Here you can listen to an audio story recording of the Mark Twain short story, A Fable. This video uses on-screen subtitles. The text is linked up with the voice narration so you can read along while listening. This video is great for English listening practice.
Originally published in 1909, A Fable is about a man who paints a masterpiece that is meant to be looked at in a mirror. The man’s cat goes and tells the other animals, each of which wants to see this beautiful creation for themselves. What each of them sees is what they bring with them. You can find this story in The Mysterious Stranger, and Other Stories by Mark Twain.
Mark Twain’s ‘A Fable’: Satire vs. The Jungle Book
Published just one year before Twain’s death), this story was written during a period when Twain was becoming increasingly cynical about human nature.
The Secret Allusion: You’ll notice the names Hathi (the elephant) and Baloo (the bear). These are direct references to Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. By using Kipling’s famous characters, Twain was satirizing the way people “consume” popular literature. He felt that readers often miss the artist’s true intent because they are too busy looking at their own reflections, literally and figuratively.
Mark Twain’s ‘A Fable’ Listening Challenge
Test your comprehension! Listen to the story and try to answer these three questions:
- The Cat’s Reputation: The forest animals describe the housecat as “learned,” “refined,” and “civilized.” Based on the cat’s behavior and the way he talks about art, do you think he is truly wise, or is he just pretending?
- The Mirror Experiment: When the animals look into the “hole in the wall” (the mirror) to see the painting, why does the donkey see a donkey, while the bear sees a bear? What is Twain trying to tell us about human nature?
- The Final Moral: The cat concludes the story by saying, “You find in a text whatever you bring to it.” In your own words, what does it mean to “bring” something to a story?
Grammar Spotlight: What is a “Sesquipedalian”?
In the story, the Donkey says that when a thing needs a “whole basketful of sesquipedalian adjectives to whoop it up,” he becomes suspicious.
- The Definition: Sesquipedalian literally means “a foot and a half long.” In English, we use it to describe very long, complex words.
- The Irony: Twain is being funny here, he uses a long, complex word (sesquipedalian) to complain about using long, complex words!
- For English Learners (and everyone else): While the Cat uses words like “ethereal” and “inspiring,” Twain is teaching us that sometimes, the simplest English is the most honest.
Advanced Descriptive Technique: Adjective Piling In this story, Mark Twain describes the housecat using several pairs of adjectives in a row: “so learned, and so refined and civilized, and so polite and high-bred.”
- Why it matters: By “piling” these adjectives, Twain is showing us that the cat is actually quite arrogant, and the other animals are over-awed by him.
- Writing Tip: While we usually stick to one or two adjectives, using three or more pairs in a row (joined by “and”) is a rhetorical device used to create a sense of overwhelming detail or to emphasize a character’s importance.
Vocabulary Spotlight: Twain’s Use of Idioms
- “Give the world”
- Example: “They said they would give the world to see it.”
- Meaning: To be willing to give up everything or pay any price to have or see something. It expresses extreme desire.
- “Swoon with ecstasy”
- Context: The cat says you will “almost swoon with ecstasy” looking at the art.
- Similar Idioms: If “swooning” is too old-fashioned, you might say you are “on cloud nine,“ “over the moon,” or “tickled pink” (though that last one is a bit lighter!).
- “Throw doubts”
- Twain’s usage: “The ass… now began to throw doubts.”
- Modern Equivalent: Today, we would more likely say someone is “casting doubt” or “playing devil’s advocate.” It means to suggest reasons why something might not be true or good.
- “Whoop it up”
- Meaning: To praise something loudly or try to generate a lot of excitement and enthusiasm for it. While we don’t say this often today, you might hear someone say they want to “talk something up” or “hype it up.”
- “Good and clear”
- Synonym: “Plain as day.”
- Note: In the story, the Elephant asks, “Did you see it good and clear?” This is a very “folksy” way of speaking. In standard modern English, we would say “well and clearly,” but Twain uses this to give the animals a specific “voice.”
This fable is also the source of a very famous Twain-ism that serves as a lesson in itself!
