Guided Reading:

GR/LI: To explore the meaning within a Chinese fable.

I understand and can describe what a Chinese fable is.

I can identify the lesson within a Chinese fable and explain why it is important.

 

Chinese fables are mainly short stories which tell great life lessons. They focus on how to show specific values and the consequences that occur from not showing the values.

 

The Chinese have passed them on through generations by telling the stories verbally. As these stories were never actually written down, people have no other choice but to remember the stories and retell them through word of mouth.

 

Chinese fable 3: The man who didn’t see anyone.

 

“In the ancient kingdom of Qi, there lived a man who had an insatiable thirst for gold. Unfortunately, he was very poor and his work didn’t make him a lot of money. He barely had enough to survive. Even so, the idea of getting gold still fascinated him. This man knew that several merchants set up beautiful gold figures in their market stalls. Those objects would always rest on beautiful velvet mantles. The rich men of the city would go there to observe them. They sometimes bought them and sometimes didn’t.

 

Suddenly, the man came up with a plan to take one of the figures that shone so brightly in the sun. One day, he put on his best clothes and ornaments and went to the market. He pretended to observe the gold figures and suddenly took one and fled. He got caught very quickly. The two guards asked him why he decided to steal those figures in broad daylight with hundreds of witnesses around him. The man told them that he didn’t even think about those things. He just thought of getting the gold figures, that was it. “

 

Questions:

 

1. What happened in the story and why? To answer this question you can either draw a picture to represent the story or write a short summary of what happened and explain why.
2. What do you think the saying ‘blindness that comes with greed’ means?
3. Is there another lesson that could be taken from this fable? What is it?

 

Don’t forget that you can use a dictionary (or if you are at home you can use an online dictionary or google if you do not have access to a dictionary) to find the meaning of any words that are a bit confusing!