The Unicorn And The Bear
Jordyn T., 7, Salem, OR
The moral of my fable: Always be nice to others; being mean won’t get you anywhere.
My fable: Once upon a time, there was a unicorn and a Bear. The unicorn’s name was Mary. Mary was white and she had pink hair, and she had gold hoofs and wherever she went she left a trail of rainbow glitter!
The bear’s name was Bob. Bob was very grumpy. Wherever he went he had a frown, and left a trail of raindrops. He was big and brown.
Mary and Bob were not friends. Bob was not nice to Mary, and her cheery sparkles made him even grumpier.
One day Bob got a fever. Nobody in the entire forest would come close to him or help him because he had been so mean and grumpy to them. But Mary took care of him.
Mary’s kindness rubbed off on Bob and he started to be nice and they lived happily ever after as best friends.
Some Of Us Lack The Wisdom To Accept Good Advice
Anne P., 10, Michigan
The moral of my fable: Diligence helps you prepare for the future.
My fable: Rabbit lived on a small but beautiful farm near a huge, ugly forest.
One spring morning Rabbit was collecting carrots on the farm when he saw Monkey swinging on trees at the edge of the forest. Rabbit went over to see Monkey and announced, “I’m quite sure you should be collecting food so you don’t starve to death.” Monkey giggled, and giggled some more. When he stopped laughing, Monkey stood tall, cleared his throat, and started his speech. “For your information, no Monkeys whatsoever died from starvation-especially not here.” Rabbit murmured, “Not for long” and then he left.
The very next morning Rabbit was up with the sun. He worked until noon. At the edge of the forest, whom do you think he saw? Monkey. Rabbit walked over and reminded Monkey, “You should start gathering food.” Again, Monkey laughed, “As I informed you before, none of my ancestors have ever starved.” “That will make you the first,” Rabbit retorted and walked away.
That night Rabbit went to sleep in his nice, warm, and comfortable bed. When he woke up the next morning, it was snowing. As a matter of fact, it was the worst blizzard in those parts.
It didn’t take long before Monkey was starving. In a few days, Monkey died of starvation. From that day on, all the other monkeys gathered food. They didn’t want to starve like their great-grandfather Monkey did.
Nothing Is Free, Especially If You Steal
Ellen P., 9, Michigan
The moral of my fable: Think about the consequences before you act.
My fable: Once there was a fox who stole and a cougar who tried to teach him a lesson. One day fox was walking through the woods when he saw cougar. Cougar was about to catch a rabbit for his dinner.
As cougar caught the rabbit, fox said, “Quick, look in the bushes!” Cougar looked while fox took the rabbit and ran!
Back at his house, fox ate the rabbit and went to bed. Meanwhile, cougar was in his den thinking about what had happened. He was mad at fox but decided to give him another chance. However, fox stole from him again! So cougar began thinking of what he should do to teach fox a lesson.
The next day he found a net and meat. Then he went to work. Later, fox walked by and saw the fresh meat. “Good,” he thought, “free food!” Cougar was on top of his den. When fox started to eat, cougar threw the net on top of fox! Fox tried to get free, but soon he gave up hope. Cougar jumped down and looked fox in the face saying, “Why did you steal from me?” Fox didn’t answer; he was too upset. So cougar went on, “If you wanted food, you could just ask. I even gave you another chance!” Still fox did not answer. So cougar said, “I’m going to bed. You can eat the meat if you want. I’ll decide what to do with you in the morning.”
After cougar left, fox once more tried to get free, but it was no use. In the morning, cougar came out and said, “I’ve decided not to let you go”. From that day on, nobody ever saw fox again. Can you guess what happened to him?
How The Cheating Cheetah Lost
Kristen P., 7, Michigan
Moral of my fable: Cheating will hurt you!
My fable: Once there was a cheetah who invited his tiger cousin to come over to his house. The cheetah cheated, but his cousin was faithful.
The cheetah asked if they could go outside to play. But his mom said, “Clean your room first”. They both went upstairs, but the cheetah stuffed things under his bed. The tiger cleaned his room faithfully. Then the cheetah went outside to play.
The mom checked the rooms and saw what the cheetah did. She gave tiger a snack of pop, ice cream, and candy, but she told cheetah to clean up his room properly. After tiger finished his special snack, he went up to help cheetah.
Cheetah lost his snack and learned a lesson.
Kelly and Jimmy: Friendly Or Smart?
Lincoln P., Michigan
The moral of my fable: Friendly wins over smart.
My fable: Long ago, there were two moderately good friends whose names were Kelly Calmcat, and Jimmy Crazedog. One day, they were out for a stroll in the meadows, and Kelly said, “Jimmy, what are you doing?” “Building a sandcastle!” said Jimmy.
“But that’s mud!”, said Kelly, almost angrily. Jimmy whimpered, and explained that being smart isn’t everything and that you need to be friendly too. But he failed to change her ways.
Kelly laughed, and said, “Jimmy, look at this math grade I got at middle school!” The paper said “A+” on the bottom left hand corner. Jimmy’s paper from middle school said “F-” on the bottom right hand corner.
Jimmy whimpered again, and even though he was hurt, he kindly replied “Great job, Kelly!” Kelly was surprised that Jimmy was kind to her, even though she was mean to him.
And so, from then on, with a little help from Jimmy Crazedog, Kelly Calmcat was friendly.
The Spider and the Ant
Judson P., Michigan
The moral of my fable: Encouragement wins over criticism.
My fable: A long, long time ago, in a garden not so far away, faint echoes of an argument could be heard. But put your ear closer to the ground, and you will find the situation much more interesting than just that….
“Wrong, wrong, WRONG!”, the spider screamed at the frantically working ant. “Your posture is wrong, you are working much too slow, and your technique — Bah!”
“Would you like to try?”, the ant said, or would have said, if she wasn’t working her legs off collecting grain.
The day eventually passed, but the next was no less terrible for the ant. “What, AGAIN? Why won’t you use MY advice!?”, screamed the spider. This time, the ant stopped working long enough to say, “If you can call that advice at all.”
The spider became furious and screamed incomprehensible gibberish at the ant. The next day, as the ant came in, she was surprised to hear a reluctant greeting from the spider.
The spider was equally surprised by how fast the ant worked when he didn’t insult her, and instead, muttered things like “keep it up,” “great job,” or “just a little more”.
Unbeknownst to the ant, a conversation between the Foreman Lion and the Spider had taken place. It went something like this: “Spider, I think it’s time you stopped criticizing that ant.” “But lion, the ant is doing everything wrong!” “Spider, I am your boss and this is an order!”
The spider reluctantly agreed and left the office.
From that day forth, the spider and the ant grew to be friends.
The Greedy Lion Versus The Nice Wolf
Luke K., Pennsylvania
Moral of my fable: Never underestimate a smaller opponent.
My Fable: Once upon a time, there lived a vicious lion and a nice wolf. The wolf was gray, like most wolves, and the lion, well, you could say he was round.
The lion had a problem. The lion had rotten luck.
The lion was eating a small gazelle while the wolf was eating a big gazelle. The lion wanted the wolf’s gazelle, so the lion made a plan to kill the wolf and get his gazelle. He jumped and growled like an engine. The gazelle smelled really good. Then he realized there were too many wolves. The lion was severely beat up by the wolf and his friends that he had underestimated.