The Listening Grove · Aesop's Fables
Fable 21: The Farmer and the Stork
A Charlotte Mason fable lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Aesop's fable The Farmer and the Stork about?Parent review
Aesop's Fable 21, The Farmer and the Stork, is a story about the company we keep. A trusting Stork joins a party of Cranes in a newly planted field, and all the birds are caught together in the Farmer's net. The Stork pleads that he is honest and no thief, and knew nothing of the Cranes' stealing. But the Farmer answers that he caught him among the thieves, and so he must share their punishment.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last fable.
What happened in Aesop's fable The Plane Tree?Have a look
In the last fable, The Plane Tree, two travelers rested from the noonday sun in the cool shade of a great tree, then complained that it was useless because it bore no fruit. The tree itself answered, calling them ungrateful for scorning it even as they enjoyed its shade.
Back to the previous lesson: The Plane Tree →The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to The Farmer and the Stork, the Kindred Thicket Revised Edition.
Read by Kindred Thicket, from the Kindred Thicket Revised Edition.
Read along with the fableRead along
A Stork of a very simple and trusting nature had been asked by a gay party of Cranes to visit a field that had been newly planted. But the party ended dismally with all the birds entangled in the meshes of the Farmer's net.
The Stork begged the Farmer to spare him.
"Please let me go," he pleaded. "I belong to the Stork family who you know are honest and birds of good character. Besides, I did not know the Cranes were going to steal."
"You may be a very good bird," answered the Farmer, "but I caught you with the thieving Cranes and you will have to share the same punishment with them."
Memory becomes Action!
Use the character cards* to remember who is in the fable. Choose one way to narrate.
*Character cards are free with the email list; the Composition Prompt and Drawn Narration Sheet are in the Companion Guide.
What is the list of the names, people, characters, and places that are important in Aesop's fable The Farmer and the Stork?The Stork, The Cranes, The FarmerHave a look
- The Stork: The honest but foolish stork, caught in the net because he kept company with thieves.
- The Cranes: The thieving cranes who invite the stork to the newly planted field.
- The Farmer: The farmer whose net catches them all, and who judges the stork by the company he keeps.
What is the moral of Aesop's fable The Farmer and the Stork?Have a look
“You are judged by the company you keep.”
The Stork was honest, but he was caught among thieves and so shared their fate. We are judged by the company we keep, whatever our own intentions.
The Farmer and the Stork Q & A
Common questions about this fable: the other titles it goes by, where it comes from, its lesson, and how to help your child narrate it.
Is this the same as "The Farmer and the Cranes"?
It is the same family of fable. Aesop tells of a farmer who nets the cranes stealing his newly sown seed, and in this version a trusting stork is caught among them and punished with them. Whether your book calls it "The Farmer and the Stork" or "The Cranes and the Stork," look for the honest bird caught with the thieves. The read-aloud on this page gives you the full text.
Where does this story come from, and where else will my child meet it?
The Farmer and the Stork comes down from the Greek collections of Aesop and was retold by Phaedrus in Latin and by La Fontaine in French. It has always been used to warn the young about their choice of friends. When your child meets it, she is meeting a very old piece of advice about the company we keep.
What is the lesson of this fable? Do I need to explain the moral?
The stork is honest, but he is caught in the net among the thieving cranes and must share their punishment. You do not need to spell this out. Charlotte Mason found that children "readily appropriate the moral" of a fable on their own (Towards a Philosophy of Education, Vol. 6), and a fable does its best work when a child reaches the point herself. Read it well and let it do its quiet work.
How do I help my young child narrate this fable?
Read it through once, without stopping to quiz, then invite your child to tell it back in her own words. Mason believed a single hearing was enough, noting that "few grown-ups could 'tell' one of Æsop's Fables with the terse directness which children reproduce" (Towards a Philosophy of Education, Vol. 6). If she stalls, one gentle prompt restarts her: "Why was the stork caught? What did the farmer say to him?" For a child who is not yet writing, drawn narration works beautifully here, letting her draw the birds tangled in the farmer's net, or the stork pleading with the farmer. And if she needs something to hold while she tells, the character cards in our free bonus materials give her the stork, the cranes, and the farmer to point to as the story unfolds.
Should I go over the vocabulary before we read this fable?
Usually not, and this is where fables differ from history or science. In those subjects a single unfamiliar word can carry the whole meaning of a passage, so it is worth a quick look beforehand. A fable works the other way. Its gift is exposure, and the way a child quietly infers what a word means from the story around it. So read this one straight through and let the context do the teaching. If a word truly blocks understanding, say what it means in a breath and read on, keeping the whole of the story in one piece.