apologue

noun apologue

• parable — a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.
• allegory — An allegory is a story, poem, or painting in which the characters and events are symbols of something else. Allegories are often moral, religious, or political.
• story — a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader; tale.
• fable — a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters; apologue: the fable of the tortoise and the hare; Aesop's fables.
• legend — a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical.