From Aesop to Orwell, from the Three Little Pigs to Bugs Bunny, our stories are full of talking animals. Foxes flatter, lions boast, and donkeys mope. For thousands of years, we have used animals to tell stories about ourselves.
But why use animals? Why not just use people?
Consider this short tale by the ancient Greek fabulist Aesop, The Fox and the Mask:
A fox broke into the house of an actor and noticed a mask in the midst of a pile of stage accessories. The fox dragged out the mask and nuzzled and swatted it for a few moments, before saying, “What a handsome face, pity he has no brains.”
Or consider this fable from the Ancient Indian Panchatantra, in which a rabbit outwits a lion:
A lion was terrorising the animals of the jungle, killing far more than he could eat. To appease him, the animals agreed that, each day, they would send him one of their number. When a rabbit’s turn came, he arrived late, telling the lion that another lion had kept him by claiming to be the true king of the jungle. Enraged, the lion demanded to see this imposter. The rabbit led him to a well, in which the lion saw his own reflection. Mistaking it for his rival, he leapt in and drowned.
Animals as Mirrors
The use of animals creates new and striking possibilities. It stokes the imagination, making the tale seem more original and entertaining, even charming, without which it might fall flat as moralising or patronising. We are more willing to listen to a fox than to a preacher, and more likely to remember what it has to say.
The use of animals also enables the storyteller to isolate a vice and caricature it, while at the same time providing a fresh perspective on it. Each animal becomes a shorthand for a particular human vice or trait. We are often resistant to criticism, especially when it concerns our character. But when we laugh at a vain crow or a pessimistic donkey, we may be laughing at ourselves. The animal creates a certain psychological distance, enabling us to recognise our faults without feeling accused and becoming defensive.
On a deeper level, talking animals create a continuum between human and animal, revealing us as part of nature and at one with it, while also highlighting what sets us apart from the rest of creation, namely, speech and reason (Greek, logos) and the capacity for moral reflection.
From Fables and Fairy Tales to Political Satire
As I discuss in The Meaning of Myth, animals appeal especially to children, possibly because blurring the lines between human and animal is a form of pre-logical, magical thinking. Children readily attribute thoughts, feelings, and intentions to animals, and may find a talking rabbit or bear no more extraordinary than a talking human. For adults, the attraction is more subtle: the talking animal offers both an escape from reality and a means of understanding it, in particular, through the pleasure of analogising.
Finally, the use of animals can serve as a cover, a means of escaping censorship, or of generalising or universalising. Jean de La Fontaine (d. 1695) used the fable form to satirise French society, and George Orwell used it to satirise communism and other forms of totalitarianism, while also making us smile.
Animals delight us still today, every day, if only in cartoons and viral videos, because, as the fabulist might say, “So it is with men, too.”
You may also enjoy my companion piece, The Symbolism of Snakes.