Directions: Determine the moral or theme of these fables and short stories.

1. The Ant and the Grasshopper

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by,
bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest. "Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper,
"instead of toiling and moiling in that way?" "I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the
same." "Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and
continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants
distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew.

2. The Monkey and the Cookies

A monkey put his hand into a jar of cookies. He grasped as many as he could possibly hold, but when he tried to pull out his
hand, he was prevented from doing so by the neck of the cookie jar. Unwilling to lose the cookies, and yet unable to withdraw his
hand, he burst into tears and bitterly lamented his disappointment.

3. The Bundle of Sticks

An old monkey on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered them to
bring in a bundle of sticks, and said to his eldest son: "Break it." The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to
break the sticks. The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. "Untie the bundle," said the father, "and each of you take
a stick." When they had done so, he called out to them: "Now, break," and each stick was easily broken. "You
see my meaning," said their father.

4. The Dogs and the Hides

Some dogs famished with hunger saw a number of cowhides steeping in a river. Not being able to reach them, they agreed to
drink up the river, but it happened that they burst themselves with drinking long before they reached the hides.

5. The Monkey and the Snake

One winter a Monkey found a Snake stiff and frozen with cold. He had compassion on it, and taking it up, placed it in his
bosom. The Snake was quickly revived by the warmth, and resuming its natural instincts, bit the monkey, inflicting on him a mortal
wound.

6. The Fir-Tree and the Bramble

A FIR-TREE said boastingly to the Bramble, "You are useful for nothing at all; while I am everywhere used for roofs and
houses." The Bramble answered: 'You poor creatures, if you would only call to mind the axes and saws which are about to hew you
down, you would have reason to wish that you had grown up a Bramble, not a Fir-Tree."

7. The Flies and the Honey-Pot

A number of flies were attracted to a jar of honey which had been overturned in a housekeeper's room, and placing their feet
in it, ate greedily. Their feet, however, became so smeared with the honey that they could not use their wings, nor release themselves,
and were suffocated.

8. The Fox and the Cat

A Fox was boasting to a Cat of its clever devices for escaping its enemies. "I have a whole bag of tricks," he said, "which
contains a hundred ways of escaping my enemies." "I have only one," said the Cat; "but I can generally manage with that." Just at that
moment they heard the cry of a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the Cat immediately scampered up a tree and hid herself in
the boughs. "This is my plan," said the Cat. "What are you going to do?" The Fox thought first of one way, then of another, and while
he was debating the hounds came nearer and nearer, and at last the Fox in his confusion was caught up by the hounds and soon killed
by the huntsmen.

9. The Fox and the Crow

A Crow, having stolen a bit of meat, perched in a tree and held it in her beak. A Fox, seeing this, longed to possess the meat
himself, and by a wily stratagem succeeded. "How handsome is the Crow," he exclaimed, in the beauty of her shape and in the
fairness of her complexion! Oh, if her voice were only equal to her beauty, she would deservedly be considered the Queen of Birds!"
This he said deceitfully; but the Crow, anxious to refute the reflection cast upon her voice, set up a loud caw and dropped the flesh.
The Fox quickly picked it up, and thus addressed the Crow: "My good Crow, your voice is right enough, but your wit is wanting."

10. The Goose with the Golden Eggs

One day a monkey went to the nest of his Goose and found there an egg all yellow and glittering. When he took it up it was
as heavy as lead and he was going to throw it away, because he thought a trick had been played upon him. But, on second thought,
he took it home and soon found to his delight that it was an egg of pure gold. Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon
became rich by selling his eggs. As he grew rich he grew greedy; and thinking to get at once all the gold the Goose could give, he
killed it and opened it only to find nothing.

11. The Fox and the Crane

At one time the Fox and the Stork were on visiting terms and seemed very good friends. So the Fox invited the Stork to
dinner, and for a joke put nothing before her but some soup in a very shallow dish. This the Fox could easily lap up, but the Stork could
only wet the end of her long bill in it, and left the meal as hungry as when she began. "I am sorry," said th e Fox, "the soup is not to
your liking." The Crane, in his turn, asked the Fox to dine at his home the next night. When they were seated at table all that was for
their dinner was contained in a very long-necked jar with a narrow mouth, in which the Fox could not insert his snout, so all he could
manage to do was to lick the outside of the jar.

12. The Fox Who Had Lost His Tail

 A Fox caught in a trap escaped, but in so doing lost his tail. Thereafter, feeling his life a burden from the shame and ridicule to
which he was exposed, he schemed to convince all the other Foxes that being tailless was much more attractive, thus making up for
his own deprivation. He assembled a good many Foxes and publicly advised them to cut off their tails, saying that they would not only
look much better without them, but that they would get rid of the weight of the brush, which was a very great inconvenience. One of
them interrupting him said, "If you had not yourself lost your tail, my friend, you would not give us such advice."

