[Paul Lake]

Though slowed by travel and with one more trip ahead, I want to start a couple of new threads. Here's the first:

What is the best animal tale ever? I'm thinking mainly of book length tales, but also perhaps collections.

When considering tales about animals, particularly fantastic and fabulous (in the root sense of the word) tales, what are the best ones (in prose or verse), based on quality of writing, depth of imagination, charm, whimsy, depth and variety of theme, and such things as satirical pointedness or imaginative wisdom about the world or the human psyche.

Here's a tale from a master of the genre, La Fontaine (in English translation), to get things started :

The Wolf and the Dog [5]
A prowling wolf, whose shaggy skin
(So strict the watch of dogs had been)
Hid little but his bones,
Once met a mastiff dog astray.
A prouder, fatter, sleeker Tray,
No human mortal owns.
Sir Wolf in famished plight,
Would fain have made a ration
On his fat relation;
But then he first must fight;
And well the dog seemed able
To save from wolfish table
His carcass snug and tight.
So, then, in civil conversation
The wolf expressed his admiration
Of Tray's fine case. Said Tray, politely,
"Yourself, good sir, may be as sightly;
Quit but the woods, advised by me.
For all your fellows here, I see,
Are shabby wretches, lean and gaunt,
Belike to die of haggard want.
With such a pack, of course it follows,
One fights for every bit he swallows.
Come, then, with me, and share
On equal terms our princely fare."
"But what with you
Has one to do?"
Inquires the wolf. "Light work indeed,"
Replies the dog; "you only need
To bark a little now and then,
To chase off duns and beggar men,
To fawn on friends that come or go forth,
Your master please, and so forth;
For which you have to eat
All sorts of well-cooked meat—
Cold pullets, pigeons, savoury messes—
Besides unnumbered fond caresses."
The wolf, by force of appetite,
Accepts the terms outright,
Tears glistening in his eyes.
But faring on, he spies
A galled spot on the mastiff's neck.
"What's that?" he cries. "O, nothing but a speck."
"A speck?" "Ay, ay; It's not enough to pain me;
Perhaps the collar's mark by which they chain me."
"Chain! chain you! What! run you not, then,
Just where you please, and when?"
"Not always, sir; but what of that?"
"Enough for me, to spoil your fat!
It ought to be a precious price
Which could to servile chains entice;
For me, I'll shun them while I have wit."
So ran Sir Wolf, and runs yet.

[annie nance]

what are the best ones (in prose or verse), based on quality of writing, depth of imagination, charm, whimsy, depth and variety of theme, and such things as satirical pointedness or imaginative wisdom about the world or the human psyche.

For my money, Charlotte's Web and Animal Farm.

[Cal Reinhardt]

Rikki-tikki-tavi

[Gregory Dowling]

I'd like to name a number of Beatrix Potter's but perhaps I'll just mention "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers", which is funny but also very disturbing and strangely realistic.

Jack London's Call of the Wild is good too - a great deal more powerful than its mirror-image companion White Fang.

[John Whitworth]

The Microbe

The Microbe is so very small
You cannot make him out at all,
But many sanguine people hope
To see him through a microscope.
His jointed tongue that lies beneath
A hundred curious rows of teeth;
His seven tufted tails with lots
Of lovely pink and purple spots,
On each of which a pattern stands,
Composed of forty separate bands;
His eyebrows of a tender green;
All these have never yet been seen--
But Scientists, who ought to know,
Assure us that they must be so....
Oh! let us never, never doubt
What nobody is sure about!

Hilaire Belloc

[Janet Kenny]

Paul,
"Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Graham must be a serious contender.
Janet

[Lance Levens]

Frost "Departmental"

"Then the word goes forth in Formic;
death's comefor Jerry McCormick.
Our selfless forager, Jerry..."

[Paul Lake]

A pretty good list so far. I'd definetly include most of the ones that have been posted: Animal Farm, Call of the Wild, and I'm glad someone mentioned Wind in the Willows.

I dutifully read Watership Down a few years ago. How would you all rate that? It sold like crazy when it came out, and it's still in print.

And what about Jungle Book?

[Paul Lake]

I now confess that my interest in animal fables is personal as well as theoretical. I have on coming out officially on June 1 in bookstores throughout the country. It's also already available at Amazon on line (at the link below). The title is

Cry Wolf: A Political Fable
http://www.amazon.com/Cry-Wolf-Polit.../dp/1933771429

I'm going to put a more detailed post above, and announce it on a couple of boards below as well.

You must try the link and click on the gorgeous cover to enlarge it.

[Gail White]

This gives me a chance to recommend the book I'm reading now, "His Monkey Wife" a novel written in 1930 by John Collier. The heroine is a chimpanzee who learns to read and falls in love with her owner. The 30s were a great decade for whimsical novels, & this is a good one.