The Raven and the Fox | CBSE Class 6 English Notes

This note covers Jean de La Fontaine's fable in verse: a stanza-by-stanza summary, how the Fox flatters the Raven, why the Raven loses the morsel, the poetic devices, the themes, key quotations, the vocabulary and language exercises, answers to the questions, the activities, and exam-style questions.

Who wrote The Raven and the Fox?

The Author and the Poem

The poem The Raven and the Fox was written by Jean de La Fontaine. It is a fable that is told in poetic form.

This text explores the futility of vanity and flattery. Through the interaction of the characters, the poem demonstrates how these traits can lead to mistakes.

Understanding the Title

The title refers to the two main characters in the story. Mr Raven is a bird perched upon a limb. Reynard the Fox is the other character who looks up at him.

The title highlights the relationship between the bird and the fox. The fox seeks a morsel that the raven holds in his great big beak. This interaction drives the events of the poem.

The poem uses these animals to teach a lesson. It shows that pride can be unwise. The fox uses sweet words to trick the raven into dropping his food.

What happens in the poem, stanza by stanza?

Stanza 1

Mr Raven is perched upon a limb. He is holding a morsel in his great big beak.

Reynard the Fox looks up at him. The Fox wants to find the piece of food that the Raven has.

Stanza 2

The Fox speaks to the Raven using admiring tones. He tells the bird that he is a handsome bird.

The Fox praises the Raven's feathers. He suggests that if the Raven would sing, the birds of the woods would call him “King.”

Stanza 3

The Raven does not realise that the Fox is playing a joke. He forgets that his voice is only a croak.

Driven by foolish pride, the Raven opens his beak. This causes the morsel that the Fox had eyed to fall down.

Stanza 4

The Fox laughs at the Raven. He tells the bird to “ignore sweet words” that make him feel good.

The Fox explains that being proud is rather unwise. He gives a teaching that he is sure is quite a surprise to the Raven.

What can we learn from the listening transcript?

After the fox cheats him, the Raven (called the crow in the listening transcript) feels really sad. In the quiet night, he thinks about what happened and realises he was fooled by kind words.

The crow decides that even without beautiful feathers, he is smart. He wants to share his wisdom with other animals by going on a journey.

He travels to tell other animals to be careful with words. His message is: “Do not let pride lose what you have.”

What are the poetic devices used?

Rhyme and Rhythm

The poem uses rhyming words to create its structure. These pairs of words at the ends of lines create a rhythmic pattern throughout the verses.

In the first stanza, the words limb and him rhyme. The second stanza contains the rhyme between word and bird.

The third stanza features the rhyme of joke and croak. Finally, the fourth stanza uses know and glow as rhyming words.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a poetic device where there is a repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. This technique is used to draw attention to specific words.

One example is found in the line, “For the Raven held in his great big beak.” Here, the words big and beak both begin with the same /b/ sound.

Another example of alliteration is “the song of sweet birds” (a phrase that is not in this poem), where song and sweet begin with the same /s/ sound. In the second stanza of the poem, woods and would (“The birds of these woods would call you King”) begin with the same /w/ sound.

Poetic Devices Summary

How does the Fox use flattery?

The Fox's Admiring Approach

Reynard the Fox spots Mr Raven perched upon a limb. The Fox notices that the Raven is holding a morsel in his great big beak.

The Fox wants this piece of food. He would go far to seek the morsel that the Raven possesses.

To get the food, the Fox uses admiring tones. He speaks to the bird to make him feel special.

He tells the Raven, “My word! Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird.” This flattery is used to influence the Raven.

Using Praise to Achieve a Goal

The Fox continues his praise by mentioning the bird's appearance. He exclaims, “Such feathers!” to impress the Raven.

He suggests that the Raven should sing. The Fox claims that if the bird sang, the birds of these woods would call him King.

The Raven does not see the joke in these words. Because of his foolish pride, he forgets that his voice is only a croak.

