Question

does anyone have any ideas on writing a fable about pratising hard and not slacking off? p.s i must write my own...

Answer 1

Fables are stories that feature animals with human characteristics and that teach a morale. Aesop is one of the most famous writers of fables.The Hare and the Tortoise is probably the most famous, but The Ant and that Grasshopper is also well known. The morale of The Hare and the Tortoise has been put in many ways, but most commonly is said as "slow and steady wins the race." The morale of The Ant and the Grasshopper is "it's bees to prepare for times of necessity."

Fables are usually (not always) gears toward a younger audience, so it's important to keep them simple and clear. Limit the number of characters in the story to 2 or 3. Any more and the story and message can start to get convoluted. Use actions to tell the story. What I mean by this is avoid delving into the minds of the characters. So for example, instead of saying, "The lamb was sad," say, "The lamb hung his head and cried." This will both keep the story interesting and more clearly paint a picture in the mind of what is going on.

I recently wrote a fable called the Stingy Stallion. I'm not going to reproduce it here, but I'll summarize it so you can get an idea of what you need.

There was a stallion who had a colt that wanted shoes so that he could keep up with his friends, but the stallion was very frugal and knowing that the colt was growing, did not want to buy shoes that he would soon have to replace. After much pleading the colt finally got the stallion to buy him some shoes for Christmas, but the stallion purposely bought them two sizes too big. So the colt could not wear them for two years. Finally the day came when the shoes would fit and the colt wanted the stallion to take him to the farrier to put them on, but the stallion was reluctant to shell out the money for this. Since it was again close to Christmas, the colt was able to convince the stallion to take him to the farrier.

Once there the stallion noticed that there were two types of nails, one being more expensive than the next. He told the farrier that he wanted the cheap nails. The farrier tried to warn him off of these telling him that those type of nails were only for walking and that an active horse like the colt would need the stronger nails, but the stallion insisted figuring that he could replace the cheaper nails if they broke five times before it would cost more than the strong nails.

When they got home the colt went out to run with his friends. As they were playing a pack of wolves chased them. As they were running away, the colt lost two shoes and could not keep up with his friends. The wolves overtook the colt and ate him. His friends went to the stallion and told him what had happened and the stallion was stricken with greif and remorse that he didn't get the stronger nails. The morale of the story is "Sometimes the cheaper things in life cost you more in the end."

I hope this helps you get started.

Answer 2

Thankyou! This gave me a better understanding of how to write a fable. :)