PARABLE  

The parable is more condensed than the allegory: Medieval interpreters of

the Bible often treated Jesus' parables as allegories, with symbolic
Parable comes to us via Anglo-French from the Late Latin word parabola, correspondences found for every element in his parables.
which in turn comes from Greek parabolē, meaning comparison.
 "The Prodigal Son," a parable found in both the Book of Luke and in the
The Late Latin term parabola referred to verbal comparisons: it essentially Lotus Sutra teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, teaches about the
meant allegory or speech. compassion that God has for humanity.
A parable is a short fictitious story that is presented to teach a religious  In the Buddhist Prodigal Son parable, the father gets the son back by
principle, simple truth or moral lesson. It is a succinct, didactic story, in getting his employees to ask him to take a job doing menial tasks. When
prose or verse that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. the father is about to die, he reveals to the son that he is giving him his
entire inheritance. In the story found in the Book of Luke, the son has to
George Fyler Townsend, in his translator's preface to Aesop’s Fables
take a job feeding pigs; when he returns home, his father throws him a
(Belford, Clarke & Co., 1887), defined the parable as being purposely
huge party celebrating his return. Both versions are designed to illustrate
intended to convey a hidden and secret meaning other than that contained how God welcomes those who follow him. 
in the words themselves, and which may or may not bear a special  Examples of Jesus' parables include the Good Samaritan and the
reference to the hearer or reader. Prodigal Son. Mashalim from the Old Testament include the parable of
the ewe-lamb (told by Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:1-9) and the parable of the
 A parable is a short tale that illustrates a universal truth; it is a simple
woman of Tekoah (in 2 Samuel 14:1-13). 
narrative. Many parables are religious in nature and can be found in
Modern parables also exist. A mid-19th-century example, the Parable
religious texts such as the Bible or the Buddhist Tipitaka. There are also
of the Broken Window, criticizes a part of economic thinking. 
secular parables, including those in "Aesop's Fables," such as "The Boy Who
Cried Wolf." FABLES
It uses figures of speech. The parable is related to figures of speech such Fables are said to have occurred during the late to mid-6th century BCE in
as the metaphor and the simile, but it should not be identified with them.  Ancient Greece. Aesop who happened to be the slave of his masters
Xanthus and Ladmon in the Island of Samos was the first to introduced
Aside from providing guidance and suggestions for proper conduct in
fables.
one's life, parables frequently use metaphorical language which allows
people to more easily discuss difficult or complex ideas.   Aesop was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of
It also applies exemplification, which in the philosophy of language, is a fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. He was born in 620 BCE in
mode of symbolization characterized by the relation between a sample Delphi Greece and died on 564 BCE at the age of 56. He was the slave of
and what it refers to.  Xanthus and Ladmon. He is known as the Legendary Greek Fabulist. Most
of the people described him as “extremely ugly” incorporating
The allegory is a more general narrative type; it also employs metaphor. characteristics such as snub-nosed, dwarfish, short-armed and such
Like the parable, the allegory makes a single, unambiguous point. An insulting words. Some said that Aesop never really existed but some
allegory may have multiple no contradictory interpretations and may also believed that Aesop is real leading them to create a biography of Aesop
have implications that are ambiguous or hard to interpret called The Aesop Romance or The Life of Aesop.  
 In The Aesop Romance, Aesop is a slave of Phrygian origin on the island of
Samos, and extremely ugly.
 Fable is a literary genre, a fictional story in prose or verse that features 5. Falling Action. It occurs right after the climax where conflicts are
animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature usually resolved.
that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular 6. Moral of the Story. Unlike fairytales, some fables didn’t have happy
moral lesson. endings but all fables have a moral lesson which can be applied in
our daily lives.
 Aesop Fables is also called Aesopica. It is a collection of fables credited
AESOP’S FABLE
to Aesop of Ancient Greece. The fables originally belonged to the oral
The tortoise and the Hare
tradition and were not collected for some three centuries after Aesop's
death. It is recorded that there are 725 fables by which Aesop has told.   The Hare ran down the road for a while and then paused to rest. The
Tortoise continued walking. He never ever stopped until he came to the
CHARACTERISTICS OF FABLE finish line. The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise,
1. Animals are usually the main characters in the story. they woke up the Hare and he stretched and yawned and began to run
2. Plot and the characters are simple. again, but it was too late. Tortoise was over the line. 
3. Common settings and are usually nonspecific.
4. The author also uses personifications. The lion and the Mouse
5. Fables are short and they usually have no more than two or three A lion catches a mouse, who begs to be let go. The mouse promises to repay
characters. the lion in exchange for his life. The lion agrees and lets the mouse go. A few
6. Real characteristics or the qualities of the animals are being days later, the mouse comes upon the lion trapped in a hunter’s net, and
featured. remembering the lion’s mercy, gnaws on the rope until the lion is free.

