Fables

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 75K words
Chapters: 8

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Fables by Robert Louis StevensonAuthor: Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 1, 1995

Editor's review

Fables is a collection of short fables by Robert Louis Stevenson, a quiet and distinctive work compared with his better-known novels and adventure stories. The fables are brief, usually closing with a pointed ending, and carry a sense of moral allegory and observation on life. The language is restrained and the imagery plain; reading them feels like a novelist's light touch on human nature and fate in his spare time. They do not aim for complex plotting but value the resonance of the fable form itself. The book suits reading one piece at a time in odd moments, and also serves as a sample of English short-form writing and the fable genre. For readers familiar with Stevenson's fiction, it offers a window onto another side of his style; for newcomers, it is a light introduction. Note that the meaning of a fable often depends on the reader's associations and background knowledge, and some allegorical points are not explicit, so it is worth slowing down and thinking briefly after each piece.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers who enjoy fables and short allegorical stories
Literature lovers studying the diversity of Stevenson's work
Writing learners who need English short-form examples
Readers who want to read in fragmented time such as commutes

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting full-length plots and character development
Readers hoping for clear moral lessons with definite answers
Beginners with weak English reading skills who need sentence-by-sentence notes

Reading tips

Read one or two pieces a day, then sum up the moral in one sentence and check whether your understanding holds.
Read alongside other fable traditions to observe Stevenson's personal touch in form and satirical restraint.
Take brief notes on the pieces that impress you most and reread them later; you often find different meanings.
For the English text, read through first and look up words afterward, so as not to break the rhythm and ending effect of the fable.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Are these fables written for children?

They cannot simply be treated as children's reading. The fables are short in form, but their allegorical points often involve adult themes such as human nature, desire, and fate, and some pieces are not explicit. Children can read the story level, while adult readers can better appreciate the irony and subtlety.

How do they differ from Stevenson's novels?

Stevenson is known for adventure novels and long narratives, whereas Fables is extremely short and focuses not on plot development but on the resonance and allegory of the fable form. It better shows the restraint and lightness of his style and is suitable as supplementary reading for the diversity of his work.

What if I don't understand the meaning of a fable?

Fables do not offer a single answer by nature, and some allegorical points require the reader's own associations. If you don't understand one, first grasp the surface story, then consider the possible point in light of the turn at the end, or reread it later; understanding often changes with reading experience.

Is it suitable as English learning material?

It suits English learners with some foundation as short extensive reading material. The pieces are short and the sentences relatively simple, making them easy to finish in parts; but the language is subtle and some vocabulary and expressions are dated, so beginners may need a dictionary and should not start from zero with it.

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About the author

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894 Author

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) was a nineteenth-century British writer known for adventure fiction and poetry. His representative work Treasure Island established a classic model for treasure-hunt adventure stories and has circulated widely in many translations; the library also holds the Spanish version La isla del tesoro and the German version Die Schatzinsel: Roman. Another representative work, A Child's Garden of Verses, writes from a child's perspective about play, imagination, and everyday feelings, with fresh language and natural rhythm, and is a common reader in English children's poetry. The library holds as many as 101 of his works, showing the variety of his subjects and forms. Public information is limited, so details of his life and education are not elaborated here; overall, his writing combines thrilling narrative with a lyrical tone, being strongly story-driven yet readable aloud, and has had a lasting influence on later adventure literature and children's literature.