Fables for Wisdom Seekers Young and Old

A Meyers Barbara

Description

Following in the legacy of teaching stories, Fables for Wisdom Seekers Young and Old invites parents, teachers, counselors, and other caring adults together with children ages 6-11 to explore ideas about building self-esteem and the challenges of being in a family, school, and community as well as being a citizen of the world. Each fable is accompanied by a series of suggested talking points to support adults in deepening the story and moving it from the realm of fantasy to the everyday world of the child and reader. These conversations join the natural instincts of children - their curiosity, intuitive knowing, zest for learning, open-hearted caring, innate wisdom and joy in playing - with the wisdom adults have gained through experience. Together children and adults build a bridge to a future in which our ways of being reflect what is fair and just for all who share this planet.

Sujets

• Children's

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506904115
• Langue: English

Extrait

Fables for WisdomSeekers
Young and Old

Written by,
Barbara A. Meyers, MSW

Illustrated by,
Susan Adele O’Dwyer
Fables forWisdom Seekers Young and Old
Copyright ©2017 Barbara A. Meyers

ISBN 978-1506-904-12-2 PRINT
ISBN 978-1506-904-11-5 EBOOK

LCCN 2017937222

April 2017

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of thisbook publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form or by any means ─ electronic, mechanical, photo-copy,recording, or any other ─ except briefquotation in reviews, without the prior permission of the author or publisher.

Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meyers,Barbara A.
Fables for Wisdom Seekers Young and Old / written by Barbara A.Meyers.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1506-904-12-2 pbk, 978-1506-904-11-5 digital

1. JUVENILEFICTION/General. 2. /Fables. 3. / Legends, Myths, Fables /General.

F121
Dedication

For my great nephews Sean, Gavin,Devon, Bryce and Kellen. May the magic of stories bring them boundless joy,learnings, and wisdom all the years of their lives;
And
All of the children whose stories haveshown me hope in facing despair, courage in meeting fear, and curiosity indispelling the darkness.
And
All of us on the planet: May the joy ofplay in building sanctuary abide with each of us as we move forward togetherinto an uncertain future.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface . i
An Open Letter To Parents, Grandparents, Teachers, AndCounselors iii
Geri’s Amazing Adventure - AGiraffe’s Journey . 1
“Be Careful What You Wish For!” – A CaterpillarAnd Spider Story . 8
The Elephants’ “Life And Death”Decision . 15
Brave Ollie - A River Otter Finds ANew Family . 21
Mary Quite Contrary – A Mouse Story . 29
Bucky Beaver’s Crushing Disaster 36
Theodora, The Turkey Vulture,Discovers Her Special Talents 42
Frog Song Saves The Day! 49
“When Big Noses Count!” A CommunityLesson Among The Kit Foxes 55
Wally The Whooping Crane Trusts HisOwn Heart 62
Kiya Leads Her Wolf Pack In FindingCommon Ground . 69
Inuk – A Sea Bear’s Loving Courage . 78
The Last White Rhino . 84
Harriet, The Humpback Whale, Reminds Us,“We Are All Alike!” . 90
Theme Index . 95
End Page . 99
About The Author 100
About The Artist 102
PREFACE

