Thursday, May 3, 2012

Notes and Narrations from Week 12 readings


Leviticus 12: 1-13, 59
Description of purity laws concerning women who have just given birth.

Our Island Story – The Story of St. Albans (Christian martyr story)
Alban was a heathen living in the time of Roman control over Britain. He hid an old Christian man in his home when Roman soldiers came to Britain to kill the Christians. When the soldiers eventually found where the old man was hiding Alban traded robes with the old man and sent the old man away with his servants. Alban was taken before the governor and ordered to be put to death when he refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods because he had learn about Christian love from the old man.

There are a couple of fanciful “tales” about his death and there is a church that is supposedly built on the place where he was executed.

Fifty Famous Stories Retold – Arnold WInkelried
Switzerland was being attacked and the Swiss could not turn the enemy back because of the shields and armor they carried. Arnold ran into the lines of soldiers to break the lines so the others could follow him in and defeat the enemy. Arnold dies but Switzerland was saved.

Burgess Bird Book – Ch. 6 An Old Friend in a New Home
Peter discovers that the Phoebes have returned and built their nest under a bridge. They return earlier that their cousins the Least Flycatchers.
Peter also meets Chebec – the Least Flycatcher and learns how they build their nest in a tree.

Just So Stories – Leopard
The Leopard and the Ethiopian hunt the Giraffe and Zebra in the High Veldt. When the Giraffe and Zebra get tired of being frightened they move into the forest where they get blotches and stripes. The Leopard and Ethiopian go there looking for the other animals and can’t see them. Once they find the animals they realized they have changed their skins and Leopard and Ethiopian decide to change theirs as well. The Ethiopian changes to all-black and then uses his fingertips to make spots on Leopard.

NOTE: There is a racial slur at the end of the story that will need to be edited out so this is a read-aloud story!

Aesop – The Boys and the Frogs
The boys are skipping stones across the water and endangering the frogs until the oldest and bravest frog asks them to stop. It’s about being considerate of others.

Aesop – The Crow and the Pitcher
A crow who was dying of thirst found a pitcher with water in it but he couldn’t reach the water. He dropped pebbles into the pitcher until the water level was high enough that he could reach it. It’s about using creative thinking to solve problems.

Blue Fairy Book – Prince Darling
Prince Darling started out being nice and good but then he was listening to the wrong people and became mean and cruel. The fairy turned him into a monster since that was what he truly was. He was chained and put into a zoo. The keeper often beat him for no reason but the prince saved his life when a tiger attacked the keeper. The fairy then turned him into a little dog. The dog was kept in the palace but didn’t get much to eat. He took his breakfast to a brook and found a girl there who was starving after leaving a house where everything was poisoned and he gave her his breakfast. When the girl he had loved was dragged into the house she threw food to him out the window but the starving girl warned him that everything in the house was poisoned and not to eat it. He was then turned into a dove and went searching for Celia, the girl he loved. He found her in a cave with a hermit and sat on her shoulder. She said she loved him and he turned back into the prince. The hermit was the Fairy Truth and she married them and returned them to the Palace to live happily ever after.


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