Read

Think

and

Discuss

Editedby

Oranee |ansz

Consultant English

Univ ersity Grants Commission

Publishedby the

S ab aragamuw a U niv ersitY Pre s s

ofl'ts .

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@ English (Jnit, (Jniversity Grants CommissionGeneral English Language Training (GELT) Readers

3rd Edition, tggg(This edition includes a variation in the speech course, to allow for pair work too)

Chief Ediror : Rajive Wijesinha,Coordinator EnglishUnivg rs.ity Grants Commission

This book should not be repwduced in any form without written permission fun t*epublis\ers' The uGC is.grateful'to the English Association of sri Lankafor permission toreprint material from publications ln its Student Reader Series. Inquiries about saeh rnterialshould be addressed to the Engtish Association.

/SBN 955 - 583 _ 034 -7

F o r S abara g arnuw a lJniv e rsity p re s sEditorial Board '

Chairman Prof, J. D. SomasundaraNirmali HettiarachchiM Y M SideekRalf StarkloffProf RaJtva Wijesinha

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1.

2.

3. Llves and*Mcmorles

4. Hletorlcsl gketeheg

A Course ln Readln$ and Thlntlng

PREFNCE

A Speech Couroe

Fables and Folk Tales

6. Modern Fablcs

7. Modern Stor{ee

Toble of Contents

Lakdasa DissanaYakeMatratttra GandhlMark TWaitr

The RenalssanceThe Arabs ln SPalnThe Conquest of South ArnerieaSouth Atnerican IndePendence

Nonchi l.lona and KotlYa the CatThe Competition'the Nightingale and ttre RoseThe Butterfly that StamPed

The Mudallyar's WifeThe Htding PlaceTtre [.ost OneCounterparts

'. Miss Brill

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PREFACE

This booh consisls of a rgnge of texts, beginning witlt uery sitnple ones, tlrat are nreant to helpand encou.ra.ge students to read witlt con{idence and pleasure. Manty of the texts haue been elrcsen frontboaks that haue proued populdr before, wltile a few additional passages haae been irtcluded to widentlrc range of the material. Apart ft'ont the information in sorne sections, informatidtt that should bepart of the generat knowledge of all h.igh leuel students, the thentes and su|jects of the stories too areabout issues of general as well o.s personal interest, suclr, th.at students should thinh about them heenly.

The texts are followed by a range of exercises tftat lnue been designed to fulfit a nu.mber ofpurposes. Firstly of course the exercises are designed to develop language ability, and it should bestressed' that this is of uarious hinds. In adQitiott to actual reading comprehensiott, the exercises shouldbe used to prontote utrbal conrmunication too. Many of thent d.entaid, graup work, but euen with.regard to the others discussiort amongst students should be encouraged. Eqiatty intportantly, studentsshould get accustonted to writittg. It will be most helpful for them if, after d.iscussion, ilrey write downanswers to most if not all questions. It goes witltout sayirtg th,at such unswers ntust be carefullyrnarhed' Renrcmber that written worla that is not gone tlrou.gh. carefully seiues little purpose"

^ Irl' doing the exercises so as to best fulfit tlrcir intellectual and, irnaginatiue potential, students

should be encouraged to use tlrc. uarious techniques introduced in the Courrn, -in

Speech and inReading and Thinking tlmt fornt the first and fifth, sections of th.is book respectiuely. Tlrcse cou,rses,deueloped carefully to plug serious deficiencies in our seconclary ed.ucatiol systenz, are the btachbone ofthis book, and they should be gone through alottgside tlrc uarious texts. Note too that the sections neednot be gohe tllrouglt' consecutiuely: students sltould shift from one area to another- freely, so long as

.tlrcy feel contfortable with the language leuel of a Jtarticular text. Within sectiorts, i.t ntay be obseiued.,tlrc texts are progressiuely ntore difficult with regard to the language and. the structur-es used,.

Many of tlrc texts at'e also accompanied. by questions aimed at familiarizing stud.ents with thentost basic af the su'b-ski.Ils of rea,ding, nanrcly th.e abit,;,ty to identi.fy r:elati.onshi.p{ u;ithin a sentence.Such exercises are based otr the Handbooh of English Granunani that has beeit speci/i.cally prepared.for deueloping granrmatical awareness in old,er students who haue not had, iu"i, opportu-rritin"preuiously. The new edition refers to exercises based on this booh, and tlrcse shoutcl be gine tlrougltsystematically. Teachers should also rernember that most such, grarnmatical exercises can be done withany leuel of text, and they should be prepared to adapt accordingly, and, make up sintilar. questions oftlrcir own for tlrc ntatet'ial that is rnost suitable for tlteir stud.enti it particular stages in th.iir progress.R^etnentber th'at written answerE to questions tnust be carefully morkid., because unless tltis is clone stu-dents will not get accustonted to the basic princip,les that ntust be obseruecl i.f lan.guage is to be ntean-ingfiil.

Oth'er exercises giuen lwe are irdenrled. to d,euelop anotlter sub-skill tlnt is oftert igrtored, ttarnely,the ability to infer,tlze nrcan'ing of new words fi-otn. tieir context, ie. tlrcir positioit in tlrc setfience and.t-he mednings of the other word's tlnt go with, tlrcnt. Rernember that the best way to deuelop uocabu-l-ary ls not by writin.g down lists of iord.s witlt. their nteanings in. Sinh.ala or iantil, but rather by?:i"s willing to guess and tltrougih reali.zing that you can under-sland, the rneanin.g of a sentence euenif you do not know the nteaning of all tlrc iord.s i.rt. it, just as you cdt also und,er-stand tlte nteaningof a paragraph euen if you do not und.erstand, euery sbntence iiz it precisely. In the process you usillunderstan'd tlrc general sense both of the unfantiliai words as well is the uir"l"o, ,nritnr"ur, ind thttsdeuelop your uocabulary practically rather than mechanically.

Apart f ront such quest ions, 'exercises thut require conrnt.ut t icat iue act i ,s i ty anr l euen dtantat icinvoluenrcnt haue been includ.ed. T'lrcse are nteant'to stintulate interest etJen a.ntottgst stud,ents irtitiallydiffident about the language, and to help tlrcnt throu.gh actiue participati.oit anJ prabtice'to deuelipth.e confidence they require. Tlrcse exercises,'it sltould be noted, also encoiragi ind..ependent an'dintaginatiue tlrcugltt for i,t is througlt. such opportunities for self-erpressiort tltat stuilents will bewilling to engage actiuely with tlrc language"

The exercises giuett are of course only a satrtple of wlwt cottld be d,one, artd teaclters slrculd. tlirthof similar ones witlt. regard to ali tlrc articles, In. partiutlar, once students haue nrastered simple sen-tences, a great deal of practice slrculd be giuen in u.nderstah.dhry and producirtg comltlex sentences ofthe sort used in tlre uarious sectiotts of this booh.

- t ,

Except for tltose prepared by Mrs. Jansz, tlrc writers of tlrc uariotrs texts used itt tltis' booh are "-ngted iy ,llry separate sectiorts. Many of tlrcse uere preuiously publislrcd in the low-cost read.ers pro-duced' by'tlt'e English .Associqtion of Sri Lanha, and. our tlnnhs are due to the Associa.tion as well astlte writers for pernissiort to reprint tlrcnt.

Oranee Jansz Rajiva Wijeslnha

vt

Part 1

A Speech Course

INTRODUCTION

Our observation of classrooms reveals that there is little opportunity for students to actually speakin English. Even though we have repeatedly requested teachers to divide the classroom into smallinteracting groups, we did not see this happening whenever we visited classes. What we did observe wasthe teacher dominating the classroom with the students passively l istening. The teacher happily pracl isesthe language while the student looks on, quile mute! This guide is meait for the teacher io un"ouragestudents to talk, while refraining strictly a guicle or facilitator, not a dictator

This speech course should accompany the reading and gi-anrmar courses which have been prescribed,Students should be made aware from the start of the grammar syl labus, and this wil l enable students tocorrect themselves as the course proceeds. Tlie first tasks laid down do not involve true speech, theyare contrived and admittedly art i f icial, but this is for the purpose of building correct habits of languageuse and teachers are requested to adhere strictly to the given procedure.

The course is specif ical ly designed for mixed abil i ty :groups and has been divided into two.parts.Part I consists of 30 tasks of which at least 20 must be canied out before proceeding to part ll" Thereis no t ime l imit in which Part I must be completed, but each task should be done quite t lroroughty with atlstudents before proceecling to the next task. lf weaker students are holding back the better ones, peerpressure should be used to encourage the weaker students to work faster.

When dividing the class into groups, please make sure that there is an even mix of abil ir ies in eachgroup' ie' there should be at least one very good and one very weak student in each small group. This isto enable the better student to act as a peer tutor in the group, so that correction of dialogues can beundertaken by students i lremselves, before you do the f inal iorrections -.-"-.

' Part ll of rhe course consists of units which carry exercises in promoting speech. However theseexercises are also based on techniques devised for t'he promotion of "laterai thinking;' wf,icfr could bedescribed as a way of loosening up rigid patterns of thinking and bringing about a greater d;;;;;;flexibility in looking at a problem.-ln theJe exercises, such thin[ing is oeti;erately evoked and both teach-ers and students will get familiar with this type ol thinking as they-pr,oceed tfrrough 1;;;;;

" A time period must be set aside every w"ek lor these latter exercises too, after 20 tasks in part Ihave been completed.

To reduce the rigidity of the individual speech tasks, teachers should encourage.students to thinkand talk in English outside lho classroorn. Since it is not possible for rnost students to talk in Englishoutside,thefo| lowingsuggest ionsaremadetoencouragetheprocess.

Ask students when they are at home_ to think in English about all the objects around them. Askthem to talk to themselves silently in English about eierything they see. Ask them to talk to them-selves about the things they see when they travel to ancl from tho class. ln this way, students willnot only be encouraged to think in English but also to practise talking in English. This will reducetheir fear of coming before a class and ipeaking aloud.

1.

2. When the first part of the GELT Reading course is done students will become familiar with the useof adjectives. Encourage students to use adjectives when they talk to themselves about the objectsand scenes around them. This silent speech with oneself has proved amazingly effective in promot-ing speech and language learning.

Part l l of this course is based on techniques developed by Edward de Bono (LateralThlnking, Uses of Lateral Thinking, etc. Penguin Books)

PART I

TASK IMyself

ProcedureAsk students to write a short description of themselves giving personal information

Then correct these writings,- Hand back the corrected copies, requesting students to rewrite. The onlystudents exempted from rewriting would of course be those who don't have a slngle mistake.

Ask students to learn by heart the corrected version. They must then come before the class andspeak about themselves correctly.

Mistakes should not be allowed. lf two or three mistakes are made, the student should be stoppedand asked to study the written script before speaking again.

TASK 2My Family. The same procedure as in Task I must be followed.

TASK 3----r-ItrS Village / Town.

ProdedureDivide the class into pairs of students. Ask them to build up a dialogue on the topic concerned,

using questions and answers so that both studehts give and get information about the subject. The teacherWill correct the written dialogue and students will learn the corrected form and then perform the dialoguein front of the class.

