Aesop's Fables
Moral:
Fair Weather Friends
Aren't Worth Much

Aesop's Moral:
Fair Weather Friends Aren't Worth Much

Other ways of saying it:
Someone who only helps you when it's easy isn't much of a friend.

Aesop's Fable:

The Swallow and the Crow had a disagreement about their plumage.

The Crow put an end to the dispute by saying, “Your feathers may do just fine in the spring, but mine protect me against the winter.”

Comment:

Despite its important moral, this certainly isn't one of Aesop's more engaging fables.

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Firstly, it's short. We never even get to hear Swallow's argument. Probably he spoke of how pretty his feathers were and how they enabled him to fly more spectacularly. You can enhance the fable by adding these features.

But the second reason it's not such an engaging fable is because feathers are rather inanimate. We aren't used to thinking of them as "friends," and so the fable and it's important moral may not make much of an impact on your children.

You may find another Aesop's Fable, The Bear and the Fox, more effective. The gist of it is this:

A Bear is heard to say that of all the beings in the world, he has the greatest respect for humans - so much respect, in fact, that he would never even disrespect a human's dead body by eating it.

The Fox replies that Bear's sentiment would be taken more seriously if in fact he didn't eat living humans!

Granted, it's not about weather, but the sentiments are more emotionally charged.

Fair weather friends aren't worth much.

How to use Aesop's Fables.

More stories with morals.

Storytelling to improve behavior.

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