古代寓言原是民间口头创作，文学体裁的一种。含有讽喻或明显教训意义的故事。它的结构简短。主人公可以是人，可以是动物，也可以是无生物。多借用比喻手法，使富有教训意义的主题或深刻的道理在简单的故事中体现，而还需要自己去理解，思考，这就是和西方寓言的不同之处。
《古代寓言·树丫》
乡人多以树之丫叉，支为坐凳者。
父命其子求之山中，子持斧去，竞日，徒手归。你责之。子曰：“丫叉尽有，奈都是朝上生的。”
——《笑府》
Tree Forks
The people living on a certain mountain use tree forks for stool legs.
A father sent his son to get one. The son took an axe and went. But at the end of the day he came back empty-handed. When his father scolded him, he answered, “Of course, there are plenty of tree forks there but they all grow upwards.”
Xiao Fu (Treasure-House of Jokes)
（杨宪益、戴乃迭 译）