The Fox uses these sweet words to make the Raven glow. This trickery causes the Raven to open his beak, which results in the morsel falling down.

Why is the Raven foolish?

The Raven's Lack of Awareness

The Raven displays foolishness because he fails to recognise the Fox's true intentions. While Reynard uses admiring tones to praise him, the Raven does not see the joke being played.

He is easily swayed by the Fox's compliments regarding his appearance. The Fox tells him, “Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird.” This flattery distracts the bird from the reality of the situation.

Because he is caught up in the praise, the Raven forgets his own nature. Specifically, he forgot that his voice was just a croak, which is the sound a raven makes.

The Consequence of Pride

The bird's behaviour is driven by foolish pride. Instead of remaining cautious with the food in his beak, he allows himself to be influenced by the Fox's words.

Because he wanted to sing, as the Fox had suggested, he opened his beak. This single action causes him to lose his prize.

As a result of this pride, the morsel fell down from his mouth. The Fox had been eyeing this piece of food, and the Raven's vanity allowed the Fox to succeed.

The Fox later laughs at the bird, noting that pride is rather unwise. The Raven's inability to distinguish between sweet words and reality makes him the victim of the Fox's cunning.

What is the Fox's reaction to the morsel falling?

The Fox's Reaction

When the Raven opens his beak in foolish pride, the morsel falls down. This is the piece of food that the Fox had eyed earlier.

The Fox reacts by laughing, saying, “Ha-ha!” He mocks the bird for his mistake. The Fox uses this moment to offer a lesson to the Raven.

He tells the Raven to “Ignore sweet words that make you glow.” This advice suggests that one should not be swayed by flattery or compliments that cause a sense of pride.

The Fox's Teaching

The Fox provides a specific teaching to the bird. He explains that “Pride, my friend, is rather unwise;” to show the danger of being too proud.

The Fox is sure that this lesson is quite a surprise to the Raven. He uses the situation to demonstrate how cunning he can be.

By laughing at the Raven, the Fox highlights the futility of the bird's vanity. The Raven's loss of the morsel is the basis for the Fox's observation that pride is unwise.

What are the themes of the poem?

Theme 1: The futility of vanity and flattery

The poem is a fable through which readers learn about the futility of vanity and flattery. This is shown through the interaction between the fox and the bird.

Reynard the Fox uses admiring tones to praise the Raven. He tells the bird, “Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird. Such feathers!”

The Raven is deceived by these sweet words. Because he is focused on his appearance, he fails to see the joke being played on him.

Theme 2: The idea that pride is unwise

The poem suggests that being too proud of oneself can lead to loss. The Raven acts out of foolish pride when he decides to sing.

By opening his beak to sing, he loses the morsel the Fox wanted. The Fox laughs and tells him, “Pride, my friend, is rather unwise;”

This moment demonstrates how unwise pride can cause a person to forget their actual situation, such as the fact that the Raven's voice is just a croak.

Theme 3: The importance of being careful with words

The story highlights the need to be cautious when hearing praise. The Fox uses language to manipulate the Raven into a mistake.

The Fox's lesson is to “Ignore sweet words that make you glow.” This teaches that flattery can be used to cheat others.

In the listening transcript, the crow reflects on being fooled by kind words. He decides to tell other animals to be careful with words so that pride does not cause them to lose what they have.

What are the key quotations?

These lines from the poem illustrate how the fox uses flattery to trick the raven into losing his food through foolish pride.

Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird.

Speaker: Reynard the Fox. Context: The fox speaks to the raven while looking up at him from below. He uses admiring tones to praise the bird's appearance.

If you would only sing

Speaker: Reynard the Fox. Context: The fox tells the raven that the birds of the woods would call him King. This suggestion leads the raven to open his beak.

Forgot that his voice was just a croak.

Speaker: the narrator. Context: The raven does not see the joke being played on him. He opens his beak in foolish pride and drops his morsel.

