THE LAZY GIRL

ELC121 LIRA 2
Characters
• The Diligent Girl (TDG)
• The Lazy Girl (TLG)
• TDG’s father
• TLG’s mother
• Magical creatures in the wood
• A talking tree
• A dying vine
• A broken oven
• A dog
• The seven fairies
Character & characteristics 1
• The Diligent Girl (TDG)
Never complaint
• Other characteristics: • Do the same work over and over
again
• Hardworking – help all the • Never yet tired
magical creatures she met in the
wood
Responsible
• Sincere – she doesn’t care if she • Taking care of her old & ailing father
and her clothes got all dirty
• Obedient – never looked at the Focus
seventh room as instructed by • Not giving up to find a job
the fairies
Character & characteristics 2
• The Lazy Girl (TLG)
• Other characteristics:
• Unlucky – instead of bringing
home some gold and rubies, she
returned home with bruises and
dirty clothes.
Lazy
• Sit around doing nothing but admiring
herself
Unhelpful
• Whenever she was asked help from the
magical creatures, she responded them by
saying “I will not dirty my clean hands
and pretty feet.”
Disobedient
• Curious about the seventh room at the
fairies’ castle
Character & characteristics 3
• The Father (TDG’s father)
Helpless
• Other information: • Watched his daughter treated badly by his
new wife
• He is weak and unwell
Defensive
• The advice he gave to TDG:
• When TLG’s mother urges TDG to earn
1. Never say no to anyone asking for some money, father responded “Why don’t
help you send your daughter instead?”
2. Be diligent – whatever you do, do it
with all your heart. Wise

• Giving advices to his daughter before she

left home to find work
Character & characteristics 4
• The Mother (TLG’s mother)
Loving

• Loves her daughter (The Lazy Girl) a lot by

giving her clothes and never asking her to
do any work

Unfair/favoritism/bias

• Treats her stepdaughter (The Diligent Girl)

poorly

Sinister/evil/cruel

• Sending her stepdaughter to work outside

and planning to claim TDG’s earning as hers
Magical Creature 1: A Talking Tree
The Diligent Girl (TDG) The Lazy Girl (TLG)

• Help given: get rid of dry branches • Implication: the tree grew taller and got
out of TLG’s reach when TLG tried to
• Deed returned: she can eat fresh pears reach for pears
Magical Creature 2: A Dying Vine
The Diligent Girl (TDG) The Lazy Girl (TLG)

• Help given: plough near its roots using • Implication: the vine does not let TLG
a strange looking spade to drink the wine
• Deed returned: she can drink fresh
wine
Magical Creature 3: A Broken Oven
The Diligent Girl (TDG) The Lazy Girl (TLG)

• Help given: clean and tidy the oven by • Implication: the oven burnt TLG’s
covering the cracks with mud hands
• Deed returned: she can eat fresh bread
and cake
Magical Creature 4: A Broken Well
The Diligent Girl (TDG) The Lazy Girl (TLG)

• Help given: take out the stale water and • Implication: the water slipper further
make it tidy down to go out from her reach
• Deed returned: she can drink water to
quench her thirst
Magical Creature 5: A Dirty Dog
The Diligent Girl (TDG) The Lazy Girl (TLG)

• Help given: trim its hair, give it bath in • Implication: she ran behind the dog to
the river grab the pearls, but the dog was gone
• Deed returned: she gets many pearls
from the dog
Magical creatures 6: The Seven Fairies
• Both TDG (worked a year earlier) and TLG (worked a year later) spent a year to work
at their castle
• Their instructions to both girls are:
• Clean all 6 rooms every day
• Never enter the seventh room

• When TDG entered the seventh room (as instructed by the fairies), she received gold
and silver as much as she wants
• When TLG entered the seventh room (without the instruction of the fairies), she
faced frogs and honeybees and were bruised after being stung by the bees.
• The two different situations in the seventh rooms indicate the reward (gold and
silver) and punishment (frogs and honeybees) if you are not honest and obedient
with other people’s orders/instructions.
 Moral Values
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM THIS SHORT STORY?
Suggested moral values
1. Be humble – when TDG returned home with gold, silver and other presents by the
magical creatures, she does not feel arrogant towards TLG and her mother
2. Be fair – TLG’s mother must be fair even though TDG is only her stepdaughter
3. Do not be lazy – TLG is lazy to work and she does not earn any money
4. We must help people in need without expecting any deed in return.
5. Good people are always hurt – TDG is often asked by her stepmother to do
housework/chores but she never complained because she knows that she will be
rewarded for being kind
6. We must be obedient to our parents – The Diligent Girl obeyed her father’s teaching to
never say no to anyone who seeks help and always be diligent
7. Be kind – on TDG’s way to find a job, she has helped all the magical creature in the wood