TASK 4Pair Work - My School. Follow Task 3 procedure.

TASK 5The daughter of the family wants to introduce her boy friend to her family.

ProcedureDivide the class into smaller groups, each group not exceeding six students, who must sit in a

circle. Ask them to discuss the situation given above.

The students will now have to assign roles to the different members of the group, to act out thesituation. Each member must have a role. They will write out the dialogues, which they must correctbqfore showing them to you. You must do the flnal corrections and ask the students to learn thelr parts'well. They must then act out the situation in front of the class.

lf more than two mistakes are made you will interrupt immediately and ask thd students to learntheir l ines again.

TASK 6Group Work - The boy of the family wants to tell his family about hls girl friend.

Follow the same procedure as in Task 5.

TASK 7Group Work - A student has failed a term test. He/ She talks about it with friends, and then decides to

ask a lecturer why heishe failed. Follow the same procedure as in Task 5.I

TASK 8Group Work - A worm has been discovered in the hostel food.

What do the students do? Follow Task 5 procedure.

TASK 9Group Work - The bus in which a student travels to GELT breaks down.

What does he/she do? Follow Task 5 procedure.l

TASK 10Group Work - The students want to go on a trip (from the GELT class).

What do they talk about? Follow Task 5 procedure"

TASK 11Group Work - Students want to organize a film festival to collect funds for a charilv

How do they go about doing. this? Follow Task 5 procedure.

TASK 12Group Work - Students have been asked to conduct an assembly.

How will they do it? Follow Task 5 procedure.

TASK 13Pair work - My favourite song. Follow Task 3 procedure.

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TASK 14Individual work - My favourite film. Follow Task 1 procedure"

TASK 15Pair work - My favourite television programme. Follow Task 3 procedure.

TASK 16 }|ndiv idualwork-Myfavour i tesinger.Fol |owTask1procedure.

ffi - My favourite film story. Follow.Task 3 procedure"I

TASK 18 I

Group work - Students have been told to organize a Wesak Dan Sala.How do they go about doing it? Follow Task 5 procedure.

TASK 19Gioup work

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Students want to organize a no,smoking campaign.How do they. go about doing it? Follow Task 5 procedure.\-

TASK 20Group work ' students.whnt to orga.nize a TV Pro$ramme on an environmental problem in the area.How do they go about doing it? Fotow Task s pro"eoure.

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TASK 21Group work - students want to undertake a shramadana at the cancer Hospital.How do they do jt? Follow Task 5 proc'edure-

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TASK 22Fair work

TASK 23

TASK 25Pair work

My favourite lesson in my favourite subject. Foilow Task 3 procedure.

Individual work - An interesting article I read in the

TASK 24

newspaper. Follow Task 1 procedure. ,

fndividual work - My most unforgettable character. Follow Task i procedure.

- My most unforgettable day. Follow Task 3 procedure.

TASK 26Individual work - A true but funny story from my life. Follow Task 1 procedure.

TASK 27Group work - students are asked to make up a ghost story and act it out. Follow Task 5 procedure.TASK 28Group work ' students meet the Minister of Higher Education to discuss changes in the educationsystem. How do they go about doing this? Follow Task i procedure.

TASK 29Continue Task 28.Group work The meeting with the Minister is adjourned. what happens when they meet again?Follow same procedure as above.

TASK 30Group work ' students want to meet university student council representatives to discuss Universitymalters, particularly ragging. How do they do this? Follow tast s procedure.

PART II

In this section of fhe speech programme students while speaking will also be trained in lateralt lr inking.

A regular time period must be set aside every day for these activities which must be repeated overand over again, with different pictures and other material that the exercises require"

UNIT I

Generation of alternatives

You will need a picture or a photograph, depicting a story or situation which could have severalexplanations.

You can use pictures from old magazines or newspapers. You will have to build up a bank of suchpictures. They can be used in two ways: - ::

1) Describe what you think is happening in that picture.2') Give six differerrt interpretations of that picture.

Method I

Use an ambiguous picture, ie. one which does not depict the obvious, but which could have severalexplanations. Ask each student to make his or her own interpretation.

Variations between individual interpretations show alternative ways of looking at the picture. Be carefulnot to iudge wlrich way is best or why one way is unreasonable. Do not reveal what the picture'waiactually about. ln fact it would be better if you forget it altogether.

Melhod 2.

Ask the students to form groups of 4 - 6 members. They must sit in a circle. Then ask them togenerate a quota of different interpretations of a picture, ie. ask each group to make six differentinterpretations. lf students are blocked by the most obvious interpretation, loosen them up by throwing insome outlandish suggestions of your own, so that students get an idea of possible alternatives"

Altered Pictures

With pictures very often the obvious interpretation is dominant, So it becomes difficult to find otherways of looking at them. To avoid this difficulty, you can alter pictures by covering up parts or cutting upthe picture into parts. lt inrmediately becornes far more difficult to tell wtrat tne picture is about and thegeneration of alternative possibilities becomes easy.

You can use photographs from old newspapers or magazines.

Get the students to give their own interpretation of the incomplete picture. This can be done byindividual students some days and groups of stu(ents on some days. Once the picture is put fogether byyou, the stuclents wil l real ize how easy it is to come to wrong conclusions when al l the data isunavailable to a person. This would train them to be less harsh in ju-dging a situation.

Written Material

stories may be obtained from riewspapers or magazines or the students' curriculurn. story here doesnot mean a tale, but any written account.

Stories may be treated as follows

(a) Generate the different points of view of the people involved.

