Animal Fables & Fairy Tales

These have been arguably the earliest popular literature right from the time of Aesop to our own Vishnu Sharma. There have been considerable cross-fertilization of sources across countries. Brothers Grimm, Hans Andersen, La Fontaine & even Chaucer (The Nun's Priest's Tale from The  Canterbury Tales) have contributed to the genre. Our Panchatantra & Hitopadesha have also enriched it.

However, Tolkien in his erudite essay on Fairy Stories makes a fine distinction between the two & classes Chaucer's story, Brer Rabbit & The Three Little Pigs as Animal Fables. But he states that except "The Tailor of Gloucester", where friendly mice help the sick tailor to meet the deadline) & "Mrs.Tiggy-winkle", (a hedgehog washer woman, who washes the hankies of a little girl), which come close to being fairy stories, the rest of Beatrix Potter's oeuvre are animal fables.

But however one classifies them, their perennial appeal is proof of their popularity among the young at heart.