Retell a fable, a folktale and a myth from different cultures, and describe how a theme develops

Learning goal: This lesson teaches Ohio's 2026 standard for describing the development of a literary text, first implemented in 2027-28. You will retell stories, including fables, folktales and myths from diverse cultures, and you will determine a theme and its meaning, describing how the theme develops using supporting details from the text.

Three kinds of traditional stories. Traditional stories were told aloud for a long time before anyone wrote them down, so each one has many versions. A fable is a short story, often with talking animals, that teaches a lesson; many fables end by stating the lesson. A folktale is a story passed down by the people of a community; it often has a clever trickster or an ordinary person who faces a problem. A myth is a traditional story that often explains how something in nature came to be, and it often has gods or heroes with special powers. The three retellings below are short, original versions of well-known traditional stories. Each is one version among many, and one story cannot show everything about the people who tell it.

Fable — The Lion and the Mouse (a fable in the Aesop tradition of ancient Greece)

A lion was sleeping in the sun when a little mouse ran across his paw. The lion woke, trapped the mouse under his huge paw and opened his mouth. "Please let me go," squeaked the mouse. "Let me go, and someday I will help you." The lion laughed. How could a tiny mouse ever help a lion? Still, he lifted his paw and let her go.

Some days later, hunters stretched a net of ropes between two trees, and the lion walked into it. The more he struggled, the tighter the ropes held him. He roared so loudly that the whole forest heard. The mouse heard too. She ran to the net and gnawed through one rope, then another, until the lion could pull himself free. "You laughed at me," said the mouse, "but now you know that a mouse can help a lion."

Folktale — Anansi and the Pot of Wisdom (a folktale of the Akan people of Ghana, in West Africa, where Anansi the spider is a famous trickster; told here in one of its common forms)

Long ago, Anansi the spider decided to collect all the wisdom in the world and keep it for himself. He went from place to place, gathering every clever idea he could find, and sealed them all inside a clay pot. Then he looked for a hiding place no one could reach: the top of the tallest tree.

Anansi tied the pot to the front of his body and began to climb. The fat pot bumped against the trunk, and he slid down again and again. His young son, Ntikuma, was watching from below. "Father," he called, "if you tie the pot on your back, you will be able to hold on to the tree."

Anansi stopped. He had gathered all the wisdom in the world, yet a small boy had thought of something he had not. Angry and embarrassed, he let go of the pot. It crashed to the ground and broke, and the wisdom inside scattered in every direction. That, the story says, is why no one has all the wisdom, and everyone has a little.

Myth — How Maui Slowed the Sun (a myth told in Hawaiʻi; other Polynesian islands tell it in other ways)

Long ago, the story says, the sun raced across the sky so fast that the days were very short. Maui's mother, Hina, made kapa, a cloth pounded from tree bark, and she needed sunshine to dry it. Every day the sun set before her kapa was dry, and all her work was wasted.

Maui decided to help her. He made strong ropes and climbed to the top of the great mountain Haleakalā, where the sun rose each morning. He hid and waited through the night. When the first rays of the sun crept over the edge of the mountain, Maui threw his ropes and caught them, one after another, until the sun could not move.

"Let me go!" the sun cried. "Not until you promise to go slowly," said Maui. At last the sun agreed to travel slowly across the sky for part of each year. Maui let go of the ropes. From then on, the story says, Hina's kapa had time to dry, and people had long, warm days for their work.

Retelling: key events in a connected order. To retell a story, tell the most important events in order, in your own words, and connect them so a listener understands why each thing happens. Start with who the story is about and the problem, then the important attempts or events, then the turning point, then how it ends. Use connecting words such as first, then, because, so and at last. Leave out small details that do not change what happens, but keep every event the ending depends on. If you leave out the mouse being set free, for example, the ending makes no sense, because her help repays the lion's kindness. Say which version you are retelling, because another version may have different details.