(b) Change what is a favourable desdrip.tion to an unfavourable one, not by changing thematerial but by changing the emphaiis and looking at i t in "notf '"r

*"y.

(c) Extract a point of view different from that of the writer.

Example.

Newspaper 'sJory of a boy who has been mauled by a zoo lion for using the :lion,s cage to easehimself of an attack of diarrhoea. The boy claims the l ion cured his diarrhoea.

Alternatives

Get students to tell ttris story from -

1) the boy's point of view2) the newspaper reporter,s point of view3) lhe lion's point of view4) the onlooker's point of view5) the boy's mother's point of view6) a philosopher's point of view

ln this type of exercise every student could attempt to generate the"different points of view ordifferent students could be assigned to generate the different points of view. The exercise is not to try toguess what other peopfe are thinking but to show how the same situation can be seen in different ways.

UNIT 2

Challenging Assumptions

The 'why?' technique.

.This is a game'which provides opportunities to challengg Ssgumptions. Usually the question ,why?,,is asked when you don't know the answer. ln this gamJ'whv?', is asked

"u"n *rr";i V.u know theanswer.

Example

Why are books printed on white paper?

. This QU€srior"t i'r'+L:lrj generate an answer which must be challenged again with 'why,?, and the ques-t ioner goes on t i l l tr : , . . : lbject is exhausted.

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ln this type of ..ise a student must be appointed to answer the questions. Different students shouldtakeupthisposi t io l . . j i f ferenttopics.Suggestedsubjects

6

Why ar:e cuPs round?Wny Oo chairs have legs?Why are most books rectangular?Wny Oo women and not m9n have babies ?Wny Oo peoPle have two eYes?

Students should be encouraged to supply subjects with appropriate questions'

The usual purpose of 'why?' is to obtain intoriration and be comforted with an explanalion. ln this

method the purpose is to "r"ite

discomfort with any explanation. By refusing to be satisfied with an

explanation you tiy to look at i lr ings-in a ditferent.way and increase the possibil i ty ol restructuring

patterns.

UNIT 3

Redesign exercises

This section should be done in groups. students. mu.st discuss the project, make drawings and

then appoint a representative to explain thJnew design to the ilass.

The following redesign projects are suggested'

RedesignA bedA class roomAn aeroplaneApen

i

Students could suggest their own redesign projects'

The purpose of this section is to show that there can be different ways of doing something'

UNIT 4

Dominant ideas and crucial factors

A dominant idea is organizing a theme through a way of lopking at,a sittratiol- I clqgial factor is

some element of the situation which rr"i "f*"ys

O--e includld, no matter how you look at the situation'

The crucial factor t ies down tne oomll]allt '{ue'l ' l lru

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The purpose of separating "ru.i"l

l".tors is to examine them. Very olten a crucial lactor is an

assurqption. dncu the factor is identified you challenge the neel for it'

Exercise

Two students are.asked to debate a subject in front of the class. You can either choose students

*no i""i"; ,#ft"ve opposite views on a particular subject or you,could ask the students to debate

from oppogite points of view whether 1r,Ly r]oro .thos6. views or noi. The rest ol the class listens to the

debate and notes down the dominant idla and crucial factors in the discussion' They can check the

validity of the noted points by questioning the debaters. The students should then challenge the crucial

factors.

Suggested toPics for debate

RaggingEthnic problern in Sri Larrka (Sinlrala, Tamil poirrts of view)Western vs Ayurvedic MedicineModern Scierrce vs Arrcient WisdomCapitalism vs Socialism

Students can suggest topics rrf their own for debate.

UNIT 5

Brainstorming

Brainstorming provides a formal setting for using lateral thinking. lt is a gio{rp activify which isstructured. lts features are : -1) cross stimulation

higtdf -

2) suspended judgement3) formality of setting.

In lateral thinking we encourage students to rearrange information through provocation. In brainstormingthe provocation is provided by the ideas of olhers. Since these come frorn outside one's own nrind theystimulate one's ideas. Even if one misunderstands an idea it can sti l l be a useful stimulus. ln ibrainstorming session you stimulate the ideas of others and their ideas stiflrulale yours. Brainstorrningpiovides a formal opportunity for people to make statements they would otherwise not make for, fedr oJbeing laughed at. The 'structure of brainstorming is such that evaluation, crit icisrn or judgment ofstatements made by the participants is not allowed. ln brains{orming anything goes. Even the mostridiculous or outrageous idea is allowed.

Brainstorming has a formal setting. A group of not less than six and not more than fifteen shouldtake part in a session. This setting requires a Chairrnan who sees that ideas keep flowing and also stopsthe participants from criticising or evaluating ideas. Another important figure in a brainstorming session isthe notetaker, who records all ideas genorated h tb session. A session should last only 30 minutes,aiter which the Chairman must stop the session. Sbffi tle notetaker must do a lot of work'recording, theChairman has to help him by asking the notetraker flffi tirne to time whether everythirrg has beenrecorded. Sometimes he may have to stop the flovu d ideas lo ensure that everything has been recorded.He may even have to summarize an idea, in consultdion with the person who generated it, lor thenotetaker to write it down. The notetaker and Chairman have to be elected by the group once the latter isformed.

The Session

Once a group of the right size (minimum six, maximum 15) has been formed and the Chairmanand notetaker elected, a warnr up problem is given, The warm up session lasts ten minutes. Then thegroup goes on directly into the main brainstorming session. The warm up is intended to show botfr lhetype of ideas'that may be generated and also that evaluation is excluded. A warm up session rJeals withvery sirnple problems such as designing a new umbrella, a bus ticket, a milk bottle, a clrair etc.

