Determine the Theme of a Fable

Determine the Theme of a Fable "Zayd! There's a fire! Quick, do something!" "Very funny!" "You've told me that several times now, and I jump up to find NOTHING! I'm not falling for it again!" "But,..." "Ari, have you every heard of the fable, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf?" "No. What's a fable?" Fables are short stories that have been passed down through generations to teach us life lessons through their themes. Fable themes are referred to as "morals" because they contain at least one character who displays a negative characteristic or makes a mistake from which we can learn and apply to our own lives. They teach us valuable lessons such as "hard work pays off,"(...) "selfishness brings misery,"(...) "actions speak louder than words,"(...) and "honesty is the best policy." Although there are some fables with human characters, they usually use animals for characters to show different types of personality traits. Like a lion is noble,(...) a peacock is proud,(...) and a fox is sneaky. We can determine the theme of a fable by looking at the character's thoughts or actions. We can ask ourselves: why did the character act this way,(...) what did the character learn (...), and how did the character grow or change? "Now, Ari, listen carefully.(...)Let me tell you about this shepherd boy." In a forest near a village, a young shepherd once stood guard over a flock of sheep. One day, he became bored and decided to create some excitement. "WOLF, WOLF," he yelled, and all the villagers rushed to his aid. When he saw all the people he had fooled, he roared with laughter and decided that was a fun trick to play again. As time went on, he yelled 'wolf' many times, and every time the villagers came along to help, there was nothing but a laughing boy. The villagers grew angry and weary of his tiresome game. One day, a wolf DID appear in the forest, and the shepherd boy was terrified! "WOLF! WOLF!", the boy cried over and over. But this time no one came! "What happened to the shepherd?" "I can not say. But what I can tell you is that he discovered that no one believes a liar once they have the reputation for not telling the truth, (...) EVEN when they are telling the truth." "So Ari, (...) what is the moral of the story for YOU?" "I should always tell the truth and avoid misleading others. Otherwise, no one will ever trust me." "That's right!" Remember,(...)fables can teach about right from wrong by looking at the consequences of a character's actions. They teach us valuable lessons such as hard work pays off (...) selfishness brings misery, (...) actions are more important than words, (...)and honesty is the best policy. "We live in a dragon-infested town, Zayd. Naturally there's going to be fires from time to time." "Oops!"