Fairy tale: It is a fictional story with a strong fantasy color. Fantasy is the basic feature, core and soul of fairy tales.
Such as Snail Girl and Magic Pen Horse.
Fable: It is a persuasive and ironic story. Inclusion is sustenance, that is, expressing the author's creative intention with the help of some story form.
For example, Hanshu? "Walking in Handan" biography: "People who used to walk in Handan were not impressed, but lost their old footsteps and climbed back to their ears."
Although the text is concise, it forms a short story with a relatively complete plot, and the story itself contains some profound truths, which can be regarded as a typical fable.
Second, from the perspective of space:
Fairy tale: the story is complete, long and the plot is magical and tortuous. Such as "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "Silkworm and Ant".
Fable: simple structure, short space and simple and interesting plot. For example, "A blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise" and "I'm at my wit's end".
Third, from the perspective of subject matter:
Fairy Tales: A more fantastic world, full of fantastic colors. From wind, frost, rain and snow to the stars, the sun and the moon, from flowers and trees to fish, insects and animals, everything in nature can be personalized, anthropomorphic and interesting. Like the story of the fisherman.
Fables: Most of them come from real life, and their contents reflect people's views on life, or criticize a social phenomenon, or satirize and exhort some people.
Although it has fictional elements, it is a highly refined and generalized social phenomenon, which is more easily accepted. For example, Mencius encourages seedlings.
Fourth, from the genre characteristics:
Fairy tales: there are various forms, including fairy tales written in prose, fairy tale poems and pantomime. Rich in imagination, fantastic, lyrical reasoning, entertaining, highlighting the image, paying attention to fun and readability, such as The Secret of the Treasure Gourd and The Little Match Girl.
Fable: It is manifested in making use of the topic, satirizing the present from here to there, seeing the big from the small, highlighting irony, paying attention to practicality, paying attention to philosophy and being enlightening. Such as "contradiction". Carve a boat for a sword.
Fairy tales: more inclined to stories, children refer to children, face more people who can understand stories, like or hate stories, and train children's basic views on justice and right and wrong. It is very entertaining.
Fables are fictional like fairy tales, but fables tell the world some truth through stories and have certain guiding significance for future life. The audience should be slightly larger than the readers of fairy tales.