The nrain sessioh should not l ist longer than thirty minutes. .

Evaluation, criticism or judging of ideas is not allowed during the session. The Chairman must seethat comments such us :

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"That is notrttew, lhat has already been tried out."What's original about thal?" "That is very silly.""No one would accept lhat."

are avoided.

The Chairrnan can suggest different ways ol tackling the problem such as the dif{erenl techniques oflateral thinking. Other participants too can do this. The Chairman must also see that the session doesn'tmove out of the central problem ancJ must keep pulling the group back to it whenever the discussion strays.

Formulating a probleln

Any probtem can be the subject of a brainstornring session, but its formulation can make a differ-:-'6it^-ce to the oulcome. The problem should neither be too wide nor too narrow in scope.

-, Possible subjects for brainstorming might be -

The need for examinationsGenerating full employmentHow to stop warsDesign ol a better / quicker University admission /A' Level course etc. :

Note - All problems dealt with in student proiec{s should be subject to brainstorming.

Evaluation

The evaluation session should not be held on ihe sanre day as the brainstorming session and shor.ddbe held in front ol the whole class. \

ldeas can be classilied according to the followingDirectly usefulInteresting approach :'

For further examinationDiscard.

An alternative to this would be to wrile the brainstorm lists on the blackboard ( a {ew ilems at atime) and get studenls to evaluate them with votes. Tlre diflerent evaluations caR be judg€d by lhe nurflherof voles eacfr gets.

It must be remembered that oulrageous ldeae and ideas people would not otherwise vocalize are anlmpodant aspect ol a brainslorming session. During ths evaluation such ideas must nol be thrown outas they can lead to new ways of looking. at and solving problems. Even the rnost ridiculous idea mayhave some imporlant principle behind it, that could bring new insights to solving the problem

Part 2

Fables and Folk Tales

by

Geetho Premoroine

THE CROW AND THE KAVUN

Once a young 6iow saw a woman carrying a basket of fresh hot kavuns on hel head. The crow.-was good at siealin! things. So she hovered over the basket and snatched the biggest one of tlre kavuns"Then she flew to her favourite thambili tree and sat ott one of its branches.

A fox who was passing by got the kavun smell and found the tree on which the crow was sitting.When he saw the big kavun, oily and puffy and fried crisp round the edge, he decided to ha,re it forhimself. So the fox went under the tree and, pretending not to see the kavun, said to the crow, "Ayubowan,Podi Menike, how elegant you look in black. I alnpst took you for an ebony carving."

At this the crow pricked up her ears and began to listen carefully. The fox, observing the effect hiswords hacl on the crow, went on, "Oh your starry eyes! How bewitching they are. And your graceful beakshines as if made out of crystal."

The crow bent forward to take a better look at this unexpected admirer, Then slte heard lhe fox

sigh and say almost in a whispe', "lf only I could listen to her voice! Her song would linger in my heart

for. ever."

Nobody had ever praised the crow like this in all her life. So it made her both happy and proud, so

much so, that her mouth opened involuntari ly and a loud caw came out. That was the end of her

delicious kavun. And that was the end of her admirer too. For she saw the fox running into the woods

with a big grin on his face, carrying the kavun in his foaming mouth.

THE MALA GIRAWA AND THE CLAY POT

One hot clay in the month of April, a Mala,Girawa was flying here and there looking for a drop o[

water to drink. Tlie land was parched. All the little streams and water-holes had dried up. And there had

been no rain in the jungles for months. Suddenly, the Mala Girawa saw bcfore him a little abandoned

shelter at the far end oi a chena. And just outside the shelter there was a big clay pot - a kala gediya

that village women use to fetch water fiom the well. Withe ray of hope kindled in his heart, the Mala

cir"*" i:woopeo down'and sat on the rim of the clay pot. But to his dismay, he saw that there was just-

a litle bit of water left at the.bottom of the pot. And it was impossible for him to reach it with his little

curved beak. So he was about to fly away in deiec'tion. Tlren, fortunately, he remembered a story his-

mother had told him about a clever crow. According to the story the crow who was dying of thirst.hgOr'

come across a piicher which had a little bit of water a- the bottom of it. The crow had dropped pebbles

into the pitcher until the water. at the bottom rose up .o ta convenient level. The crow ltad then drunk of

the water to his heart's content.

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The Mala Girawa cast a few doubtful looks at the big clay pot on which he was sitting. Ttre pot wasso big and tall. Ancl the water glistened at tlre very bottorn of it. However, the Mala Girawa did not losecourage. He walked among the stubble in the chena looking for little pebbles. After some time he fetcheda beaklul of pebbles and started dropping them in llre pot one by one. He thought the water moved alittle. But lre was not sure. lt cou:ld be only his imagination. He carried beaklul after beakful of pebbles

and dropped tlrem all in the pot. lt was a slow. painful process. The Mala Girawa was afraid that thewater would lizzle out with the heat of the pebbles. He was also afraid that a pebble would make a holein the pot and drain the water out. And more than anything alse, he was afraid that he would faint lromexhaustlon on his trips to and from the clay pot. He had not much respect now for the clever crow in his

motlrer's story.

Just then he happened to see a papaw tree at one end of the chena and this gave him an idea-

He flew up to the tree and broke a papaw stem. With his beak he crumpled away the dry shrivelled up

leaf till the stem was clean at both ends. Then he put one encl of the stem into the pot and sucked in

all the water that was at the bottom. When the cool water had soothed his dry tongue and throat, he flew

away feeling happy and proud at his own cleverness.