FOUR CENTRAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A FABLE The frog and the Ox

A young frog amazed at the huge size of an ox rushed to tell her father
1. Symbolism. Characters in fables are stand-ins for humans and their about the monster. The father frog, trying to impress his child puffed
misadventures are meant to symbolize human behavior. himself to look like an ox. The young frog said it was much bigger. Again, the
2. Anthropomorphization. Giving human qualities to inanimate father puffed himself up. The young frog insisted that the monster was even
objects and animals. The fox and any other animals didn’t have the bigger. The father then puffed and puffed and burst.
ability to speak  
3. Lessons. Every fable has a moral lesson in the end. The moral lesson The Stag and his reflection
from the story is, it is easy to despise or dislike what you cannot get. A Stag, drinking from a crystal spring, saw himself mirrored in the clear
4. HUMIOR. Fables often have a humorous tone when showing the water. He greatly admired the graceful arch of his antlers, but he was very
foolishness of human nature. Fables must have humor for it to be much ashamed of his spindling legs. At that moment he scented a panther
appealing to the reader’s eyes. and in an instant was bounding away through the forest. But as he ran his
ELEMENTS OF FABLE wide-spreading antlers caught in the branches of the trees, and soon the
Panther overtook him. Then the Stag perceived that the legs of which he
1. Characters. Who are in the story?
was so ashamed would have saved him had it not been for the useless
2. Setting. Where does the story take place?
ornaments on his head.
3. Rising Action. It is the section of the plot leading up to the climax.
4. Conflict/ Climax. This is the most intense and exciting part of the The Crow and the Pitcher
story where conflicts arises. On a spell of dry weather, when the Birds could find very little to drink, a
thirsty Crow found a pitcher with a little water in it. Picking up some small
pebbles, he dropped them into the pitcher one by one. With each pebble Influential fairy tales. Many of his stories, including "The Ugly Duckling" and
the water rose a little higher until at last it was near enough so he could "The Princess and the Pea," remain classics of the genre.
drink. His most famous fairy tales include
"The Emperor's New Clothes,"
FANTASY "The Little Mermaid,"
Fantasy is any story of the impossible, but it is presented as if they were "The Nightingale,"
possible. Moreover, the fantasy element has to be fresh and original. It may "The Steadfast Tin Soldier",
include magic, talking animals, time travel, the supernatural, and "The Snow Queen,"
adventures in alternative worlds-any feature that is contrary to the laws of "The Ugly Duckling,"
nature as we understand them. "The Little Match Girl,"
"Thumbelina." His stories have inspired ballets, plays, and animated and
CHARACTERISTICS live-action films.
1. Settings transcend to the world of reality.
2. Characters are well developed and behave in believable ways.  Plots ''The Snow Queen'' is one of the longest and most celebrated fairy tales
are well structured and believable too. that Hans Christian Anderson wrote. It is the story of a little girl's grit, her
3. Themes reflect the same universal ideas present on other forms of way with animals, and a magic mirror. It was written by Danish author Hans
children’s literature – the value of friendship, loyalty, the overcoming of Christian Andersen in 1845. One of his longest and most famous tales, ''The
fear, and respect for others, coming of age. Snow Queen'' has been the inspiration for books and films, including
4. The tone is often serious, though stories are often light, airy, and Disney's Frozen.
humorous. The major characters of ''The Snow Queen'' include:
CHARACTERISTICS OF FAIRYTALE 1. KAY - A young boy who's kissed and put under a spell by the Snow Queen.
