Teaching Aesop’s Fables and The Often Elusive “Lesson Learned” Using Story Grammar Marker

Happy New Year to All! Colleagues often ask how I would use the Story Grammar Marker^® or Braidy the StoryBraid^® with Aesop’s Fables. Fables are stories that teach a lesson and, because of that feature, are often part of academic curricula from grade 1 on.

I decided to write a little bit about fables today because the lessons learned often relate to New Year’s Resolutions we all make! Most often fables involve animals as the characters but relate to human nature.

Perspective taking, Theory of Mind and Lessons Learned are required to understand a fable. All of these are difficult for many students.

The following shows the use of our Story Grammar Marker^® icons to map “The Ants & The Grasshopper” fable for purposes of comprehension and expression. These icons—and our entire SGM^® approach—will be 28 years old in 2019!

Fables teach a lesson, so the final (Resolution) heart is important to fables: “lesson learned”…plan and work hard; slow and steady wins the race, etc.

BUT, to get to the lesson of the ants and grasshopper, one must understand the story from two perspectives! Taking each set of characters (ants/grasshopper), fill out a map for both perspectives before you begin the lesson with children.

First, though, it is important to note the characteristics of the characters:  ants (busy workers) / grasshopper (heard “fiddling” through the summer months and seems to do nothing more than fiddle and hop around). Both of these characteristics have been observed by farmers/naturalists, etc., through the years. Thus, these characters have different work ethics! 

So…the Critical Thinking Triangle^® is very important for understanding these perspectives. Young children may not identify the Kick-Off, name the Feelings, or think about characters’ Thoughts or Plans. That’s why it is so hard to teach fables: perspectives and elements of the CTT.

Sometimes I begin the lesson, “I am going to read a story to you. It is about a group of ants and a grasshopper.”

“The lesson of this fable (Story) is that sometimes it is time to work and sometimes it is time to play.”

Divide children into “character listeners”: an ant group / a grasshopper group.

“Who worked….what happened? Who played…what happened?”

“Should the ants have given the grasshopper any of the grain?” I used this one time and there was a girl who said he should have played the fiddle (she said guitar) for them and maybe they would give him some…Somehow I don’t think it would have worked!

The following two books would be great to use to work on variations of the Ants and the Grasshopper fable. One has different characters and the other has a very different ending.

Lionni, L. (1967) Frederick. NY: Pantheon Books. In this book, the characters are all mice, a family of field mice. Four mice are hard workers who harvest food for winter. The fifth, Frederick, gathers sunlight, colors, and words by observing the world about him while the others are working. The family wonders aloud why Frederick does not work as hard as they do. He replies that he “is working while gathering sunlight, colors, and words for harvest.”

Lo and behold, the harvested food runs out and the mice and cold and hungry. Frederick saves the day with sunlight, talk of colors of spring and a poem! Lesson: Hard work is not necessarily the same for everyone and the rewards are many if you think outside the box!

Pinkney, J. (2015). Grasshopper and the ants. NY: Little, Brown & Company. In this beautifully illustrated book, the author “re-imagines” the fable of the grasshopper and the ants.

The lesson learned is voiced by the author: He notes that this timeless fable “cautions against idleness”: but also “It reminds us not only to work hard—but also to find joy in sharing what we’ve worked for.”

Pinkney changed the ending to include a welcome cup of tea, offered by the queen ant, when it was evident that the grasshopper was in dire straits, but had learned its lesson, and would probably come up with a its own plan for next winter. This is depicted by a page that opens vertically showing the grasshopper shivering in the snow as the ants below enjoy warmth and food. The illustrations end with a grand musical celebration which incorporates the grasshopper’s talents!

In both of these books, the Story Grammar Marker^® or Braidy the StoryBraid^®, can be utilized to depict the story grammar structure from all characters’ perspectives! Enjoy.