HOW THE MINISTERS LAID EGGS

The Ministers at the Royal palace were bristling with anger. They always got caught to Andare's

tricks. And Andare always had the last laugh. And rvhat was more, Andare won tlre respect of the king '

eaclr time and was fast becoming his favourite.

So one day, the Ministers put their freads together. "We must trick A.ndare soon and prove our wits

to the king," said the Chief Minister. "Aren't we the most learned men in the land?"

'What should we do?" questioned one of the young Ministers.

"Let us make Andare look a fool in front of llre king," replied a Senior Minister. '"Let us all go to the

royal pond tomorrow witlr eggs hidden in our robes. Then let us challenge Andare to bring an egg out of'

the water il he's clever."

Everybody thought this was a marvellous plan'

So the next nrornipg they went witlr the king for a walk in the royal park, They invited Andare tojoin tlrem and Andare readily agreed.

It was a beautiful morning. The king and the Ministers walked in tlre park admiring the rare flowers

and planls. Alter some time, thb king walked towards the royal pond as he always did on such visits. The

Ministers who 6ad beerr waiting for tlris moment crowded reund the pond. Suddenly, the Chief Minister

said, ,'Who can jump into the witer and come out with an egg? | pronounce tlrat whoever can do this is

a wise man."

Witlr this the Chief Minister jumped into the pond and came out with the egg which he had hidden

in his robes. And so dicJ all the other Ministers. They all stood round tlre king displaying tlre eggs in their

hands.

The king was greal ly amused. He looked from one Minister to the ot l ter , Tlren he slrot a

mischievous smile at Andare.

Ministers had planned a trick on hirii arrd had brought

l l

Andare guessed what had happened. Thetheir eggs from home

Andare thought qr,rickly. And then lre jumped into the water without batting an eye-lid. After a minute

tre came out clripping with water. Then lrg stoocl on a big rock near ilre .pond, flapped his arms several

times like a giant biri and cried, "cock a doodle doo. I am tt''e only cock here. All the others are hens'

Cock a doodle doo..Cock a doodle doo'"

T5e Ministers slurnk away in slrame. And the king showererl Andare with many valuable gifts'

I{OW ANDARE ATE CURD AT-THE PALACE

one afternmn Andare returned to the palace a{ter lraving his mid-day meal at home. He had eaten

a mountain of red rice witlr his favourite kadju maluwa and was hardly able to breatlre'

when Anclare arrivedi ilre king was in the middle of his royal lunch. The king was delighted to see

Andare because twenty five pots of {resh curd had come to the palace that noon. so he asked for a

place to be set at tlre table for Andare'

Andare regretfully lookecl at the array of dishes spread on the. king's table and saic, "Your Maiesty'

I had a good meal today, because my wife had nrade my favourite kadj,u maluwa' What a shamel I have

no room in my belly for arrytlring eise, not even a piece of aluwa." The king was botlr surprised and

disappointed. This was not i i t e Anoare. But knowing Andare's {ondness for curcl, t lre king said, " Well,

come'on then. Have some curd that we got just a while ago""

Now curcl was one thing that Anclare coulcl not resist. so he sat down at the table in front of a big

pot of curd. Tlre king was overjoyecl. He ilrought tlris was ra good opportunity to nrake lun of Andare' so

he said in a voice loud enough for everybody to lrear, "Hey, toox at him! Look at the one who said he

har1n,t room in his belly even for a piece of aluwa. See how he is gulping down my biggest pot of cu.rd'"

And so saying ilre king laughed till Hrc tears rolled down his face. lt sure was a funny sight to see Andare

sitt ing with a pot of cutd as big as the ful l moon'

But Andare was not offended. He said quietlV, "Your Majesty, curd is sometlring special' And all

special things {incl room for themselves. Let me show you what I mean'"

When lunclr was over, Andare removed all the furniture from the smallest room in the palace' Then

he started filting the room with peopb. First lre sent the cooks and the kitchen boys into the room' Then

he sent in the sweepers and the cleaners. Tlren the musicians and the singers. Next the royal visitors'

And finally, the pundits and tlre Ministers. l{ow the room was fully packed like a private bus during the

morning rush rime. Arrd there was no room inside, not even for Andare's little finger'

Then Andare beckoned to the king who was waiting impatiently in the palace hall. The drums beat'

The trumpets sounded. And in walked the king in al l his splendour'

AncJ a miracle happened. The pundits and the Ministers pressed hard on the royal visitors' The

visitors on t lre musicians and the-ringuir. The m'usicians and the singers on the .sweepers and the

cleaners. The sweepers and the cleaners on the cooks and the kitchen boys - until there.was a narrow

passage running like a ribbon from the left to the right wall of the room. And the king stood in the middle

of this bancl untouclred by people'

The king frowned and then burst out laughing. This t ime not at Andare. But at himself ' Then he

rewarded"Andaregenerous|yforhiswitandgoodhumour.

lo

ExercisesSentence Structure

1. Reacl How the Ministers Laid Eggs. ldentify the nouns in it under the following headingsProper Nouns - Commorr Nouns (Living Beings) - Other Common Nouns.

2. Find the verbs in this story and divide lhern ihto those that express actions, and those that express thoughtsor feel ings.

3. Read The Crow and the Kavun. Give the plurals of all the nouns in it.

4. Think of suitable adjectives not in the stories to describe the people and the animals rnentioned in them.

5. Reacl The Mala Girawa and the Clay Pot. Rewrite it as though it were told by the g{'nw*a.

6. Rewrite Tlre Crow and the Kavun in the present tense as though it were told by the crow. Begin 'l can see..,.."

7. ldentify llre verbs in Hsw Andare Ate Curd and slate whether they are transitive or inlransitive.

