ABSTRACT
The animal tale in its most primitive form is essentially an aetiological story, that is, a tale purporting to explain a cause. The mention of the justly famous Romance of Reynard the Fox will have given some idea of the importance assumed by the animal tale in literature. That romance is, however, rather one of the latest than one of the earliest illustrations for this. It may be said, in fact, that the farther folklorists go back, up the stream of time, the more conspicuous becomes the place taken by aetiological animal tales. The original purpose of an animal tale was to explain a natural fact not understood by primitive man; it may therefore be said to lack any ethical teaching. With the fable matters are different, for it is essentially an animal tale pointing out a moral; it is thus even more didactic than the aetiological animal tale.
