get out use of deer ... chris, black resistance, fables...taxidermy hidden in plain sight, coded/only chris to understand

slavery fables weak/vermin intro get out deer...wits and taxidermy

speaking animals ... speaking through eyes/perspective

“The Hare and Many Friends” is the final poem in John Gay’s collection of fables written in 1727 for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. This collection is commonly known as Fables, but it is also known as Fifty-one Fables in Verse or Fables of John Gay. Gay’s poem opens with: “Friendship, like love, is but a name,/Unless to one you stint the flame.” The poem concerns the inconstancy of friendship, as exemplified by a hare that lives on friendly terms with a group of farm animals. The hare is refused help by each of the animals as she begs them to help her escape an approaching hunter. Each of the animals gives her a different excuse of why they cannot help, eventually leaving the hare to her death at the hands of the hunter.

“A hare, who, in a civil way, Complied with ev'ry thing, like Gay, Was known by all the bestial train, Who haunt the wood, or graze the plain: Her care was, never to offend,<br> And ev'ry creature was her friend.”

The poem is intended to teach readers that one with many friends has no true friends, so it is better to be close friends with a few than friends with many. However, beyond the lesson of friendship, there is a darker moral lesson in the poem intended specifically for the young women reciting it. Gay creates a connection between friendship and romantic love that sets up the poem as a description of the fatality that awaits women (symbolized by the hare) if they associate with the wrong people and lose their reputations. This foreshadows the risks that readers will witness Catherine experience in her new environment when she journeys to Bath.

Both at the time of publication and for some 150 years afterwards, the poem won widespread popularity. Despite this widespread popularity, Gay’s hopes of Court preferment were disappointed and the story was put about by his friends that the fable had a personal application. Jonathan Swift in particular wrote “Thus Gay, the Hare with many friends,/Twice seven long years at court attends;/Who, under tales conveying truth,/To virtue formed a princely youth;/Who paid his courtship with the crowd,/As far as modish pride allowed;/Rejects a servile usher’s place,/And leaves St. James’s in disgrace.” (Heneage Jesse 88). But after a prose version appeared in a collection of Aesop’s Fables, Gay’s original authorship gradually slipped from the public memory. Nevertheless, Gay’s Fables went through repeated editions, and “The Hare and Many Friends” stood out as a particular favorite. As Austen’s narrator notes, it was a common recitation piece for children and was frequently shown off as part of a young lady’s accomplishments.

See this illustration by John Wootton of "The Hare and Many Friends."

“The Hare and Many Friends” is the final poem in John Gay’s collection of fables written in 1727 for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. This collection is commonly known as Fables, but it is also known as Fifty-one Fables in Verse or Fables of John Gay. Gay’s poem opens with: “Friendship, like love, is but a name,/Unless to one you stint the flame.”<br> The poem concerns the inconstancy of friendship, as exemplified by a hare that lives on friendly terms with a group of farm animals. The hare is refused help by each of the animals as she begs them to help her escape an approaching hunter. Each of the animals gives her a different excuse of why they cannot help, eventually leaving the hare to her death at the hands of the hunter.

“A hare, who, in a civil way, Complied with ev'ry thing, like Gay, Was known by all the bestial train, Who haunt the wood, or graze the plain: Her care was, never to offend,<br> And ev'ry creature was her friend.”

The poem is intended to teach readers that one with many friends has no true friends, so it is better to be close friends with a few than friends with many. However, beyond the lesson of friendship, there is a darker moral lesson in the poem intended specifically for the young women reciting it. Gay creates a connection between friendship and romantic love that sets up the poem as a description of the fatality that awaits women (symbolized by the hare) if they associate with the wrong people and lose their reputations. This foreshadows the risks that readers will witness Catherine experience in her new environment when she journeys to Bath.

Both at the time of publication and for some 150 years afterwards, the poem won widespread popularity. Despite this widespread popularity, Gay’s hopes of Court preferment were disappointed and the story was put about by his friends that the fable had a personal application. Johnathan Swift in particular wrote “Thus Gay, the Hare with many friends,/Twice seven long years at court attends;/Who, under tales conveying truth,/To virtue formed a princely youth;/Who paid his courtship with the crowd,/As far as modish pride allowed;/Rejects a servile usher’s place,/And leaves St. James’s in disgrace.” (Heneage Jesse 88). But after a prose version appeared in a collection of Aesop’s Fables, Gay’s original authorship gradually slipped from the public memory. Nevertheless, Gay’s Fables went through repeated editions, and “The Hare and Many Friends” stood out as a particular favorite. As Austen’s narrator notes, it was a common recitation piece for children and was frequently shown off as part of a young lady’s accomplishments.

Context

The Zhuangzi is a large collection of tells, anecdotes, parables, allegories, and fables which are often not serious or comical in nature. These anecdotes try to identify and demonstrate the vanity and uncertain human distinctions between some of the next opposites, life and death, good and bad, big and small, but really also highlights human and nature. This tells mean to be part of ancient Chinese Philosophy. Zhuangzi or Master Zhuang he was one of the most significant first interpreters of Daoism. The Daoism is a pseudo religion and philosophical believing that has shape Chinese culture. “Your life has a limit, but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue what has no limit, you will be in danger. If you understand this and still strive for knowledge, you will be in danger for certain! If you do good, stay away from fame. If you do evil, stay away from punishments. Follow the middle; go by what is constant, and you can stay in once piece, keep yourself alive, look after your parents, and live out your years.” (Zhuangzi n.d.) The Utopia is reference to the perfect place where everything is equal. So for an actual urban development there is not a close relation between city and nature, as nature is only seen a resource or a place to settle, there is more to it, and there is where the Not-Even-Anything Village comes to place. A base principle on Daoism is the self-awareness of nature and we as a part of it, a way to settle an agreement to land and to everything. A Utopia should be work on similar interests to this Chinese idea of the perfect place to live or to build.

