Childrens Literature and Literacy

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Book Title: Aesop’s Fables

Fable Title: The Milkmaid and her Pail

Author: Aesop

Summary: A young girl goes to the market with a bucket of milk on her head. The girl becomes enamored with all the gold she will get from selling the milk. She begins to fantasize about how she will spend the gold on a hen, so that the hen will lay eggs and make more hens to produce eggs for her to sell. She gets excited by the idea of becoming rich and plans out all the goods she could buy with all the gold she will have. While lost in her fantasy, she bowed down low, causing her bucket to spill, along with all the milk in it. With the milk, went her dreams of being rich. 

Moral: The moral of the story is do not count your chickens before they hatch. This means to focus on the present and not to get ahead of yourself when thinking about the future. You should not be sure or worried something will happen until it actually does.

Analyze Author Craft: The fable is simple enough for children to understand. It sends a clear message in a simple story line. The reader will be clear of what the moral is at the end of the short reading.

Favorite Part: My favorite part was when she got so lost in her fantasy, she forgot about her reality. This snapped her back into her reality when her bucket of milk spilled and taught her to not be greedy.