The Stag at the Pool

Before today, I didn’t even realize I had a copy of Aesop’s Fables laying around my house. Reading through the book, I later realized that I didn’t know a majority of the short stories told by the former slave, Aesop.

So I read them.

“The Stag at the Pool” tells the story of a stag gazing at his own reflection in a pool. Seeing himself, he admires his antlers, while feeling contempt for his seemingly weak legs.

While looking at his reflection, the stag is attacked by a lion. He quickly escapes thanks to his legs, but is halted when his antlers become entangles in tree branches. The story presents a sense of irony. His legs, which the stag hated so much, were possibly his biggest strength, while his antlers, which he was proud of, became his downfall.

Like all of Aesop’s Fables, and most traditional stories, the story contains a moral – in this case, “what is worth most is often valued least.” I see another moral here as well – “nothing is appreciated until it is needed.”

I see traditional stories, such as this one, as reflective stories. They are fun stories to tell, but they are meant to present to you a moral that causes reflection on your own life. From “The Stag at the Pool,” what can you find in your own life that is undervalued?

I think the presence of moral thinking in a classroom is a positive addition in itself. Encouraging your students to read traditional, reflective stories has multiple benefits. These include (the obvious) reading skills-building, critical thinking involving the double meaning behind the story, and the contribution to the student’s moral compass.

While short, the readings can be used in a variety of ways for a variety of reasons. Admittedly, I never saw the benefit of passing stories down from generation to generation, but now…

I think I do.