| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| allegory, fable, myth, parable (nn.) |
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| An allegory is a narrative, drama, or device in which characters and events symbolize ideas or abstractions. A fable is a story with a moral or lesson to impart, often through the actions of animals that speak and act like people; one extended sense is pejorative: fables never really happen, so they’re lies. A parable is a brief story told to illustrate a moral or religious idea. A myth is a narrative that explains the prehistory of a people, often dealing with their origins and their gods; by extension it is a modern effort to represent the origins and values of a race or nation, and, by the very nature of its imaginative qualities, it has acquired pejorative senses. | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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