Perhaps the best-known use of a talking animal as the voice of reason is Jiminy Cricket, the dapper insect in Disney's "Pinocchio" who serves as the main character's conscience. Audiences may be surprised to learn the character's fate in the original "Adventures of Pinocchio" story, published in 1883. The unnamed cricket provides sound advice to the mischievous Pinocchio, admonishing him to go to school and live a responsible life. Pinocchio responds by crushing the cricket to death with a mallet.
Hans Christian Anderson's story "The Nightingale" concerns the emperor of China, who gains the patronage of an intelligent nightingale that sings for him. The emperor of Japan gives him a mechanical nightingale, which he believes can replace the real one. But the mechanical bird eventually breaks, and when the emperor falls ill, there is no one to sing for him. As he lies near death, the real nightingale returns to sing to him, restoring him to health and reminding him that beauty comes from the soul, not from a mere song.
"The Twelve Huntsmen" is a story from the Brothers Grimm about a prince who marries a princess despite that he has sworn love to another woman. When she hears about the wedding, she concocts a plan to appear as a huntsman and offer her services, joined by 11 other girls (who look just like her) also dressed as huntsmen. The prince has a wise talking lion who sees through the ruse and tells the prince, only to be dismissed for telling lies. In the end, the prince realizes that the "huntsmen" are really his true love, and he brings the lion back for counseling him so wisely.
"The Frog Prince" is a very old story, written by the Brothers Grimm, in which a talking frog helps recover a princess's golden ball from the depths of a pond. In exchange for this boon, she agrees to let the frog live with her and act as her companion, though she despises the sight of him. Through his admonitions, she's eventually enticed to kiss him; he promptly transforms into a handsome prince, thus teaching her that beauty is only skin deep.
Walt Disney Pictures produced an updated version of the fairy tale, "The Princess and the Frog," which utilizes an additional twist. The two main characters -- a prince named Naveen and a waitress named Tiana -- are turned into frogs and seek to be turned back. A wise firefly named Ray tells them that only their love for each other matters, not their external shapes. He's proven right in the end when the two wed as frogs and kiss, thus breaking the spell.