One day, a mouse (wakes/awaken) a huge lion up and (asks/asked) it to let it live.

[kid-blue]

Hi, everyone.
In a narrative text, particularly fable, is it okay to use present tense? I thought, people use past tense when telling a series of events in narrative text.
I recently stumbled upon a fable in some English website entitled "The Lion and the Mouse". There, they use present tenses in the first paragraph then followed by past tenses.

the complete paragraph.
One day, a mouse wakes a huge lion up and asks it to let it live. In return, the mouse will help the lion whenever it needs. How could a mouse help a fierce lion? The lion couldn’t answer that either, but it let the mouse go.

TLDR: why do they use wakes instead of awaken and asks instead of asked?

the website: https://youaremom.com/play-time/activities-and-games-for-kids/childrens-stories/short-fables/

 

[Barque]

It's common to use the present tense in such stories, especially if they're meant for children.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi, everyone.
In a narrative text, particularly a fable, is it okay to use the present tense? I thought no comma here people use the past tense when telling a series of events in a narrative text.
I recently stumbled upon a fable in on some an English website entitled "The Lion and the Mouse". There, they use present tenses in the first paragraph, then followed by past tenses.

Here is the complete paragraph:

One day, a mouse wakes a huge lion up and asks it to let it live. In return, the mouse will help the lion whenever it needs. How could a mouse help a fierce lion? The lion couldn’t answer that either, but it let the mouse go.

TLDR: Why do they use "wakes" instead of "awaken" and "asks" instead of "asked"?

Please note my corrections above. The underlined part is ambiguous. As written, it means the website was called "The Lion and the Mouse". I don't think that's what you mean - I believe it's the fable that has that title. You need to rewrite that sentence. You also need to provide the source (the name of the website and, ideally, the author of the fable).

 

[kid-blue]

It's common to use the present tense in such stories, especially if they're meant for children.

is it common to have present tense followed by past tense to tell a series of events in such stories?
do you think it will be more correct if I change the two verbs (wakes and asks) in to past form (awaken and asked)? since the rest of the paragraphs use past tense to tell the rest of the events.

I am looking for a short narrative text for my nephew for his story telling class. I want to make sure the text is grammatically correct.

Please note my corrections above. The underlined part is ambiguous. As written, it means the website was called "The Lion and the Mouse". I don't think that's what you mean - I believe it's the fable that has that title. You need to rewrite that sentence. You also need to provide the source (the name of the website and, ideally, the author of the fable).

yeah, The Lion and the Mouse is the title of the story, the website is https://youaremom.com/play-time/activities-and-games-for-kids/childrens-stories/short-fables/
at first, I was hesitating to include the link, afraid the forum will think my post as a spam or something.
thank you for the suggestion and the correction.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is it common to have a present tense followed by a past tense to tell a series of events in such stories?
Do you think it will be more correct if I change the two verbs ("wakes" and "asks") in to past form ("awaken" and "asked") no question mark here since the rest of the paragraphs uses the past tense to tell the rest of the events?

I am looking for a short narrative text for my nephew for his story telling class. I want to make sure the text is grammatically correct.

Sentences can include several different tenses. They depend on the situation, the context, the timeline and what the writer wants to express. You'll become more familiar with the use of tenses by reading lots of good quality written English.

Yeah, The Lion and the Mouse is the title of the story; the website is https://youaremom.com/play-time/activities-and-games-for-kids/childrens-stories/short-fables/
At first, I was hesitating reluctant to include the link, afraid the forum will would think my post as a was spam or something.
Thank you for the suggestion and the corrections.

Thank you for providing the source. Please make sure you do this in post #1 every time in future.

 

[kid-blue]

Sentences can include several different tenses. They depend on the situation, the context, the timeline and what the writer wants to express. You'll become more familiar with the use of tenses by reading lots of good quality written English.

Thank you for providing the source. Please make sure you do this in post #1 every time in future.

So, is the paragraph grammatically correct? I will tell my nephew to memorize the text for his class as soon as I make sure the text is grammatically correct.
One day, a mouse wakes a huge lion up and asks it to let it live. In return, the mouse will help the lion whenever it needs.

