A parable is a short story that makes it easier to understand a basic truth.
A parable is often a story about a character who faces a problem or does something that goes badly wrong. The parable tells of this problem and how it might be put right. In this way it helps people to understand how to cope with problems in their own lives.
Parables tend to be used in a religious way because they are all about helping people to understand how and what they should believe, and how to be part of a fair and just society.
It is a kind of case study. It is told to the hearer in a way that suggests he or she is not involved, but they can make use of the case study to make a parallel to their own problem.
Example: the parable of the prodigal (wayward) son.
The parable begins with the younger of two sons asking his father to give him his share of the family wealth. The father agrees and divides his wealth between both sons.
Once the younger son gets his money he travels to a distant country and wastes it all. He becomes desperately poor and is forced to take work as a swineherd, the lowest of the low. When he reaches the point of envying the food of the pigs, he finally comes to his senses and decides to return to his father:
'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.'
— Luke 15:17-20.
But the father takes pity on him and begins to celebrate.
The older son, who was at work in the fields, hears the celebration, and is told about the return of his younger brother. He is not happy about someone returning who has wasted his money and caused distress. He tells his father that he has worked hard and not caused any problems, at which point the father explains that because the younger son had returned "He was lost, and is found." This means that everyone can make mistakes, but when they recognise them, it is everyone else's duty not to punish, but to help them start again. You never know, it might be you next time, is what it is also saying.
