Talking creatures are a common theme in mythology

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

 and folk tales, as well as children's literature

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

. Fictional talking creatures often are anthropomorphic, possessing human-like qualities but appearing as a creature. The usage of talking creatures enable storytellers to combine the basic characteristics of the creature with human behavior, to apply metaphor, and to entertain children.

There are a number of alleged real-life talking creatures

Talking animal

A talking animal or speaking animal refers to any form of non-human animal which can produce sounds resembling those of a human language. Many species or groups of animals have developed forms of Animal Communication Systems which to some appear to be a non-verbal language...

.

Analysis

The storyteller may use talking creatures for various reasons. It could be intended for a younger audience (such as Richard Scarry

Richard Scarry

Richard McClure Scarry was a popular American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million units worldwide....

's illustrated books), or as a metaphor to show the personality of certain men or groups (Art Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...

's Maus

Maus

Maus: A Survivor's Tale, by Art Spiegelman, is a biography of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. It alternates between descriptions of Vladek's life in Poland before and during the Second World War and Vladek's later life in the Rego Park neighborhood of...

depicts Jews as mice, the Germans as cats and the Poles as pigs, among others). There may also be other reasons, such as for the sake of satire in Animal Farm

Animal Farm

Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II...

, or artistic purposes.
The usage of talking creatures enable storytellers to combine the basic characteristics of the creature with human behavior: for example in the Three Little Pigs

Three Little Pigs

Three Little Pigs is a fairy tale featuring anthropomorphic animals. Printed versions date back to the 1840s, but the story itself is thought to be much older...

, the supposed creature rapacity of the wolf is shown through its repeated tricking of the three pigs. Other examples include Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood, also known as Little Red Cap, is a French fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings....

and the Bremen Town Musicians.
Fictional talking creatures may be roughly classified into the following categories, depending on the degree to which talk influences their behavior. Of course, many cases may be something in between; the classification below is only a frame of reference.

Talking creatures which are still creatures

The creatur retains its original form without much change, other than being able to speak. An example is the donkey of Balaam

Balaam

Balaam is a diviner in the Torah, his story occurring towards the end of the Book of Numbers. The etymology of his name is uncertain, and discussed below. Every ancient reference to Balaam considers him a non-Israelite, a prophet, and the son of Beor, though Beor is not so clearly identified...

 in the Book of Numbers

Book of Numbers

The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....

. Sometimes it may only speak as a narration for the reader's convenience. The characters of the webcomic Faux Pas are another example of talking creatures. The rabbits in Watership Down

Watership Down

Watership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language , proverbs, poetry, and mythology...

who behave exactly as normal rabbits, except for the ability to discuss their actions, also come under this category, as well as the penguins from the animated film Happy Feet and in the film The Lion King

Creatures interacting with humans

The talking creature concept is featured within much traditional literature, such as in Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...

, and several mythologies, including Greek

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Chinese

Chinese mythology

Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...

 and Indian

Indian mythology

Indian mythology may refer to:*Indian epic poetry*Vedic mythology*Hindu mythology*Buddhist mythology*Native American mythology...

 mythologies. A notable example from the Judaeo-Christian tradition – which many people do not perceive as fiction – is the talking serpent

Serpent (Bible)

Serpent is the term used to translate a variety of words in the Hebrew bible, the most common being , , the generic word for "snake"....

 from the Book of Genesis, which tempts Eve

Eve (Bible)

Eve was, according to the creation of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God...

 to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; many Christians do not interpret the serpent as a literal snake, but as a metaphor for Satan

Satan

Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...

.

Many fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

s include apparent talking creatures that prove to be shapeshifted

Shapeshifting

Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...

 people, or even ghost

Ghost

In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...

s. The fairy tales How Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon

How Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon

How Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon is a Scottish fairy tale, collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands. He recorded it from a quarryman in Knockderry, Roseneath, named Angus Campbell....

and Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf

Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf

Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.It is Aarne-Thompson type 550, the quest for the golden bird/firebird...

have the hero aided by a fox and a wolf respectively, but in the similar tale The Golden Bird

The Golden Bird

"The Golden Bird" is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, number 57, about the pursuit of a golden bird by a king's three sons.A French version, collected by Paul Sébillot, is called The Golden Blackbird. Andrew Lang included that variant in The Green Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson folktale type 550,...

, the talking fox is freed from a spell to become the heroine's brother, and in The Bird 'Grip'

The Bird 'Grip'

The Bird 'Grip is a Swedish fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it The Pink Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson type 550, the quest for the golden bird/firebird; other tales of this type include The Golden Bird, The Greek Princess and the Young Gardener, How Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon, The Nunda,...

, the fox leaves the hero after explaining that it was the dead man

Grateful dead (folklore)

Grateful dead is a folktale present in many cultures throughout the world. The most common story involves a traveler who encounters a corpse of someone who never received a proper burial, typically stemming from an unpaid debt. The traveler then either pays off the dead person's debt or pays for...

 whose debts the hero had paid.

