fables for kids

fables for kids

Tolstoy's translations of Aesop's fables sometimes take the form of aproverb ("The shipwreck") or a folk tale ("The Fox and the Wood Grouse"). And are some times closer to an everyday story ("Two Companions"). He shifted the action of the fables to his native land.

Greek fables usually ended with a moral or some kind, Tolstoy did away with this ending, retaining only the action and the characters, confdent that kids would work out for themselves what the fables were about and what conclusions should should be drawn from them.

fables

 

The monkey's children.

  A monkey had two children. She loved one, but not the other. One day some people chased the monkey. She picked up her favourite child and ran off with him, but left the unloved one behind. The unloved child hid in a thicket, and the people ran past and did not notice him. But the monkey leapt onto atree in such a hurry that she knocked her beloved child's head aganinst a branch and killed him. When the people had gone. The monkey went to look for her unloved child, but could not find him and was left all alone.

Short fables moral's the ant with the pigeon.

An ant went down to a brook to drink. A wave knocked him over and he nearly drowned. A pigeon was the flying overhed with atwig in her beadk. She saw the ant drowning in the brook and dropped the twig to him. Then a hunter threw a net over the pigeon and was about to bull it tight. The ant crawled up to the hunter and bit his leg. The hunter cried out with pain and dropped the net. Out flew the pigeon and soared away.

The quail and her children

A quail hatched her young in a field of oats and was afraid the master would come and mow the field. She flew off to hunt for food and bade her children listen and tell her what the men said. When she came back that evening her children said: " It's bad, mother. The master came and said to his son:" The oats are ripe, it's time to mow. Go to our friends and neighbours and bid them come and help with the mowing." It's bad, mother take us away. The neighbours are coming to now early in the morning." The old quail listened and said: "Do not worry, children. The oats won't get mown for a while. You need have no fear." And again she flew away at daybreak and bade them listen to what the master said. When the quail returned. Her children said to her:" The master was here againmother. He waited forhis friends and neighbours, but no one came. Then he said to his son:"Go to your cousins, brothers in law and godfathers and tell them your father dids them come tomorrow without fail fail and help mow theoat field". "Don't be afraid, children. There won't be any mow ing tomorrow either." said the old quail. The third day she returned again and asked:"Well, what happened?" " The master and his son were here again, waiting for their relatives. Their relatives did not come.Then the master said to his son:"Looks like we'll have no help with the harvest, lad. The oats are ripe. Get the hooks ready. We'll come and mow on our own at sunrise" "Ah, children ", said the quail." When a man tackles a job on his own, without waiting for help, the job will get down. it's time we went".

The woman and the hen

A hen laid an egg every day. Her mistress thought if she gave the hen more food it would lay twice as many eggs. So she did. The hen grew fat and stopped laying eggs at all.

The hen and the golden eggs

A man had a hen who laid golden egs. He wanted a lot of gold, so he killed the hen. thinking there was a lump of gold inside it. But it was just the same as other hens

The old man and death

An old man chopped a pile of file of firewood and began carrying it home. The way was long. He grew tired, laid down his bundle and said: "AH, If only Death would come!" Death came to him and said: " Here i am. What do want?" The man took fright and replied: "I want you pick up my bundle"

The raven and the fox

A raven dound a oiece of meat and sat down on a branch. A fox wanted some meat too. She came up and said: "Hey, reven, you're a handsome fellow. With your height and good looks you could be tsar. And you probably woukd be tsar tsar if you had a fine voice". The raven opened his mouth abd cawed with all his might. The mmeat fell down. The fox seized it and said:"Ah, raven, you would be tsar, if only you had some brains"

Two friends

Two friends were walking through the forest when when a bear attacked them. One turned and fled. He climbed a tree andsat there, while the other remained on the road. There was nothing for him to do but fall to the ground and play dead. The bear came up to him and sniffed. The boy even stopped breathing. The bear sniffed his face, decided he was dead and lumbered off. When the bear was gone the other boy climbeb down and said with a smile:" What did the bear whisper in your ear?" " It said that someone who deserts his friend in time of danger is not a goodperson at all"

Hares and frogs

The hares got together and lamented their fate:" We're prey to men, dogs, eagles and all sorts of beasts. It woudld be better to die, than live in frear and torment. Let's drown ourselves" So the hares raced down to the lake to drow them selves. The frogs heard the hares and dived into the water. Then one of the hares said: " Wait a minute, lads! Let's mot drow ourselves yet. A frog's life must be even wore than ours. They're afraid of us as well"

The ass in the lion's skin

An ass put on a lion's skin, and everyone thought he was a lion. People and animals fled from him. Then agust of wind blew the lion's skin open, so you could see the ass. Up ran the people and thrashed him to within an inch of his life.

