Parable

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A parable is a story in prose or verse that is told to illustrate a (perhaps covert) religious or ethical idea. A parable differs in some ways from a fable (the two terms are not interchangeable).

The word "parable" comes from the Greek παραβολή, which was the name given by Greek rhetoricians to any fictive illustration in the form of a brief narrative. Later it came to mean a fictitious narrative or allegory, generally — but not always — referring to something that might naturally occur, by which spiritual and sometimes moral matters are conveyed.

The prototypical parable differs from the apologue in that it is an inherently probable and realistic story — one taking place in some familiar setting of life.

In its brevity and succinctness, a parable is like a fable. It differs from the fable in excluding animals, objects and forces of nature that assume speech and other powers of humankind, such as the animals that appear in Aesop's Fables. Many fairy tales would be viewed as extended parables, except for their magical settings.

In a preface to his translation of Aesop's Fables, George Fyler Townsend defined "parable" thus: "The Parable is the designed use of language purposely intended to convey a hidden and secret meaning other than that contained in the words themselves, and which may or may not bear a special reference to the hearer or reader".

A parable is like a metaphor that has been extended to form a brief, coherent fiction. Unlike the situation with a simile, a parable's parallel meaning is unspoken and implicit, though not ordinarily secret — albeit the expression, "to speak in parables," has come to suggest obscurity.

Parables are the simplest of narratives. They sketch a setting, and describe an action and its result. They often involve a character facing a moral dilemma, or making a questionable decision and then suffering the consequences of that choice. Though not every moral narrative is a parable, many folktales would be viewed as extended parables.

Though parables often have a strong prescriptive subtext, suggesting how a person should behave or believe, many parables simply explore a concept from a neutral point of view. Aside from providing guidance and suggestions for proper action in life, parables offer a metaphorical language which allows people to more easily discuss difficult or complex ideas.

Recently there has been interest in the field of contemporary parable, exploring how modern stories can be used as parables in current culture. A mid-19th-century contemporary parable is the Parable of the broken window, which exposes a fallacy in economic thinking.

Parables are favored in the expression of spiritual concepts. The best-known source of parables in Christendom is the Bible, which contains numerous parables. Besides the familiar parables of Jesus in the New Testament, such as those of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, there are many parables in the Old Testament, .e.g. the parable of the ewe-lamb told by Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:1-9, and that of the woman of Tekoah in 2 Samuel 9:1-13.

Parable and allegory are often treated as synonyms, but are well distinguished by H. W. Fowler in Modern English Usage. "The object in each," says Fowler, "is to enlighten the hearer by submitting to him a case in which he has apparently no direct concern, and upon which therefore a disinterested judgment may be elicited from him." It then dawns upon the listener or reader that the conclusion applies equally well to his own concerns.

As Fowler distinguishes them, parable is more condensed than allegory: a single principle comes to bear, and a single moral is deduced. Medieval biblical exegesis often treated Jesus' parables as detailed allegories, with symbolic correspondences found for every element in the brief narratives; modern critics regard these interpretations as inappropriate and untenable.

As with a fable, a parable should relate a single simple, consistent action, without extraneous detail nor distracting circumstances. In Plato's Republic, parables like that of the shadows in the cave encapsulate an abstract argument into a concrete, more easily grasped narrative.