Fables in "ABC" Format The literary device used in this book for retelling the fables in "ABC" order requires the writer to open each sentence or the major sentences with a different word and involves the "mental" ability to think both sequentially and creatively. This exciting device brings about a new retelling version, keeping to the original story, yet giving the story a new voice and details. The ABC retellings also serve as a writing model for the students by providing them with an expansive sentence-starting vocabulary modeled by these fables.