Around the World with Fables and Folktales Trinity Academy Fourth Grade 2014
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2 India - The Little Rhino ............................................................................................................................ 3 Norway ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Germany ................................................................................................................................................. 5 United States ........................................................................................................................................... 6 The Bahamas – The Striped Horse............................................................................................................ 7 Ireland - The Cliffs of Moher..................................................................................................................... 8 ENGLAND ................................................................................................................................................ 9 Italian Animal Hunting Challenge........................................................................................................... 10 The Husky and the Two Reindeer ........................................................................................................... 11 Switzerland - Welcome to La Spedla ...................................................................................................... 12 Greece ................................................................................................................................................... 13 Italy!...................................................................................................................................................... 14 Russia .................................................................................................................................................... 15 German Folktale .................................................................................................................................... 16 ITALY ..................................................................................................................................................... 17
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Introduction
The Trinity Academy fourth grade students read and watched fables and folktales from around the world. They discovered that fables and folktales teach a lesson or a moral. They also saw that many of the stories featured talking animals! The students were then given the task of writing an original fable that might have been told long ago. Each student was assigned a country. They researched the country that would be the setting for their story and found out about the geography and the animals that were native to the area. They used these facts to write their story.
We hope you enjoy reading these fables as much as we enjoyed writing them!
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India - The Little Rhino By: Isabella One fine day in a small town in India, there lived a little rhino who was scared that people would not like her and so she always wore a cloak. The little rhino always stayed inside and when she did go outside she wore her cloak. She was a fairly pretty rhino but all the other rhinos thought she was ugly, but they never saw her truly and without her cloak. Then one day she was walking in the park to get some fresh air, and a rhino was running and stepped on the little rhino’s cloak. All the rhinos finally saw her and loved her. Then all the rhinos lived happily ever after.
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Norway By Stephanie
One morning in Norway there was a wolverine who bragged all the time about how he was the greatest animal of all. There also was a reindeer that was sick and tired of hearing him brag about himself. The reindeer got mad all the time and couldn’t stand him but he didn’t yell at him. One day the wolverine was walking at the edge of the cliff bragging and he didn’t notice how he was walking right into a fjord. He fell in and yelled for help. The reindeer was eating nearby and heard this. He didn’t want to go because he knew it was the wolverine but he knew he should save him. The wolverine asked the reindeer for help and the reindeer said “only if you promise to stop bragging.” The wolverine answered “fine I’ll never brag again.” The wolverine learned his lesson that day of not to brag.
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Germany By Hunter
Once upon a time, there were animals at war in Germany. I would like to tell you how it happened. There were wildcats, boars, and ibex. The ibex weren’t happy with the way that the wildcats were treating them so the ibex declared war on them. There were a lot of ibex so the wildcats teamed up with the boar. From there they fought the war. The wildcats were sure that they would win the war because they were strong, and thought that they had as many troops as the ibex. But they were wrong. They were too sure of themselves. They fought the war and most of them died. They actually had to surrender. The moral of this story is to never be so sure of yourself because you might just be wrong.
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United States By William Once upon a time there was a black bear and an eagle that lived in the mountains in the United States. The eagle told the black bear “you can’t catch me when I’m in the air.” The black bear replied “yes I can.” The eagle then flew away from the black bear. The eagle looked back and saw the black bear staying still, so the eagle took a little rest in a tree. While the eagle was sleeping, the black bear caught the eagle grabbed it and then the black bear ate it. That is the story about the eagle and the black bear and how the eagle thought it was better than everybody else. The moral of the story is that don’t think that you are better than anybody else.
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The Bahamas – The Striped Horse By Teresa Long ago an explorer’s master was sick. This explorer was Simon. The master told Simon that if he could heal him that he would reward him with gold. Simon went to the library to find cures for his master. He did some research and found that in island in the middle of the ocean had a horse with a striped mane. Some of the stripes were pink some were red. Simon set out find this island in the Bahamas. He searched many islands but whenever he mentioned the horse the native people looked at him like he was crazy. Simon moved from one island to the next. But when he got to the last island it seemed as if it was abandoned. Simon thought this must be the one. When he entered the island the guard flamingo (Puerto) ran off to tell the native people. Simon was there for about a week. He thought his journey was going very well though he was very far away. One day a girl riding Puerto from the village came to warn Simon about the horse. “He is very strong you should be careful” Simon saw pictures of the horse and it did not appear strong looking to him. Simon just walked away. When Simon finally found the horse he saw another explorer with the horse. He dove behind the bushes to watch. Simon saw the horse poison the man and was sorry that he trespassed the island. The horse saw he was sorry and gave him a few hairs for his master. Simon healed his master and took his reward to the island and lived in peace with the people. Simon learned everything isn’t what it seems.