Theme: a message about life. A theme is a message about life or people that a story shows. A topic is one or two words, such as kindness or wisdom. A theme is a whole sentence about the topic: "A kindness can be repaid, even by someone small." To determine a theme, ask what the main character learns or what the ending shows, and check that the whole story supports it, not just one event. Some fables state their lesson at the end; folktales and myths usually leave the reader to work it out. A story can have more than one reasonable theme, as long as details from the text support it.

A theme's meaning. Explaining a theme's meaning means saying, in your own words, what the message tells people about how to live or what to notice. "No one has all the wisdom" means that every person, even a young child, may know something useful, so it is wise to listen to others and share what you know.

How a theme develops. Even when a story states its lesson, as many fables do, the theme is built across the story by its events and details. At the beginning, a character's choice or problem sets up the idea. In the middle, events test it. At the turning point or end, the outcome shows the message clearly. In "The Lion and the Mouse," the beginning sets up the idea when the lion lets the mouse go even though he laughs at her; the middle tests it when the lion's great strength cannot break the net; the end shows it when the mouse's small teeth free him and she reminds him that he laughed. Each part adds a supporting detail, and together they develop the theme.

A misconception to avoid. Some readers name a topic or a single event as the theme. "The lion gets caught in a net" is an event, and "wisdom" is a topic. Neither is a theme. A theme is a sentence about life that the beginning, middle and end all support.

Worked example 1 — A connected retelling of the fable. Who and problem: a lion catches a mouse, who begs to be let go and promises to help him someday. Event: the lion laughs, because a tiny mouse helping a lion seems silly, but he lets her go. Turning point: later the lion is trapped in a hunters' net and roars. Ending: the mouse hears him, gnaws through the ropes and frees him, so she has repaid his kindness. Retelling: "A lion caught a mouse but let her go, even though he laughed when she said she might help him someday. Later the lion was trapped in a hunters' net. Because he roared, the mouse heard him, so she gnawed through the ropes and set him free. She had kept her promise."

Worked example 2 — How a theme develops in the folktale. Proposed theme: "No one has all the wisdom, so wisdom is meant to be shared." Beginning: Anansi wants to keep all the wisdom "for himself" and hide it where "no one could reach" it. Middle: the pot tied to his front keeps him from climbing, and he slides down again and again. Turning point: his young son solves the problem he could not solve. End: the pot breaks and "everyone has a little." Each part adds a detail, and together they show the message. Its meaning: even a very clever person can learn from someone younger, so it is better to share what you know than to hoard it.

Worked example 3 — A myth's theme and what it explains. The myth explains something in nature: why the sun moves slowly across the sky for part of the year, giving long days. Proposed theme: "Courage and a clever plan used to help others can change even something very powerful." Supporting details: Maui acts because his mother's kapa never dries (beginning); he plans, climbs the mountain and waits all night (middle); he catches the sun with ropes, and the sun agrees to go slowly (end). Its meaning: when someone you care about has a problem, a brave, well-planned action can make a difference, even against something as strong as the sun.

Retelling chart (record task): Make a chart with three rows, one for each story, and five columns: kind of story and culture, who and problem, important events, turning point, ending. Fill it in from the text, then retell one story aloud to a partner using only your chart. The partner checks the order against the text.

Theme ladder: For one story, draw a ladder with three rungs labeled beginning, middle and end. On each rung write one supporting detail from the text. At the top, write the theme as a full sentence and one sentence about its meaning.

Independent performance: Read a new fable, folktale or myth from a culture not covered in this lesson, chosen with your teacher (for example, a trickster tale, a pourquoi tale or a myth about the night sky). Write or tell: (1) the kind of traditional story it is and one clue; (2) the culture or tradition it comes from and which version you read; (3) a retelling of the key events in order, using connecting words; (4) a theme stated as a full sentence and what it means; (5) how the theme develops, with one supporting detail from the beginning, one from the middle and one from the end. Success criteria: the retelling keeps every event the ending depends on and adds nothing that is not in the text; the theme is a sentence, not a topic or a single event; each detail really comes from the text; and you explain the theme's meaning in your own words.