Fables and Fairy Tales; What's the Difference?

The web will provide all kinds of information on this subject but scholars who dived a bit deeper will inevitably lead to one conclusion: the oldest known fables come from East Asia with Panchatantra as an example with more than two thousand years of age and the oldest fairy tales (in today's sense) come from France in the 17th century with roots in Italy, where Straparola's The Pleasant Nights (the 15th century) and Basile'a Pentamerone (the 16th century) made the base for French authors.

This difference is easy to spot if you have a bit of background in literary history. Fables are supposed to be written to educate kids of the kings with clear morals and a few entertaining notes to be more attractive to present and easier to digest. Essentially they are educational tools from the very beginning and they still are.

Fairy tales, on the other hand, were written told, and performed (performance of fairy tales in front of guests was a big deal) for entertainment only. First morals to the fairy tales were added with obvious irony, even sarcasm, and only Jacob and William Grimm started looking at them as a chance to instill some moral values in the audience, which brings us to the next difference.

We already stated that fables were written for teaching kids. Only later grown-ups realized their universal appeal. With fairy tales, it was vice versa. They aimed at a spoiled adult audience which was very hard to impress. Unbelievable plots (poor boys become kings, for instance) with the addition of magic were mixed with rough and saucy humor, mostly inappropriate not only for kids but for most decent people as well.

Only later, Grimms played an important part here too, the focus of fairy tales changed to younger audiences, and the existing tales were heavily censored.

Yes, magic is one of the major differences between fables and fairy tales. Even the word fairy suggests the presence of supernatural beings and happenings. But fables are a completely different kind of beast. If we forget the talking animals who are the most common protagonists, the action is very down-to-earth. Fables are realistic and fairy tales are imaginary.

Each fable or fairy tale carries a specific message but generally, we can make two groups of messages. One for fables and one for fairy tales. Fairy tales mostly tell us how the world could be and fables are telling how the world is.

Fairy tales have typically more characters than fables. For a fairy tale, it's normal to have a dozen, even ten or more characters among which many play only supporting roles. At fables it's different. We typically have only two or three characters. And all the roles are crucial.

The development of characters is the essence of fairy tales. Their characters make mistakes and learn from them. They make friends and enemies by the way and most of them learn too.

Characters in fables can be reduced to pure functions. Each one starts with a set of skills and after an interaction with another character with a different set of skills something happens but nobody really changes. A fox is still a fox and a crow is still a crow. None of them will ever become a prince or a princess.

A typical fairy tale consists of an introduction, several scenes, and a grand finale, typically with the main opponent destroyed, followed by a celebration.

A fable is mostly one scene only. Two ideas clash and one wins. That's that.

Fairy tales typically have colorful settings which can play important roles in plots as well. Think about a glass mountain or a dark wood. There are huts and caves and castles and all sorts of places where interesting stuff can happen. In the same story, a setting can change several times

Fables don't really bother with settings. A lake is just a lake, a lawn is just a lawn. And one setting is in most cases enough. Many fables don't even need one. The presented idea could be often developed in different settings in completely the same way.

Fables are based on morals. They were mostly written this way: moral first, presentation later. This means their messages are very clear and can hardly be misunderstood. Of course, with some fables being several thousand years old, some of their messages could be positioned in different contexts, which can lead us to rewritings and reinterpretations, but essentially one fable carries one message in that's it.

Fairy tales, on the other hand, can be (and should) understood in numerous ways. By this, I mean that each (at least the good one) fairy tale brings different morals. Just think about Puss in Boots saying from: 'Life's not fair.' to 'Make the best of what you got.' and everything in between.

Image credits:

https://ameblo.jp/vintageart/entry-12824166752.html
https://yesterdaysdream.hatenablog.com/entry/2023/10/14/212928
https://brinsley-le-fanu.mystrikingly.com/blog/fontaines-fables
https://ameblo.jp/greatoldbooks/entry-12811015762.html