There’s something about mist that demands reflection. When the world is blurred, our vision narrows, forcing us to lean into imagination. That is where Fables in the Fog was born — not in clear daylight but in the shifting vapours of uncertainty.
This project began as fog musings of a dreamweaver, half-poems, half-parables, all threaded with the peculiar experiences of life with multiple sclerosis. The fables in fog musings took shape as whimsical creatures, stubborn clocks, chairs with opinions, and birds that refused to wake. Each fable became a miniature lantern glowing through the mist, revealing that nonsense and wisdom can walk hand in hand.Fables have always thrived in obscurity. Aesop used animals to veil human truths. Allegorists have long written about journeys through mists and labyrinths. My contribution is to place chronic illness into that lineage, not as a burden but as a modern fable with a twist. The fog is not only confusion — it is also shelter, metaphor, and possibility.
Fables in the Fog: A Parable of Uncertainty and Fog
The phrase fables in the fog is more than a title; it is a method. Fog mirrors the unpredictability of MS symptoms: one day sharp clarity, the next blurred vision, or time itself seeming to skip. Characters such as the Blundering Bat capture the bewilderment of brain fog, while the Tortoise balancing his Teacup embodies pacing and fatigue management.
In this fables island of fog book, nothing behaves as expected. Lamps forget to glow (Optic Neuritis), maps insist on drawing circles (Balance Problems), and even Captain Cogs on his Ship of Forgetting) finds time slipping away. These aren’t fairy tales for children; they are allegories for anyone navigating uncertainty.
A parable of uncertainty and fog works because ambiguity invites interpretation. Readers don’t come to these fables for answers — they come for resonance. Fog hides details but reveals shapes. That’s how MS feels, and that’s why allegory fits it so well.
Modern Fable with a Twist
Unlike traditional moral tales where the lesson is neatly tied with a bow, these are deliberately askew. Each modern fable with a twist takes a symptom and spins it sideways.
- The Chair That Forgot Its Place mirrors drop foot — an everyday frustration retold through furniture’s rebellion.
- The Wind-up Bird Who Slept Through the Storm conveys the unpredictability of sleep disturbance.
- The Fox and the MRI Machine turns clinical testing into a surreal trial.
Each story is humorous, absurd, and tinged with melancholy. The twist is that while the characters behave ridiculously, the emotion underneath is authentic. This balance makes the collection more than a symptom diary, more than allegory — it becomes literature.
Whimsical Storytelling About Life
Fog softens the edges of reality. In that softened space, whimsical storytelling about life emerges.
Take the Lion and the Listening Mouse, a tale of support networks. On the surface, it is a comical inversion of Aesop’s famous fable. Beneath, it becomes a meditation on why small gestures matter in chronic illness.
Or consider the Ant Who Took Sunday Off. What begins as a tiny rebellion turns into an allegory of pacing and energy management. These whimsical touches make heavy topics approachable without diluting their truth.
Fog allows us to suspend disbelief. Within it, a tortoise can budget time, a frog can pretend to be fine, and a map can protest against reality. Such whimsy makes the serious more bearable — and often more memorable.
Nonsense Poetry and Fables
Sometimes the fog thickens into absurdity. These are moments of nonsense poetry and fables, where surreal imagery does the work of medical explanation.
- Socks dash with delight in Paraesthesia.
- Clocks lose their grip on time in The Clockmaker Who Lost His Seconds.
- Mirrors argue with philosophers in Cognitive Dysfunction.
These images don’t offer clarity in the clinical sense. Instead, they capture the lived texture of MS in ways a medical journal cannot. It is the same impulse that animates the island of fog series — nonsense as a tool for honesty.
Readers sometimes dismiss nonsense as frivolous. Yet Lewis Carroll proved long ago that absurdity can illuminate logic more sharply than prose. By embracing nonsense, Fables in the Fog joins that tradition.
Parable of Uncertainty and Fog
At their heart, all of these are a parable of uncertainty and fog. They acknowledge the gaps in knowledge, the unpredictability of symptoms, the ambiguity of prognosis. Instead of pretending these gaps don’t exist, the fables to dramatize them.
Consider the Frog Who Fakes It). He insists he’s fine while struggling beneath the surface. Or the Map That Drew Circles, which shows how disorientation feels from the inside. These stories don’t explain symptoms in clinical terms — they embody them in memorable metaphors.
This makes the fables accessible not just to those with MS, but to family, carers, and the simply curious. Fog becomes a universal metaphor: who hasn’t felt lost, disoriented, or unsure which direction to take?
Allegory has long been used to explore such ambiguity. From Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress to the allegorical journeys listed in The Greatest Allegorical Books of All Time, writers have leaned on metaphor to capture life’s perplexities. Fables in the Fog carries that tradition into the 21st century.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the story of the girl in the fog explained?
The girl in the fog represents anyone navigating uncertainty. She is not one character but every reader — a reminder that identity blurs when clarity fades.
Was Elizabeth a ghost in the fog?
In allegory, Elizabeth may symbolise memory or loss. Whether ghost, echo, or metaphor depends on interpretation. Fables in the Fog thrives on that openness.
Who were the people in the fog?
They are the community of characters — bats, tortoises, chairs, foxes, and lions — each standing for an experience. Collectively, they represent those living with invisible struggles.
What is the summary of Ghost in the Fog?
It is a parable of uncertainty and fog: a reminder that even when life feels opaque, meaning can be found in persistence, patience, and humour.
Conclusion: Fables in the Fog as Lanterns in Mist
The fables in the fog collection is more than allegory. It is a lantern for those wandering through uncertainty. Whether it takes the form of a modern fable with a twist, whimsical storytelling about life, or sheer nonsense poetry and fables, each story illuminates truth through imagination.
For readers, the takeaway is clear: fog doesn’t just obscure — it also reveals. By embracing ambiguity, we learn resilience. By laughing at absurdity, we lessen its power.
To continue exploring, start here: Discover the full Fables in the Fog collection →. Let the mist guide you, one parable at a time.
Like the island of fog series, the journey is ongoing. Each visit uncovers something new, and each story invites reflection. Step into the mist, and find your own lesson in its shifting shapes.
