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Reader Question: "What's the difference between a fable and a parable? How should the Chinese 寓言 be put into English? Is it a fable, or a parable?" My comments: Both can be correct. However, parable is preferred to fable when it comes to the Chinese 寓言. Both a fable and a parable are a narrative, a tale that tells a story and at the same time convey a hidden meaning. Both are intended for instruction, elucidating some moral, social or spiritual truth. Parable comes from Latin 'parabola', meaning comparison. Any time you have a tale that tells an event, real or fictitious, but at the same time offers a lesson for people who may encounter comparable events in real life, you've got a parable. Fable comes from Latin 'fabula', meaning conversation. Fables are supernatural happenings. In other words, tales in fables are not real. Also, fables generally use animals as characters speaking and acting like human beings. The parable, on the other hand, usually uses humans as characters. This is the crucial difference. Most of the Chinese 寓言 stories are parables. Here's a Chinese parable about the Foolish Man who tried to move mountains: Once upon a time there was a foolish man living in a village at the foot of two big mountains. Every time he made a trip abroad he found the mountains in his way. Finally, the foolish man grew tired of scaling the mountains every day and decided to remove them by hand. He was ninety years old at the time. | 