13. The Hares and the Frogs

The Hares were so persecuted by the other beasts that they did not know where to go. As soon as they saw a single animal
approach them, off they used to run. One day they saw a troop of wild Horses stampeding about, and in quite a panic all the Hares
scuttled off to a nearby lake, determined to drown themselves rather than live in such a continual state of fear. But just as they got
near the bank of the lake, a troop of Frogs, frightened in their turn by the approach of the Hares scuttled off, and jumped into the water.
"Truly," said one of the Hares, "things are not so bad as they seem.”

14. In his sophomore year of high school, basketball legend Michael Jordan tried out for the varsity basketball team. But at five feet and
eleven inches tall, the coach believed that Jordan was too short to play. The coach cut Jordan from the team. Jordan didn’t let this
obstacle defeat him. In fact, it pushed him to work even harder. He trained vigorously and grew another four inches the following
summer. The next year, Jordan made the varsity squad. He averaged 25 points a game and went on to become one of the greatest
basketball players in history.

15. Kyle liked Lucy more than any other girl in the school, but he had an odd way of showing it. When she walked ahead of him in line,
he kicked at her shoe. When she passed him on the school yard, he called her "Lucy the Loser." He even wrote a mean word on her
homework during the bus ride to school. But what puzzled Lucy the most was receiving an invitation to Kyle's birthday party. Figuring
that he was just planning a mean trick on her, Lucy decided not to go. As Kyle eagerly awaited Lucy's arrival, Lucy talked on the phone
to Jacob. When Kyle finally realized that Lucy was not coming to his party, he was devastated.

16. Ulysses spent all his free time reading books and felt that he was very intelligent. One day a nice student from his class asked him
if he wanted to go sledding. Ulysses responded, "I've read about sledding in books, and it sounds miserable. No, thank you." On
another day, a different friendly student asked Ulysses if he wanted to go out for hotdogs. Ulysses responded, "I've read that hotdogs
are filled with rat parts and pig bellies. No, thank you." Nobody asked Ulysses to hang out again, but he did read about friends in his
books.

17. Blaine opened up the present and began pouting. He screamed in a high-pitched voice, "This is Captain Thunder! I wanted Captain
Lightning!" His mother looked at him with dismay and handed him another present, which he greedily opened. "Why did you get me a
red hat? You know I like blue more," Blaine whined as he threw the hat across the room. His mother straightened her expression and
squinted at him. Earlier she had hoped to take some pictures of this moment, but by now she had put away her camera. She sighed
and handed him one more present in hopes that this year wouldn't be a total bust. Blaine huffed and opened it. "A Game Box 4000…
wow. Where's the Game Box 5000 that I asked for?" His mother could bear his ingratitude no longer. The next time that Blaine returned
from his father's house, he was shocked to find that all of these toys and gifts, along with many other of his things, had been
generously donated to needy children.

18. Justin was jealous of his cousin Cassie when she was named valedictorian of her class. "Some people are just born smart," he told
himself later as he watched TV on the couch. He had not been with Cassie all those times when she studied late into the night. Justin
was also jealous when his cousin Victor was elected class president. "Some people are just more popular than others," Justin told
himself as he played video games on the couch. He had not been with Victor while he tirelessly campaigned. Justin never noticed that
Victor treated everyone he knew with kindness and respect. When Justin's cousin Matthew became the varsity quarterback, again
Justin was envious. "Some people are just more athletic than others," he told himself as he played on his computer. Justin had not
been with Matthew while he trained morning and night. Justin had never attended the long weekend practices with Matthew. "One day
something lucky will happen to me too," Justin told himself as he snacked on junk food.

19. Tommy wanted a skateboard badly. Sometimes he would stay after school just to watch the older boys do tricks on the stairs.
Tommy thought that it looked like so much fun to grind down rails and kickflip over gaps. He imagined performing jaw-dropping tricks
on the landmarks he passed on his way home. After months of saving money and begging his grandma, Tommy finally got a
skateboard. With a beaming grin across his face, Tommy ran to his driveway and tried one of the tricks that he had imagined. As
Tommy put his first foot on his skateboard, the skateboard slid out from under him and he fell on his butt. Tommy broke out into tears.
That was the last time that Tommy rode a skateboard.

20. Keith was stressed about his research paper. He had to write five pages about something that interested him, but he couldn't think
of anything interesting. He decided that he would play basketball instead. The next night Keith sat down to work again, but he still
couldn't think of anything interesting. So he listened to music and played video games instead. The next few days went much the same.
He told himself that he wasn't interested in anything, and then he read comic books. He watched movies. He read about classic cars.
Still, he couldn't think of any interesting topics for his paper. Keith was worried now because it was due very soon, and he didn't even
have a topic. He tried to think of something that he found interesting, but again he couldn't. He played his guitar and cooked a meal for
his family instead. He loved to cook. At last the due date was here and Keith still didn't even have a topic. By now he had accepted that
he would fail. "If only I could have found a topic that interested me," he told himself.