Wednesday, May 19, 2010

"The Shield of Kindness"

We read the story "The Shield of Kindness." An old man wanted to give his three sons a test to see which son was the kindest. The kindest son would receive the special shield.

The first son went to Lake Tana at the start of the Nile River. He saved a baby from being eaten by a crocodile. His father said that anyone would save a baby.


The second son took care of a man's money while he was at the market. He didn't take any of the money. The father said he was honest and good.


The third son went far away to a mountain. There he saw his enemy sleeping on a cliff. He could have yelled to scare him and make him fall. Instead, he gently grabbed his enemy's arm and took him to a field for safety. His father said, "You showed true kindness because he was mean to us and you were nice to him."


I really like this Ethiopian fable!

(Illustrations taken from When the World Began-Stories Collected in Ethiopia by Elizabeth Laird...a delightful book that came from the Anchorage library with other books for our unit on Ethiopia. Regrettably, it's no longer in print-otherwise I would track one down for our personal library).

14 comments:

Rebecca said...

Andrew, that is a great story! Have you read any other Ethiopian fables? I would love to hear them! Love, Aunt Becca

Grandma M said...

Andrew, What a good book report. I think the father was very wise. A good lesson to learn. Sounds like something I read in the Bible. Love, Gram M

Anonymous said...

Hi Andrew, You have written a very good book report. I liked reading about the kind sons. It made me think about being kind, honest, helpful to my parent, a stranger or even to an enemy!
I love you.
Grandma Joy

T said...

Hey Andrew- great story! I know this book came from the library and your mom wants to get a copy for you guys. maybe she can find a used copy on amazon or something. suggest it to her to research uses books. maybe you guys could own it then.
love you! Aunt T

Mark and Wendy said...

Note from Andrew's mom: The book is available new from Amazon for only $141! Used from $36, which is better, however...

Anonymous said...

Nice story

Unknown said...

Ilovet this storyπŸ‘πŸ‘

Unknown said...

What is the plot of the story😒πŸ˜₯😒πŸ˜₯πŸ˜₯😒πŸ˜₯😒πŸ˜₯







Unknown said...

What is the plot of the story😒πŸ˜₯😒πŸ˜₯πŸ˜₯😒πŸ˜₯😒πŸ˜₯







Unknown said...

What is the plot of the story😒πŸ˜₯😒πŸ˜₯πŸ˜₯😒πŸ˜₯😒πŸ˜₯







Unknown said...

I want the full story as a modern day story

Unknown said...

What the plot of the story please can someone help. Thank you

Anonymous said...

The shield of kindness is true

Anonymous said...

I read the whole thing, it's the same as the one I read