Short fables the fox and the grapes

A fox saw some bunches of ripe grapes and did all she could to get them down. She tried for a long time, but could not reach them. " They're sour" she said, to make up for her disap pointment.

short fables with morals

The lion, the bear and the fox

A lion and a bear got hold of some meat and began to fight over it. The bear would not give way, neither would the lion. They fould for a long whitle, ubtil they were very tired and lay down. Afox saw the meat lying between them, grabbed it and ran way.

The wolf and the crane.

A wolf was choking on a bone and could not cough it up. He called a crane and said: " Now then, crane, you have a long neck, Put your head down my throat and pull out the bone. I will reward you." The crane put in his head, pulled out the bone and said: " Now give methe reward" The wolf gnashed his teeth and snarled:" Isn't it enough that i dindn't bite off your head when it was between my teeth?.

The dog and her shadow.

A dog was walking along a plank over a stream, carrying apiecce of meat in her mouth. She saw herself in the water and thought there was an other dog carrying meat down there. She dropped the meat and tried to take the other piece away. But there was no other piece, and her own meat was carried away by the stream. So the dog was lefl

The horse and her masters

A gardener had a hore. The horse was give plenty of work, but little to eat. So she prayed to God for another master. And she got one. The horse was overjoyed, but the potter gave her even more work tha the gardener. Again the horse be gan to lament her fate and pray for a better master. And again her prayer was answered. The potter sold her to the tanner. When the horse saw the skins in the tanner;s yard, she howled miserbaly:" Ah, woe isme! Why didn't i stay with my old master! now i have been sold not for my work, but for my work, but my skin".

The greedy mouse

A mousegnawed at the floor boards and made a crack. The mouse was greedy and ate so much that her tummy was full. When day came, the mouse wanted to go back to her hole, but her tummy was so full that she could not squeeze through the crack.

The mouse and the frog

A mouse went to visit a frog. The frog met the mouse on the bank and invited her to house under the water. The mouse went in, but swallowed so much water she barely managed to get out alive. " i'll never go visiting atrange flok again," she said.

The country mouse and the town mouse

A town mouse came to visit a country mouse. The country mouse lived in a field and gave her visitor all she had, peas and wheat. The town mouse nibbled it for a while, then said:" You're so thin because your food is so poor. Come and see how we lie in the town." So the country mouse went to visit her. They waited until nigh time, then the town mouse led her guest though a crack into the dining room, and they both climbed onto the table. The country mouse had never seen such fine fare. " You're right", she said." Out food is poor. I will come to live in the town too" No sooner had she saidso, than a man with a candle came into the room and chased the mice, They barely managed to escape through the crack. " No, " said the country mouse. " My house in the field is better. I may have no sweetmeats, but I never know such fear"

The peacock

The birds assembled to shoose a tsar. The peacock spread his tail and began calling himself tsar. And all the birds chose him as tsar for his good looks. But the magpie said:" Tell ua, peacock, when you are tsar, how will you pro tect us from the hawk if he chases us?" The peacock did not know what to say. The birds began to doubt that he would make a good tsar. So they chose the eagle to be tsar instead.

The pot and the pan

Aclay pot had a quarrel with an iron pan. The pot threatened to hit the pan. " It makes no difference if you hit me or I hit you" said the pan. " For it will be you that breaks, not me"

The bat

Long, long ago there was a bitter war between the animals and the birds. The bat did not join in on either side. She waited to see who would gain the upper hand. At firs the birds began to win. So the bat joined the birds and flew about with them, calling herself a bird. But then, when the animals I looked like winning, the bat went over to them. She showed them her teeth, paws and suckers and assured them she was and animal and liked animals. In the end the birds won, so the bat went over to them again, but they chased her away. She could not go tu back to the animals either, so ever since then bat has lived in cellars and tree truks, flying only at dusk and steering clear of both animals and birds.