1. Set in the past 2. GERDA - A young girl who loves Kay very much and is described as having
2. Use some form or variation of "Once upon a time" long blonde hair and rosy cheeks
3. Fantasy or make-believe elements 3. THE SNOW QUEEN - A beautiful woman who's made entirely of ice.
4. Enchanted setting - can include forests, castles, water or kingdoms
5. Clearly defined good and evil characters Summary
6. Magical elements Which Has to Do with a Mirror and Its Fragments A particularly horrible
7. Characters take on unusual forms (giants, witches, dwarfs, talking hobgoblin creates a large mirror that reflects everything that is good and
animals) beautiful as distorted and corrupted. Intent upon mischief, the mirror is
8. Groups of 3 (objects, people or events) carried all over the world and finally the hobgoblin's minions attempt to
9. Clearly defined problem, climax and resolution carry it up to heaven itself. But the higher they fly, the heavier the mirror
10. Most often they have a happy ending becomes until it slips from their claws and crashes into millions of tiny
11. Teach a lesson that is important to the culture it came from pieces on Earth. There the mirror does even more damage, as the fragments
fly into people's eyes so all they see is wrong. Even worse, some fragments
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN was born in Odense, Denmark, on April 2, lodge in their hearts, turning them as cold as ice. One night Kay sees a giant
1805. Andersen achieved worldwide fame for writing innovative and snowflake turn into a beautiful woman who beckons to him. When summer
comes again, he and Gerda are in a rose garden when Kay feels one shard of
the hobgoblin's mirror pierce his eye and another, his heart. Almost at once, This type of nonfiction exist to provide the reader with factual information.
Kay turns cruel and careless, crushing some of the roses, which makes This includes articles and interview.
Gerda cry out. He hitches his sled behind a magnificent white sled driven by
a beautiful woman who is none other than the Snow Queen herself. Under
her enchantment, Kay is forced to travel with her to her ice palace, where
he remains her captive. The Snow Queen leaves to visit some southern TYPES OF NON-FICTION WRITING
volcanoes, and Kay continues working a puzzle made of flat pieces of ice. 1. Narrative writing. This type of nonfiction tells a true story about a
Unimpeded, Gerda walks in and instantly recognizes Kay, even though he is person, event, or place. Sometimes this kind of nonfiction can be written in
unable to recognize her. She weeps over him, and her warm tears melt the first person, but it always involves some research on the writer’s part.
away the mirror shard in his heart. This causes Kay to weep also, which 2. Expository writing. The purpose of this type of nonfiction writing is to
washes out the shard in his eye. Together they journey back toward home, explain or inform a reader about a certain topic.
finding many changes along the way. 3. Persuasive writing. With persuasive writing, the writer takes a position
on an issue and argues for his or her side or against an opposing side.
4. Descriptive writing. Descriptive nonfiction employs all five senses to help
NON FICTION the reader get a visual of what the writer is trying to describe.
Nonfiction is written works based on real events. In this way, literature that Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank was a world famous German-born diarist and
is nonfiction can help us understand our world. Let's look closer at the World war II Holocaust victim. Her work, The diary of a young girl has been
characteristics and examples of nonfiction. read by millions.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-FICTION Born on June 12, 1929, Frankurt Germany Died on February 1945, Bergen-
Belsen concentration camp, Germany German-born Dutch-Jewish diarist
 Most importantly, nonfiction writing must involve real people,
places, and events. The book begins on Anne's thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942. She receives
 The stories told in nonfiction works must be true. as a present from her parents a diary, among other presents. She thinks
 Nonfiction must also contain facts, which are information that can about it for several days and decides to write letters as her diary entries, she
be proved to be true. addresses each letter to Kitty. Kitty is a fabricated friend, someone in which
 Most nonfiction is written to express or to inform. If the author's Anne can expose her deepest feelings to. Anne and her mother do not get
purpose is to express, the concepts expressed are always based on along at all. Anne also feels as if she cannot behave in a manner that pleases
true, real-life situations. any of the adults. On September 10, 1943 Anne records in her diary the fall
of Italy. This brings joy to those living in Holland and the world. This means
TYPES OF NON-FICTION the war is inching closer to its end. The Van Daan's are out of money; their
The first is literary nonfiction, which includes nonfiction writing that reads only hope is to sell some of their clothing. The problem is Mrs. Van Daan
like fiction. This means that literary nonfiction includes the elements of does not want to sell her prized fur coat. Mr. Van Daan convinces her to sell
fiction, like characters, setting, and plot; however, in nonfiction these it so that the family can have money to buy food and other necessities. As
elements must be real and not imaginary. Literary nonfiction includes the war continues on and Anne finds out about how more and more Jews
biographies, autobiographies, and essays. are being sent to concentration camps, she has difficulty dealing with her
The other type of nonfiction is informative nonfiction. The purpose of emotions. She is very happy to be safe and free from having to go to a
informative nonfiction is to explain or inform about a concept or situation.
concentration camp; she is also feeling guilty for this same safety because 2. SETTINGS Place is a particular historical geographical location. Time is a
she knows her friends do not have this same secure feeling. particular historical period.
