Fables and Classic Stories

While Fables impart an expressed moral, Classics tell a story with an implied lesson. Both kinds of literature help children become wise to the ways of the world. Whereas Fables appeal to all age levels, Classics have a varied range of appeal, designed for preschoolers to high schoolers. We provide six of each kind. As an example, The Sheep and the Pig, is shown below. It is believed to have been written by Aesop, a Greek slave who lived between 620-564 BC. Hence, a great amount of liberty has been taken in revising these stories as the language has changed drastically throughout the centuries.

Sample—

The Sheep and the Pig

Test Drive

Shepherd carrying a pig with his flock of sheep onlooking.

One day a shepherd discovered a fat Pig wandering in the meadow where his Sheep were grazing. He quickly attempted to catch it. But the porker squealed the moment the Shepherd came towards it. And when the Shepherd laid hands on it, it squealed so loud you would have thought that the Pig was being butchered alive.

Despite its squeals and struggles to escape, the Shepherd tucked his prize under his arm and started off towards his barn.

The Sheep in the pasture were much astonished and amused by the Pig's behavior and followed the Shepherd and his charge to the pasture gate.

One of the Sheep asked the Pig. “What makes you squeal so loud? When the good Shepherd catches and carries off one of us, none of us makes a blood-curdling fuss about it as you do."

With a squeal and a frantic kick, the Pig replied "Your behavior is very well and good and noble too. But you see, when he catches you, he wants only wool. But when he catches me, he wants pork chops, bacon, scrapple, and ham!"

Moral: It’s foolish to judge without considering the whys and the wherefores of any situation — such as those of the panicky pig and the hungry farmer.

To Read Aloud --

Please double-left click on "One," the first word of the fable. (Photo 1)
If you cursor over the bottom icon, which looks like a magnifying glass, "Search" will appear next to it. (Photo 2)
Then, please cursor up to "More Actions," and click on it.
This will cause another popup to appear (Photo 3), on which you'll see "More Tools."
Lastly, if you cursor down over "More Tools" and select "Read aloud from here," you'll hear the fable sure enough.

Photo (1)

Photo (2)

Photo (3)

For Definitions --

Double left-click on a word, then right click on it. For our example, as previously mentioned, we have chosen squealed. (Photo 4)
Next, we click on "Search the web for 'squealed.'"
What appears then is a dialog box, where we can hear the word as well as see female "lips" mouth it. (Photo 5)
Below, in the dialog box, there is a list of unabridged dictionaries from which we can pick one of the dictionaries. (Photo 6)
Whichever dictionary we pick, the "Read out loud" function will work, giving us definitions, synonyms, antonyms, examples in sentences, and more.
Below is what is seen when we select the Cambridge Dictionary.

(Photo 7)

Note of caution:

Without close adult supervision, definitions should be skipped altogether. Why? Because when venturing onto the Web who knows what may be found there.