Hey, hello and welcome to this episode of Learn Every Day English, your roadway to English proficiency.
Here we're in the studio today and I'm going to have an interesting and a little bit different episode for you.
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Well, without further ado, I'm going to get going and jump right in to today's episode.
We're going to be talking about fables.
Fables. F -A -B -L -E -S.
Excuse me. And here in the United States, I guess there are some fables that are very popular and they're called Aesop's fables.
Aesop is the person or maybe character.
I don't really know for sure if it was a real person who wrote these fables.
Fables. And you might be asking yourself, hey, what is a fable?
That's a good question.
So I'm going to give you a definition of what a fable is.
So a fable is a short story that is typically or usually or normally with animals or about animals that have animals as characters in the story.
And the story we say conveys a moral or it gives a moral or presents a moral.
And a moral is like a lesson, something that it is trying to teach you, a lesson that you are going to learn.
So a fable is a short story to recap.
Recap means like to just to sum up or to kind of say what it really means in a short, concise manner, is that a fable is a short story that has animals in it that teaches you something that you learn something from.
And it teaches you a moral, a moral, M -O -R -A -L, moral.
So you might be asking exactly what is a moral.
So a moral is a lesson, like I said before, especially one concerning what is right or what you should do or what is the right thing to do and that you can learn from the story or from the fable.
So these are very popular, especially with young children in school because it helps to tell them a story, something interesting that they can listen to, they can hear, but it also teaches them good lessons about life, how they should act or maybe behave, things that they should learn about life.
So I'm going to read two different fables.
And I know this first one is a very famous or very well -known fable.
And it is a fable called the hair and the tortoise, or sometimes you may hear it described as the tortoise and the hair, the tortoise and the hair.
So you might be asking, hey, what is a tortoise and what is a hair?
So a tortoise is spelled T -O -R -T -O -I -S -E, tortoise, tortoise.
And basically just think of a tortoise as a type of turtle, a type of turtle.
You all hopefully know what a turtle is.
But there's a difference between a tortoise and a turtle.
And mainly a tortoise spends most of its time on land or more time on land.
And a turtle spends more of its time in the water.
And they do maybe have a different type of body shape or the shell, the outer exterior of the animal is a little bit different between a tortoise and a turtle.
And the next question you may be asking, well, what is a hair?
I know hair can be like the thing, the stuff that is on the top of your head or you might have hair on your arms, but that's a different word spelled differently.
The hair that's on my head is H -A -I -R.
But we're talking about something totally different.
It's a type of animal called a hair and it is spelled H -A -R -E, H -A -R -E, hair.
And to make it simple, again, just think of a hair, H -A -R -E, the animal, just like a type of rabbit.
It's a type of rabbit, but normally it is bigger than a rabbit.
So just think a hair is a big rabbit and a tortoise is just a type of turtle.
So the story is the hair and the tortoise or you can maybe think of it as the rabbit and the turtle.
But I'm going to use the words hair and tortoise in the story.
And I'm going to read the story.
I'm going to read the fable.
Remember, fable is a type of story.
And listen to the fable, listen to the story.
I'm going to read the fable through once without stopping.
And then I'm going to go back and review or to highlight various words and phrases and read it again and then tell you what the moral of the story is.
And the moral of the story is like what is the lesson of the story that it is trying to teach you.
So here is the story about the hair and the tortoise.
A hare was making fun of the tortoise one day for being so slow.
Do you ever get anywhere?
He asked with a mocking laugh.
Yes, replied the tortoise.
And I get there sooner than you think.
I'll run you a race and prove it.
The hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the tortoise, but for the fun of the thing, he agreed.
So the fox, just another animal, had consented to act as judge, marked the distance and started the runners off.
The hare was soon far out of sight and to make the tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try to race with a hare, he lay down beside the course to take a nap until the tortoise should catch up.
The tortoise, meanwhile, kept going slowly but steadily and after a time past the place where the hare was sleeping.
But the hare slept on very peacefully and when at last he did wake up, the tortoise was near the goal.
The hare now ran his swiftest but he could not overtake the tortoise in time.
So that is the story of the hare and the tortoise or sometimes, like I said, you'll hear this named or called the tortoise and the hare.
So let me go through the story again and explain certain things to you.
It says a hare, which is a rabbit, was making fun of the tortoise or the turtle.
So to make fun of means to like to tease or to laugh at or to joke about someone.
So to tease or make fun of is not a good thing.
A lot of times in school kids make fun of each other, maybe make fun of someone because they are skinny or because they are fat or because they look strange or different or because they maybe talk differently to make this to make fun of somebody, which is not a nice thing to do.
Then it goes on to say, so the hare was making fun of the tortoise one day for being so slow.
So the hare was telling the tortoise, hey, you can't move very fast, you move very slowly, hahaha.
And then the hare asked, do you ever get anywhere?
Like, do you ever make it?
