Fable · Level 1 · 117 words

The Egret and the Ripples

Original passage © Studio AM, written for Fluency.

At dawn, an egret stood beside a pond. The water was clear, and she could see small fish below. A young raccoon splashed into the shallows. Rings spread across the surface. The fish vanished beneath a fallen branch.

The raccoon blamed the pond for hiding his breakfast. He slapped the water again, making wider rings. The egret waited without moving. She watched the branch. When the pond grew still, one fish left the branch. The egret lowered her beak and caught it. The raccoon finally sat quietly on the bank. Soon he could see three fish that he had missed before.

Muddy water can settle on its own. A noisy search may hide the answer it seeks.

Comprehension questions

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4 questions
1. What lesson does this fable mainly teach?

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A. Patience lets the pond reveal what frantic splashing keeps hidden.
The raccoon keeps disturbing the pond and cannot see fish, while the still egret waits for the water to clear and succeeds. The closing moral contrasts a noisy search with patient settling.

2. Why does the egret wait without moving?

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B. She expects still water to make the hidden fish easier to see.
After the egret waits, the pond grows still and a fish leaves the branch. Her success after the ripples fade shows that stillness is her method, not fear or tiredness.

3. What does "shallows" mean in this passage?

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C. Water near the edge that is not deep
The raccoon splashes into the shallows from beside the pond. That setting supports the meaning of shallow water near the bank, not a plant, hole, or ripple.

4. Where do the fish hide after the raccoon splashes?

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D. Beneath a fallen branch
The first paragraph directly says that the fish vanished beneath a fallen branch after rings spread across the surface.

Source: Written for Fluency. Original passage © Studio AM, written for Fluency.