There are lessons to be learned everywhere. Fables, which are short, fictitious tales, have been used for a least two-and-a-half millennia to help us to observe the thoughts, actions and behaviours of others in order that we may make comparison between their and our own moral thinking. In the famous fables of Aesop (who may or may not have been a Greek or Ethiopian slave) the protagonists were frequently creatures from the natural world such as animals or birds, but also sometimes inanimate objects, such as the sun or the wind, who could speak their thoughts and intentions. Their characters had parabolic meaning – the fox was often cunning, the sheep often dumb.

As instructional tales, fables help to expose the vices of those who have them, and of course those who would prefer us not to notice them. Although they are short, there is usually a warning or lesson to be learned. It is up to the reader to interpret what that moral might be.