The Difference Between Fables & Fairy Tales

Both fables and fairy tales are magical children’s stories that are popular in many different cultures around the world. They’re often short, feature talking animals, and serve to impart moral lessons. Despite all this, they actually aren’t very similar at all. They have completely different purposes, themes, and tones.

What Are Fables?

Fables take place not so far from here, in a world similar to ours, but where the animals behave like humans. Each fable has one event teaching one lesson. Think of pigs building houses to keep the wolves away, hares racing tortoises, and frog kings hiring snakes to kill their relatives.

1. Fable are designed to teach a virtue or moral lesson. The lesson is often stated at the end of the story.
2. They feature animals that behave like humans. Using animals makes it easy to tell a quick story with distinct characters. Lions are arrogant, wolves are predators, and foxes are clever.
3. Fables often have a light, humourous tone.
4. Fables are popular in many cultures around the world. The most influential fables come from Ancient Greece (Aesop’s fables) and India (the Panchatantra).

What Are Fairy Tales?

Fairy tales take place a long time ago, in faraway lands full of princesses, fairies, goblins, witches, giants, and ogres. They’re designed to entertain, but some have underlying lessons. For example, Hansel and Gretel teaches children not to trust their parents.

Here are the characteristics that define a classic fairy tale:

1. Fairy tales are designed to entertain, not teach. They might contain a moral lesson, but they often don’t.
2. They’re fantasy stories. Think of trolls lurking beneath bridges, swashbuckling cats fooling evil wizards, and witches luring children into homes made of candy.
3. They’re set in a romanticized past. They have kings and queens, thieves and bandits, and, of course, evil stepmothers.
4. Fairy tales are often quite dark. Parents die or kill their children. Strangers are often villains. No one can be trusted. Your child will have nightmares.
5. The most famous fairy tales are European. Think of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Other cultures have fairy tales, too, but they aren’t as well known.

The Difference

Fables are short stories with animal characters designed to teach moral lessons, whereas fairy tales are magical stories designed to entertain and scare children.

Juan Artola Miranda

I am Juan Artola Miranda, a fabulist living in the Mexican Caribbean. My friends know me by the name of my father's father, but that name grew into something bigger, my writing reaching tens of millions of readers. It was too strong for me to control. Artola Miranda is the name of my mother's mother. It's a better name for a fabulist.