"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.
[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) ISBN 978-3-943117-79-0 David Foster Wallace quotes and discusses the story in his collection of essays Consider the Lobster.