Chapter XXXVI: Section V: Fables and Symbolic Stories

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jacobs, Joseph, _History of the Aesopic Fable_.

The only elaborate and scholarly study in
English. Vol. I of a reprint of _Caxton's
Aesop_. [Bibliotheque de Carabas Series.]
Published in 1889 in a limited edition and not
easily accessible.

Jacobs, Joseph, _The Fables of Aesop_. [Illustrated by Richard
Heighway.]

Eighty-two selected fables. The Introduction is
a summary of all the essential conclusions
reached in the study above.

Wiggin, Kate D., and Smith, Nora A., _The Talking Beasts_.

The best general collection from all fields,
including both the folk fable and the modern
literary fable.

Babbitt, Ellen C., _Jataka Tales Retold_.

Dutton, Maude Barrows, _The Tortoise and the Geese, and Other
Fables of Bidpai_.

Ramaswami Raju, P. V., _Indian Folk Stories and Fables_.

These three books are excellent for simplified
versions of the eastern group. Those desiring
to get closer to the sources may refer to
Cowell [ed.], _The Jataka, or Stories of the
Buddha's Former Births_; Rhys-Davids, _Buddhist
Birth Stories_; Keith-Falconer, _Bidpai's
Fables_.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

It is possible to piece out a very satisfactory account of the nature and history of the traditional fable by looking up in any good encyclopedia the brief articles under the following heads: Folklore, Fable, Parable, Apologue, AEsop, Demetrius of Phalerum, Babrias, Phaedrus, Avian, Romulus, Maximus Planudes, Jataka, Bidpai, Panchatantra, Hitopadesa.

For a popular account of the whole philosophy of the apologue consult Newbigging, _Fables and Fabulists: Ancient and Modern_.

For distinctions between various kinds of symbolic tales see Canby, _The Short Story in English_ (pp. 23 ff.); Trench, _Notes on the Parables_ (Introduction); Smith, "The Fable and Kindred Forms," _Journal of English and Germanic Philology_, Vol. XIV, p. 519.

For origins and parallels read Mueller, "On the Migration of Fables," _Selected Essays_, Vol. I (reprinted in large part in Warner, _Library of the World's Best Literature_, Vol. XVIII); Clouston, _Popular Tales and Fictions_, Vol. I, p. 266, and Vol. II, p. 432. The more general treatises on folklore all touch on these problems.

For suggestions on the use of fables with children see MacClintock, _Literature in the Elementary School_ (chap. xi); Adler, _Moral Instruction of Children_ (chaps. vii and viii); McMurry, _Special Method in Reading in the Grades_ (p. 70).

For a clear and helpful account of the French writers of fables, the most important modern group, read Collins, _La Fontaine and Other French Fabulists_. Representative examples are given in most excellent translation. The best complete translation of La Fontaine is by Elizur Wright; of Krylov, in verse by I. H. Harrison, in prose by W. R. S. Ralston; of Yriarte, by R. Rockliffe. Gay's complete collection may be found in any edition of his poems.

Satisfactory collections of proverbial sayings useful in finding expressions for the wisdom found in fables are Christy, _Proverbs, Maxims, and Phrases of All Ages_; Hazlitt, _English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases_; Trench, _Proverbs and Their Lessons_.

A book of great suggestive value covering the whole field of the prose story is Fansler, _Types of Prose Narratives_. It contains elaborate classifications, discussions and examples of each type, and an extended bibliography. Pp. 83-127 deal with fables, parables, and allegories.