Ignore sweet words that make you glow.

Speaker: Reynard the Fox. Context: The fox laughs after the morsel falls down. He gives a teaching that pride is unwise.

What are the language and vocabulary exercises?

Word Meanings

The activities include a matching exercise to help understand specific vocabulary used in the poem. Students match words from the text to their correct definitions.

Opposites

Another exercise requires finding the correct opposites for certain words. A box gives nine words to choose from; two of them (happy and silly) are extra and match none of the seven words.

Poetic Devices and Rhyme

The exercises also focus on sound patterns and rhyming words. Students identify words that rhyme to understand the poem's structure.

• Stanza 1: limb and him; beak and seek
• Stanza 2: word and bird; sing and King
• Stanza 3: joke and croak; pride and eyed
• Stanza 4: know and glow; unwise and surprise

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words, as with the /b/ sound in “big” and “beak”, and the /w/ sound in “woods” and “would”.

What are the comprehension questions?

Questions about the Characters

• Why does the Fox address the Raven as “Sir”? The Fox calls him “Sir” to flatter him and make him feel important, so that the Raven will trust the praise.
• Why would the birds of the woods call the Raven “King”? The Fox says they would call him King if he sang, because he pretends that the Raven's singing is as fine as his feathers; this is the flattery the Raven does not see through.
• “Such feathers” refers to which kind of feathers? Shiny and beautiful feathers.
• How are the Fox and the Raven different? The Fox is clever and cunning and wants the Raven's food, while the Raven is proud and foolish and loses it.
• How is the Raven described in relation to the Fox? While the Fox is clever, the Raven is described as foolish.
• Why does the Raven forget that his voice is just a croak? He does not see the joke: the Fox's praise makes him proud, and in his foolish pride he forgets that his voice is just a croak.

Questions about the Morsel and the Fox's Actions

• Why did the Raven open his beak? The Raven opened his beak because he wanted to sing.
• What happened when the Raven opened his beak? The morsel that the Fox had eyed fell down.
• How does Reynard make the Raven sing? Reynard uses sweet words to make the bird feel like a King.
• What is the Fox's reaction to the morsel falling? The Fox laughs and says, “Ha-ha!”

Questions about the Lesson and Themes

• Why does Reynard say that pride is not wise? Pride makes a person believe flattery and act foolishly: the Raven's pride made him open his beak and lose his food, so the Fox says pride is unwise.
• Why is the teaching a surprise? The Raven believed the Fox's sweet words were sincere, so he did not expect to be laughed at and taught a lesson. The Fox is sure the teaching is quite a surprise to him.
• What should one do when praised too much? A person might react by being careful, as the Raven was fooled by flattery.
• What did the crow learn after losing his food? He learned that even without beautiful feathers, he is smart, and that he must be careful with kind words and not let pride make him lose what he has.

What are the various activities?

Listening and Speaking Activities

The listening activity involves hearing the story of what the crow did after he lost his food. Students mark statements as true or false while listening to how the crow felt sad because the fox cheated him.

In the transcript, the crow says, “I was fooled by kind words, but I’ve learned something important.” He decides to go on a journey to tell other animals, “Do not let pride lose what you have.”

For the speaking task, students narrate the poem as a story. They are encouraged to provide a different ending to the tale of Reynard the Fox and Mr Raven.

Writing and Exploring Tasks

The writing exercise asks students to write the story they narrated in the form of a conversation. They must remember to write only the actions for the Raven, as he has food in his mouth and cannot speak.

The exploring section introduces origami, which is the art of folding paper to create two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects. Students then make stick puppets of the Fox and the Raven. In the pictures the Fox is a folded paper face and the Raven is shaped from a black material and fixed to a stick.

These puppets may be used while enacting the poem or during the narration of the story.

