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George
Washington and the Myth of the Cherry Tree
Teacher
Directions:
1. Explain
what a myth is.
2. Tell the story of George Washington and the cherry tree and explain
its purpose (see below).
3 Ask students what the lesson of the cherry tree is intended to
be.
4 Discuss with students character traits they admire in others (honesty,
fairness, responsibility, hardworking, for example).
5. Have students choose a person (famous or not) that they admire
because of a character trait that is positive.
6. Students create and write a myth about this person to demonstrate
the positive character trait and tell why others should try to follow
his/her example.
Materials Needed:
- Paper
- Pencil/Pen
- Copy of
scroll page for student use (optional)
The
Myth and its purpose:
When George
was about six years old, he was made the master of a little hatchet.
He chopped everything that came his way. One day in the garden,
he tried the edge of his hatchet on the trunk of a young English
cherry tree. He hurt the tree badly. The damage was discovered by
George's father. He was very upset and wanted to know who had hacked
the tree. Just then young George entered the room with his little
hatchet.
"George,
do you know who killed that beautiful young cherry tree in the garden?"
asked his father.
"I can't
tell a lie, Pa. You know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my
hatchet," replied George.
"Run to
my arms, you dearest boy, run to my arms. Glad am I, George, that
you killed my tree, for you have paid me for it a thousandfold by
telling the truth," replied his father.
This story was
very popular and retold in many different versions. It was included
in McGuffey's Eclectic Readers that all school children read in
the 19th century.
From all historical
evidence, the story is not true. The story was the work of a writer
named Mason Locke Weems in his book for young readers called The
Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington published in 1800
a year after Washington's death. Weems said he used the story "to
inspire patriotic devotion and high moral standards in the youth
of the country."
Supposedly the
story was related to Weems by an elderly woman who was a distant
relation of George Washington. She heard the story as a girl visiting
the Washington family farm.
Historians do
not believe the story was true nor that the old woman who told it
to Mason Weems was an actual person. It was not uncommon for writers
to fabricate stories about famous people in order to make a point
or teach a moral lesson. We can learn lessons from myths or fables
but we must be careful not to accept the stories (myths) as being
true.
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