In our last 2 lessons we read folk tales

and fables which fit under the type of

text known as narrative. The Hare and
the Tortoise is a famous fable written
in Ancient Greece by Aesop.
The text we do today, The Carabao and
the Shell, is very similar to The Hare
and the Tortoise but was included in a
book of Folk Tales from the
Philippines.
Motive Questions:
Q1. How can you tell from the title that The
Carabao and the Shell is fictional rather than
factual?
Q2. Knowing that The Carabao and the Shell is a
folk tale like The Hare and the Tortoise, what do
you expect it to be about?
Q3. Knowing that The Carabao and the Shell is a
Philippines version of The Hare and the Tortoise,
what do you expect to be different about it?
In this lesson, we are going to look at a
different version of the same sort of plot,
firstly to see what it says and then to think
about how it is similar and different to The
Hare and the Tortoise.
Key Words
 carabao
 bank

 determined

 bathe
The Carabao and the Shell

One very hot day, when a carabao went into

the river to bathe, he met a shell, and they
began talking together.
"You are very slow," said the carabao to the
shell.
"Oh, no," replied the shell. "I can beat you in
a race."
"Then let us try and see," said the carabao.
So they went out on the bank and started to run.
After the carabao had gone a long distance he
stopped and called, "Shell!"
And another shell lying by the river answered,
"Here I am!"
Then the carabao, thinking that it was the same
shell with which he was racing, ran on.
By and by he stopped again and called, "Shell!"
And another shell answered, "Here I am!"
The carabao was surprised that the shell could
keep up with him. But he ran on and on, and
every time he stopped to call, another shell
answered him. But he was determined that the
shell should not beat him, so he ran until he
dropped dead.

[Cole, M. C. (1916/2008). The Carabao and the Shell. Philippine Folk Tales. A.C. McClurg & Co.]
Questions:

Q1. What sets off the sequence of

events?
Q2. How does the shell beat the
carabao in the race?
Q3. Find evidence that the shell is
smarter than the carabao.
It is common for there to be many slightly
different versions of the same folk tale in
different countries. For example, for
Cinderella, according to the Eden Valley
Enterprises website, “Scholars disagree as to
exactly how many versions of the popular
tale exist, with numbers ranging from 340 to
over 3,000 versions, including picture books
and musical interpretations.”
The tale of The Carabao and the Shell
is very similar to The Hare and the
Tortoise that we read in Lesson 1.
Let’s re-read The Hare and the
Tortoise. Look out for similarities and
differences between the 2 tales.
Look at Question 4 on your worksheet. It asks
you to List the similarities and differences
between The Carabao and the Shell and The
Hare and the Tortoise. Let’s do the differences
together – write them on your Worksheet as we
talk about them. What is the first difference you
notice between the 2 tales? Who is involved in
the 2 tales? What about other differences? Now
list the similarities on your Worksheet.
Process Questions

Q1. On the Worksheet, list the similarities

and difference between The Carabao and
the Shell and The Hare and the Tortoise.
Q2. What difference does it make in
changing the ending of the tale from the
tortoise living to the carabao dying?
Q3. Which version did you prefer? Give
reasons for your answer.
Process Questions:

Q1. The focus of the lesson was on learning

about how information is presented in an
Expository text like an Information Report.
How has the lesson helped you to understand
this?
Q2. Which questions were easy to answer?
Why?
Q3. What strategies did you use to answer the
harder questions?