Donkey Is Found Out
A donkey was walking home. In a ditch he saw something big and gold.
It was a lion costume, for a play. It had fallen off a cart.
"What fun!" said the donkey. He wriggled inside and pulled the mask over his head.
His long ears stuck out, so he tucked them in. He walked to the village, slow and tall.
The hens saw him and ran off, squawking. The dog hid under a cart.
Even the goats jumped over the fence. "They are all afraid of me!" thought the donkey.
He marched into the square like a king. A fox sat by the well and watched him.
The donkey wanted to roar. He opened wide, and out came a loud hee-haw!
Everyone stopped. The fox began to laugh. "I was scared until you brayed," he said.
The hens crept back and pulled off the mask. There stood the donkey with his long ears.
The whole village laughed. The donkey felt silly, and he trotted home.
Questions
- A real lion
- A lion costume
- A hat
- The fox
- The king
- The hens and the dog
- To the village
- To the sea
- To the hill
- Moo
- Meow
- Hee-haw
- To run
- A donkey's loud call
- To hide
- You cannot hide who you are for long
- Lions are kind
- Foxes are fast
Words to know
- costume: play clothes
- village: a small town
- bray: a donkey's call
- mask: a face cover
Answer key: Donkey Is Found Out
- B. A lion costume
- C. The hens and the dog
- A. To the village
- C. Hee-haw
- B. A donkey's loud call
- A. You cannot hide who you are for long
For the teacher: how this passage is levelled
“Donkey Is Found Out” is a reading level 6 story. Every Peabody story at this level is written and checked to keep sentences to 10 words or fewer, to aim at an average of 6 words a sentence, and to show 12 to 20 words on a screen. At most 7% of its words may be off the familiar-word list. Readers reach this level by climbing, not by grade.
| This passage | 166 words, 11 screens, 6 multiple-choice questions with an answer key, and 4 vocabulary words with kid-sized meanings |
|---|---|
| Longest sentence at this level | 10 words |
| Words on a screen | 12 to 20 |
| Skills practised at this level | phonics (sounding words out), first sounds, sight words |
Reading level 6: the limits, a real sample and the free games. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: use the questions to talk about the story, not to grade a child.