FABLE
Literary composition. A fable is understood to be a narrative of pure allegorical fiction, in which, through the personification of irrational, inanimate or abstract beings, a useful and moral teaching is given.
There are two in the Bible: Jud. 9: 8-15, where the trees want to choose a king, and the thistle of Lebanon, which asks the cedar for the daughter to wife of his son (2 Kings 14: 9; 2 Chron. 25:18). Both fables make fun of the arrogance of men and in both the thistle represents the comic character.
In the New Testament the word “fable” is used to refer to pagan religions and the erroneous teachings that false teachers try to introduce into Christian communities (1 Tim. 1:4; 4:7; Tit. 1:14; 2 Pet. . 1:16).
The same meaning has the characteristic teaching of Gamaliel, the teacher of St. Paul, who said: «Whoever delights in the honey of Hellenic fables will not taste the milk of the Scriptures. »