We explain what a moral is and what is its objective. In addition, to whom it is addressed and some examples of morals.
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What is a moral?
A moral is the teaching that emerges from a story, story , fable or story . The morals have to do with everyday life and help identify what is morally correct , promote the teaching of values and call for reflection on certain behaviors.
In general, their tone is didactic and they are designed for children. In some cases, as in the fables , the moral is written. In other cases, however, it is the reader who must deduce the teaching that emerges from the story.
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Examples of short fables with their moral
- “The rabbit and the turtle.” This fable is one of the best known and tells a race between a rabbit and a turtle that, unexpectedly, wins the turtle despite its slow pace. The rabbit, confident in his speed, did not take the race seriously, was lazy and confident, all qualities that did not allow him to win the race. Moral? He who works with perseverance, dedication and discipline will get better results and will be a more reliable person than one who simply has good skills or facilities to carry out a task.
- “The pig and the horse.” This fable tells the story of a horse that was so sick that it could not stand up. Its owner, accordingly, decided that if he did not improve for the next three days, he would sacrifice it. The pig, worried about this decision, set out to help the horse recover and on the third day he succeeded. The owner of the horse, seeing the improvement of his pet, decided to sacrifice the pig to celebrate. Moral? You must help others, but always with the precaution that our actions do not affect us.
- “The mouse and the lion.” This fable tells the story of a little mouse that was captured by a lion, with the intention of devouring it. The little mouse begged him not to eat it and finally he succeeded. Days later, the mouse saw how hunters caught the same cat that had released him days ago and decided to help him escape from those nets. Moral? Goodnesses, sooner rather than later, are rewarded.
- “The ant and the cicada”. This fable tells the story of an ant who decided to sacrifice his summer by building a shelter and storing food , while the cicada devoted all that time to rest. When winter came, the cicada suffered from hunger and cold while the ant took advantage of its shelter and ate the food it had been keeping throughout the summer. Moral? Those who work and save should not be alarmed when difficult times arrive.
- “The hen of the golden eggs”. This fable tells the story of a marriage of farmers who had a chicken that laid a golden egg every day. Farmers suspected that inside the chicken would have a large lump of gold and that, if killed, they would get all the gold at once. They did so but they realized that the chicken inside was equal to all the common hens they had on their farm. Moral? For wanting to get rich all at once and quickly, they ran out of what guaranteed them gold, in small quantities, every day. Ambition played tricks on them.
- “The milkmaid.”This fable tells the story of the daughter of a farmer farmer went to town every morning with a container full of milk to sell. One morning, while doing that tour, an idea occurred to him. With the money he received in exchange for milk, he would buy 300 eggs. He calculated that, discounting the chicks that were not born, he would soon have about 200, which he would sell when they reached their highest price. In this way, you would make a good sum of money to buy the most beautiful dress, which you would use for the end of the year parties. The milkmaid continued to imagine, while carrying the container with milk that, at the dance, all the young people will pretend to her and she could afford to value them one by one. At that same moment, his foot hit a stone and stumbled, all the milk spilled on the floor and their plans disintegrated. Moral? You should not be too ambitious because nothing will be enough. Longing for the future can make us forget that not even the present is safe.