The Donkey and His Masters
A fable retold from Fifty Famous Fables by Lida B. McMurry
This fable comes from Fifty Famous Fables, a collection published by Lida B. McMurry in the 1920s. The text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. Fables are short stories that teach a lesson through animal characters. This story shows what happens when someone complains about everything instead of being thankful for what they have. Children learn that always wanting something different can lead to losing what was good all along.
- Band
- Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5
- Length
- short · about 328 words in 4 sections · 4 pictures
- Source
- Fifty Famous Fables, Lida B. McMurry
- 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
- · Colouring page
- · Teacher’s Edition (members)
Lesson at a glance
- Reading
- about 8 minutes at this band
- Pause questions
- 3
- Words to Know
- 4
- Quick Check
- 6 questions, with the answer key
- Let’s Talk
- 3 questions for afterwards
- Worksheet
- questions, an activity and a drawing prompt
About 35 minutes with one story, all of it.
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.
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The same story
Other bands of this story
This story is ready now at the Purple band only. Other bands can be made to order for members after launch.