You're so slow. He asked with a mocking laugh, a mocking laugh, mocking means to make fun of in a kind of a cruel way or tyrannical like hahaha.
That's like a mocking laugh, a mocking laugh.
So the tortoise answered and he said, yes, replied the tortoise or yes, answered.
Reply means to answer.
Yes, replied the tortoise.
And I get there sooner than you think or more quickly than you think.
I'll run you a race and prove it.
That means I will race against you and I will show you.
So the hare was much amused.
The hare was found it funny to be amused.
This means to find something funny or entertaining.
He said, ah, you're going to run a race against me.
So the hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the tortoise.
But for the fun of the thing, for the fun of means like for entertainment or pleasure, he agreed.
And so the fox, this was another animal who was with the hare and the tortoise, the fox agreed or he says in the story, the fox who had consented, that means who had agreed to act as the judge, he marked the distance.
That means he measured the distance of how far they were going to race or to run.
And he started the runners off.
He said, ready, set, go.
And they started to run.
So initially says the hare was soon far out of sight.
Like he was so far away.
You couldn't see the hare.
He was running so fast and to make the tortoise feel very deeply or really in his heart very seriously, how ridiculous it was for him to try to race with the hare.
The hare lay down beside the course and the course is just the road or the place where they were running.
So the hare was very kind of overconfident.
We say he was running so fast.
The tortoise was way behind.
So the hare said, well, I'm just going to lay down and rest, take a nap.
I'm going to win this race easily.
And he took a nap and was going to wait until the tortoise could catch up to him.
But the tortoise meanwhile just kept going at his slow or his constant pace.
He wasn't rushing or going very fast, but he was constant and consistent.
But after a time, he passed the place where the hare was still sleeping.
And the hare kept sleeping.
He didn't notice that the tortoise had passed him.
But he finally, it says, and when at last, which means finally the hare, he did wake up and the tortoise was near the goal.
The goal is the finish line or the ending of the race.
So by the time the hare woke up, he realized, hey, the tortoise is almost at the finish line.
He's almost at the end of the race.
So it says the hare now ran his swiftest.
Swiftest just means fastest.
So to be swift means to be fast.
So the hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the tortoise in time.
To overtake means like to catch up with something or somebody and to pass them.
So he could not overtake the tortoise in time.
So let me read that whole story again completely without stopping.
And now that you know some of these words and expressions, see if the story makes more sense to you.
So a hare was making fun of the tortoise one day for being so slow.
Do you ever get anywhere?
He asked with a mocking laugh.
Yes, replied the tortoise, and I get there sooner than you think.
I'll run you a race and prove it.
The hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the tortoise, but for the fun of the thing, he agreed.
So the fox, who had consented to act as judge, marked the distance and started the runners off.
The hare was soon far out of sight and to make the tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try a race with the hare, he lay down beside the course to take a nap until the tortoise should catch up.
The tortoise, meanwhile, kept going slowly but steadily, and after a time past the place where the hare was sleeping.
But the hare slept on very peacefully, and when at last he did wake up, the tortoise was near the goal.
The hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the tortoise in time.
Did you understand that story a little bit better now, the second time through after the explanation?
And again, remember you don't have to try to write this down.
If you're watching on YouTube, eventually you can turn on the English subtitles and read along.
Those of you listening on the podcast, remember you can go to the Learn Every Day English YouTube channel, go to the resources podcast resources page, and you can download the story and the program notes and follow along with me.
So that makes it a lot easier for you.
So what is the moral of this story?
We have two animals.
One is very fast, the hare.
One is very slow, the tortoise.
They had a race. The hare was very confident.
We could say he was overly confident, too confident.
And he stopped to sleep while the tortoise kept going at his constant regular speed.
So sometimes the fastest person doesn't always win the race, right?
So the moral of the story is the race is not always to the swiftest or just like I said, the winner of the race is not always the fastest person.
So keep that in mind as a moral to the story.
Sometimes it is best or better just to be consistent and persistent and do something every day or a little bit every day at a time and try to do a lot of something all at once.
And this really applies to language learning.
It's better to be consistent and constant.
Move at a, I don't say a slow pace, but a constant pace.
Whatever pace is comfortable for you.
But be constant with it.
Be consistent with it.
Try to do something every day rather than trying to be, do everything really quickly and try to learn a lot of stuff, say, all at once and study a lot of something maybe a lot one day and then don't study anything for three or four days and then you study again.
That is not the best way to learn a language or to learn English.
It is better to be like the tortoise and to just move along constantly at a pace that is learn something very quickly all at once.
I think that is a very good moral for you all to learn, a lesson to learn from this fable.
The second story or fable is called the dog and his reflection.
The dog and his reflection.
And a reflection is like an image or something that you see that shows or reflects yourself or your face.
For example, if you look into a mirror, you see your reflection or you see yourself looking back at you.
That is what a reflection is.
So, this story is about a dog who saw his own reflection or his own face or his body while he was looking into a water, a body of water.