B. ldentify 10 complements in the Andare stories. Which are adiectives and whiclt are nouns?

L Write a sentence each, using the 'be' verb but not repeating any description givett in lhe stories, about theclraracters/animals in the stories mentioned above.

10. Pick'10 sentences from the stories you have read, and rewrite them adding suitable'adverbs.

11. ldentify 20 prepositional phrases from the stories above and state whether they are adiectival or adverbial.

12. Tlrink of acljectival prepositional phrases to describe the characlers/animals in these slories.

13. Think of adverbial prepositional phrases to add to sorne of the actions done by them.

14.Wri tedownthepresenttenseofa| | theverbsinHowAndareAteCurd'

15. Think of things the characters/animals in the stories you have read would like to own, and write them down ina way that Slrofvs possession.

fffie words fronr the tist betow that you think convey simitar meanings to tt.|or" in bold letters in the'Fables and FolP. Tales' - dare, unwillingly, tiredness, shakirrg, sadly, flew, smart, atlractive, shone, crept,evaporate, dry, angry, surprising thing, ntisery

2. Find words in the 'Fables and Folk Tales' lhat mean the same as the following - very tasty, empty, uncertain,liking, wonder{ul, with spit pouring out, stay, showing, shook, suitable, much-loved, chance.

Comoosition

1. Write letters trom : ;

a. Anciare to his wife about tlre curd story

.' b. Tlre fox to a friend about ltow lre tricked lhe crow' c. A young Minister to his father about how Andare tricked the Ministers

d.Themalagirawaiohismotherabout l rowlredrankwater

2" Rewrite any fable you know in your own words.

Dramatisation

1. Act out in groups either of the Andare stories given here'2.' Write out the dialogue for a fable and act if out in giroups'

13

Part 3

Lives and Memories

GRE/\T LIVES

Have you ever wondered what ntakes some people great? Think of some people you consider greatand think about lheir quali t ies. Do you think that t lrey have largely the same quali t ies? What are thesequalit ies? Before you read any furt lrer, f irst discuss this in your groups and report to your class. Thenwrite down your views in one clear paragraph.

A psychologist called Abraharn Maslow rnade a lifelong stucly of great people, much lovecl, respectecland admired people, both from history and from his own t irne. He cl iscoverecl that al l these people hadlhe same or similar quali t ies or clraracterist ics. So Maslow put forwarcl the lheory that suclr people weremotivated by higher needs, such as t lre need for Truth, Beauty, Gooc.lness, Justice and so on andthat they remained loyal to these values"

One outstanding feature that Maslow noticed about these people was that they had devotecl tSeirl ives to some cause outside t l temselves, and t lrat their activit ies were devoted to pursuing values. Maslowcalled the motivation of such people Metamotivation.

Keeping this idea in nrind, reacl t lre two biographies that fol low.

DR. LAKDASA DISSANAYAKE(This biography of Dr. Dissanayake wds written by his mother Mrs. Phyllis Dissanayake.)

'Lakdasa Dissanayake was contparatively unknown in his lifetime of less than forty four years, but hesuddenly emerged inlo t lre l imelight amid the glow of tr ibutes that fol lowed his untimely death. He wasdrowned on January 14th 1990 when he attempted to save the l ives of two children. his fr iend's and hisown.

. Lakdasa, wlro was born on 19th February 1946, never sought publicity. In fact lre even shunned it .He just wanted to be left alone to get on with his job - of caring for the sick who cOuld nol afford theluxury of private consultation and clrannelled specialists. This way he did not clash lvilr 5is colleaguesin private practice nor did l te come to t lre notice of those who thronged the corridors of channelpractice centres. He chose to work for the tlrousanc1s who so patiently stoocl in silent queues, describedtheir ai lments as best they could, asked no irrelevant ( as he called tfreml questions, and accepted histreatment grateful ly, with no thought of comparing it with that given to fr iends who lhought they sufferedfrom tl te same ailments but lrad been prescribed different medioation. He saw with thiniy vei led disdainthrough the situations in which even his so-called fr iends brought their domestic aides and even theirpets to him, for free treatment, while they preferred to have themselves treated in private consultatio_nchambers.

i

To him the extbnt of suffering. was the sole cri terion of privi leges permitted. No patient was givenspecial p-rivileges irr his warcJs on the grounds of friendship, kinshif or the potential for pulling politicalstr ings' Only the grait i ty of i l lness or ttre' inabil i ty of a pooi family io provide the patient with his needscounted with him. Fci l a seriously i l l patient he would himself sit through the night by the bedside, askinghis wife to bring coffee and sandwiches, for him and also for al l

-his staff who sat with him, t i l l anoperation case no longer required his personal care. To give a dying patient the Sappiness of seeing

l4

€

his loved ones in his last hours, Lak often delved into his own pocket to send the family the where-

withal to cc,me to Maharagama. Patients and staff bore,.witness to these gestures of his which no one

talked about in his lifetime but which they tear{ully recalled when he was no more.

Lak on his motorbike was a figure lew could reconcile with his image as Consultant Surgeon' an

FRCS- of both London and Edinburgh and an MS of Sri Lanka. A nurse in a private Nursing Home once

refused to admit him into the operating theatre to operate on a friend's father, presumably because he

arrived on his motorbike.

He quietly told lrei', "l am operating 3n

him, so you'll have to let me in"'

From his schooldays self-effacement was his hallmark. He was an academically brilliant student, while

his prowess on the rugger-field also lives on alter him. A school prefect at Floyal, he missed becoming

Head prefect becaus",-u* relaled by the then Principal Dudley de Silva, when he was informed by him

of the honour to be offered, he replied, "Sir, Asthka'Boteju is my senior and my good fr iend' I cannot

accept the Head prefectship over him. I will be honoured to serve under him." And so it happened.