I just found a nice website about present tense in narrative novels. Do you think it can explain why the sentences using present tense or is there any simpler explanation I need to know about?

On Being Tense about Tense: Present Tense Narratives in Novels

Present tense narratives are a fairly new literary trend. But do it rightly, and it makes your novel powerful. Let us tell you how to construct one.

blog.papertrue.com

 

[Tarheel]

If I was going to change it I would change it to woke, thus: "The mouse woke the lion."

 

[emsr2d2]

Why does your nephew need to memorise a text for class? Is this his homework?

 

[kid-blue]

Why does your nephew need to memorise a text for class? Is this his homework?

Not a homework, more like he needs a text to tell for a non obligatory story telling activity.
When I search for one, I found the thing that baffled me that is the use of present tense to tell a series of events in narrative text.
If I give him the text, I need a good explanation on why the present tense used in that situation.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's not a homework. It's more like he needs a text to tell read aloud for a non-obligatory storytelling activity.
When I searched for one, I found the thing that baffled me that is the use of the present tense to tell a series of events in a narrative text.
If I give him the text, I need a good explanation on for why the present tense is used in that situation.

Please note my corrections above.

You can read about storytelling in the present tense HERE.

 

[Barque]

I'm a little puzzled.

From.the choice of story, it sounds as if your nephew is quite young, perhaps 10 or younger. Also, the use of present tense in such stories, especially for children, is common.

Does his teacher expect him to be able to explain why the present tense is used and why the tenses change? Adult learners struggle with that sort of thing.

 

[Tarheel]

@kid-blue I hope you're not using that site to learn English.

 

[Tarheel]

If I give him the text, I need a good explanation on why the present tense is used in that situation.

I don't understand that. Why would he need to explain that?

I would say, "If I give him that story ...."

 

[kid-blue]

Please note my corrections above.

You can read about storytelling in the present tense HERE.

Thank you.

I'm a little puzzled.

From.the choice of story, it sounds as if your nephew is quite young, perhaps 10 or younger. Also, the use of present tense in such stories, especially for children, is common.

Does his teacher expect him to be able to explain why the present tense is used and why the tenses change? Adult learners struggle with that sort of thing.

Yes, my nephew is still a kid. English is not our primary language, not our secondary language either.
His teacher doesn't expect him to explain, it's me who was curious on that sort of thing. I thought, it would be nice if I could explain to him why the present tense used in that situation.
Well, I could just find him another fable that contain simpler, easier to understand grammar, but I still think I want to know more about this. I don't remember learning this at school.

@kid-blue I hope you're not using that site to learn English.

It's very hard for a non native speaker to know which site is good which site is not. At first, I thought, websites written by native speaker contain grammatically correct contents. I sometime learn new things from English movies too. Silly me.

I don't understand that. Why would he need to explain that?

I would say, "If I give him that story ...."

Thank you.

 

[Barque]

His teacher doesn't expect him to explain, it's me who was curious on that sort of thing.

All right. So more than your nephew's school assignment, the reason you asked this question is that you want to know more about it.

What more would you like to know? As one of the posts above said, tenses can change from sentence to sentence.

One day, a mouse wakes a huge lion up and asks it to let it live. In return, the mouse will help the lion whenever it needs. How could a mouse help a fierce lion? The lion couldn’t answer that either, but it let the mouse go.

It's grammatical but it sounds as the mouse goes and deliberately wakes a lion up and then, out of the blue, asks to be allowed to live. It doesn't sound as if the lion was even threatening the mouse.

Perhaps the writer meant: One day a mouse accidentally wakes a lion from sleep and the angry lion is about to kill it. The mouse asks the lion to spare its life...

 

[Tarheel]

@kid-blue That one is almost certainly not written by native speakers. Why do I say that? Because of the kinds of errors there.

Considering that English is your third (fourth?) language, you are doing quite well.

The mouse waking the lion up doesn't make sense. However, I heard one a long time ago about a mouse helping a lion get a thorn out of its paw.

 

[Tarheel]

I would say:.

Fables are brief stories with animals as the main characters, and they always end with a moral (life lesson).