Literatura: Fábulas

Fables are part of our childhood.  But, more importantly, they underline our culture as they generate those morals of the story we are so familiar with.  Here's some background in English to the subject, as well as an example of a fable in Spanish below:

El Gato y el Ratón

Había una vez un pequeño ratón, que vivía en la casa de una mujer vieja. La señora, que temía de estas criaturas, colocó muchas trampas para matar el ratón. El ratón asustado le pide ayuda al gato de la mujer.

-¿Podrías ayudarme, lindo gatito?-le dijo al gato

-Si...¿En que?-respondió este

-Solo quita las trampas de la casa-dijo el ratón

-Mmm... y ...¿que me das a cambio?-dijo el gato

-Finjo ante la señora que estoy muerto, ya que tu me has matado, ella creerá que eres un héroe-respondió el ratón

-Me has convencido-dijo el gato

El gato saco las trampas de la casa, pero el ratón nunca cumplió su parte del trato. Un día la señora descubre que fue el gato quien saco las trampas, ella muy enojada decide dejar al gato en la calle. Moraleja: "No confíes en todo lo que oyes"

Here's a text in Spanish which describes the life and times of a famous medieval Catalan writer: Francesc Eiximenis.  One of the fables which is attributed to him is called "La Zorra y el León".

Let's first look at the comprehension questions in English for this latter fable.

1. How did the lion feel at the beginning of the fable?
2. What did he ask the sheep?
3. Did the sheep answer truthfully or not?
4. What did the lion then do?
5. Why?
6. What did the lion ask the goat?
7. Did the goat answer truthfully or not?
8. What did the lion do?
9. Why?
10. What did the lion ask the fox?
11. How did the fox escape the lion?
12. What happened to the rest of the animals?

Now we'll have a look at the text itself.  First, the version in Spanish.  Try and answer the comprehension questions by predicting the possible answers before you read the text, and then reading the text for gist (general meaning) after.  If you're still having problems understanding some of the Spanish, try Google Translate's instant translation here.

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