fa*ble

1 A fable is a story which teaches a

moral lesson. Fables sometimes have
animals as the main characters.
...the fable of the tortoise and the hare...
Each tale has the timeless quality of fable.
N-VAR

2 You can describe a statement or

explanation that is untrue but that many
people believe as fable.
Is reincarnation fact or fable?
...little-known horticultural facts and fables.
N-VAR
= myth
(c) HarperCollins Publishers.
A fable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that
features animals, plants, inanimate objects, or
forces of nature which are anthropomorphized
(given human qualities), and that illustrates a
moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be
expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.
A fable differs from a parable in that the latter
excludes animals.

The word "fable" comes from the Latin "fabula" (a

"story"), itself derived from "fari" ("to speak") with
the -ula suffix that signifies "little": hence, a "little
story"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable
I RE
T
SA
550 BC 1621-1695
he Raven and the Fox

The Grasshopper and the Ant

The Frog that

wished to be as big
as the Ox
James Thurber, one of the outstanding
American humorists of the twentieth century, is known
for his distinctively funny cartoons and short stories.
His concise, witty prose spanned a breadth of genres,
including autobiography, fiction, children's fantasy, and
modern commentary, and two of his short stories, "The
Catbird Seat" and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," are
among the best-known classics of American literature.

http://www.thurberhouse.org/james/james.html
BIRDS

PREY

A chick – baby bird

A fledgling – young
bird
MAMMALS

quills
INVERTEBRATES
• WORM

• INSECT e.g.

• OCTOPUS
 IDIOMS
• A fly-on-the-wall TV programme.
• She took the lion’s share.
• He couldn’t keep it a secret. He let
the cat out of the bag.
• I didn’t know her address. So trying to
find her was a bit of a wild goose
chase.
• She has a bee in her bonnet about
jogging to get fit (obsessed).
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv355.shtml