Whether shape-shifted or merely having the magical ability to speak, the talking creature is perhaps the most common trait of fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

s. The motif is certainly present in many more tales than fairies.

Numerous modern science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 stories intermix human and creature characters. In L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

's Land of Oz

Land of Oz

Oz is a fantasy region containing four lands under the rule of one monarch.It was first introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, one of many fantasy countries that he created for his books. It achieved a popularity that none of his other works attained, and after four years, he...

, creatures (such as the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger) talk. The chicken Billina gains the ability to talk when she is swept away by a storm to land near Oz, as do other animals, and Toto, it is explained in a retcon

Retcon

Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...

, always had the ability since arriving in Oz, but never used it. In C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...

's Chronicles of Narnia, the world of Narnia is ruled by a talking lion by the name of Aslan

Aslan

Aslan, the "Great Lion," is the central character in The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. He is the eponymous lion of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and his role in Narnia is developed throughout the remaining books...

, and many small characters are talking woodland animals, both of which interact with both the humans of Narnia, and the children who act as the protagonists of the books.

Creatures that portray humans

Most people in the industries of professional

Professional

A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...

 illustration

Illustration

An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...

, cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

ing, and animation

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 refer to these types of creature characters as talking creatures or funny animal

Funny animal

Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...

s. However, the mainstream news media and members of furry fandom

Furry fandom

Furry fandom is a fandom for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, the ability to speak, walk on two legs, and wear clothes...

 sometimes refer to this variety of talking creatures as furries. The earliest example of talking creatures portraying humans, as opposed to talking creatures portraying creatures, was in Vishnu Sarma

Vishnu Sarma

Vishnu Sharma was an Indian scholar and author who is believed to have written the Panchatantra collection of fables. The exact period of the composition of the Panchatantra is uncertain, and estimates vary from 1200 BCE to 300 CE...

's Panchatantra

Panchatantra

The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sharma...

(Fables of Bidpai), which was set in a world of talking creatures who represent human morals and behavior. A good Western

Western world

The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

 example of the genre is Henryson's Fabillis. The webcomic "Anima: Age of the Robots" (Anima (webcomic)) uses anthropomorphism to portray an alternate world as modern as ours, but inhabited by creature-lookalikes. The intelligent robots they have made rebel and threaten the creatures. This serves as a warning to mankind's thoughtless pursuit of technological advancement. The graphic novel Seven Years in Dog-Land

Seven Years in Dog-Land

Seven Years in Dog-Land is a webcomic produced by Singapore graphic novelist Johnny Tay, who wrote the 18-chapter children’s fantasy comic Anima: Age of the Robots in 2003. It is the first graphic novel in Singapore to be published internationally as an e-book.Seven Years in Dog-Land is vastly...

 uses talking dogs from a land of dogs to portray human society's ills and their abuse of the environment.

Simulated humans

There are numerous series of children's books, such as the Berenstain Bears

Berenstain Bears

The Berenstain Bears is a series of children's books created by Stan and Jan Berenstain. The books feature a family of anthropomorphic bears who generally learn a moral or safety-related lesson in the course of each story...

series, where the characters are written and drawn as creatures in order to attract a younger audience. In this scenario the stories may be told with the characters changed to normal humans, and quite possibly the plot will suffer no major alteration. Most of such characters act no different as compared to humans. A good example of this would be Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...

, who lives in Toad Hall, and drives a motor car. Other characters in The Wind in the Willows are closer to humanised creatures, living in burrows, etc.

Exaggerated humans

In many fable

Fable

A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...

s, each particular creature typically represents a certain human trait, traditionally associated with it. For example, in Western folktales, a fox is supposed to be cunning, a hare is supposed to be a coward (whenever it is brave or smart, this is only with the goal to create a paradox with respect to the common expectation). In these tales, the names of the creatures are simply their capitalized names of species: Mr. Fox, Mr. Hare, etc. Different cultures may associate different traits with the same creatures.

Humanized creatures

Such creatures fall between the previous two categories, that of a creature which possesses both human and creature characteristics. An example is Peter Rabbit

Peter Rabbit

Peter Rabbit is a fictional anthropomorphic character in various children's stories by Beatrix Potter. He first appeared in The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902, and subsequently in five more books between 1904 and 1912. Spinoff merchandise includes dishes, wallpaper, and dolls...

, who dresses in an appropriately sized waistcoat

Waistcoat

A waistcoat or vest is a sleeveless upper-body garment worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear, and as the third piece of the three-piece male business suit.-Characteristics and use:...

but engages in the very rabbit-like activity of stealing and eating carrots in the farmer's field, then being chased away by the farmer and painfully injuring himself whilst escaping from there.