Stories from Around the World

Compare characters, settings, events, and messages in two folktales from different cultures.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 51

People all over the world tell stories, and some stories from far-apart places are surprisingly alike.
The Lion and the Mouse is a fable from ancient Greece. The Mice Who Set the Elephants Free is from India, from a very old book of tales called the Panchatantra.
In both, small mice rescue big animals from hunters' ropes. That's how they're alike.
But they're different too: one mouse helps a lion in one tale, and hundreds of mice help a herd of elephants in the other.
When you compare stories, look at the characters, the settings, the events, and the messages.

Georgia's K-12 English Language Arts Standards:

3.T.T.1.d — Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, central messages, or events within texts across diverse cultures. (I)