Animal Fables across the world

Arguably the earliest of the anthropomorphic animal Fables are attributed to Aesop, a former slave(620 to 564 B.C). The total number is around 358 with some stories being very well known. Later in his life, he was freed & even became a diplomat. According to Plutarch, on one of such missions, he was thrown from a cliff & killed.

Panchatantra is attributed to Vishnu Sharma & composed between 200 B. C. & 300 A. D.

It is well constructed with 5 Sections, each dealing with a specific technique of management, the total number of stories being less than a hundred.  Many tales are like the ubiquitous Russian Babushka dolls, with one tale nestling inside another. Humans also appear in a few Fables.

The Frenchman La Fontaine (1668 - 94) created his own version, bristling with typical gallic sang-froid, numbering around 240. But he also brought in humans in many of his Fables, not unlike the celebrated "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame.

Among the dystopian novels using the format are George Orwell's savage "Animal Farm" & the equally brutal "Watership Down" by Richard Adams.