Once upon a time there was a fox that lived in a remote forest. Every night she went out to hunt, but she tired of eating mice. The fact is, our friend the fox really wanted a delicious chicken for her dinner. The problem was that there was an enormous, disagreeable guard dog protecting the chickens. She just had to eat what she could find in the forest: mice, frogs and sometimes insects on nights when there weren't many animals to hunt.

One morning in autumn, the grape season, the fox woke up with a dry throat and decided to look for something refreshing to eat, something different from what she was used to. She looked around and saw a grapevine with one bunch of fresh, juicy grapes just ready to pick. She thought to herself, This bunch of grapes is mine! I'm tired of always eating the same things, and these grapes..., Mmmm, they are so pretty, so shiny, so fresh... I must have them!

The bunch of grapes was quite high up, so the fox walked back a short distance, then ran as fast as she could towards the grapevine, opened her mouth and jumped... but she didn't reach the grapes. She jumped again, but… no, she couldn't reach them. However, the fox didn't stop trying. Again she ran and jumped… but no. She tried again and again until she was very tired, but the grapes were impossible to reach.

Tired and angry, she decided to stop. She couldn't reach the grapes and would just have to drink from a dirty pond full of frogs.

Suddenly, she heard a noise high up in the branches: “Caw! Caw!“ A magpie was laughing at her.
“Ha, ha! You can't reach them!“ said the magpie.

The fox felt ashamed and said, “These grapes are still very green and unripe. I don't care that I can't reach them. I'll come back when they are ripe.“ 

The magpie laughed again because it was obvious the grapes were ripe and they looked delicious. The magpie continued to laugh and the fox walked away sadly. When the magpie couldn't see her anymore, the fox sat down and cried from anger and desperation. She was still hungry and now she was ashamed, too.

Aesop (adaptation)

• • In this situation, if you were the magpie, what would you say to the fox?

• • Write another ending for the story and explain why you chose it.

The fox in the story tried several times to get the grapes, but she only tried one way. She didn't stop and think or ask for help. She didn't accept that it was impossible, either. She made the wrong decision at the beginning, because it was impossible to reach them. However, she did try. We can only do something right if we try.

We don't always make the right choice, but we don't always make the wrong choice, either. Sometimes we choose the correct option and sometimes the incorrect one. If we don't make choices we can't win (or lose). In our lives we constantly have to choose between different options.

We choose best when we are not afraid, when we put all our effort into choosing and doing the right thing. We know that we won't always get it right, but we have to choose between different possibilities.

So, what happens when we trip and fall? We have to get up and continue walking, without being afraid it will happen again. It will happen again, but we must continue to get up again and again. This way we learn to walk more carefully and safely.

1. Think about a decision you have to make. Are you afraid of making a mistake? Why or why not?

2. What does the expression “Everybody makes mistakes“ mean?

3. Can things that don't have to make choices, such as a robot, feel happy or unhappy?

Getting something wrong is just one side of the coin; the other is getting it right. To get something right, we have to make a choice. We can't stay still, paralysed by fear of failure. In life, it is important to want to get things right and to be brave enough to try.

This is also how we learn. We learn by winning and we learn by losing. Sports people know that you have to participate to be able to win, and you won't always win. The most important competition in our lives is personal: we have to try and improve ourselves and do better.

What if we want to be like a stone, which doesn't make mistakes but can't make choices either? The coin we talked about is freedom, a very human characteristic. We must keep our freedom and not let others choose for us.

Everybody makes mistakes, but if we can learn from our mistakes, they will be our best teachers.

If we only make the correct choice by chance, we won't know what we did right or recognise what we did wrong.
On the other hand, when we try and try again until we get something right, we can use that experience. It teaches us how to solve problems and which were the wrong solutions.

Raphael, The School of Athens.

1. In sport, why do we say “participating is more important than winning“?

2. Do you think there is anybody who always wins?

3. Choose a sportsperson, do some research into how they started and make a poster about them to put up in your classroom.

Mistakes

“A river doesn't make a mistake when it finds a mountain in its path and it turns back to continue towards the sea. Water makes a mistake when it becomes stagnant and putrid in a lagoon because it is afraid to make a mistake.

A seed doesn't make a mistake when it dies in a furrow trying to grow into a plant. It makes a mistake when it decides not to live in order not to die underground.

A bird doesn't make a mistake if it falls to the ground trying to fly for the first time. It makes a mistake if it stays in its nest and doesn't fly because it is afraid.

A man doesn't make a mistake if he tries many different ways to reach his goals. He makes a mistake if he never tries because he is afraid of making a mistake.

A man doesn't make a mistake if he looks for the truth and doesn't find it. He makes a mistake if he stops looking because he is afraid of failing. 

Rabindranath Tagore

A man doesn't make a mistake if he expresses what he feels and is rejected. He makes a mistake if he doesn't express his love for another person because he is afraid to say what he feels.

A man doesn't make a mistake if he takes small steps towards change. He makes a mistake if he never takes the first step on a path that will take him around the world because it means a complete change in his life. A person makes a mistake if they do not accept that life is about looking for yourself every day, but never fully finding yourself. Because, at the end of your journey, you will not be rewarded for what you found, but what you looked hard for. The biggest mistake you can make is to stop taking risks on the journey towards your goals because you are afraid of making a mistake“.

1. Why does Tagore say that someone who does not try to achieve something has already failed?

2. Tagore talks about a river, a seed, a bird and a man. Choose one of these examples, write it in your notebook and make a drawing to show its meaning.

We learn from our mistakes 

Life is like a maze, where we constantly have to make choices and decide in which direction to. Sometimes we get it wrong, sometimes we get it right. We mustn't 
forget that everyone makes mistakes and that we learn from them.

1. Look at the sentences below. Copy the correct ones .

a) The most important thing in life is not to make mistakes.
b) We learn from our mistakes.
c) Everybody makes mistakes.

2. Read the following thoughts about mistakes. What is the common idea?

a) “We make mistakes through ignorance, we learn through our mistakes.“ (Italian proverb).
b) “It is human to make mistakes, but it is more human to blame those mistakes on others.“ (Baltasar Gracián).
c) “Many people make mistakes because they are afraid of making mistakes.“ (Lessing).

3. What should you do when you make a mistake, are embarrassed or try to learn from a mistake you made? Explain your answer.

4. Draw a maze for your partner to solve.