Why did Aesop use animals instead of humans in fables?

Answer 1

Fables, unlike parables, feature animals, plants and other non-human characters that are anthropomorphized (given human qualities) to illustrate the lessons (morals) of the stories.

Aesop chose fables for his lessons because listeners of his stories could enjoy and learn from them without seeing themselves or someone else they knew in the different characters. It is a non threatening strategy, a way of keeping the reader interested without making them put up any barriers.

People in Aesop's time in ancient Greece lived more closely with nature than we do today. They understood nature's ways and that wolves, as well as people, ate sheep to survive, for example, so it was less scary to use the wolf in the story of "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" than to make it a story of a bad person being deceitful. It still allowed the moral to be taught without triggering undue fears in the process. Animals were thought to be lesser (utilitarian, food sources) in the society's hierarchy in Aesop's time so he could use them as an example to show ignorance or silliness without being directly degrading to people. These sides of being human and making mistakes could be suggested through an animal's character without being as insulting as it might be to someone who identified with the position in which the character was found.

Answer 2

Because a fable is a story is about animals teaching life lessons.