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a didactic narrative; a moral fable.
an allegory.
Historical Examples

In his preface, called by him an apologue for an Epilogue, he enlightens the public upon the true history and tenets of his sect.
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions Charles Mackay

I had no answer for the apologue—not even for the self-condemnatory tone in which he told it.
Aladdin & Co. Herbert Quick

Compare the apologue of the gourd and the pear-tree in the sixth Satire (55-114).
Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature John Addington Symonds

Length is not an essential matter in the definition of an apologue.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 Various

The apologue of the iron and earthen pot contains a moral applicable to such circumstances.
The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in Eighteen Volumes, Volume 11 John Dryden

Guynemer had answered, not seeing an apologue in his father’s words.
Georges Guynemer Henry Bordeaux

But here is an apologue: The peach, from blossom to maturity, is the most attractive of fruits.
The Complete Essays of C. D. Warner Charles Dudley Warner

Thus an apologue proving that the breath is the essential vital constituent of a human being is found in five ancient Upanishads.
Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3) Charles Eliot

No apologue addressed to the mature intelligence alone, or framed to fit the society of his day, is here included.
Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks Jean de La Fontaine

But I will attempt to explain it, after the manner of ancient times, by means of an apologue.
The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 1 (of 4) Thomas Babington Macaulay

noun
an allegory or moral fable
n.

“moral fable,” 1550s, from French apologue, from Latin apologus, from Greek apologos, from apo- “off, away from” (see apo-) + logos “speech” (see lecture (n.)). Literally, “(that which comes) from a speech.”