Glossary

• Perched — sat on a branch, used to describe Mr Raven sitting upon a limb.
• Morsel — a small piece of food that the Raven held in his great big beak.
• Seek — to look for something, which describes what the Fox would go far to do for the food.
• Pride — feeling that you are better than others, which leads the Raven to act foolishly.
• Eyed — looked with interest at something, referring to how the Fox watched the morsel.
• Limb — branch of a tree where Mr Raven was perched.
• Woods — a smaller area of forest with similar kind of trees where the birds live.
• Croak — the sound the Raven makes, which he forgets because of his foolish pride.
• Alliteration — a repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words, such as “big” and “beak”.
• Fable — a short story, often with animals as characters, that teaches a lesson; this fable is told in poetic form and shows the futility of vanity and flattery.
• Reynard — the name of the Fox who uses admiring tones to trick the Raven.
• Vanity — the quality of being overly proud, which is a theme learned through the Raven's experience.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: The Raven has a beautiful singing voice. Correct: The Raven's voice is actually just a croak.
• Misconception: The Fox is being sincere when he calls the Raven handsome. Correct: The Fox uses admiring tones to trick the Raven into dropping his food.
• Misconception: The Raven opens his beak to eat the morsel. Correct: The Raven opens his beak because he wants to sing after being praised.
• Misconception: The Raven is a clever animal in this story. Correct: The Raven is described as foolish because he does not see the joke.
• Misconception: The Fox wants to become the King of the woods. Correct: The Fox tells the Raven that the birds would call the Raven King if he would only sing.
• Misconception: The Raven is pleased to lose his food to the Fox. Correct: The Raven (called the crow in the listening transcript) felt really sad because the fox cheated him.
• Misconception: The Fox is a character who is not cunning. Correct: The Fox is shown to be cunning in stories.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. In the poem, the Fox says, “Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird. Such feathers! If you would only sing, / The birds of these woods would call you King.” Why does the Fox address the Raven as “Sir” and what does he suggest the birds would call the Raven? [2 marks]

1. The Fox addresses the Raven as “Sir” to flatter him and make him feel important and respected, so that he will believe the praise and want to sing.
2. He suggests that if the Raven would only sing, the birds of the woods would call him King.

Q2. The Raven, who did not see the joke, forgot that his voice was just a croak. He opened his beak, in his foolish pride. Why did the Raven open his beak? [2 marks]

1. The Raven opened his beak to sing, because the Fox had praised him and said that the birds of the woods would call him King if he sang.
2. He did not see the joke and, in his foolish pride, forgot that his voice was only a croak.

Q3. The Fox tells the Raven, “Ignore sweet words that make you glow. / Pride, my friend, is rather unwise; / I’m sure this teaching is quite a surprise.” Explain why the Fox says pride is unwise and what the Raven's experience teaches. [3 marks]

1. The Fox considers pride unwise because the Raven's foolish pride caused him to lose the morsel he held in his beak.
2. The Raven's experience teaches that one should ignore sweet words that make a person glow.
3. Pride makes a person believe flattery and act without thinking, so he can lose what he has.

Q4. In the poem, the Fox says, “Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird. Such feathers! If you would only sing, / The birds of these woods would call you King.” Based on these lines, describe the characters of the Fox and the Raven. [3 marks]

1. The Fox is shown to be cunning because he uses admiring tones to trick the Raven into opening his beak.
2. The Raven is portrayed as foolish because he does not see the joke being played on him by the Fox.
3. The Raven is also shown to be full of pride, which causes him to forget that his voice is just a croak.

Q5. The poem describes Mr Raven perched upon a limb with a morsel in his beak, while Reynard the Fox looks up at him. Describe the interaction between the Fox and the Raven and the outcome of the Fox's flattery. [4 marks]

1. Reynard the Fox looks up at Mr Raven, who is perched upon a limb with a morsel in his great big beak.
2. The Fox uses admiring tones to tell the Raven he is a handsome bird with such feathers.
3. The Raven, not seeing the joke, opens his beak in foolish pride to sing.
4. As a result of opening his beak, the morsel the Fox had eyed falls down.

