Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 370. Today we are going to cover the
difference between a proverb, a fable, and a parable. Yeah. Because sometimes
students mix up what's the difference between these three. All right. Let's look
at the first one. Which is probably the most common. We hear about proverbs more
than any of these. A proverb is a short saying or phrase. That's a key part
right away. Because it's really more like a statement or a saying. Where the next two,
fable and parables will be stories. All right. So a proverb is a short saying or
phrase that expresses a truism. All right. What's a truism ? A truism is something
that can be recognized in life often through common sense or practical
experience. A proverb states that the truth and allows the listener to think
about it and it implies advice, but it doesn't really push it on you. You know,
like it's specifically trying to you know, try very hard to teach you. But by
recognizing it, hopefully you'll figure it out yourself.
"Haste makes waste" would be a good example of a good example of a proverb. Okay. Meaning you
know, if you fool around too much. Haste. You try to hurry too much, you're probably
going to make mistakes. This could be recognized probably all over the world. It
doesn't matter what country or culture you're in. Most people would probably
agree that you know, if you try to rush too much, often it causes you to make
more mistakes than less mistakes and you end up wasting more time and energy. So
this is more like a typical proverb. Okay. Let's look at a fable. Now a fable is a
short story. So it is a story. Usually using anthropomorphism or
personification. All right. This is basically the idea of giving human
characteristics ... human characteristics or or behavior to something that is not
human, especially animals or other objects. The goal of a fable is to tea
a lesson. Typical examples can be found in Aesop's fables. Yeah. Remember Aesop is
probably the most famous one. Even though there are other fables in other
countries and cultures too, but he's the most famous and he definitely liked to
use a lot of animals. Remember I think I've talked about him before in some
videos. You know, he used to be a slave and he purposely didn't want to use real
identities. So using an animal was a way of escaping, but he was really talking about
people. But this way he can hide what he was talking about them by using the
animals and still teach a lesson at the same time. So he is well known for fables.
Examples include like you know, " The boy who cried wolf " would be a good example
or "The hare and the tortoise. " Most people are familiar with these two. You know, the
boy that was fooling around, calling you know, wolf, wolf, wolf. Everybody would come out and then
nobody would believe him after a while. And the hare, the hare meaning like the
rabbit the turtle. The hare and the tortoise. They had the race and remember
the rabbit that went to sleep and you know the the turtle ended up beating him.
Okay. So Let's continue. Fables sometimes are remembered by key lines that sum up
the lesson. So , so really what I mentioned here like the boy who cried wolf. Now
that's the fable , but you could use like a key line like just to cry wolf and
this could almost be used or this could be used as kind of like a problem.
The same with you know, the other one like slow and steady wins the race. You
know with the hare and the tortoise. Because you know, the , the turtle was the
one that didn't give up. He just .. even though he's moving slow, he never gave up
he continued and he won mostly because the rabbit fooled around. Which is kind
of another lesson of that story. All right. Let's continue. Let's look at
parable. A parable, like a fable has the goal of teaching a lesson , especially a
moral lesson. Yeah. So parables probably focus more on morals. However, it usually
does not include anthropomorphism. So it usually does
like animals talking or using some sort of imagination like this. And it focuses on
human behavior. They tend to be more religious or spiritual. Okay. In nature,
typical examples are stories told by Jesus in the Bible such as " The Good
Samaritan. " Remember the guy that was left in the desert. He was robbed they stole
his clothes and nobody would help him And then finally the one person that did
help him was usually like somebody that was typically his enemy. But he still
decided to help him you know, it's the Good Samaritan or " The Prodigal Son. "
Remember the son that left the family and went and fooled around for the
longest time and you know kind of deserted the family. And then the older
brother there who was the one that worked hard and stayed with family but
when prodigal son finally returns. His father's so happy you know, throws all
kinds of parties for him and even sacrifices the best animals and you know
but there obviously was a lesson in this story too. So this will mean by the
prodigal son. So this is more like a parable. Okay. All right. Anyway. So , so
remember both fables and parables are actually stories. Both tried to teach a
lesson. Okay. But you know, a fable is a little bit more fantasy and using like
animals that talk. This one's more religious and proverbs don't have to be
stories they're they are actually just very short more like statements or
truisms. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got t. I hope it's clear. Thank you for your time.
Bye-bye.