Fable, animal, in Muslim Southeast Asia - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Wieringa, Edwin P.
Leiden
Brill
(1,387 words)
Many of the animal fable s in the two major literary traditions of Muslim Southeast Asia -Malay and Javanese-are translations and/or adaptations from foreign sources, primarily Arabic, Persian, and Indian, and, in the modern period, European. These works belong to the genre of edifying literature, designed to regulate the behaviour of Muslims (Braginsky, 340-1). They generally consist of collections of relatively short stories with animal characters endowed with human qualities, intended to teach moral lessons. Animal fables were also included to illustrate certain points in such didactic