Q6. The poem concludes with the Fox laughing and saying, “Ignore sweet words that make you glow. / Pride, my friend, is rather unwise; / I’m sure this teaching is quite a surprise.” What is the central theme or lesson of this fable? [5 marks]

1. The central theme of this fable is the futility of vanity and flattery as experienced by the Raven.
2. The poem teaches that one should ignore sweet words that make a person glow to avoid being fooled.
3. It demonstrates that pride is rather unwise and can lead to losing something important like a morsel of food.
4. The Raven's mistake was to forget that his voice was just a croak, so one should not lose sight of what one really is when praised.
5. The teaching is a surprise because the Raven believed the Fox's praise was sincere and did not expect to be tricked and laughed at.

Q7. Mr Raven is perched upon a limb with a morsel in his beak, and Reynard the Fox looks up at him. Describe the sequence of events that leads to the Raven losing his food. [5 marks]

1. Reynard the Fox looks up at Mr Raven, who is perched on a limb with a morsel in his great big beak.
2. The Fox uses admiring tones to tell the Raven he is a handsome bird with such beautiful feathers.
3. The Fox suggests that if the Raven would only sing, the birds of the woods would call him King.
4. The Raven, in his foolish pride, forgets that his voice is just a croak and opens his beak.
5. The morsel falls down from the Raven's beak, and the Fox laughs at him for his mistake.

Q8. The poem uses specific language techniques, such as alliteration, which is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Using the poem, identify examples of alliteration and explain the meaning of the following words: perched, morsel, seek, and pride. [6 marks]

1. An example of alliteration is found in the line where the words “big” and “beak” begin with the same /b/ sound.
2. The word perched means that the Raven sat on a branch of a tree while holding his food.
3. A morsel is defined as a small piece of food that the Raven held in his great big beak.
4. To seek means to look for something, which describes what the Fox would go far to do for the morsel.
5. Pride is defined as a feeling that you are better than others, which led the Raven to act foolishly.
6. A second example of alliteration is “woods would” in Stanza 2, where both words begin with the same /w/ sound.

Key takeaways

• The poem is a fable by Jean de La Fontaine that explores the futility of vanity and flattery through the interaction between a raven and a fox.
• Mr Raven is perched upon a limb with a morsel held in his great big beak that Reynard the Fox wants to find.
• Reynard the Fox uses admiring tones to tell the Raven, “Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird.”
• The Fox suggests that if the Raven would only sing, the birds of the woods would call him King.
• Because the Raven does not see the joke, he forgets that his voice is only a croak and opens his beak in foolish pride.
• When the Raven opens his beak, the morsel that the Fox had eyed falls down to the ground.
• The Fox laughs at the Raven and teaches him to “ignore sweet words that make you glow.”
• The Fox provides a lesson by stating that “Pride, my friend, is rather unwise” after the Raven loses his food.

Test yourself

What was Mr Raven doing at the beginning of the poem?

Mr Raven was perched upon a limb with a morsel held in his great big beak.

What name is given to the fox in the poem?

The fox is named Reynard, and he is the one who looks up at the Raven.

How does the Fox attempt to flatter the Raven?

The Fox uses admiring tones to call the Raven a handsome bird and praises his feathers.

What does the Fox claim would happen if the Raven would only sing?

The Fox says that if the Raven would only sing, the birds of the woods would call him King.

Why does the morsel fall from the Raven's beak?

The Raven opens his beak in foolish pride, forgetting that his voice is just a croak.

What advice does the Fox give the Raven after he loses his food?

The Fox tells the Raven to “ignore sweet words that make you glow.”

What lesson does the Fox teach regarding pride?

The Fox teaches that “Pride, my friend, is rather unwise.”

How did the crow feel after being cheated?

The crow felt really sad because the fox cheated him, but he learned that he is smart even without beautiful feathers.