Stories,written or oral, are narratives meant to entertain, pique our curiosity, andteach us something about being humans connected to all that surrounds us. WhenI was a very young child, my parents often entertained me with Grimm’s FairyTales . Though I longed for their reading to me, the tales also terrified meand were a clear cure to nighttime prowling. A treasured gift of Robert LouisStevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses opened thedoors to a more sublime world. Then there were the tales my father told meoccasionally on Sunday mornings when my sister and I would squeeze into ourparents’ bed to be entertained with his childhood and teenage adventures. Lastly,on weekday afternoons I was glued to the chair beside the radio ready for thechildren’s afternoon adventure programs. At a very young age I was hooked onstories! Stories showed me a big and exciting world out there beyond my family,our house, and the street on which we lived.
Icould not wait to read books by myself. As soon as I progressed beyond Dick andJane stories at school, I began borrowing books from the school library. Storieswere my passport to adventure, history, geography, and nature. Soon thesestories inspired me to embark on my own adventures. In large part, my firstbook, Common Ground, Uncommon Gifts: Growing Peace and Harmony throughStories , Reflections, and Practices in the Natural World , grewout of those adventures.
Nowas a therapist, I listen to and hold the emotional space for others’ stories. Themore deeply I listen to stories of loss, despair, creativity, courage, andlove, the more I am reminded of our common ground. At our core, each of us isnot very different from the other. But we must learn that through ourexperiences and then we must be reminded of that fact over and over and overagain. How else can we come to live together on this fragile planet? Fablesfor Wisdom Seekers Young and Old is a direct outgrowth of my work over theyears and is written for parents, grandparents, teachers, counselors, and otheradults who care about and love children and want to assist them on theirjourney to wholeness.
Fablesare a genre of stories. They are short stories using non-human beings asprimary characters who think, feel, speak, and act just like us. They also havevery human characteristics like curiosity, fear, selfishness, honesty, greed,helpfulness, and doubt. And because they are so like us, their stories teach ussomething about growing our own humanness. Many cultures around the worldincluding Greek, Indian, African and Native American have relied on fables asteaching stories. Perhaps the most famous are Aesop’s Fables dating backto 550 BC.
In Fablesfor Wisdom Seekers Young and Old , each story is prefaced with anillustration. Artist Susan O’Dwyer has brought both her artistic talents andher pure enthusiasm for the joys of childhood to animating the principalcharacters in each story. May the illustrations bring wonder and curiosity toall.
Thereare also Talking Points following each fable, a series of questions andoccasional observations for grown-ups to share and to ponder together withyoung people. This helps to move the story from fiction to everyday life sothat we begin to grow our wisdom in the mutual exchange of thoughts, ideas, andexperiences between young and old. Wisdom requires that we transmute ourexperiences, our knowledge, our common sense, and our insight into thoughts andactions that are right and just not for me but for us. Thus at one and the sametime, we are each teacher and student. Children’s worlds are circumscribed bytheir families, schools, teams, and community. These are the seed beds forwisdom building, for growing wisdom before children move out into the largerworld.
Weare in grave need of wisdom if we have any hope of living together in thisworld regardless of our differences. Even more than that, we share this planetwith all of the natural elements and all of the flora and fauna. To date wehave not treated any of it very well. We have used the planet and its sentientbeings as our playground and plundered its resources purely for our own needswith regard for neither the planet’s sustainability nor our own. We have notbeen wise. It is never too early to begin to grow wisdom. May you and thechildren find a path to wisdom .

In Peace,
Barbara Meyers
March 2017
AN OPENLETTER TO PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, TEACHERS, AND COUNSELORS

Ifyou are reading this letter, I sense that you, too, love the wide-eyedinnocence of children, their curiosity about everything, their intuitiveknowing, their zest for learning, their open-hearted caring, and theirunbounded joy in playing. These qualities are the foundation for learning aboutthe self and the world. Perhaps like me, you remember those qualities inyourself before we met the “do’s and don’ts,” criticisms, competitions, andevaluations that led us to doubt these qualities or to judge them as“childish.”
Iinvite you to use the stories in Fables for Wisdom Seekers Young and Old tohelp keep alive these wonderful qualities that children bring to our meetingswith them. My hope is that the stories will build a common bond of explorationand conversation about the challenges of being human in a steadily evolvingworld. The reader and listener enter the stories through the lives of animals –animals who are dealing with families, friends, fitting in, being a self andmeeting the dangers of living. The stories are meant to both entertain and tointroduce ideas that can be explored together. Each fable is followed by TalkingPoints – a series of observations and questions that can both deepen the storyand move it from the realm of fantasy to the everyday world of the child andthe reader. Talking Points can be tailored to meet the age and maturity of thechild or children. An index at the back of the book lists the stories byspecific themes as an easy reference for the reader.
May Fables for Wisdom Seekers Young and Old touch your heart and thehearts of the children with whom you will share these stories. May the storiesand conversations be a guide to finding and sharing common ground as togetherwe build bridges to the future.

From a Loving Heart,
GERI’S AMAZING ADVENTURE - A GIRAFFE’S JOURNEY


Once upon a time in a land faraway, there was a young giraffe named Geri. Geri was a very curious andadventurous giraffe. Her curiosity led her to explore the lands beyond theherd’s grazing area. One day Geri was so deliciously happy and excitedexploring new sights and smells, she forgot where the herd was grazing. Shecould not see them nor could she smell them and she became very scared. Shebegan to run this way and that way but she could not find her herd. Geri wasLOST!
What to do? Geri wandered aroundlooking for some sign of the way home, the way back to her family. The more shewandered, the more scared she became. Around mid-day, Geri met a snake restingnear the edge of the trail.
Snake raised its head and asked,“What is the matter with you? I have watched you wandering here and there. Isee your worried look. Are you lost?”
“Oh, yes, Snake. I have wanderedtoo far from my herd and I cannot find my way home. Can you help me, please?”
“Hmm, let me see. Yes, I know theway you should travel. Go that way,” said Snake, leaning its head towards theeast.
“Oh, thank you, thank you,” saidGeri. “You have been so kind to help me. Have a good day.” And off Geri wentthinking that by nightfall, she would be home. Geri did not know that Snakeliked to play tricks on other animals and had sent Geri in