The Fox in the Well

A fable retold from Fifty Famous Fables by Lida B. McMurry

This fable comes from Fifty Famous Fables, a collection by American educator Lida B. McMurry published in the early 1900s. The story teaches that actions matter more than words: the wolf spoke kindly but did nothing to help the fox. This fable shows young readers that true kindness means helping, not just talking.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readers, about 4 to 5

Length

short · about 356 words in 4 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Fifty Famous Fables, Lida B. McMurry · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.