We are beginning our Narrative Unit. Please read the following work and then complete the CHALLENGE question at the bottom for homework:
The Camel and the Mouse by Rumi
One day an untended camel was approached by a mouse. "Let me lead you," the mouse said. Since the cam had nowhere to go and no one to protect him, he agreed to follow the mouse.
Taking the camel's halter in his hand, the mouse began to march the camel across the wilderness. It wasn't long before they came to a swift and angry river. The mouse pulled back from the shore, but the camel stepped into the water. It was up to his knees.
"Take me up on your shoulders and carry me across the river," the mouse commanded, "or I will drown."
"You should have thought of this before you tried to become a leader," the camel answered, and marched across the river by himself.
The Oh So Grand Ox, and the Poor Pathetic Frog By La Fontaine
One day an ox, having wandered far from his home, came to a pond that was filled with water lilies. He did not notice the croaking frog who was trying very hard to get his attention. Although the ox heard the croaking, he had no idea what it meant, or even who was doing it. He was too busy admiring the water lilies.
Meanwhile, the frog -- who had never before seen a creature so large or majestic, so proud or mysterious, or so strange -- found herself growing larger and larger in an attempt to be noticed. Croaking and puffing, and puffing and croaking, she sprang from her lily pad to the shore, but she still couldn't get the ox's attention.
Finally, the frog began rolling on her sides, and twisting her head this way and that, to see if she had been noticed, until her outer skin was so completely filled with hot air that she exploded.
The ox looked down to see what had made such a noise, but the frog, of course, was no longer there.
CHALLENGE: The moral of a fable is sometimes directly stated at the end of the story. Decide how you would express the moral of each of the two model fables. You may write: The moral of (insert title) is...
