The Listening Grove · Aesop's Fables
Fable 7: The Eagle and the Jackdaw
A Charlotte Mason fable lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Aesop's fable The Eagle and the Jackdaw about?Parent review
Aesop's Fable 7, The Eagle and the Jackdaw, is a tale about knowing your own strength. When an Eagle swoops down and carries off a lamb, a watching Jackdaw fancies he is just as strong. He swoops onto the back of a great Ram, but his claws only tangle in the thick wool, and he cannot get free. The Shepherd catches him, clips his wings, and gives him to his children, who laugh at the funny bird who thought he was an Eagle.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last fable.
What happened in Aesop's fable Belling the Cat?Have a look
In the last fable, Belling the Cat, the Mice met to plan how to escape the Cat. A young Mouse suggested hanging a bell on the Cat so they would hear her coming, and all the mice cheered, until a wise old Mouse asked the hard question, "Who will bell the Cat?"
Back to the previous lesson: Belling the Cat →The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to The Eagle and the Jackdaw, the Kindred Thicket Revised Edition.
Read by Kindred Thicket, from the Kindred Thicket Revised Edition.
Read along with the fableRead along
An Eagle, swooping down on powerful wings, seized a lamb in her talons and made off with it to her nest. A Jackdaw saw the deed, and his silly head was filled with the idea that he was big and strong enough to do as the Eagle had done. So with much rustling of feathers and a fierce air, he came down swiftly on the back of a large Ram. But when he tried to rise again he found that he could not get away, for his claws were tangled in the wool. And so far was he from carrying away the Ram, that the Ram hardly noticed he was there.
The Shepherd saw the fluttering Jackdaw and at once guessed what had happened. Running up, he caught the bird and clipped its wings. That evening he gave the Jackdaw to his children.
"What a funny bird this is!" they said laughing, "what do you call it, father?"
"That is a Jackdaw, my children. But if you should ask him, he would say he is an Eagle."
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 Eagle and the Jackdaw?The Eagle, The Jackdaw, The Ram, The Shepherd, The children, The pastureHave a look
- The Eagle: A powerful eagle who carries off a lamb, and whose feat the Jackdaw foolishly tries to copy.
- The Jackdaw: A vain bird who swoops onto a ram and tangles his claws in the wool, unable to get free.
- The Ram: The large sheep the Jackdaw drops onto; he hardly notices the bird caught in his wool.
- The Shepherd: Catches the tangled Jackdaw, clips his wings, and gives him to his children.
- The children: The Shepherd's children, who laugh at the funny bird that thinks he is an Eagle.
- The pasture: The place the fable happens: the open pasture where the flock grazes and the Jackdaw is caught.
What is the moral of Aesop's fable The Eagle and the Jackdaw?Have a look
“Do not let your vanity make you overestimate your powers.”
The Jackdaw saw the Eagle carry off a lamb and thought he could do the same, but he was far too small; his claws tangled in the ram's wool, and his vanity landed him in the shepherd's hands.
The Eagle and the Jackdaw 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.
What other names does this fable go by?
You will see it as "The Eagle and the Jackdaw," "The Jackdaw Who Would Be an Eagle," and sometimes "The Eagle, the Jackdaw, and the Shepherd." Look for the jackdaw who watches an eagle carry off a lamb and tries the same on a ram, only to tangle his claws in the wool.
Where does this fable come from, and where else will my child meet it?
It is from the Greek Aesop, one of several fables about a jackdaw who reaches above himself, a bird so linked with borrowed grandeur that "the jackdaw in borrowed feathers" became a proverb of its own. The image of someone caught trying to be grander than he is will be familiar to your child long after this reading.
What is the lesson, and do I need to explain it?
The jackdaw mistakes the eagle's strength for his own and is caught, so the fable teaches, in the old words, not to let your vanity make you overestimate your powers. The shepherd's closing line, that the bird would call himself an eagle, says it with a wink. Let the wink do the work.
How do I help my child narrate this one?
Read it once, then invite the telling. If she pauses: "What did the eagle do, and what happened when the jackdaw tried the same thing?" A drawing of the jackdaw stuck in the ram's wool makes a cheerful narration, and the free character cards give her the eagle, the jackdaw, the ram, and the shepherd to act it out.