TUTORIAL 2

One of my earliest memories is my mother telling stories to me. From each of the
stories, my mother used to highlight the moral values to me informally. When I grow up, I realize
that my mother had unconsciously used the ancient form of fables to teach me lessons. Fable is
a fictitious story meant to teach a lesson. As we can see in the fable entitled The Ant and the
Grasshopper, it explains to children that fables are stories which come from all over the world
and they are handed down through the storytellers in various cultures. It is narrated with a short
moral conclusion at the end of the story. Pupils may think of the moral values of the story. But,
this story provides moral values just in a sentence which makes children understand better. For
example, Complete your work before you play and dont complain if you later need something
you havent prepared This is to ridicule humans negative qualities. Usually, we often saw
conflict portrayed in the movie. As in the story, there are also conflicts. The conflict of this fable
is about the grasshopper which lives happily during summer but the ant struggles to find food
really. The conflict teaches the readers a moral value which is we must not be lazy like the
grasshopper. The main characters are animals who can act like human but retaining their
animal traits. It was told in a direct manner while superfluous details were not included as it
would slow the pace and the story would lose their impact. In my opinion, from the characters
that the animals portrayed, it will make the children think about how the animals can react like
human beings. So, from that they will think how we as human beings should behave in our life.
Besides, will also make children interested in the narrated stories as they are fun because
animals have many human characteristics such as the ability to think and talk. As for me, fable
is also a structured narrative which comprises a short exposition with a conflict often arising out
of the choice between good and evil course of action. This is because fables have a very
specific purpose on how to strongly influence their content. In our ancestors era, fables were
set up to teach readers or listeners a lesson that they should learn about their lives. For
example, the narratives would drive towards the theme of the fables. Such themes distinguish
fables from other folktales. The themes of this story are preparation and balancing work with
leisure. According to Thomas Fuller, from this fable, he concludes that All things are difficult
before they are easy.
Next, fables are also rich in vocabulary, imagery and patterned language common in
traditional tales.( downloads.bbc.co.uk) After I have gone through some fables, I realize that the
shorter the fable, the simpler the language used. Short texts will make the sentences briefer and

so that it will be easier for children to understand. I could see the sentences used in The Ant
and The Grasshopper. For example, Im starving, please give me something to eat said the
Grasshopper. Fables have no specific time frame but they are considered to have happened in
the distant past. So, fables often start with One day a farmer was going to market... A hungry
fox was sitting by the roadside... In a field, one spring morning... Long, long ago, There was
a As showed in this fable, One hot day, An ant was busy carrying foods.
The temporal connectives hold the narrative together and give it a chronological shape.
Some examples of temporal connectives are, One morning...as he was... first he saw...then he
saw... As in this fable, the temporal connectives are When winter came... And then the
grasshopper understood... The connectives used tend to give wonderful effects to the readers.
Moreover, the characters names are often mentioned in the title. For example, the most popular
Aesops fable The hare and the tortoise, The lion and the mouse, etc. The title gives the
reader a thought that the story which contains animal characters which speak and behave like
human beings will allow the storyteller to make cautionary points about human behavior without
pointing the finger at real people.The influence of fables can be seen in modern childrens
literature such as Roald Dahls book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which contains simple
moral message about undesirable behavior such as watching too much television and eating
chewing gum.