| A Little Fable | |
| Title Orig: | Kleine Fabel |
| Author: | Franz Kafka |
| Language: | German |
| Genre: | Short story |
| Published In: | Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer |
| Media Type: | book (hardcover) |
| Pub Date: | 1931 |
| English Pub Date: |
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"A Little Fable" (German: "Kleine Fabel") is a short story written by Franz Kafka between 1917 and 1923, likely in 1920. The anecdote, only one paragraph in length, was not published in Kafka's lifetime and first appeared in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer (1931). The first English translation by Willa and Edwin Muir was published by Martin Secker in London in 1933. It appeared in The Great Wall of China. Stories and Reflections (New York City: Schocken Books, 1946).[1]
"Alas", said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I am running into."
"You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up.[2]
A comics adaptation of the story, illustrated by Peter Kuper, is included in Give It Up!.
A three-language version in German, English and Spanish, illustrated by Elvira Calderón, edited by Elena Moreno Sobrino Saarbrücken: Calambac Verlag, (2013)
David Foster Wallace quotes and discusses the story in his collection of essays Consider the Lobster.