9.28- Bell-ringer and Theme Exercise

Understanding Theme with Fables

In Aesop’s fables, there is always a moral. The theme of a story is a universal truth that can be found across many forms of literature. A theme is always going to be a sentence, never just one word.  

Directions: Determine the moral or theme of these fables. Write your themes on a half sheet of paper.

1. The Ant and the Grasshopper

            In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content.  An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.   "Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"  "I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."  "Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present."  But the Ant went on its way and continued  its toil.  When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.  Then the Grasshopper knew. 

What did the Grasshopper learn? 

 2. The Monkey and the Cookies

A monkey put his hand into a jar of cookies.  He grasped as many as he could possibly hold, but when he tried to pull out his hand, he was prevented from doing so by the neck of the cookie jar.  Unwilling to lose the cookies, and yet unable to withdraw his hand, he burst into tears and bitterly lamented his disappointment. 

What is the moral of the story?

 3. The Bundle of Sticks

An old monkey on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice.  He ordered them to bring in a bundle of sticks, and said to his eldest son: "Break it."  The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the sticks.  The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful.  "Untie the bundle," said the father, "and each of you take a stick."  When they had done so, he called out to them: "Now, break," and each stick was easily broken.  "You

see my meaning," said their father.

What was the father’s meaning? 

4. The Dogs and the Hides

            Some dogs famished with hunger saw a number of cowhides steeping in a river.  Not being able to reach them, they agreed to drink up the river, but it happened that they burst themselves with drinking long before they reached the hides. 

What is the moral of the story?