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Ireland - The Cliffs of Moher By Shiobhan Once upon a time, on the Cliffs of Moher, there was a very untruthful sheep. He thought that if he dipped himself into gold paint, he would be favored over all the other animals. He was also not very smart. He did not realize that the animals wouldn’t fall for his story. Sheep went over to a big pool of gold paint and rolled himself in it. He looked beautiful. Meanwhile, a pig, a hedgehog, and an otter saw him. “I saw a leprechaun and he turned my wool into pure gold,” lied the sheep. They (not like the sheep) were smart. They didn’t know what the sheep did to himself, but they knew his story was a lie. “You must work for me and tell me if anyone needs me,” said the sheep. They agreed and started thinking about a plan. They worked for the sheep for a month until the pig had an idea. They were going to tell the sheep that someone wanted to make him king on the bottom of the cliff. They got him ready and they said “The mysterious creature is ready for you”. They threw him off the cliff and he was never seen again. The pig, the hedgehog and the otter lived happily ever after.
Moral: Don’t lie about yourself
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ENGLAND By Lauren P Once upon a time there was a family of magpies in a sliver birch tree in northern England. There were three birds in the nest. The oldest and strongest magpie was always the mother bird’s favorite. The middle magpie bird looked up to his older sibling. The youngest was a kind, small magpie that really didn’t do anything wrong. The oldest and the middle bird would always tease the youngest bird. Then one day the forest where they lived shook and the mother bird fell out of the nest and was hurt. The littlest magpie treated her back to health. The youngest magpie is the most important bird in the world.! When she got up they were amazed when the bird said that she wanted all of the siblings to be treated equally. The moral of the story is the first will be last and the last will be first.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/black-billed-magpie/
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Italian Animal Hunting Challenge by alfred Once upon a time, in faraway Italy, in the woods, all the animals there thought that the Marcisin brown bear was the best at everything from hunting to fishing. one rabbit was determined to prove the animals and the bear wrong. The rabbit challenged the bear to a hunting contest. “Whoever brings back the largest amount of prey before sundown wins.� Said the Robin. It was sundown when the race started. The bear and rabbit both took a couple of hours. At the end, the brown bear brought back a fish. the rabbit brought back two deer. The bear was so embarrassed that he never showed his face in the woods again. (The bear knew that the rabbit won by trapping the deer by digging a hole so the deer would fall in). The moral of this story is that the fastest and strongest never beat the smartest.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01774/_Brown_Bear_1774126b.jpg
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The Husky and the Two Reindeer By: Michelle
o
nce Apon A Time a huskie who was pulling a sled met two reindeer. The reindeer claimed
that two were faster than one. They said they were better and faster than him. The huskie said , “prove it.” The one reindeer said he would meet him at this exact spot. The next day the huskie and the two reindeer met. The reindeer had brought a puffin along with him to help with the race. They lined up for the race. The puffin said , “ready, set, and go! “ The reindeer and the huskie started to rush for the finish line. The reindeer ran as fast as they could but then one stopped and said he was thirsty. The other reindeer said that since they were faster. When the reindeer returned they crossed the finish line, but it was too late. The huskie was already past the finish line. The reindeer felt so ashamed of themselves. They told the huskie they were sorry. The moral of my story is never be so sure of yourself.
http://freelancemommyblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/northern-lights.html
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Switzerland - Welcome to La Spedla By:LindsayH.
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Thatnighttheba bybearsan dthebabyw olve sthoughtofapl antogett heirfamilie s tostopfighting.Theydecid edtohavet heirparentsgoandh untforfoo dandthe childrenwillsta ybehindan dtheywillspli tinhalfthelan dsoonesi dewillbe forthebearsandonesidew illbefort hew olves.Whilethechildrenwe resettingu p thebabybearsfo undacaveforthemtohibe rnateduringthewinter.
