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The following fable originated in ancient India or Greece. It appears in a collection of ancient Indian fables called the Panchatantra.

The Tortoise and the Geese Story Summary

A tortoise and two geese live beside a lake, but the lake dries up. The geese carry the tortoise with a stick between their beaks as they search for a new home. They warn the tortoise not to speak, but he doesn’t listen. When villagers point, laugh, and jeer, the tortoise can’t take it. He opens his mouth to spe...

Read the fable here: The Miser

A Summary of the Miser and His Gold Story

A Miser buried his gold in a secret hole in the ground where he could go and count his treasure. A thief saw him digging up the treasure one day and stole the gold. The Miser came and saw the gold was stolen. Someone passed by to ask what happened. When the Miser explained that his treasure was stolen from the hole, the passerby asked him why he didn’t keep it in the house to spend it when he needed it. The Miser ...

According to a legend, Saint Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland. While the story is only a legend (Ireland was never known to have snakes) we can still learn an invaluable lesson about faith by reflecting on it.

Saint Patrick traveled across Ireland preaching and teaching about Christianity. Everywhere he went, however, the people whispered in fear. The fields and forests were full of evil creatures slithering along the ground. Even speaking of these snakes made the people tremb...

This ancient Chinese parable expresses the balance between good luck and bad luck or happiness and unhappiness. After hearing the story, we should reflect on our own reaction to events. Was it good luck or bad luck? We’ll see.

This story was recently made popular among children in an episode of Bluey called “The Sign.” The most famous version comes from Alan Watts whose recording you can watch or share with kids below.

I wrote this children’s version of the parable for you to share an...

This story teaches kids a lesson about perseverance. Most of us learn to quit too early as young people. Read this story together and talk about the ways we should keep going even after we fail. 

Three Feet From Gold: A Story about Perseverance 

A man moved out West to mine for gold. He bought a plot of land and got to work. He put his entire life savings into the machinery he needed to find that gold. At first, it was a success. He found some gold! Then he borrowed money from friends ...

I first came across the metaphor of the field mice and the antelope in an old book by James Carville and Paul Begala. They shared a story about Newt Gingrich using the field mice and antelope analogy to apply to politics. Tim Ferriss recently re-shared this story as well on his website. I’ll be honest, I’ve thinking about this metaphor ever since.

Here’s a brief summary of the field mice and the antelope metaphor:

Every day, a lion goes out to hunt field mice.But the lion can’t l...

Have you ever heard the expression, “the lion’s share,” as in “the lion’s share of the work” or “the lion’s share of the money”? It is an idiomatic phrase that originates in one of Aesop’s fables.

Read The Lion’s Share Fable here.

Although we might hear the phrase often to describe a large responsibility, the actual parable has a different lesson. Let’s look at a short summary and some reflection questions.

The Lion’s Share Fable Summary

The Lion, Fox, Jackal, and Wolf agree to ...

The Parable of the Two Wolves is often attributed to the Cherokee American Indians. It has been featured in various movies and TV shows. Here is a short kid-version of the story for kids.

The Tale of the Two Wolves

A grandfather sat his grandson down for a short, life lesson:

There are two wolves. These wolves are always fighting.

One wolf is light and goodness. He is full of joy, hope, faith, and love.

The Good Wolf makes us happy.

The other wolf is evil. He is full of...

Here is a look back at 2024 and the lessons I learned as full-time author and creator. This is the seventh annual project report (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).

Here is the month-by-month breakdown of the time I spent as a creator:

My Top 25 Projects 114:06 – The Religion Teacher Email & Customer Service92:21 – Morning Preview82:18 – ACE Teaching Religion in Catholic Schools Graduate Course 64:28 – Daily Review55:42 – Goals to Gold (Book)54:37 – The...

The Parable of the Long Spoons is a story about heaven and hell. Although it does not appear in the Bible, it has been used by many preachers and teachers to teach about the importance of humility and love. This story teaches a lesson about the need to be selfless and generous in order to experience the joy that awaits us in heaven.

The Parable of the Long Spoons

Two groups of hungry people sit around large pots of stew. Each of them is given a long spoon to eat the stew. These spoons...