Reading Notes: Aesop (Winter), Part A

Story Source: Aesop for Children, illustrations by Milo Winter (1919) 

The Wolf and the Kid

• Plot - Little goat (kid) ventured farther out, eating grass. He loses the flock. Wolf stops him. Kid asks him to play a song before he dies. Wolf agrees to music before dinner. Sheepdogs from the flock hear the tune and go after the wolf. Wolf regrets getting distracted.
• I like the varying lengths of these sentences: "He was all alone. The sun was sinking. Long shadows came creeping over the ground."
  
• The last line of each story has the moral of the story
• Moral - Do not let anything turn you from your purpose

The Tortoise and the Ducks

• Plot - Turtle upset that he always has his home on his back (shell). It happened bc Jupiter was upset he didn't come to his wedding so he punished him. He tells some ducks about this and they let him fly with them in the sky by holding a stick. Another flying bird asks if he is a king and the turtle opens his mouth to say "yes" but then falls and dies :(
• Moral - Foolish curiosity and vanity often lead to misfortune

The Travelers and the Purse

• Plot - Two guys traveling. One of them finds a purse and says "look what I found." The other says "no, look what we found." But then a mob sees they have the purse and the 1st guy is like "what do we do?" and the 2nd guy is like "Well you said you found it first, so ..."
• Moral - We cannot expect anyone to share our misfortunes unless we are willing to share our good fortune also
• This story doesn't have animals in it

The Lion and the Ass

• Very short story
• Plot - Lion walks along and an ass sneers disrespectfully at him. Lion turns to see, but decides against it and continues.
• No one exactly learns a lesson here or suffered from a mistake they made. The lion already knew the message
• Moral - Do not resent the remarks of a fool. Ignore them.