The miser

A miser saved up a chest full of money, buried it in the ground and went secretly each day to look at it. His workman happened to see him. That night the workman dug up the chest and stole it. When the miser came to look at his money, he saw it was gone and began to cry. A neghbour saw him and said: " Why are you crying? You never did anything with the money, did you? Go and look at the hole where it was. What's the difference?"

The sun and the wind

The sun had an argument with the wind about who could undress a person first. The wind blew a man's jacket open and tugged at his cap, but the man simply pulled down his cap and buttoned up his jacket. So the wind did not undress him. Then it was the sun's turn. No sooner did it get hot, than the man unbuttoned his jacket and pushed back his cap. Then it got hotter still, and the man took everything off.

The bear and the bees

A bear came lumbering through the trees

And stole the honey from the bees

Then up the angry bees all rose

And stung the bear upon the nose

"Ouch, ouch, my nose!" the bear did cry

And straightway homewards he did hide.

The cat and the ram

There was once a man who had a cat and a ram. When he came home from work the cat would run up to him, click his hand, jump onto his back and rub itself against him. And the man would stroke it and give it beard. The ram also wanted to be stroke and given bear. So one day when the man came back from the field, the ram ran up to him, licked his hands and rubbed itself against his legs. The man thought this way funny and waited to see what would happen next. The ram went behind him, stood on its hind legs and jumped on the man's back, knocking him over. The man's son saw the ram knock his father over, took a whip and gave the ram a good hiding

The reed and the oliver tree

The olive tree and the reed had an argument about who was stronger. The olive tree laughed at the reed, because it bowed before the wind. The reed said nothing. A storm blew up. The reed swayed and shook, bowing down to the ground, and survived the storm. The olive tree braced its branches against the wind and snapped in two.

 

The stag

A stag went down to a stream to drink, saw himself in the water and admired his antlers which were so big and spreadling. But then he looked at his legs and said: " Only my poor legs are as matchsticks." Suddenly out jumped a lion and leap at the stag. The stag raced off across the open plain. He was drawing away, but when he came to the forest, his antlers got tangled in the branches and the lion caught him. When his end was near, the stag said:" What a fool i was ! What i thought was poor and thin as matchsticks saved me, and what i admired was the death of me"

The father and his sons

A father bade his sons liver in harmony. They would not listen to him. So he told them to bring a besom and said:" break it!" No matter how hard they tried, they could not break it. Then the father untied the besom and told them to break the twigs one at a time. They broke the twigs one by one with no trouble at all. " It's the same with you," the father said. " If you live in harmony, no one will get the better of you. But if you quarrel and split up, anyone will wasily ruin you"

The shipwreck

Some fishermen were out in a boat, when a storm blew up. They were afraid, dropped their oars and prayed to god to help them. The boat was carried farther and father from the shore. Then the eldest fisherman said: " Why drop your oars, lads? God helps those who help themselves."

The wolf and the old woman

A hungry wolf was looking for food. On the edge of a village he heard a boy erying in house and an old woman say:" If you don't stop erying, i'll give you to the wolf" The wolf went no further and waited to be given the boy. Nigh fell. On he waited until he heard the old woman say: "Don't ery, my darling. I won't give you to the wolf. If he dares come by, we'll kill him straightaway" "The folk here say on thing, but do another," thought the wolf and went on his way.

The maids and the rooster

A mistress woke her maids up at night and put them to work when the rooster erowed. The maids were unhappy with this and decided to kill the rooster so he would not wake up their mistress. And so they did, but it was the worse for them. Their mistress was afraid of oversleeping and got them up even earlier.

The ferret

A ferret went to a copper smithy and licked a file. His tongue began to bleed. The ferret was pleased for he thought the blood was coming from the iron, and so he ruined his whole tongue.

The hen and the swallow

A hen found some snake eggs and sat on them to hatch them out. Aswallow saw her and said: " Silly thing! you'll hatch them out, and when they grow up you'll be the first to suffer"

Extract source Lev Tolstoy

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