My Podcasts

This second story from Aesop's Fable’s http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11339/11339-h/11339-h.htm  is titled “Mercury and the Woodman. Please listen and offer your comments.

MERCURY AND THE WOODMAN (note: in standard English we would say "Woodsman" with an "s", but the story here uses the word "Woodman", which I never have heard before.) [Remember, always expect to hear new language, even if you are fluent.]

Here is the transcript:

A Woodman was felling a tree on the bank of a river, when his axe, glancing off the trunk, flew out of his hands and fell into the water. As he stood by the water's edge, lamenting his loss, Mercury appeared and asked him the reason for his grief; and on learning what had happened, out of pity for his distress, he dived into the river and, bringing up a golden axe, asked him if that was the one he had lost. The Woodman replied that it was not, and Mercury then dived a second time, and, bringing up a silver axe, asked if that was his. "No, that is not mine either," said the Woodman. Once more Mercury dived into the river, and brought up the missing axe. The Woodman was overjoyed at recovering his property, and thanked his benefactor warmly; and the latter was so pleased with his honesty that he made him a present of the other two axes. When the Woodman told the story to his companions, one of these was filled with envy of his good fortune and determined to try his luck for himself. So he went and began to fell a tree at the edge of the river, and presently contrived to let his axe drop into the water. Mercury appeared as before, and, on learning that his axe had fallen in, he dived and brought up a golden axe, as he had done on the previous occasion. Without waiting to be asked whether it was his or not the fellow cried, "That's mine, that's mine," and stretched out his hand eagerly for the prize: but Mercury was so disgusted at his dishonesty that he not only declined to give him the golden axe, but also refused to recover for him the one he had let fall into the stream.

The motto of this story is: Honesty is the best policy. (Tell the truth, do not deceive.)

More information and ideas about this story:

Some phrases from this story are: Felling a tree = Cut or chop down a tree. bank of a river = The shore, the land next to the water. Lamenting his loss = Feeling very sad because of losing something. Filled with envy=  Being jealous

The motto is "Honesty is the best policy". Do you believe that? Why should you be honest? Do you know anyone you truly like who is dishonest?

Some more thoughts on honesty. If "yes" was the honest answer, would we answer "yes" if:

-it would cost us one dollar?

-it would cost us one thousand dollars? ($1000)

-it would cost us ten thousand dollars? ($10,000)

-it would cost us one million dollars? ($1,000,000)

Honesty is not an absolute value for most people.

Two people who would appear to be perfectly honest would be Socrates, and Diogenes. You can read about these extraordinary people in your free time. To really get to know them, I think you need to read multiple sources of information about them.

If we want to increase our honesty we can: Read about truly honest people and don't associate (don’t be around), people, places, or things that tempt us to be dishonest.

Please share your comments on honesty, I would really appreciate them. Thanks!

This is the first Aesop's Fable Story. Please listen and offer your comments. The format and content of these stories may be changed to suit the needs of EFL/ESL students. Here is the transcript:

A thirsty Crow found a Pitcher with some water in it, but so little was there that, try as she might, she could not reach it with her beak, and it seemed as though she would die of thirst within sight of the remedy. At last she hit upon a clever plan. She began dropping pebbles into the Pitcher, and with each pebble the water rose a little higher until at last it reached the brim, and the knowing bird was enabled to quench her thirst.

"Necessity is the mother of invention”

Week 4 Assignment: Pod-casting class

For this this week the class is supposed to try the AudioBoo mp3 creator. It is very easy to use. You should try it. At the time of this writing you can go to http://audioboo.fm Here is my recording of a "Mystery Person". Can you guess who it is?





I am taking a class on how to create my own Podcasts and have made a couple of small Podcasts that sampled a variety of technology.

The first one is a short narrative about the view outside my front window, the second one is a interview with a person who served in the Peace Corps.

Check this out on Chirbit