The Miller, His Son, and Their Ass

A fable retold from Aesop, collected by Horace Elisha Scudder

This fable comes from Aesop, an ancient Greek storyteller whose tales have been retold for thousands of years. Horace Elisha Scudder collected this version in the 1800s. The story teaches that if you try to please everyone, you may end up pleasing no one — and losing what matters most. Fables like this one help children think about choices and consequences in a story they can remember.

Band

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

Length

short · about 356 words in 6 sections · 4 pictures

Source

The Book of Fables and Folk Stories, Horace Elisha Scudder · 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
• · Colouring page

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.