Originally a part of folk-lore, the fable became literature in Greece
because it was made the medium of conveying political lessons at a
time when, under the Tyrants, free speech was dangerous. In India
the same result was produced by the use of fables by the founder of
Buddhism to impart moral lessons. In Greece this use is connected
with the name of Æsop, about whom so little is known that it has
been suggested that he is himself a fable.