Talking animals in fiction Talking animals in fiction Talking animals are a common theme in mythology and folk tales, as well as children's literature. Fictional talking animals often are anthropomorphic, possessing human-like qualities but appearing as a creature. The usage of talking animals enable storytellers to combine the basic characteristics of the animal with human behavior, to apply metaphor, and to entertain children. There are a number of alleged real-life talking animals. The creature retains its original form without much change, other than being able to speak. Sometimes it may only speak as a narration for the reader's convenience. The rabbits in "Watership Down"
The Rescue (Conrad novel) he falls in love with a married woman whose yacht he saves from foundering. In the 1925 Gresham Publishing Company edition there is an Author's Note that was written in 1920, in which Conrad gives background as to the writing of "The Rescue". After he began writing, he set the novel down in 1898 and picked it back up in 1918. Conrad emphasises that he did not set the novel down in despair, but rather he had doubts as to how to handle the subject matter presented in "The Rescue" through his prose. When Conrad set this novel aside, it