What is an example of a fable?

An example of a fable would be "The Ant and the Grasshopper," by the Greek fabulist Aesop. A fable is a short fictional story, often containing elements such as anthropomorphic animals, written for the benefit of a concluding maxim or moral.

In the above fable, the grasshopper seeks to distract the industrious ant from storing food for the coming winter. The ant is undeterred, and the grasshopper realizes, when winter sets in, that "it is best to prepare for the days of necessity."

It is generally agreed that Aesop lived from 620 BCE to 564 BCE; without any surviving records or writings from that era, though, his authorship of the over 600 fables credited to him are still a matter of scholarly debate.