- “You find in a text whatever you bring to it” This is the core moral of Twain’s story. It means that our biases and expectations (the mental baggage we bring to the story with us) change how we understand what we read.
- “Stand between the mirror and the object” This is a metaphor for getting in your own way. If you are too focused on yourself, you’ll never see the “painting” (the truth).
- “Unappeasable fury” Hathi the elephant is in an “unappeasable fury.” Here, un- (not) + appease (to make calm) means a person who cannot be calmed down.
Once upon a time, an artist who had painted a small and very beautiful picture placed it so that he could see it in the mirror. He said, “This doubles the distance and softens it, and it is twice as lovely as it was before.”
The animals out in the woods heard of this through the housecat, who was greatly admired by them because he was so learned, and so refined and civilized, and so polite and high-bred, and could tell them so much which they didn’t know before, and were not certain about afterward. They were much excited about this new piece of gossip, and they asked questions, so as to get at a full understanding of it. They asked what a picture was, and the cat explained.
“It is a flat thing,” he said; “wonderfully flat, marvelously flat, enchantingly flat and elegant. And, oh, so beautiful!”
Improve your English listening skills with Mark Twain’s “A Fable.” This lesson features a full audio story, a read-along transcript, and a grammar spotlight on “sesquipedalian” adjectives and descriptive word-piling.
That excited them almost to a frenzy, and they said they would give the world to see it. Then the bear asked:
“What is it that makes it so beautiful?”
“It is the looks of it,” said the cat.
This filled them with admiration and uncertainty, and they were more excited than ever. Then the cow asked:
“What is a mirror?”
“It is a hole in the wall,” said the cat. “You look in it, and there you see the picture, and it is so dainty and charming and ethereal and inspiring in its unimaginable beauty that your head turns round and round, and you almost swoon with ecstasy.”
The ass had not said anything as yet; he now began to throw doubts. He said there had never been anything as beautiful as this before, and probably wasn’t now. He said that when it took a whole basketful of sesquipedalian adjectives to whoop up a thing of beauty, it was time for suspicion.
It was easy to see that these doubts were having an effect upon the animals, so the cat went off offended. The subject was dropped for a couple of days, but in the meantime, curiosity was taking a fresh start, and there was a revival of interest perceptible. Then the animals assailed the ass for spoiling what could possibly have been a pleasure to them, on a mere suspicion that the picture was not beautiful, without any evidence that such was the case. The ass was not troubled; he was calm, and said there was one way to find out who was in the right, himself or the cat: he would go and look in that hole, and come back and tell what he found there. The animals felt relieved and grateful and asked him to go at once—which he did.
But he did not know where he ought to stand; and so, through error, he stood between the picture and the mirror. The result was that the picture had no chance, and didn’t show up. He returned home and said:
“The cat lied. There was nothing in that hole but an ass. There wasn’t a sign of a flat thing visible. It was a handsome ass, and friendly, but just an ass, and nothing more.”
The elephant asked:
“Did you see it good and clear? Were you close to it?”
“I saw it good and clear, O Hathi, King of Beasts. I was so close that I touched noses with it.”
“This is very strange,” said the elephant; “the cat was always truthful before—as far as we could make out. Let another witness try. Go, Baloo, look in the hole, and come and report.”
So the bear went. When he came back, he said:
“Both the cat and the ass have lied; there was nothing in the hole but a bear.”
Great was the surprise and puzzlement of the animals. Each was now anxious to make the test himself and get at the straight truth. The elephant sent them one at a time.
First, the cow. She found nothing in the hole but a cow.
The tiger found nothing in it but a tiger.
The lion found nothing in it but a lion.
The leopard found nothing in it but a leopard.
The camel found a camel, and nothing more.
Then Hathi was wroth and said he would have the truth if he had to go and fetch it himself. When he returned, he abused his whole subjectry for liars and was in an unappeasable fury with the moral and mental blindness of the cat. He said that anybody but a near-sighted fool could see that there was nothing in the hole but an elephant.
MORAL, BY THE CAT
You can find in a text whatever you bring if you will stand between it and the mirror of your imagination. You may not see your ears, but they will be there.