Class 6 English · Original EZT practice
The Raven and the Fox (Class 6 English Chapter 2): a fable in verse about flattery and pride
A raven sits on a branch with food in his beak. A hungry fox below wants it - and instead of grabbing, he flatters. This short poem by Jean de La Fontaine retells the old fable of the fox and the crow in four neat stanzas, with a moral worth pinning above your desk. Below: the poem in plain words, word meanings, then original EZT practice with worked answers. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
10 original worked examples, 10 fresh self-check questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 17 October 2026:
1. The poem in plain words (stanza by stanza)
Stanza 1: Mr Raven is perched on a branch (a limb) holding a morsel - a small piece of food - in his beak. Reynard the Fox spots it and wants it. Stanza 2: the Fox praises the Raven - "what a handsome bird, such feathers!" - and says if he would only sing, the birds of the woods would call him King. Stanza 3: the Raven, not seeing the trick, forgets his voice is only a croak. He opens his beak to sing - and the morsel falls straight to the waiting Fox. Stanza 4: the Fox laughs and delivers the lesson: ignore sweet words that make you glow; pride is unwise.
2. Word meanings (as used in the poem)
Perched - sat (on a branch). Limb - a branch of a tree. Morsel - a small piece of food. Seek - to look for. Eyed - looked at with interest. Pride - feeling that you are better than others. Woods - a smaller area of forest with similar kinds of trees.
3. Theme: flattery and foolish pride
The fable is a warning twice over: do not trust sweet words from someone who wants something from you, and do not let pride make you forget what you really are. The Raven loses his meal the moment he believes the praise.
4. A fable in verse
A fable is a short story, usually with animal characters, that teaches a lesson. This one is written as a poem: four stanzas with a bouncing rhythm and rhyme (beak/seek, croak/joke) that make it easy to remember. Jean de La Fontaine was a French poet famous for retelling fables like this one in verse.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Who are the two characters, and what does each want?
Choose the method: Stanza 1: Mr Raven is perched on a branch (a limb) holding a morsel - a small piece of food - in his beak.
EZT practice question
Who are the two characters, and what does each want?
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: Mr Raven, who holds a piece of food in his beak, and Reynard the Fox, who wants that food for himself.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
How does the Fox get the food without climbing or grabbing?
Choose the method: Stanza 1: Mr Raven is perched on a branch (a limb) holding a morsel - a small piece of food - in his beak.
EZT practice question
How does the Fox get the food without climbing or grabbing?
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: he flatters the Raven - praises his feathers and asks him to sing - so the Raven opens his beak and drops the morsel.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
Why does the Raven forget that his voice is "just a croak"?
Choose the method: Stanza 1: Mr Raven is perched on a branch (a limb) holding a morsel - a small piece of food - in his beak.
EZT practice question
Why does the Raven forget that his voice is "just a croak"?
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: the Fox's praise makes him proud; flattery blinds him to the truth about his own voice.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
Use "morsel" in a sentence of your own.
Choose the method: Perched - sat (on a branch).
EZT practice question
Use "morsel" in a sentence of your own.
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: the sparrow carried a morsel of bread back to its nest.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
The Fox calls the Raven "King" of the woods. Does he mean it?
Choose the method: Perched - sat (on a branch).
EZT practice question
The Fox calls the Raven "King" of the woods. Does he mean it?
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: no - it is empty flattery meant to trick the Raven into opening his beak.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
What is the moral of the poem?
Choose the method: The fable is a warning twice over: do not trust sweet words from someone who wants something from you, and do not let pride make you forget what you really are.
EZT practice question
What is the moral of the poem?
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: ignore sweet words that make you glow - pride is unwise; people who flatter you may only want something from you.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
The Fox says "I'm sure this teaching is quite a surprise." What teaching?
Choose the method: The fable is a warning twice over: do not trust sweet words from someone who wants something from you, and do not let pride make you forget what you really are.
EZT practice question
The Fox says "I'm sure this teaching is quite a surprise." What teaching?
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: that listening to flattery and acting out of pride costs you - the Raven paid with his food.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
Is the Fox clever, wicked, or both? Give a reason.
Choose the method: The fable is a warning twice over: do not trust sweet words from someone who wants something from you, and do not let pride make you forget what you really are.
EZT practice question
Is the Fox clever, wicked, or both? Give a reason.
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: both - he is clever because he gets the food with words alone, but wicked because he tricks a trusting bird.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
Find two rhyming pairs from the poem.
Choose the method: A fable is a short story, usually with animal characters, that teaches a lesson.
EZT practice question
Find two rhyming pairs from the poem.
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: beak/seek (stanza 1) and croak/joke (stanza 3); also bird/heard-like pairs such as glow/know in stanza 4.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
Why do fables use animal characters instead of people?
Choose the method: A fable is a short story, usually with animal characters, that teaches a lesson.
EZT practice question
Why do fables use animal characters instead of people?
Show the worked solution
- Name the character, word, action or moral the question asks about.
- Point to the stanza clue or the exact word meaning before inferring.
- Answer in plain words and connect flattery or pride to the result.
Answer: animals make the lesson feel universal and fun - we laugh at the vain Raven and sly Fox without pointing at any real person, but we still see ourselves.
Check: The answer uses the poem's character, event, word meaning or moral without adding a detail outside the fable.
Watch for this: Do not take the Fox's praise as sincere; his compliments are the trick that makes the Raven open his beak.
Now try it yourself
Create one new example by changing the numbers, characters, object or setup and solve it by the same rule.
Check your answer
Keep the final result in your notebook; the page-level Try It prompts are intentionally answer-free.
The worked answer above shows the method; independent practice should not become another answer key.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- What does the Fox ask the Raven to do, and why?
- What happens the moment the Raven opens his beak?
- Write the moral in your own words.
- Find the meanings of: perched, morsel, pride.
- Do you feel sorry for the Raven? Why or why not?
Know the rule but lose track of the steps?
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Questions about this practice page
- Who wrote The Raven and the Fox?
- Jean de La Fontaine, the French poet famous for his verse fables.
- What is the poem about?
- a fox flatters a raven into singing, so the raven opens his beak and drops the piece of food the fox wanted.
- What is the moral of The Raven and the Fox?
- ignore sweet words that make you glow - pride is unwise, and flatterers often want something from you.
- Who is Reynard in the poem?
- Reynard is the fox's name - a traditional name for the fox character in old fables.
- Are these the NCERT exercise questions for The Raven and the Fox?
- No. EZT pages are original practice on this chapter - use them to prepare for the textbook exercises, not as a substitute for your book.