So, keep that in mind.
So, here is the story.
A dog to whom the butcher had thrown a bone and a butcher is just a person who works like at a meat market or a place that sells meat is called a butcher, a butcher.
A dog to whom the butcher had thrown a bone was hurrying home with his prize, which was a bone, as fast as he could go.
As he crossed a narrow footbridge, he happened to look down and saw himself reflected in the quiet water as if in a mirror.
But the greedy dog thought he saw a real dog carrying a bone much bigger than his own.
If he had stopped to think, he would have known better.
But instead of thinking, he dropped his bone and sprang at the dog in the river, only to find himself swimming for dear life to reach the shore.
At last, he managed to scramble out and as he stood sadly thinking about the good bone he had lost, he realized what a stupid dog he had been.
Did you understand that story or some of the words?
Did you understand or could you figure out the moral of that story, the lesson learned?
Well, let's go through the story and I'll explain certain words and phrases.
So there was a dog and to whom the butcher had thrown a bone, so the butcher, the person that works at a meat store, meat market, had thrown a bone to the dog so that the dog could have it to eat.
So the dog was very happy.
So it says he was hurrying home with his prize and the prize was the bone as fast as he could as he crossed a narrow foot bridge.
So a foot bridge is just a type of bridge that you walk across.
It's not a bridge for say cars, but a bridge for people to walk across.
So as he crossed a narrow foot bridge, he happened to look down and saw himself reflected in the quiet water as if in a mirror.
So he looked down at the water.
The water was quiet.
We say the water was very still.
The water was like a mirror so he could see his own face and his reflection in the water.
But it says the greedy dog.
So the dog was greedy.
That means he wanted more than what he had.
He wanted something that somebody else had because he thought he saw a real dog carrying a bone much bigger than his own.
So when he looked in the water, the reflection that he saw, he thought the reflection was another dog with another bone.
So he wanted the other bone that the other dog that he thought was in the water had, but it was really, he was actually only looking at himself.
So it says if he had stopped to think, he would have known better.
He would have realized the truth.
But instead of thinking, so he wasn't thinking, he opened his mouth because it says he dropped his bone.
And then it says he sprang at the dog in the river that to spring at means like to jump at.
So he he was on the foot bridge.
He jumped down at the dog he thought was in the river so he could get the other bone that the other dog had or he thought he had.
And he found himself swimming for dear life.
So he realized that he was in the water now and he probably couldn't swim very well.
So he says he was swimming for dear life, which means he was swimming for his life or to save his life to reach the shore.
And the shore is like the land or the ground that is next to the water is called the shore.
And at last, he said at last or finally, he managed to scramble out.
That means to like to climb out with a lot of effort and with some difficulty.
He was able to scramble out.
And as he stood sadly thinking about the good bone he had lost.
So when he opened his mouth, he dropped the bone that the butcher gave him and he lost it in the water.
He realized what a stupid dog he had been because at the end, right, the dog ended up wet because he fell in the river in the water and he didn't have a bone at all.
He had nothing. So he ended up with nothing.
So again, let me read the story all the way through.
A dog to whom the butcher had thrown a bone was hurrying home with his prize as fast as he could go.
As he crossed a narrow footbridge, he happened to look down and saw himself reflected in the quiet water as if in a mirror.
But the greedy dog thought he saw a real dog carrying a bone much bigger than his own.
If he had stopped to think, he would have known better.
But instead of thinking, he dropped his bone and sprang at the dog in the river only to find himself swimming for dear life to reach the shore.
At last he managed to scramble out and as he stood sadly thinking about the good bone he had lost, he realized what a stupid dog he had been.
Interesting story, right?
A dog had a good bone.
He was running home.
He thought he saw another dog with a bigger bone.
He tried to get that because he was greedy.
He ended up falling in the river and lost his bone and ended up wet and with nothing.
No bone at all. So what is the moral of this story?
What is the lesson that we can learn from this story?
And the lesson that we can learn is that it is very foolish to be greedy.
It is foolish to be greedy or it's kind of like it's stupid to be greedy.
It doesn't pay to be greedy.
You shouldn't be greedy.
You should be satisfied with what you have and not want something that is not yours, especially something that somebody else has.
You shouldn't try to take it from them.
So those are two fables, two stories, and each story has a moral or a lesson that you can learn from.
So I hope you enjoyed this lesson.
If you want to learn more about fables, go on the internet and look up ASOPS fables, A -E -S -O -P -S fables, F -A -B -L -E -S, ASOPS fables.
You can find a whole book or a whole lot of other and different fables, which you might find interesting with different lessons that you can learn.
So I think that's it.
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You can do it. Okay.
Well, that's it for today, this episode of Learn Every Day English.
Have a good weekday wherever you're at and keep on listening, keep on watching.
And thanks once again from Learn Every Day English.
Hey, see you later.
Goodbye.
