What is the moral of The Farmer and the Viper?

Kindness to someone wicked may be repaid with harm. The farmer saves a frozen viper, and it bites him as soon as it is warm, because a viper's nature does not change.

Does the farmer die in The Farmer and the Viper?

In Aesop's fable, yes: the farmer dies of the bite, saying he deserved it for pitying a wicked creature. This VoiceSmiths version for children lets him fall ill and then recover.

What does "nursing a viper in your bosom" mean?

It means helping or sheltering someone who later turns on you. The saying comes from this fable, in which the farmer warms the viper inside his clothes and is bitten for his trouble.

返回剧场

Fable · 声匠改编 · 3:56

The Farmer and the Viper

A kind farmer finds a viper frozen in the snow and warms it by his fire. Then it wakes up. Aesop's fable about kindness and trust, gently retold.

Narrator

Farmer Tom

The Viper

Old Crow

Nell, Tom's wife

0:000:00

其他语言版本 · 2 种语言

🇨🇳 中文 🇺🇸 English

关于这个故事

The Farmer and the Viper is one of Aesop's Fables, the short moral tales handed down from ancient Greece. A farmer finds a viper frozen in the snow and warms it against his chest; as soon as it revives, it bites him. In Aesop the farmer dies of the bite, but this gentle VoiceSmiths retelling lets him fall ill and recover, wiser than before, in a full-cast audio story with a wise old crow and the farmer's wife.

故事告诉我们

Kindness is good, but be careful whom you trust: some will repay kindness with harm, because that is their nature. Be kind and wise at the same time.

适合

Ages 5–9

讲给孩子听的小贴士

Pause when the crow warns Tom and ask: should he pick up the snake? Why or why not?
Talk about the difference between being kind and being careless: we can help others without putting ourselves in danger.
Remind children never to touch a real snake, even one that looks asleep, and to tell a grown-up instead.

常见问题

What is the moral of The Farmer and the Viper?: Kindness to someone wicked may be repaid with harm. The farmer saves a frozen viper, and it bites him as soon as it is warm, because a viper's nature does not change.
Does the farmer die in The Farmer and the Viper?: In Aesop's fable, yes: the farmer dies of the bite, saying he deserved it for pitying a wicked creature. This VoiceSmiths version for children lets him fall ill and then recover.
What does "nursing a viper in your bosom" mean?: It means helping or sheltering someone who later turns on you. The saying comes from this fable, in which the farmer warms the viper inside his clothes and is bitten for his trouble.