Think for a moment about the story, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." Goldilocks enters the bears' house when they're not home. She eats their porridge. She sits in their chairs. She even sleeps in their beds. The bears are angry when they come home and see what Goldilocks has done, so they fiercely chase her away. This is what happens in the story. But, what is the main message that the author wants you to understand? One message might be that you should always respect the property of others. Another message could be that you should not stay where you're not welcome. Or, the main message could be that it never pays to be greedy and selfish.
When you think about the main message of a story, you are thinking about the story's theme. Just like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," there may be more than one theme to a story. You may also find that the theme of a story is not usually stated directly. Instead, you have to use clues from the story to determine the theme. So, how can you find these clues? Thinking about character and story details will often lead you to a story's theme.
Student responses may vary. Acceptable answers include:
Please evaluate the student's answers:
Excellent
Good
Okay
Long ago, a ferocious lion ruled over a forest in India. He was so mean that he killed for pleasure. When he called the animals of his forest together, they had to come at once! If they were late, there was sure to be terrifying trouble.
One day, a wise rabbit turned up late on purpose.
"Why are you late?" roared the lion.
"I am late," said the rabbit, "because of the other lion."
"What other lion?" snarled the lion. "I am the ruler of this land! Take me to him!"
The lion followed the rabbit to a deep well with steep sides. There, the lion looked into the well and saw his reflection.
"I'll teach you not to enter my forest," roared the lion.
And with that, he jumped into the well and never did get out.
In ancient times in Palestine, a beggar found a beautiful purse on a road between two cities.
Opening the purse, he found 100 pieces of gold. "Ah, how beautiful," he said to himself sadly, "but this is not mine."
At that moment, he heard a rich merchant calling frantically, "My purse! My purse! I have lost my purse!"
It was obvious that the rich man still had plenty of gold at home, for he was richly dressed indeed. Even so, the beggar was honest and returned the purse.
Instead of thanking the beggar, the rich man snarled, "Thief! You have stolen my money. My purse had 200 pieces of gold in it, and now it has only 100!"
A judge happened to be walking by, and he had witnessed the whole event. Walking over to the two men, he said, "Oh dear merchant, I'm sorry you lost your purse. But you said your purse had 200 gold pieces inside. Since this has only 100, it must not be yours."
And with that, he gave the gold to the humble but honest beggar who never had to beg again.