The Tortoise and the Hare"), or be more creative. Vivid examples of creative fable names are: "The Shipwrecked" or "The Coward Who Found the Golden Lion."
Pick a moral. Since the moral is the essence of the fable, before you start writing it, determine its moral. The reader should learn an important moral lesson from reading your fable. Also, keep in mind that the moralizing conclusion you choose should touch many people.
Determine what problem (conflict) or common life situation you will consecrate in your fable. A moral conclusion should be the solution to this problem.
Determine who will be the main character of your fable. Think about what the personality of the protagonist should be, he should be able to understand your moral instruction.
Define character archetypes. When choosing a character, think about how he differs from nature.
Choose a setting. Think about the place where the events will take place? As with conflict, choose a setting that will be understandable and interesting to the reader.
How to compose a fable? How to pick up the keys to this boring literary genre and create a kind of your own? We all understand that this is not easy to do. But you can try. Where did ours go?
There is an opinion that you need to start like this - open a new document in Word or take a blank sheet of paper, come up with characters and go! Let's try to follow this path. Assign characters and start rhyming:
"Once upon a glorious frog,
A bear, a donkey, and a talkative cuckoo ... "
It is hard to say. Starting on the fly, I came to a certain dead end. And I decided for myself that I should start not from the beginning, but from the end of the work, from the so-called final scene. First of all, it would be good to decide on morality, that is, what you want to say with this fable, what to teach.
Fable like " means of proclaiming enlightenment ideals” must necessarily contain a certain moralizing element. We all know that a fable is one of the most effective and easily perceived forms of criticism of reality, flagellation of shortcomings.
What can be used as a moral? For example, what is familiar to us, a storehouse of folk wisdom - proverbs. “As it comes around, it will respond”, “One is not a warrior in the field”, “Seven do not wait for one”, “Learning is light, and ignorance is darkness”, etc.
After we decide on the moral, the theme of the fable becomes more understandable to us. At this stage, it is already possible to come up with characters that, in our opinion, are most suitable for the intended work. Then play a certain scene between them with specific dialogues. But in such a way that, in the end, these dialogues smoothly approach the morality that was intended. There is already a place for our imagination to roam.
When writing a fable, you can go the other way. Many great fabulists, including the French poet La Fontaine, and our wonderful father Ivan Andreevich Krylov used stories invented by other people in their fables. By whom? For example, a wise man, the Phrygian slave Aesop.
Many famous writers borrowed the plot from Aesop, brought something original to the work: poetic framing, lightness of style, national flavor, some zest, and a fable of a completely different kind appeared. Often she became great and beloved by generations.
You can read examples of fables that I composed using the principles described above in the rubric. Some fables are based on proverbs, others are based on well-known fables or fairy tales. And there are those that are created completely from scratch. I am inclined to think that if a person wants to turn on his fantasy to the fullest, then he will write at least a few lines. We, at times, do not hold a sense of humor, many have a sharp tongue. Well, life itself teaches us.
We write fables. 6th grade
goose and ducklings
The sun shone brightly on a hot summer day,
And the duck took the family for a walk.
The ducklings were too lazy to follow their mother,
And they set off together to the bank of the river.
And there in the water sat a grouchy goose
And everything was wrong for him:
Why make noise? Why splash?
After all, you can just admire
Nature.
He grumbled for a long time. The ducklings are bored.
Here mother duck swam up:
Well, why are you sitting?
Look at me and repeat like this.
Ducklings swam merrily along the river,
And the goose got down to business again,
He began to grumble, but he was left alone.
Elizaveta Karpenko, 6-B class
Sparrow - thief
Under the roof of house number 5
There lived a gray sparrow.
He was a terrible tomboy
Thief and liar.
He boasted to a neighbor from house number 2:
“Here I have an apartment, not like yours!
I stole a brooch from a cat last week.
And there are such crumbs! You won't find a better one!"
But the cat taught the tomboy thief a lesson,
And the poor sparrow was left without a tail.
The neighbor laughs at him:
"The thieves get it!"
And the sparrow hung his nose:
“And really, what are you going to sing here.”
Vlad Boyarkin, 6-B class
Swallow and Cuckoo
Two swallows started to build a nest.
Successfully choosing a place for him,
They carried twigs and clay without noticing anyone.
The cuckoo was watching them at that hour,
And, as it seemed to her, the advice is smart
Gave the builders to make the house comfortable
For future children.
Why are you building a nest under the roof of the house?
All the birds build nests on a tree in the forest,
And you don't need clay and straw,
I'll bring you needles with leaves now.
Not noticing those practical tips,
Swallows worked, hurry!
Cuckoos do not build nests, but only give advice,
In other people's nests podselivaya cuckoo.
Irina Zhulieva, 6-B class
hare house
In one autumn park,
Where everything is always in order
The sad bunny just sat
And bitterly, bitterly, he roared.
- Oh, how can I continue to live,
Winter is already knocking on the window
And I'm sitting without a home,
I will die from the cold.
Why are you crying in vain
Building a house is easy
Said a passing mole.
And the hare just opened his mouth and said to him:
-So help me build a house,
Simply, you say.
- Okay, so be it.
Bring an ax and a tree over there, let's cut it down.
