Week 3 - Aesop (winter)

Reading Diary B:
The Cat, the Cock, and the Young Mouse:

This story was a lesson all children should learn, adults too.  Just because something appears sweet and innocent, does not necessarily make it so.  Additionally, just because something looks frightening, does not necessarily make it evil.  I don't know about the readers, but I have seen people who I think are absolutely beautiful and the more I get to know them and their personality the less  beautiful they are.  Conversely, I have met plenty of people who I would describe as unattractive, but, again, the more I got to know them, the cuter their outward appearances became.  In this story, the mouse sees a Cock who appears frightening and sees a cat who appears very honest and trustworthy. The frightening appearance of the rooster along with his loud crow scares the mouse into fleeing.  Upon returning home and telling his mother of the creatures, she tells him that the Cock was nothing but a bird, but that the cat was dangerous to their kind.  Moral of story....don't judge by outward appearances.

http://tinyurl.com/CatCockMouse

The Astrologer:

This is a great story for paying attention to where you are, not looking so far ahead that you miss things NOW.  The Astrologer tells of a man who thought he was quite good at reading the future in the stars.  But standing there, looking at the stars, he failed to miss the deep mud in front of him.  He fell in up to his ears and had to scream for the others to come and help him.  When they arrive they tell him, "You're so busy trying to see the future, you failed to see what was right in front of you.  Instead of reading the stars, how about paying attention to where you are on earth."  Basically, the moral of the story is to worry only about the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.

http://tinyurl.com/TheAstrologer

The Ant and the Dove:

This story had a fantastic moral, no kindness is ever wasted.  It's just like the Lion and the Mouse.  An ant is swimming desperately in the water, trying to reach the shore, but to no avail.  A dove sees this and drops a blade of grass near the ant, which he grabs onto and safely floats to shore.  Shortly thereafter, the ant sees a hunter getting ready to kill the dove, so the ant stings the hunter on the heel, blowing his aim.  Being kind to others is just something we SHOULD all be doing.  Just as we hope good deeds result in further good deeds, so do wrong doings begat more wrong doings.

http://tinyurl.com/AntDove

Bibliography:
The Cat, the Cock, and the Young Mouse.  Web Source:  http://tinyurl.com/CatCockMouse
Unit: Aesop (winter).  Web Source:  http://tinyurl.com/UnitAesopWinter
The Astrologer.  Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/TheAstrologer
The Ant and the Dove.  Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/AntDove

Reading Diary A:
The Dog, the Cock, and the Fox:

I enjoyed this story.  I thought it was pretty funny how the Cock tricked the ever so sly fox.  When the fox went to the "entrance" to the tree to be escorted up, was met with the Cock's best friend, the Dog.  I enjoyed it.  I thought it was cute.  The moral of the story was that if you're willing to resort to trickery and manipulation on others, do not be surprised when the same occurs to you.

http://tinyurl.com/CockDogFox

The Farmer and the Stork:

This story reminded me of things my mother used to say to me and it reminds me of the things I tell my daughter now.  When I speak with other mothers, we have all used this old adage, "guilty by association."  That's exactly what this story is.  The stork gets invited by the cranes to go to the farmers field that had just recently been plowed.  Their real intention was to steal.  But they all, cranes and stork, got caught in nets.  When the farmer found them all, the stork begged to be released because he had no idea that the cranes had the intention of stealing.  The farmer replies that you may very well be a good and honorable bird, but "I caught you with the thieving cranes and you'll have to share the same punishment."  You have to watch out who you hang out with, they could be the best friends you've ever had, but they could also get you into heaps of trouble.

http://tinyurl.com/StorkFarmer

The Travelers and the Purse:

Two men were traveling along a road, when one of them discovered a purse.  Based on its' weight, it was believed to be filled with gold.  The man who found it exclaimed "How lucky am I to have found this."  His fellow traveller replied, "no, no, how lucky WE are. So we share the misfortunes of the road, so should we share the benefits."  The man who found the purse said it was his and he was keeping it.  Just then, a mob of people came down the road exclaiming "thief!"  The man with the purse said, "we will be in trouble if they find this on us."  To which the second man replied, "oh no, you didn't use we or us before, you can just stick with your 'I.'" This was a fantastic lesson, I loved it. The moral of this story was that we cannot expect people to share in our misfortunes if we cannot share with them our good fortunes.

Bibliography:
The Dog, the Cock, and the Fox.  Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/CockDogFox
The Farmer and the Stork. Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/StorkFarmer
Unit: Aesop (winter).  Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/UnitAesopWinter
The Travelers and the Purse.  Web Source: http://tinyurl.com/TravelersPurse