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Schule > Englisch > James Thurber - The very proper gander > The Very Proper Gander by James Thurber

"The Very Proper gander" by James Thurber

Not so very long ago there was a very fine gander. He was strong and smooth and
beautiful and he spent most of his time singing to his wife and children. One day
somebody who saw him strutting up and down in his yard and singing, remarked,
'There is a very proper gander.' An old men overheard this and told her husband about it
that night in the roost . 'They said something about propaganda', she said. ' I have
always suspected that,' said the rooster, and he went around the barnyard next day
telling everybody that the very fine gander was a dangerous bird, more. than likely a
hawk in gander's clothing. A small brown hen remembered a time when at a great
distance she had seen the gander talking with some hawks in the forest. They were up
to no good, she said. A duck remembered that the gander had once told him he did not
believe in anything. 'He said to hell with the flag, too,' said the duck. A guinea hen
recalled that she had once seen somebody who looked very much like the gander
throw something that looked very much like a bomb. Finally everybody snatched up
sticks and stones and descended on the gander's house. He was strutting in his front
yard, singing to his children and his wife. 'There he is!' everybody cried. 'Hawklover!
Unbeliever! Flaghater! Bombthrower!' So they set upon him and drove him out of
the country.

Moral: Anybody who you or your wife thinks is going to overthrow the government
by violence must be driven out of the country.

Aufgaben:
1. Sum up the contents of the fable in a few sentences.
2. Examine the animals' reasons for driving the gander out of the country and say what
you think about them.
3. How does Thurber show that the gander is not a dangerous animal?
4. What do you think is ridiculous about what the animals say and do?

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