The Pelican
There’s a delightfully funny and clever fable, The Pelican and the Crane, by Arnold Lobel… as part of Lobel’s Caldecott Medal award-winning book FABLES…
FABLES by Arnold Lobel
This fable tells us of a friendly, yet proper Crane who invites a Pelican to tea. The Pelican immediately accepts the Crane’s invitation, saying that no-one invites him anywhere.
At the tea and during tea conversation about the Pelican never being called to visit anywhere, the Pelican proceeds to spill a half sugar bowl of sugar, pours milk on the table, stuffs a pile of cookies into his mouth and wipes his mouth on the Crane’s tablecloth… all the while wondering aloud why nobody ever calls…
The Crane & Pelican at tea
Author Arnold Lobel fills us in with the moral of the story: When one is a social failure, the reasons are clear as day.
What we discover in The Pelican and the Crane is a wonderful message that manners and etiquette are important.
But what is the real tweet-tweet on the Pelican in real-life ? Here are a few little tidbits to pass along to your kids and grandkids to combine literature and life:
- The Pelican is best known for its long beak and large throat pouch, called a gular pouch. (The Australian Pelican is thought to have the longest beak of any bird in the world.)
- The Pelican’s throat is used to catch fish.
- Pelicans fish in an interesting way. They swim together in groups, in a line or a U-shape, and flap their wings to drive schools of fish into shallow waters. The Pelicans then scoop up the fish in their pouches.
- The Pelican tips its pouch to drain the water and then swallows the fish whole. (The Brown Pelican and Peruvian Pelican species actually plunge-dive for fish.)
- The Pelican’s bill has a larger capacity than its stomach, but the Pelican doesn’t store food in its bill. Excess food is stored in the esophagus.
- Baby Pelicans often use their bills to get food from a parent’s pouch.
- Pelicans travel in flocks.
- The Pelican has a large wing span which provides for excellent gliding and soaring over water.
- Pelicans breed and nest in colonies. Some Pelican species build nests in trees, while others build nests on the ground or on rocks. The female lays 2 – 3 eggs in early spring and both parents care for the chicks. Most Pelicans feed their chicks by regurgitation.
- The Pelican has a unique way of resting by twisting its neck up near its back.
- Some species of the Pelican are endangered due to loss of habitat and pesticide poisoning.
Ah. The Pelican in real-life.
Reading the fable The Pelican and the Crane with your kids and grandkids, with a little knowledge of the Pelican in real-life, gives you so much to discuss… and your kids so much to think about as they embrace the literature.
Do you think the Pelican’s eating habits in real-life are similar to the Pelican’s manners at “tea”? Do you think author Arnold Lobel chose a good character in the Pelican?
The fable also gives us a great opportunity to talk with our kids about manners, social behavior, etiquette, invitations… and how to behave at “tea”!
Join me here each day in August for AUGUST TWEET-TWEETS on 365 Days of Literacy for Kids! A little fun, a little learning and a bit of “tweet-tweet”!
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