Name: _________________________
A fable is a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral. It
usually involves the supernatural, and contains elements of myth and legend. Aesop,
who lived in the 6th century BC, is credited with writing hundreds of fables. Each fable
contains a moral—a lesson concerning what is right or prudent, that can be derived
from a story, a piece of information, or an experience. Your job is to decipher what the
moral of these short pieces are. I’ll help you on the first:
A CROW perishing with thirst saw a pitcher, and hoping to find water, flew to it with
delight. When he reached it, he discovered to his grief that it contained so little water
that he could not possibly get at it. He tried everything he could think of to reach the
water, but all his efforts were in vain. At last he collected as many stones as he could
carry and dropped them one by one with his beak into the pitcher, until he brought the
water within his reach and thus saved his life.
Moral: Necessity is the mother of invention.
Sometimes, stories end with the moral. As in the story of the One-Eyed Doe:
A DOE had had the misfortune to lose one of her eyes, and could not see any one
approaching her on that side. So to avoid any danger she always used to feed on a
high cliff near the sea, with her sound eye looking towards the land. By this means she
could see whenever the hunters approached her on land, and often escaped by this
means. But the hunters found out that she was blind of one eye, and hiring a boat
rowed under the cliff where she used to feed and shot her from the sea. "Ah," cried she
with her dying voice, "You cannot escape your fate.” (the moral)
Now, it’s your turn to find the moral.
THE ANTS were spending a fine winter's day drying grain collected in the summertime.
A Grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food.
The Ants inquired of him, "Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?' He
replied, "I had not leisure enough. I passed the days in singing." They then said in
derision: "If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance
supperless to bed in the winter."
Moral: ________________________________________________________________
SOME BOYS, playing near a pond, saw a number of Frogs in the water and began to
pelt them with stones. They killed several of them, when one of the Frogs, lifting his
head out of the water, cried out: "Pray stop, my boys: what is sport to you, is death to
us."
Moral: ________________________________________________________________
Name: _________________________
A BEE from Mount Hymettus, the queen of the hive, ascended to Olympus to present
Jupiter some honey fresh from her combs. Jupiter, delighted with the offering of honey,
promised to give whatever she should ask. She therefore besought him, saying, "Give
me, I pray thee, a sting, that if any mortal shall approach to take my honey, I may kill
him." Jupiter was much displeased, for he loved the race of man, but could not refuse
the request because of his promise. He thus answered the Bee: "You shall have your
request, but it will be at the peril of your own life. For if you use your sting, it shall
remain in the wound you make, and then you will die from the loss of it."
Moral: ________________________________________________________________
AN ANT, going to a river to drink, fell in, and was carried along in the stream. A Dove
pitied her condition, and threw into the river a small bough, by means of which the Ant
gained the shore. The Ant afterward, seeing a man with a fowling-piece aiming at the
Dove, stung him in the foot sharply, and made him miss his aim, and so saved the
Dove's life.
Moral: ________________________________________________________________
A FATHER had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves.
When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a
practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to
bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had done so, he placed the bundle of sticks
into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces.
They tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it. He next opened the bundle,
took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons' hands, upon
which they broke them easily. He then addressed them in these words: "My sons, if
you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this bundle, uninjured
by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be
broken as easily as these sticks."
Moral: ________________________________________________________________
