A fable is a short story, or folktale, which uses animals as characters
and teaches us some kind of “moral” or moral lesson.
Many people are familiar with Aesop’s Fables.
The following are two of them.
Maybe you can figure out the moral each fable is trying to teach you.
The Jay and the Peacock
A jay that was not satisfied with his appearance
walked into a yard where peacocks lived.
He found that on the ground were a number of feathers.
“They must have fallen from the peacocks when they were changing feathers.
I can collect and use them to decorate my body,
” thought the jay.
Then he tied the feathers to his tail and strode with pride toward the peacocks.
But the peacocks soon discovered the jay’s trick,
and they said,
“Look! On his tail are the feathers that fell from us! He is a big cheater!”
They then strode up to him,
pecked at him, and plucked away his borrowed feathers.
The jay had no choice but to go back to the other jays.
However, his companions, who had watched his behavior from a distance, were angry at him.
They said, “Now you have learned a lesson.
It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.”
Critical Thinking:
If you were the jay’s companion,
how would you react to his behavior?