Zhuangzi. The Zhuangzi, History of Chinese Philosophy. University of Hawaii, s.f.

It was clear to me that this folk tale genre had provided the class with a concise structure and enjoyable motivation for their pieces

By giving students different examples of something you expect them to do, it will help get their minds moving and them thinking towards what they need to do.

Students who were more advanced in language development were often on target with the moral Aesop had intended.

After reading different Aesop fables, the morals for some of them were easy to figure out. For some of the other fables, they were not as easy. I think its great that students can figure out a moral to a fable without a teacher telling the students what it is.

the original fables and a modern version. That way, the students would have a broader view of the genre.

I think that when teachers use different views of something, it defiantly does help students have a broader view on something. I think that this is a great thing to do through fables.

I think this is a interesting point. Normally we learn the moral of the story is to not be dishonest but this time the moral is to not jump to conclusions.

I believe that it is the opposite. While it may be true that older children enjoy the "black and white" thinking it is only because they have grown up being taught that there is a right and a wrong answer. Young children enjoy being creative and they learn by using their imagination, that is why almost every preschool classroom has a dramatic play area for the children to use their imagination.

Children love to ask "why." This type of lesson allows them to do just that as they exercise their ability to think of things in new ways. It also provides them with a lesson about why some things can not be fully explained because "it depends."

Thinking about this fable in a different way gives it a whole new meaning. I think having students think about how the lesson in a fable can be different if one aspect of the story is changed is a great way to help them begin to think critically.

I like the idea of using fables as a way to introduce critical thinking to children because this type of genre requires students to apply something that happened to animals to a real life situation in order to understand it. Using a type of genre that students are familiar with is a great way to do this.

I disagree with this. If anything, younger students are more open to abstract thinking and putting their own creativity on things.

I thought that it was very interesting that critical thinking is seen as an "explicit skill" that students should learn, yet many students have not mastered this skill which is why colleges require freshman to take a course on the subject. As a future teacher I will keep this fact in mind when I teach critical thinking to my students. Although this is a complex skill, I do believe that students can grasp the idea if it is taught in the right way.

I never really thought about how something so simple as asking someone "what if?" forces them to look at the situation from a new perspective. It is true though, because asking "what if" means looking at what we know actually happens and applying it to a made up scenario.

This is definitely a good example of a fable because it is something that can be directly related to the child's life. In a sense, the student can see themselves as the boy and see what they would do in his situation. If they would choose to act as the boy does, then they can see the repercussions.

We do this a lot in the 1st grade classroom I am placed in, every time we read a story we ask the students, "how do you think this character feels?" I like to ask the students to explain how they know that the character is feeling certain way because it allows me to gauge how well the student can read other people.

It is interesting that fables seem to be so basic in structure, but carry such great meaning in our society. For example, The Tortoise and the Hare is a fable that teaches children to take their time with things and not to rush, and it something that is read to most (if not all) kids, but it really is so basic.

As we know, the younger children are the more egocentric they are. Im not sure if this is the correct term, but I mean this in the sense that they only see the world from their own points of view. As children grow older, they become more aware of the idea that other people have different points of view.

This is very true. In order to make informed decisions, people much be able to weigh the pros and cons and see how it fits into the scheme of things. This is much easier to do when a person has an idea of how something would apply to their own lives.

This is a very good point. I would have ever thought about it this way, that the villagers just jump to the conclusion that boy was lying.

I think this is true because of how great not only the stories are, but the lessons that they teach are. The lessons themselves are timeless.

Fables are great ways of teaching life lessons to kids! The stories always result in learning a new lesson

I think that "the unknown" or "it depends" answer needs to not be "scary" to students. There are many times when learning you might not know what the answer is. The journey to get to an answer should be a learning process not a destination.

I agree with the ambiguity of this statement. Every child is different and will get something unique out of lessons regardless of how "black" or "white" the topic is. Elementary school teachers have to be careful of the materials that they use to teach as critical thinking as children need to be encouraged to think critically rather than learn to take a text and not think about it.

It is important to make this known to your class, and show the different ways that authors approach a fable Cinderella is also a grate fable to show the different adaptations and discuss how authors perceive each tale.

I completely agree with this statement. I think using fables is an excellent way to help students gain perspective taking skills, reasoning skills, and problem-solving skills. Often times, answers are not cut-and-dry, and it is important that students understand this from a young age. One must think through their problems to resolve them productively and effectively. And if the problem remains unresolved after implementing a solution, the failed attempt can only help the child's understanding of the situation grow.

I think this is a very important notion to introduce to young children during mini lessons that require group participation.For example, if a teacher is doing a read aloud and frequently stops to ask her/his students questions relating to information in the book to confirm their understanding of the material, it is important for the students to additionally understand that while everyone's thoughts and answers are valued, we are collectively trying to determine which answer works best for the question concerning the story.

We like stories, they engage us.