Aesop's Fables, or Aesopica, refers to a collection of fables credited to Aesop (circa 620 BC– 560 BC), a slave and story-teller living in ancient Greece. 'Aesop's Fables' has also become a blanket term for collections of brief fables, usually involving personified animals.
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Read the fables and then do a vocabulary activity and a comprehension activity. Finally, do some writing yourself and read texts written by other readers.
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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 birdcatcher came and stood under the tree, and laid his lime-twigs for the dove, which sat in the branches. The ant, perceiving his design, stung him in the foot. In pain the birdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the dove take wing.
One good turn deserves another.
A certain house was overrun with mice. A cat, discovering this, made her way into it and began to catch and eat them one by one. Fearing for their lives, the mice kept themselves close in their holes. The cat was no longer able to get at them and perceived that she must tempt them forth by some device. For this purpose she jumped upon a peg, and suspending herself from it, pretended to be dead. One of the mice, peeping stealthily out, saw her and said, 'Ah, my good madam, even though you should turn into a meal-bag, we will not come near you.'
He who is once deceived is doubly cautious.
A crab, forsaking the seashore, chose a neighbouring green meadow as its feeding ground. A fox came across him, and being very hungry ate him up. Just as he was on the point of being eaten, the crab said, 'I well deserve my fate, for what business had I on the land, when by my nature and habits I am only adapted for the sea?'
Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.
| Follow-up activities |
| modern-day fables – change the characters and/or the setting and rewrite the fable for the modern-day world. |
| morals – take the moral as your starting point and write a different fable that demonstrates the same message. |
| adapting the message - adapt the fable so that it uses the same characters and/or setting, but gives across a different message. |
| invention - start from scratch and create your very own story with a message. |
Send us your fables
Once there lived a very pretty girl. She was as pretty as a peacock. Yet she thought she was not beautiful enough but her parents thought she was special.
She was as gentle as a rabbit. She walked so slowly. She walked so politely. Yet she believed she was useless but people considered it as a virtue.
She was so charitable. She gave away whatever good things she got to others. She wanted to see them happy at her expense. People said she was so generous.
She wanted to help not only her parents but also all the poor people around her. So she got married to a person who had a good fortune and went to another county to become richer. Yet her only dream was to help others not to live lavishly for sure but people there said that she came to make them miserable. She really wondered why they were saying so.
The girl who wanted to make others happy began to suffer a lot. She had to live at the expense of others because she was forbidden to earn any money for it would bring her freedom they feared.
They said her hair was rough, her movements were so slow, and her speech was so low, shy and uncommunicative and she was below standard in most of her doings. She became the laughing stock of the people. People said she was too thrifty.
She felt useless. She became more silent. What she once considered as virtues became nothing. What she once considered as her goal became now a dream. A mere dream, which could not come true in her whole lifetime. She became so withdrawn but to her surprise, it made the people around her happy.
The girl who always wanted the happiness of others now got relief. Even though sacrificing the person within her, she could make others happy. She consoled herself. So she became happy. She became contented.
Pia M.S.
An ant felt thirsty so went to the bank of a river to satisfy her thirst. She was taken into the stream by the rush of water and she was nearly drowned. A dove was sitting on the top of a tree and rescued the little ant by removing a leaf and dropping it into the water close to her. The little ant, gasping, climbed onto the leaf and moved safety to the bank. Shortly afterwards, a hunter came, stood under the tree and laid his lime-twigs for the dove. The little ant realised this and hurt the hunter on his foot. The hunter yelled out in pain and his sound make the dove fly away. Being good to the ant by saving her life brought back good to the dove as she was rescued by the ant.
SRahi2
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