The Moral of the Story

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

"Slow and steady wins the race" means you don’t have to be the fastest at something, but if you keep trying and keep going, you will achieve what it is you want.

"Little friends may become great friends" means though you are just small friends now, you can become wonderful friends later or they can do wonderful things for you.

The saying, "One person's meat is another's poison," means what is good for one person may not be good for another person.

Do you know where these sayings come from? They are from Aesop's Fables. "The Tortoise and the Hare" (or "The Hare and Tortoise," as it is sometimes called) is one of the most famous Aesop fables. Read the story of the The Hare & the Tortoise, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Each of the earlier sayings is called a moral. It is the lesson to be learned from a story.

The moral of a story can also be called the theme. The theme of a story is different from the main idea. The author, when writing a story, usually wants to convey a message to the readers. The theme is usually not specifically described, but it is an underlying message of the story. It is usually an opinion or a universal life lesson.

Continue on to the Got It? section to listen to a short story to find the theme.