Animal Farm Notes

The Fable The fable is one of the oldestliterary forms - much, much olderthan the novel or the short story. Afable is usually short, written ineither verse or prose, and conveysa clear moral or message. Theearliest fables still preserved dateback to 6th Century Greece B.C.E.The author of these fables, Aesop,used animal characters to stand forhuman "types." For example, a foxcharacter might embody the humancharacteristics of cunning andcleverness. Though Aesop's animalfables were ostensibly aboutanimals, they were reallyinstructional tales about humanemotions and human behavior.