As we can see, long fables use their literary ingenuity to share a teaching or moral that will serve us at various times in our lives. And who doesn’t use advice from time to time? Long-running fables provide fun teachings that are worth paying attention to.
Something important to keep in mind is that a fable is not the same as a story. There are fables that are long and have a longer narrative and therefore their plot may be somewhat more complex, but these characteristics do not make them a story. In addition to entertaining and amusing, as all literary works do, fables include morals with moral lessons.
Long Fables That Are Well Known
Long fables often bring a short moral at the end that gives meaning to the story, but also many times the moral is implicit and as the text is read it is possible to reflect on the values and teachings it transmits. All fables bring a teaching and it is what allows us to differentiate them from other types of writing.
Long fables help our little ones to stimulate their creativity, the capacity for reflection and analysis, and of course, to assimilate positive values and also those values that are necessary to avoid. In short, all the fables teach us what is right and what is wrong. Many boys and girls are amused by fables, they cause empathy and arouse interest in reading at an early age.
The music of the animals
- Author: Tomás de Iriarte
- Summary : In the jungle, the animals were getting ready to celebrate the lion’s birthday. They thought that the best way to reward the honoree would be through a choir for what they did with the choral organization. Without knowing much about the subject and without rehearsal they began to sing in full celebration, but all the effort was in vain, since as expected, the choir was a failure. All the animals in the choir blamed each other.
- Moral: if it is a question of teamwork, you cannot expect that if it is to be successful it will be on behalf of one, or if on the contrary, it does not go as expected, the fault lies with the others. Presenting a proposal as a team carries the same merit whether it has gone well or badly.
The two thrushes
- Author: Tomás de Iriarte
- Summary : There were two thrushes in flight, one much older than the other who claimed to be his grandfather. The oldest thrush spotted a vineyard and beckoned to go in search of the fruits. Seeing them, the young thrush was shocked by the size of the fruit and told his relative that it was not worth it, that he had seen a bigger and richer fruit. The young, innocent and inexperienced thrush guided them to a pumpkin, and later he understood that this fruit was not suitable for thrushes because its shell was very hard.
- Moral: not because a bigger size has a thing means that it is worth more or is the one indicated for the case. All things have their value for different subjects who can appreciate them.
The ant and the flea
- Author: Tomás de Iriarte
- Summary : The ant was working on its arduous job of arranging its pantry and building its splendid building, when the flea sees it and begins to comment that its work is simple, that it is just a matter of carrying things from here to there. The ant, somewhat annoying, invites her to her anthill so that she realizes all the effort that it requires. The flea tells him that this job would cost her little, but that to prove it it would be better to leave it for another day.
- Moral: there is little value in thinking that what others do is simple and that one could do better when one does not even have the will to start.
The robbed
- Author: Rafael Pombo
- Summary : A boy found a nest of chicks, took them as his own and took them home very happy. He showed them, but in no time they were eaten by the cat. The boy’s mother told him then that his cheerful selfishness had been of no use, that the only thing he achieved with his act was to leave a mother without babies, and nature, without a beautiful tune.
- Moral: we must pay attention to the pain that we can cause with our actions if we do not think about others. We do not own the lives of others, although we irrationally act as if everything belongs to us.
The howling wolf
- Author: Concepción Arenal
- Summary : Once a wolf spoke very badly about a dog to his neighbor. He would say all kinds of comments to the other wolf, judging the dog with great severity. A fox passed by, who when listening to him with so much gossip, wisely told him that everything he said about others only made him look bad with his loose tongue.
- Moral: criticizing others and gossiping about other people speaks worse of who says it than who is talking.
