Quest #2 of the Once Upon a Time Challenge was the trickiest. This one required reading at least one book in each of the four categories–fantasy, fairy tales, mythology and fables. The first two more or less fell into my lap, because I read those all the time, Rick Riordan took care of mythology for me, and that just left fables. Fables was a genuine challenge.
I don’t think I had a firm grasp on what would be defined as a fable, which left me somewhat at sea for finding a retelling or novelized version of one. So I decided to simplify and pick up a book that had the category right there in the name–and read a collection of Aesop’s Fables.
I’m not nearly as familiar with Aesop as I am with Grimm or Perrault or Anderson. And I don’t think I liked the stories as well either. Maybe it was partially the particular collection I read, but Aesop seemed much more about teaching a moral–every story was focused on some lesson about what you should or shouldn’t do. I like stories to have a moral, but I like it to be woven into an entertaining narrative, rather than becoming the primary focus.
Fairy tales sometimes have lessons too, but they’re usually more subtle, sometimes more complex–and sometimes more questionable too. But then, I agreed with some of Aesop’s stories, and disagreed with others.
My sense now is that fables are more likely to be about animals or natural forces, focus on ordinary people, and have that aforementioned moral. Fairy tales, on the other hand, often involve royalty, feature splashier magic like fairies and dragons, and are less obvious about teaching anything. Which doesn’t explain at all why the graphic novel series Fables is called that, when they’re really more based on fairy tales, but oh well…
I suppose I could actually do some research and look up the difference between the two–but where’s the fun in that? I’d kind of rather hunt my own conclusions based on what I’ve read.
In this collection, I only recognized one fable: the lion who spared a mouse, which later rescued him in turn. Maybe there’s a reason that one has filtered into the culture more than others–it was my favorite!
The Once Upon a Time Challenge ends today, so I’ll be posting an update on what I read tomorrow!
Tales of the Marvelous 
According to the dictionary, a fable is a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters. A fairy tale is a children’s story about magical and imaginary beings and lands. So you have an understanding of the difference between the two without doing any research. Seems like fairy tales would be more fun to read – I can see where fables could quickly become heavy-handed if they’re all about the moral of the story. Good luck with your hunt to find a retelling or novelized version of a fable. Keep us readers posted on what you find!