The Ice King
A fable retold from Fifty Famous Fables by Lida B. McMurry
This fable comes from the Mic-Mac people (also called Mi'kmaq), an Indigenous tribe of northeastern North America. It was collected in Lida B. McMurry's Fifty Famous Fables, published in the early 1900s. The story explains how people learned to master winter by preparing shelter, fuel, and warm clothing. It is a teaching tale that shows courage, preparation, and respect for the power of nature. This text reflects its era.
- Band
- Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5
- Length
- short · about 368 words in 6 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 9 minutes at this band
- Pause questions
- 5
- 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.