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Read short stories with talking animals and learn how to find the 'moral' or lesson of the story.
What if a tiny mouse could save a giant lion, or a slow turtle could beat a speedy rabbit in a race? These stories aren't just for fun—they are secret codes that teach us how to be heroes in our own lives!
A fable is a very short story that has been told for hundreds of years. You can spot a fable easily because it usually has three special 'ingredients.' First, the characters are almost always animals that talk and act like humans. This is called personification. Second, the story is short and moves quickly. Third, the story is told to teach us a specific lesson about life. These stories were made famous long ago by a man named Aesop, who used animal characters to show how humans behave—both the good parts and the bad parts!
Quick Check
What are the three main 'ingredients' of a fable?
Answer
Animal characters, a short story length, and a lesson to be learned.
1. Characters: A fast Hare (rabbit) and a slow Tortoise (turtle). 2. The Action: The Hare is so confident he will win that he takes a nap during the race. 3. The Result: The Tortoise keeps moving slowly and passes the sleeping Hare to win. 4. The Feature: This is a fable because animals are talking and racing like people!
Every fable has a moral. A moral is the 'big idea' or the lesson the story is trying to teach you. It is like a rule for how to be a better person. Usually, the author puts the moral at the very end of the story in one short sentence. To find it, ask yourself: 'What did the main character learn the hard way?' or 'What should I do differently after reading this?' Finding the moral is like finding the prize inside a cereal box—it's the most important part!
Quick Check
Where do you usually find the moral in a fable?
Answer
At the very end of the story.
1. Scenario: A boy thinks it is funny to trick villagers by shouting 'Wolf!' when there isn't one. 2. The Problem: When a real wolf finally comes, the boy screams for help, but no one comes because they think he is lying again. 3. Finding the Moral: The boy learned that if you lie, people won't believe you even when you tell the truth. 4. The Lesson: 'Liers are not believed, even when they speak the truth.'
Sometimes the moral isn't written out for you, and you have to figure it out yourself. You can use a simple Lesson Formula to help you summarize it. Think of it like this:
If a character is greedy and loses their snack, the moral is likely: 'Be happy with what you have.' By looking at what went wrong for the animal in the story, you can discover the right way to act in real life. This helps you remember the story much longer!
1. The Mistake: A dog carrying a bone sees his reflection in the water and thinks it's another dog with a bigger bone. 2. The Action: He snaps at the reflection to grab the other bone. 3. The Consequence: His own bone falls into the water and is lost forever. 4. The Summary: Using our formula, we see that being greedy () led to losing everything (). The moral is: 'It is very foolish to be greedy.'
Which of these is a common feature of a fable?
What is a 'moral'?
Fables are usually very short because they want to get straight to the lesson.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow morning, try to remember the 'Lesson Formula': What two things do you add together to find the moral of a story?
Practice Activity
Pick your favorite animal. Write a 3-sentence fable where that animal learns a lesson about sharing or being kind!