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Theatre Arts For Secondary Schools

Fables

These are short fictional stories that have moral teachings. Fables use humanised
animals, objects or parts of nature as main characters. Fables aim at teaching the
difference between what is right and wrong. They give advice on proper behaviour
and good manners. An example of a common fable in Tanzania is a story of the hyena
and the fox.

Activity 2.2

Read the story of the Hyena and the Fox and answer the questions that follow.
Once upon a time, a fox became a problem to a nomadic settlement.
This fox attacked and ate their goats and sheep.

One day, people gathered together to plan how they could kill this
troublesome fox.
The people decided to set a trap.

The fox fell into the trap that was set for her. After a while, the people came
and tied her to a tree. The people decided to throw the fox into the fire.

They dug a hole near the tree where the fox was tied, and they gathered
wood and put the wood into the hole. They lit a fire, and said, “let’s come
back when the fire is ready”. Then, they will throw this troublesome fox in

the hole.
Soon after the people left, a very hungry hyena came by. He heard the fox
whining. He came closer, thinking he could steal the fox’s meal. He was very

surprised to see that the fox was tied up to a tree. “What happened?” he
asked.
The fox answered, “My uncle tied me here. My uncle really loves me. He

tied me to this tree because he saw how thin and weak I am. He went out
to kill a goat to cook in this fire so I can eat to get fat again. But I am not
hungry now because I’ve been eating so much meat lately. Every time I try

to escape, my uncle catches me, ties me to a tree and makes me eat more
meat. Every time I eat, I get a stomach ache. I’m afraid that my uncle will
kill me if I can’t eat the meat.

The Hyena opened his mouth very wide because fat juicy meat was his

37 Student’s Book Form One

18/10/2024 18:39
Theatre arts form 1.indd 37
Theatre arts form 1.indd 37 18/10/2024 18:39