Category: fable

"The Shepherd's Boy and the Wolf" by Aesop I always knew this fable by the name "The Boy who Cried Wolf." It's a well-known story about a shepherd boy who calls "wolf, wolf!" but just laughs at his neighbors when they come to help him. Eventually, as we know, the wolf truly does come, but no one believes the boy when he calls, so all the sheep are killed. There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth. Aesop's fable are so short and to the point that I tend to like the books based on them more. The stories add a little to the original and the illustrations in picture books catch kids' attention while keeping the lesson. So I stopped at the library yesterday to find a version of The Boy who Cried Wolf, but our library didn't have any that weren't checked out. They did have The Wolf Who Cried Boy however. The Wolf Who Cried Boy by...

The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs by Aesop I'm learning that I'm not really much of a fan of Aesop's fables. There's just not much to them and the morals are almost too obvious. Re-tellings seem to be a little better, but I didn't find one for today's fable, which tells of a couple who make a really bad decision. A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it. Then, they thought, they could obtain the whole store of precious metal at once; however, upon cutting the goose open, they found its innards to be like that of any other goose. What moral do you want to go with? Greed destroys everything. Think before...

"The Monkey and the Camel" by Aesop I had never heard of this fable before, but with hundreds of fables attributed to Aesop it's really no surprise. Here's the story, from Litscape.com: The beasts of the forest gave a splendid entertainment, at which the Monkey stood up and danced. Having vastly delighted the assembly, he sat down amidst universal applause. The Camel, envious of the praises bestowed on the Monkey and desirous to divert to himself the favor of the guests, proposed to stand up in his turn, and dance for their amusement. He moved about in so very ridiculous a manner, that the Beasts, in a fit of indignation, set upon him with clubs, and drove him out of the assembly. Moral: It is absurd to ape our betters. We've all at some time or other wished we had talents or abilities that we don't. Poor Camel took it a step further, actually trying to dance like monkey, in front of a large, distinguished audience...