Once upon a time there was a blackbird that lived in a
cherry tree outside my window. Every day, the blackbird
would sing and sing.
When I ate my breakfast, the blackbird ate his breakfast.
When I ate my lunch, the blackbird ate his lunch. When I ate
my dinner, the blackbird ate his dinner. When I had a snack,
the blackbird had a snack, too. The blackbird always ate the
cherries off the cherry tree outside my window.
Vocabulary
washed hole
crust stole
flew whole
.© Sue Peterson 2012
www.k5learning.com
One day, mother was going to make a cherry pie. We
picked all the cherries off the cherry tree outside my window.
Mother made the pie.
Mother washed the cherries, and then she put them in the
crust to bake. When it was baked, she put the pie by the
window to cool off. She opened the window.
I was eating my breakfast. I saw the blackbird fly around
the tree. There were no cherries on the tree. I saw the
blackbird fly in through the window to sit by me. He flew
over to the window by the the pie.
I smiled. The blackbird looked at me. He smiled. The
blackbird said, “I’ll have my pie without ice cream!”
And with that, the blackbird took the pie under his wing
and flew out the window. He flew up to the cherry tree to
hide. I saw him as he hid the cherry pie in a little hole in the
tree.
“That blackbird stole the cherry pie!” I shouted. “That
blackbird stole the pie!”
.© Sue Peterson 2012
2
When I looked outside, I saw the blackbird eating the
whole pie! He was eating the crust! He was eating the
cherries! Soon, it was all gone.
Now, we both smiled.
What you can learn from this fable:
Think of others before you think of yourself.