And the hare set to work,
Only his ears were ringing:
“Not here, not there, not like that!”
A week later, the case was over,
And just in time, winter is almost here.
And the mole to the bunny says:
-Take me to live with you
After all, I prompted you and helped,
And you, only you were lazy ...
But the hare slammed the door on the mole.
Deliver us, God, from such judges.
No wonder people say:
"Grumbling you get bored,
And you will teach by example!
Yulia Naumenko, 6-B class
bull and donkey
One day the donkey says to the bull:
“What, life failed?
Today you plow and tomorrow you plow.
And I'm lying under the sun sunbathing,
And every single day I drive the bullshit.
Don't you want a heavenly life like this?"
“No, I don’t want to,” the bull quietly replies.
And he does the job strictly.
It's been a month, three...
And now winter has come.
But it is a pity that the donkey was gone.
And the bull lived quietly in the barn.
The moral of this fable is this:
Don't spare the strength
Work and don't cry!
For us, work
The best doctor!
Gachechiladze Sofia, 6-B class
Zinovkina Anastasia
Silly Fly
A frog was sitting in the clearing,
And Mushka circled around her.
- Oh, something pricked my tongue! -
Lamented the Frog Lola, -
Look at you, dear Mushka,
I will not remain in debt, my friend.
A fly flew into Lola's mouth -
Well, she quickly ate it.
Alikin Mikhail
Not knowing the ford, do not poke your head into the water
Friends went to the stream. The bridge over the stream is a little off to the side, you still have to go to it. Hare went to the bridge, and the cockerel was indignant: "Here's another! I'll walk back and forth, trample my boots! I'll cross the stream here, it's shallow here"
Petya stepped into the water and fell through. His red boots were carried away by the current. And he was all wet. And Stepan said to his friend: "Not knowing the ford, do not go into the water"
Sivkov Maxim
Who sleeps in spring - cries in winter
Karpenko Victoria
Mind is good but two is better
So it happens: the mind is good, but two is better.
Priymachenko Valentina
Greed is the beginning of every grief
Sparrow flew up to her, and the Mouse complains: "The abdomen hurts, the throat is dry."
And Vorobyshek answers her: "Greed is the beginning of every grief."
Gushchin Artyom
Hare and Raccoon
Raccoon lay down on the stove, warmed his sides, he had never felt so good. Meanwhile, the Hare has cooked porridge and calls the guest to the table. And Raccoon attacked so lazily that he asked to bring porridge to him on the stove.
It lasted three days. The hare was industrious and did not like the lazy. He could not stand it and drove the Raccoon out saying: "You want to swallow, but you're too lazy to chew!"
Lyamov Maxim
Wolf and Hare
- Enough, Hare, run away from me, let's be friends. Come visit me, I'll treat you to sweet carrots and cabbage.
Hare agreed. He came to the wolf. The table is set, a lot of goodies, but no carrots and cabbage.
Wolf Hare asks:
- Where's the carrot and cabbage?
Wolf answers:
- I spun, I forgot to get it, help, Hare, climb into the underground.
The hare agreed. The Wolf closed the cellar lid and said:
- You, Hare, will be my dinner.
Stupidity is not a vice, but a misfortune.
Buchkin Dmitry
Greedy Hare
But the worst happened later. At first he turned all red, then turned blue, then turned green, and finally covered with large red blisters that itched and itched terribly.
He was taken to the forest hospital. Later, the doctor told Hare that due to overeating, he became allergic to cabbage, and he would no longer eat it. That's what sometimes greed leads to!
Many literature teachers give tasks to their students related to writing a fable. Most often, if the student listened carefully to how this is done in the lesson, then he will not have any problems with this task. And if the student was absent or missed everything, then he will have to be guided by the following tips.
Rules for writing a fable
First you need to find in the explanatory dictionary what the word fable itself means. The fable is usually written in the form of regular verse or prose. It differs in many ways from other similar genres in that it has the presence of moralizing, as well as a satirical bias. More often than not, the fable ends with a moral. The main idea of the author should be expressed in a short and clear form.
It is recommended that the author write his work from the very end, that is, directly from morality. Since usually the fable ends with some famous saying or proverb. As an example, you can see the statements of the famous fabulists S. Mikhalkov or I. Krylov. After that, you need to think a little about how you can correctly rhyme your favorite thought.
What will be the illustration of the fable?
Various animals;
Insects;
Or inanimate objects.
For example, in Krylov's fables, you can see a picture of a crow talking to a bird or a dragonfly listening to moralizing from an ant. It is worth thinking carefully about which hero is suitable for your morality. It will be good if the reader of the fable has an image of the hero of this morality in advance, let it be a smart crow, a cowardly hare or a cunning fox.
The invented story must be written down in the form of prose. All sentences in the fable should be very short and understandable to the reader. Like all other works, the fable consists of a plot, then the development of events follows, the climax and the denouement itself, which precedes the morality itself. It's just that here each of the listed parts has a small set of words. A fable may well be written without rhyme, but most often the poetic form is better perceived by the listener than ordinary prose. Therefore, it is worth trying to read a prosaic passage in poetic form. Which size to choose does not really matter, everything will depend on personal desire. An energetic trochee or a classic iambic, or something else, is quite suitable for this.
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