1. ASManager2.zip Driver
2. J_HAIR.txt File Contents

J_HAIR.txt Driver File Contents (ASManager2.zip)

Name: <  >
Class: <  >
Date: <  >


Skinny Hair

How silly human beings can be sometimes. Aesop's Fables shows us just how silly! While reading this fable about a silly husband and his vain wives, look for combining words and endings. They'll be in capital letters.

The Man and His Two Wives

Back in the days when a man was allowed more wives than one, a middle-aged bachelor WHOSE hair was only just beginning to turn gray fell in love with two women at one time, AND married both of them.

One was young and blooming, AND she wished her husband to appear as youthful as herself. So every night she would comb his hair, AND as she did so she would pull out all the gray hairs.

The other wife, WHO was older, saw her husband growing gray with pleasure, FOR she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So each morning WHEN she brushed his hair, she would industriously pluck out every black hair she could find.

For a time the man enjoyed the attention and devotion of his wives, UNTIL one morning WHEN he looked into the mirror, he found that he was completely bald!

The End


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Talk with your writing partners about what you think the moral of the fable is. Some people might say that there are two morals -- one, a lesson learned by the wives, and the second learned by the husband. If you agree, try to write each in your own words. (If you don't agree, just write one moral.) Discuss it first and work together on the writing.

A. The husband learned that:

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B. The wives learned that:

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Name and save this file now. (Press ctrl+S, type a name for the file, and press enter.)

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Aesop wrote the moral something like this:

Yield to the caprices of all, and you shall have nothing left to yield.

Someone rewrote the same moral this way:

When you give in to everyone, you'll end up with nothing.

Copy the moral(s) you wrote at the angle brackets.

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Does yours mean the same as Aesop's above? Talk about it with your writing partners and change your work if you want to.


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Aesop's scribe got tired when he was copying the second half of the fable. Yes, he messed it up again! This time, he put combining words in the right places, but he put in the wrong words! See if you can come up with better words than he used. Replace the scribe's words at the angle brackets.


Scribe's Fable to Edit:

The other wife, <which> was older, saw her husband growing gray with pleasure <until> she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. <perhaps> each morning <if> she brushed his hair, she would industriously pluck out every black hair she could find.

For a time the man enjoyed the attention and devotion of his wives, <which> one morning <after> he looked into the mirror, he found that he was completely bald!


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Now, show that you know different ways of combining sentences. Suppose you thought that this first sentence was overstuffed and hard to read.

Sentences from Fable:

Back in the days when a man was allowed more wives than one, a middle-aged bachelor whose hair was only just beginning to turn gray fell in love with two women at one time, and married both of them.

If you break it down into skinny sentences, they might look like this:

It was in the old days.
Then a man was allowed more than one wife.
There was a middle-aged bachelor.
His hair was beginning to turn gray.
He fell in love with two women.
He married both of them.

Below is another copy of the skinny sentences. Edit by combining them into two or three sleek sentences. You can either retype your new sentences or delete from and add to the copy.

Skinny Sentences to Edit:

It was in the old days.
Then a man was allowed more than one wife.
There was a middle-aged bachelor.
His hair was beginning to turn gray.
He fell in love with two women.
He married both of them.

Your Revisions

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Do the same thing with the next sentence. But this time it's your turn to find the skinny sentences. First, write the skinny sentences, then copy them to the angle brackets and combine the sentences any way you like.

Sentence from Fable

One was young and blooming, and she wished her husband to appear as youthful as herself, so every night she would comb his hair, and as she did so, she would pull out all the gray hairs.

Skinny Sentences:

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Skinny Sentences:

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Your Revision:

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At the end of the story, you were probably wondering what the wives would say when they noticed the husband was bald! Talk about it with your writing partners and, together, write the ending of the story. Give each of the wives a name. Describe their faces when they see the bald husband. What would they say? (Remember to put quotation marks around their speech.)

Our Ending to "The Man and His Two Wives"

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If you haven't done so already, name and save this file now. (Press ctrl+S, type a name for the file, and press enter.)

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end of activity
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