A Fable

Content Warning: This section discusses depictions of graphic violence and suicide.

A Fable is set in an unnamed town in France during World War I. On a Wednesday in late May of 1918, the townspeople pour into the streets at dawn and form a silent mass. A regiment was formed from the people of this town. This regiment has fought in the war for years and every townsperson knows or is related to someone who has been in the regiment. The townspeople pass the unmoving cavalrymen as the French, British, and American flags are raised in the town square. The sergeant-major of the cavalry can do nothing as the crowd passes. He leads his horse through the “human river” of the crowd. A battalion of infantry appears behind the crowd, led by a tank, which parts the crowd. The infantry clears a path along the main boulevard.

The sergeant orders his men to pick up a “thin and poorly dressed” (7) woman who fainted in the street. She is offered a piece of soiled bread, but she refuses it. Eventually, she cannot deny her hunger, and she devours it. A tall, unblemished man with an innocent