Whentheparentscamebackt heywereinshoc katwhattheirk idshaddon e.Thepapa bearandthepapawolfdecid edthattheycansharetheland.Thetwofam ilies realizedthatsha ringisnotsohardtoshar e.Theyallshare dthelandfor10years andarestillsha ringforma nymoreyear stocome. Moral: Alw aysshare.
http: //pe aker y.co m/st atic /ima ges/ item s/ma in/c ache /piz roseg -2-0 .jpg .290 x220 _q95 _cro p-to p.jp g
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Greece By Mathew R. In 1,000 B.C. Greece, on the peak of Mount Olympus, there were many man-like gorillas that took up most of the food and space. There were also a small pack of wolfs that did not have much space and famine struke them. The wolfs stated to argue with the man-like gorillas because they would not let any other animals up there. One of the man-like gorillas said “If you want land so badly you can fight for it.� Soon after the wolfs where sharping their fangs and the man likegorillas where sharping their spears. Before the war began the man-like gorillas and the wolfs where trying to get animals from down the mountain. All of the wise animals went with the wolfs but the greedy animals went with the man-like gorillas. In the first few months in the war the wolfs where losing terribly, as they lost most of their troops in and almost all the rest over to the other side. In the eleventh month was the turning point in the war. That was the first time they used strategy and then they used that for the rest of the war. When the wolfs won all of the other man-like gorillas fled down the mount knowing that, arms win battles, but strategy will win wars.
https://www.google.com/search?q=wolf+with+a+copper+helmet&sa=X&rlz=1C1GGGE___US5 67US567&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=BxN2U870CMqNyASZx4KgCA&v ed=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=923#q=wolf%20on%20a%20hill&revid=6740649
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Italy! By: Angelo Once there was a bear that lived in Italy. He had come to hibernate but had no food. He couldn’t find food so he went from animal to animal asking for food but nobody gave him any. Then he asked one more animal. It was also a bear like him. The bear said, “you can have my food I am not going to survive anyway. I have nowhere to hibernate.” The other bear said, “we can hibernate together and we can share a cave and food.” So they shared a cave and food and survived the winter together. The moral of this story is always share.
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Russia By: Natalie One cold winter day in Russia a Polar bear met a snow leopard. The polar bear’s name was Ben. The leopard’s name was Jack. After a while they were together every day so they became best friends. One day the polar bear asked if they could go skiing with each other. That day when they got to the top of the mountain Ben was scared but he didn’t want Jack to know. He pretended he knew how to ski. He then started to cry and admitted he lied. Jack asked Ben if he know how to ski and the answer was no. Jack said to go in the shape of an s. Go up and down the middle of the mountain then the side of the mountain and keep on doing that. It worked and when they got to the bottom of the mountain Jack asked Ben if he wanted go to the ski school. Ben said yes. After that Ben went to a place to practice skiing. After 100 days of doing that Ben knew how to ski and they did it every day. The moral of the story is never lie.
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German Folktale
By Maryann Once there was a place called Germany and the animals that live there were wading birds, wild cats, boar, and ibex. There were also flowers, pine trees and fir trees. What Germany has is wetlands and there was a problem that the forest trees were getting cut down and the animals won’t be able to live there anymore. Some people needed to learn a lesson to not hurt the animals anymore so they live. They found the people who did it and the good people said to the bad people to stop hurting the animals and plants and trees and the problem was solved.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Germany+landscape&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=germany+landscape &sc=8-17&sp=1&sk=#view=detail&id=9A1B9B4AA7146F579575BC55F8F27A9ECB780A40&selectedIndex=48
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ITALY By Nicholas W.
Once in Italy, a goat saw a mountain and wanted to climb it, so he did and made it to the top. He fell and got stuck hanging on the mountain. While the goat was yelling, “help”, he saw a bear and he was scared because he thought the bear was going to eat him. The bear heard him and went to the mountain. “Do you need help,” the bear asked. “Yes I do,” said the goat. The bear went up the mountain and saved the goat. Then they lived happily ever after. The moral of my story is never try something dangerous
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Dolomites-mountains-2008/164075
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