Aesop Fables

AESOP’S FABLES
Retold by Carol Watson

Introduction
The mystery writer
These stories were first told so long ago, no one knows who really wrote them. They may have been written by a man called Aesop, who lived in Greece thousands of years ago.
No one knows much about Aesop either. He might have been a slave… or a king. But everyone agrees the stories are great. And they all have onething in common.
(What does this tell you?)
Every story is a fable. This means it has a moral, or a lesson to be learned. See if you can guess the moral before the story ends.

Chapter I
The tortoise and the hare
One day, the hare was boasting about how amazingly fast he could run. His friend just yawned.
They’d heard it all before.
The hare started to pick on the old tortoise.
“You’reso slow, I’m surprised you ever get anywhere,” he teased.
(A snail could run faster than you!)
“I may be slow,” replied the tortoise, “but I bet I can reach the end of this field before you.”
“Hooray, a challenge!” whooped the hare. “Come on everyone. Watch me win!”
(Go on tortoise!)
(This is a joke!)
The other animals gathered around as the hare and the tortoise lined up to start.
“Ready,steady, go!” shouted the badger. Everyone cheered as the hare raced off, leaving the tortoise far behind.
The tortoise wasn’t bothered. She plodded along at her own speed.
(What’s the rush?)
Halfway across the field, the hare looked back over his shoulder.
“That old tortoise will take all day,” he thought. “I might as well have a little rest.”
(zzzzzzz…)
Soon he had fallen fast asleep inthe warm sunshine.
Several hours later, the hare woke up in a panic. In the distance, he could see the tortoise about to cross the finishing line. He ran as fast as he could, but it was too late. The tortoise had won.
(Who’s the slow one now?)
And the moral is…
Slow but sure can win the race.

Chapter 2
The thirsty crow
One hot summer, a thirsty crow was searching for something todrink. It hadn’t rained for weeks and he was beginning to give up hope.
Then in the distance he spied a pot on someone’s windowsill.
He flew over to take a closer look.
(Please let there be some water inside.)
He could see water, but he couldn’t reach it. Now he felt even more thirsty.
(How will I ever drink that?)
“Maybe I could break the pot…” he thought.
But his beak wouldn’t crack thehard clay.
“If I could just knock the pot over…”
He pushed with all his weight but the pot wouldn’t budge.
The crow felt very sorry for himself… until he had an idea. He flew to a pile of pebbles, picked them up one by one and dropped them into the pot.
Each pebble pushed the water up a little higher, until the crow could finally take a sip.
The cold water tasted wonderful and the crowcongratulated himself on being so clever.
And the moral is…
Try hard enough and you’ll get what you want.

Chapter 3
The ant and the dove
On his way home, an ant saw a sparkling fountain. He crawled onto its wall to take a closer look.
The next thing he knew, he had slipped into the water. He gurgled and panicked and waved his legs in the air.
(Help! I can’t swim.)
Luckily, just at thatmoment, a friendly dove flew by. She saw that the tiny ant was drowning and quickly flew to a nearby tree.
She pulled off a leaf and let it glide down to the ant.
“Here you are,” she cooed, and flew away.
The ant struggled onto the leaf. He breathed a sigh of relief as the floated to safety.
(Whew!)
The following day, he saw his rescuer in a field. The dove was out looking for worms… and shewasn’t alone.
The ant knew the dove was in trouble, but what could he do?
With one swoop of his net, the man trapped the dove.
“You’re coming with me, my beauty,” he cried.
“Not if I can help it,” thought the ant. He ran up the man’s leg and bit him.
(Ouch!)
The man yelped and dropped the net to clutch his leg.
“Thank you my little friend,” cooed the dove, as she flew away.
And the moral...