The Arabic Fable

an Inventory of Short Stories Featuring Speaking Animals and Other Nonhuman Characters in Premodern Arabic Literature

Marzolph, Ulrich

This is the first attempt to provide a representative inventory of fables documented in premodern Arabic literature. The introduction presents a detailed effort to define the Arabic fable and a condensed historical survey together with a short assessment of the content characteristics of the Arabic fable proper. An annotated bibliography discusses significant contributions to the study of the Arabic fable in detail. The book’s main body surveys a total of 330 numbered fables with short summaries, exhaustive references, and concise comments. The detailed documentation recognizes the Arabic fable as the long neglected equal of its dominantly perceived Graeco-Latin sibling.