What does people associate with the word "fable"? Surely the name of Krylov will come up, vaguely remember something about the monkey with glasses, who has a better memory, he will also call Aesop. However, the fable genre is much more interesting and much more ancient. Therefore, as we believe, earlier people asked how the conclusion was formulated in a fable. In turn, we will try to answer this question in our article.
Why do we need a fable?
For a long time, children (and some adults too) have been demanding explanations: why we should be afraid of steep cliffs, why we should listen to the rustling in the bushes near the cave, why we should listen to adults, and another thousand different “why” and “why”. People need convincing, simple, and clear examples. But moralizing in this case is better to avoid, notations generally cause only disgust. Why? Because no one loves edification, for it always smells of reproach and accusation. But a story made up with a specific conclusion, which even a child will believe, will do.
But the adult with his examples has no confidence, the parent in the eyes of the child is a “prohibition sign”, and yet the world is so big and interesting.
The child does not yet know that parental care is hidden under the prohibitions, he thinks about the following: “What if they do it out of harm?” And some faith in their own invulnerability is triggered, they say, nothing exactly will happen to me.
Do not worry, dear readers, this information is directly related to the answer to the question of how the conclusion is formulated in a fable. And we move further in our reasoning
Why is a fable so good as a parenting tool
A fable or its relatives (parable or fairy tale) kills three rabbits with rhinestones.
- Avoids edification.
- It tells a fascinating story.
- And gives the child the first moral lessons.
Sometimes morality is placed at the beginning of the story to emphasize the elegance and wit of the author. When the essence of the stated is already known, the storyteller’s task consists only in the novelty of the plot and the beauty of the syllable.
Now you can easily answer the question of how the conclusion is formulated in a fable. It is presented in the form of morality, which is usually easy and unobtrusive, but at the same time the moral lessons of fables are remembered for a lifetime.
However, for a Russian-speaking reader, the word "fable" is necessarily associated with a poetic form.
Aesop and Fedr
Initially, the moral story was prosaic. Aesop and Fedr (famous fabulists of antiquity) created small stories with a very instructive conclusion. Their listeners and viewers did not even have time to think: “And how is the conclusion formulated in a fable?” At the very moment when they heard the last word, the moral of the composition became self-evident for them.
The works of Aesop and Fedra were so new and so astonishingly contemporaries that their works were collected in collections and retold to each other at the hearth. But time passed, the plots and lines did not change, and only the new form could give newness to old thoughts, a fable could not surprise me with morality alone.
Jean Lafontaine
The poet Jean Lafontaine transferred the works of the ancients to French in poetic form. Old ideas flashed with new colors, and archaic legends became trendy among the Parisian, and then the Russian intelligentsia. Russian figures: A.P. Sumarokov, V.K.Trediakovsky - first translated Lafontaine's fables, and then began to write their own. Naturally, imitating the fashion of that time, they did it in the form of small rhymed works.
I.A. Krylov
The top of this genre in Russia is considered to be the works of I.A. Krylov. There is an advantage in poetic fables: since a fable, as a rule, carries only one thought, and all its characters are designed to show a pattern of correct or incorrect behavior, an easy and unobtrusive, slightly crafty piece in rhyme and with a certain rhythm will do it best.
The conclusion of Krylov's fables was not too different from the morality of his ancient predecessors. The only thing I want to emphasize: voluntarily or involuntarily, Ivan Andreevich adapted the fable story to Russian realities and made it more understandable to the domestic reader or listener, the same is true with respect to L.N. Tolstoy.
However, most people think that prose is easier to perceive, because the different techniques that are used to create rhymes complicate the understanding of what is happening in the plot and blur the boundaries of the narrative. Perhaps this is so, but morality saves the situation. She immediately reveals what vice or virtue the author describes, making the work short, concise and complete.
We hope that our article helped the reader not only understand the, frankly, uncomplicated issue of the conclusion in the fable, but also encouraged him to re-read the classic works of this genre by domestic and foreign masters.