A fable is a short, simple story about an animal or animals, where (usually) the animals can talk, and the story has something to teach us about what we should (or shouldn't) do in life.

 

Fables are one of the oldest of all types of story, and they exist in nearly every part of the world. They very often began as oral stories - which means stories that were never written down, but passed on from storyteller to storyteller as they told their tales by the flickering light of the fire.

 

We have recorded three of the most famous fables of one of the greatest of all fable writers (the proper name for a fable writer is a fabulist). His name was Jean de la Fontaine, and he lived and wrote in France, over 300 years ago.

 

Listen to one of his fables, and decide for yourself if the story he tells still has something to teach us today...