Fabulous Fables
A fable is a story that features animals, plants or forces of nature which are given
human qualities. A fable always ends with a ‘moral’. This is the lesson that is
intended to be learnt through reading the story.
One of the most famous fables is The Hare and the Tortoise. Can you think of any
other fables you know?
Most of our best-known fables are thought to have been written by a man called
Aesop, who is believed to have been a slave in Ancient Greece around 550BC.
Monday :
Below are a number of fables. Read the short stories, then write what you think the
moral (lesson) of the story is. E.g. the moral of The Tortoise and the Hare is ‘slow and
steady wins the race!’ / taking your time can be better than rushing.
The Ant and the Dove
An Ant went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and being carried
away by the rush of the stream, was on the point of drowning. A Dove
sitting on a tree overhanging the water plucked a leaf and let it fall into
the stream close to her. The Ant climbed onto it and floated in safety to
the bank. Shortly afterwards a bird catcher came and stood under the
tree, and laid his lime-twigs (which were used to catch birds) for the
Dove, which sat in the branches. The Ant, understanding his use, stung
him in the foot. In pain the bird catcher threw down the twigs, and the
noise made the Dove take wing.
What is the moral of the story?
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The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
A Wolf found great difficulty in hunting the sheep because of the
shepherd and his dogs. But one day it found the skin of a sheep that had
sheared, so it put it on over its own coat and strolled down among the
sheep. A sheep began to follow the Wolf in the Sheep's clothing; so,
leading it a little away from the rest of the other sheep, he soon made a
meal off her, and for some time he succeeded in deceiving the sheep, and
enjoying hearty meals.
What is the moral of the story?
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"What a noble and gracious bird I see in the tree!" proclaimed the fox,
"What exquisite beauty! What fair plumage! If her voice is as lovely as her
The Fox and the Crow
A fox was walking through the forest when he saw a crow sitting on a tree
branch with a fine piece of cheese in her beak. The fox wanted the cheese and
decided he would be clever enough to outwit the bird.
"What a noble and gracious bird I see in the tree!" proclaimed the fox, "What
exquisite beauty! What fair plumage! If her voice is as lovely as her beauty,
she would no doubt be the jewel of all birds."
The crow was so flattered by all this talk that she opened her beak and gave a
cry to show the fox her voice.
"Caw! Caw!" she cried, as the cheese dropped to the ground for the fox to
grab.
Moral: ______________________________________________________
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
A man and his wife owned a very special goose. Every day the goose would lay
a golden egg, which made the couple very rich.
"Just think," said the man's wife, "If we could have all the golden eggs that are
inside the goose, we could be richer much faster."
"You're right," said her husband, "We wouldn't have to wait for the goose to
lay her egg every day."
So, the couple killed the goose and cut her open, only to find that she was just
like every other goose. She had no golden eggs inside of her at all, and they
had no more golden eggs.
What is the moral of the story?
Answers on the next page. No peaking!
Perhaps you could look up some other fables and guess the morals.
Answers:
1. Moral: One good turn deserves another
2. Moral: Appearances are deceptive.
3. Moral: Beware of flattery.
4. Moral: Too much greed results in nothing
Tuesday:
Read the fable of the lion and the mouse – see document on website. Answer the
comprehension questions below.
1. What was lion doing at the start of the story?
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2. List 2 words the lion uses to describe the mouse. Can you think of one of your own to
describe a mouse?
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3. Why did the lion let the mouse go?
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4. How did the mouse know the lion was in trouble?
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5. Why did he go to help the lion?
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6. How did the mouse rescue the lion? Why couldn’t the lion do this himself?
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7. What do you think the moral of this story is?
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Wednesday:
Mind map adjectives/ descriptive phrase/similes for the lion and the mouse. Try to
come up with powerful vocabulary. Use a thesaurus to improve simple words (e.g.
big).
teeth like….
feeble
Wednesday
Look at your descriptions of the lion and the mouse.
What qualities are important about the animals in this story that link to the moral?
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Do these animals have to be a lion & mouse? If we rewrite the story, what other
animals would fit these descriptions? List as many animals as you can.
Small/ Weak
Large/ Strong
What is the problem the mouse solves in the story?
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Choose 2 animals from your lists (one large/strong, one small/weak).
What problem could the small animal solve that the larger animal couldn't (e.g.
mouse could nibble net but the lion couldn’t).
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Thursday: Plan your own version of The Lion and the Mouse. Keep to the same story
structure, but change the animals and the problem they face.
Friday:
Write your own fable based on The Lion and the Mouse. Remember to write in
paragraphs – each box on your plan should be a new paragraph. Use the
adverbial phrase sentence starter sheet saved on the website to come up with
exciting sentence starters. Then is in word jail!
then
Story Checklist
Does my story have:
capital letters to start
sentences?
full stops to end sentences?
2 characters (one weak, one
strong)?
a setting?
a problem that the weak
character can solve?
Description of what the
characters, see, hear,
smell, touch or feel?
an ending where the moral is
clear?
different words to start
sentences, including at least 4
adverbial phrases?
speech marks for words spoken
Go through the checklist at the end of writing. If you have missed anything, get a pen and
edit your working, adding in punctuation / more powerful sentence starters/ vocabulary.