3. PLOT must be plausible and believable. Usually problem or puzzling
event is a result of the time or place in history for characters to resolve
4. THEMES are related to life, people, social, political events as well as
good versus bad/evil and other universal timeless themes
HISTORICAL FICTION 5. STYLE Author usually uses foreshadowing or clues to tease the
reader/listener's curiosity.
Historical Fiction is a type of story or literature told in a variety of media.
6. TONE The reader/listener feels he or she experienced the historical
Stories which are based on real life historical events and set in historical
setting and situation.
time and place. It is a work of writing that reconstructs the past. Its main
7. POINT OF VIEW Could be any- often third person narrative.
purpose is to entertain and help readers reevaluate a past society.

HISTORICAL FICTION WILL HAVE ONE OF THREE TECHNIQUES: ADELINE YEN MAH She was born on November 30, 1937 in Tianjin, China,
now 81 years old. Adeline gave up medicine to write full-time. Chinese
1. Some will use real events, but with fictional people.
Cinderella is her autobiography written for children, published on August 2,
Example: A novel about World War II, with fictitious military leaders as
1999 and sold over one million copies worldwide.
characters and invented scenes and dialogues.
Adeline is the fifth youngest of the Yen family and the protagonist of the
2. Some historical fiction will use fictional events, but with real
novel. The book follows her childhood from the age of four to her departure
people.
to England in her early teens. Niang is the stepmother to Adeline and her
Example: A novel about President George Washington that explores a
four older siblings and the natural mother to 4th Younger Brother (Franklin)
fictitious affair he had with a Native American.
and Little Sister (Susan). Joseph is the father of Adeline and all of her
3. A story may include both real events and real people.
siblings, referred to as "Father" throughout the novel. Affluent, intelligent,
Example: Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar
business savvy and ambitious, Father is seemingly ignorant of the feelings of
QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF HISTORICAL FICTION
others, particularly his children. Ye Ye is Adeline's grandfather on her
 Characters are involved in a conflict or problem that is real (or
father's side and the head of the household at the beginning of the novel. A
mirrors life) for that time period
devout Buddhist, Ye Ye maintains a moral compass unseen in the rest of the
 Uses descriptive writing that digs into characters making them
family. The eldest daughter of Ye Ye and Nai Nai, Aunt Baba is described as
interesting and are easy to identify with.
"meek, shy and unmarried," wholly dependent on her younger brother--
 Intriguing plot that creates some sort of suspense.
Adeline's father-financially.
 Plot makes sense and has a solution.
 Historically authentic setting that sets the tone for the story. EXPOSITION: The theme of the story is shown through the life of a four-year
 Is in a real place and a definite period of time in history that the old young girl who was treated as the bad luck of the family because her
reader wants to know more about. birth was the cause of her mother's death.
STORY ELEMENTS OF HISTORICAL FICTION RISING ACTION: Adeline's life was a mess and miserable. The abuse of her
1. CHARACTERIZATION Characters are ordinary real people who did or sibling to her physically and mentally. She was treated not part of the family
could have lived in the historical setting. and was treated a criminal and more worse is treating her like a curse.
Basically, the rising action of the story is how the weak Adeline became
strong through the hardship of her parents and siblings.
CLIMAX: The Climax of the story is when she was sent to Hongkong
boarding school. A school that was managed by the catholic school and
needed to speak in English or French.
FALLING ACTION: Eventually she was the only girl left in the school. Other
student left for the holiday and decided to join play-writing competition.
Her father took her home because her father found out that she won First
prize in a play-writing competition. Allowing her to Study at England in a
medical school.
RESOLUTION: Adeline had a happy ending. Adeline was able to get the
attention of her father allowing her to study in London. Adeline wants to
study about literatures but her father's condition was medicine. Adeline
took the chance of studying in London in the fields of medicine. Her aunt
told her that her life was similar to Cinderella.
CONFLICTS
MAN VS. MAN: It is being showed when Adeline was being abused
physically by her stepmother. Another is how her father crushed her heart
when her father baited her duckling.
MAN VS. SOCIETY: Showed when the whole family treated her differently.
MAN VS. FAITH: When Adeline considers herself bad luck, thinking that she
is the reason of her mother's death.
THEMES
Education and Individuality. The importance of education and the
character development, independent of the expectations of others, is
evident throughout Chinese Cinderella.
Self-Worth. Ye Ye best expresses the importance of self-worth in one of his
last messages to Adeline, telling her that she can "vanquish the demons only
when you yourself are convinced of your own worth."