I am thinking of introducing this story to my junior high classes to break up the monotony. The above video has the English subtitles and the text is down below with come comprehension questions.
Genre: Fable
Vocabulary:
(water) well-
Kingdom
Lake
Anxious- worried
Earn a living
Disaster-
General-
Search-
North Star-
Cave-
Empty handed-
Seed-
Melt-
Deep-
Earth-
Confused-
At the break of dawn = morning
Curious-
Peeped-
Amazement-
There once was a small kingdom around
a lake. One very hot summer, it did not rain and the lake dried up. People
grew anxious and went to the King. “It has not rained for so long. Our
fields are barren!” said the farmers. “There are no fish to catch. How
shall we earn a living?” asked the fishermen. “Save us from disaster, good
King,” urged the women, as their children cried with thirst.
The King sent his four generals in all
directions to look for water. The first general went east, towards the
sunrise; the second went south, to the dust and heat; the third went west,
where the sun sets; and the fourth followed the North Star. They
searched day and night, night and day; high and low they searched everywhere,
but in vain.
Three of the generals returned,
empty-handed. But the general who had gone north was determined not to
fail his King. At last, he reached a cold mountain village. As he sat
at the foot of the mountain, an old woman came by and sat next to him. The
general pointed at the horizon and said, “I belong to a beautiful kingdom,
where it has not rained for a whole year. Can you help me find water?”
The woman
motioned the general to follow her up the mountain and into a cave. “We
have no water in our country either,” she said. Then, pointing to the
icicles in the cave, she continued: “We call this ice. Take some, and
your kingdom will never go thirsty again.” The general broke off a huge
piece, loaded it onto his horse-cart and rushed back home.
By the time he
reached the court, the enormous icicle had melted into a small lump of
ice. Nobody in the court had ever seen ice, so everybody gazed at it with
wonder. “This must be a water-seed!” one of the ministers exclaimed suddenly.
The King ordered the ‘water-seed’ to be sowed immediately.
While the farmers dug a hole, the lump
dwindled in the sun. They swiftly placed the seed in the hole, but before
they could cover it up, it had vanished. The farmers there grew confused
and worried. They dug deeper and deeper into the earth, all night long,
looking for the mysterious seed.
At the break
of dawn, the King found the farmers fast asleep around a hole. Curious, he
peeped in and cried out in amazement: “Wake up, my worthy men – the
water-seed has sprouted! There’s water in the hole!” This is how the first
well was created.
Comprehension questions:
1.
In the first paragraph, what do you think “barren” means?
2.
What are the 4 directions?
3.
At the end of the 2nd paragraph, what do you think “in
vain” means?
4.
Which general was successful?
5.
Was the king a good king?
6.
How was the first well made?
7.
Have you seen any real water wells?
Sources:
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