At the Medical College he passed al l his examinations wiih dist inction, and went on to win the

covetecl Hallet prize at the -primary

FRCS. He won a Commonwealth scholarship to Edinburgh, where he

passed his Fellowship as well. He returned to Sri Lanka and was later awarded scholarships to Japan

and to London, and a year before he died he won a scholarship to qualify in Plastic Surgery at Yale

University. At the Cancei Hospital Maharagama he was still addicted to learning, and refused to be tempted

by an ofier to go on "No-pay" leave and work in the Middle East. He said that Dr. Gabriel, his senior at

Maharagama, was due to retire soon and he still had much to learn from him that rnoney could not buy.

Keen student that he was he gave as freely as he received to the younger generation of doctors,

many of whom remember with grati tude the classes he organised for them at Maharagama, at his home

ovei Sunday lunches and weekday dinners, at Wijerama Ho.use and at the Insti tute of Postgraduate

Medicine. These doctors arg his best memorials. He taught them to use th'eir leisure, not for their own

profit but for the spread of knowledge for the benefit of their country and humanity.

Lak was always orienr€d towards the services for ire was born to a family of policemen. His father

was lGp, and his maternal grandfather and lwo uncles were superintendents of police. He longed to don

a uniform. During the 1g71 lnsurgency he urged his mother to start a Broject to help the forces by

organising the dist i ibution of refreshments to the men on duty al l over Colombo and distr ibuting these f irst

Oy nimsett on his motorbike. l-ater this developed into a counlrywide collection' of foodstuffs, chocolates,

toilet requisites and tinned and packeted food, distributed by road, rail and helicopter at the instance

of his father, then Secretaql of National Security. In 1971 he also joined the Navy as a Volunteer

Sub-Lieutenant. He rose to be a Captain and was posthumously promoted Commodore'

He was perhaps the only non-Army man to have become an Honorary Commando, having

undergone the i igorous training required. While in England on a training assignment he quali f ied in

paracliute jumpinf and won his wings. He was one of a gallant quartet of volunteer surgeons who served

at Vadamarachchi, palaly and other battlefields where he saved the lives of many wounded fighting men.

He thus served all three services, who joined together to honour him with a tri-service funeral with full

honours.

Lak was a truly Christian gentleman, who did not publicize h{g religion or his devotion to his church.

He lived his religion. lt was indeed a rare treat to hear him sing in the choir of the Cathedral of Christ

the Living Saviour, where he was one of the leaders. He was also a member of the Lylie Godridge Sing-

ers. As a singer he was always the life and soul of every medical concert, every gathering of Old Roy-alists and at every such party to which he went.

I t r \

Into tre relatively short span of life he lived, he telescoped a lifetirne df achievernent. Perhaps hlswas one crowded hour of glorious life.

Questions

1. Look at the words below. From the context in which they appear you should be able to work out whatthey mean. Think of other words that.convey similar ideas that also fit the sense of the passase -shunned, lhronged, thinly vei led, *disdain, delve, wherewithal, reconcile, self-effacerf lent, hal lmark,don, posthumously, rigorous

2. Why do you think Dr. Dissanayake kept away from private practice?

3. Do the following discussions in your groups. You must report the results of your discussion lo lhe class.A) Do you think all doctors should follow the example set by Dr. Dissanayake?B) What impressed you most about the life of this doctor?C) Carry out a PMI (Plus - Minus - Interesting)'analysis on the life of Dr. Dissanayake.D) Why does the author say, "His was one crowded hour of glorious life"?

4. Write sentences about the following which makes clear whaVwhere lhey are -FRCS, MS, Edinburgh, Yale University, Plastic Surgery, Commonwealth, Commando, Cathedral, channelledspecialists, IGP

IIITAHATMA GANDHI

Mohandas Karmachand Gandhi was born towards the end of the last ctintury and lived almost halfof the present century. He was born in India in the State of Gujarat and lived some years in Englandwhere he studied and in South Africa where he practised as a lawyer. ln mid-life he returned to lndia tojoin her Freedom Movement. Nehru, the first Prime Minister of lndia, called:him the greatest son of lndiaafter Gauthama the Buddha. Einstein reflecting on his lile said that people would one day wonder whethera person like Gandhi actually walked the earth. Winston Churchill, the Prime'Minister of Bri{ain, calledhim the Naked Fakir. Who was this man who aroqsed so much admiration and also anger?

Gandhi was one of those people who from an early age felt deeply about life and questioned itsvalues. He had to know and experience life deeply.

As he went through life; a pattern developed and he was constantly searclring for answers to hisquestions" He called the story of his life "My Experiments with Truth". In fact his whole life was centredairrund a search for the truth and how to put it into actlon in one's daily living

He began his working life as a laWyer in Soufh Africa, where he came' across racial preiudice forthe first time. One day he had to take a trai,n journey. Ap he was not a white person he was not allowedto travel in the same compartment as the whites. But Gandhi refused to accept this and insisted ontravelling in the compartment he had paid for. He was arrested for his defiance but this was the incidentthat started him olf on his search for justice. He reflected on how people could meet injustice withoutusing violence to overcome it. lt was in South Africa that Gandhi first developed the idea of Ahimsa ornon-violence, and,he taught the lndians l iving in South Africa how to use Ahimsa to overcome the manyinjustices they suffered. His method was also called passive resistance or. non-cooperation with theperson who did the injustice. Gandhi believed that by non-cooperation your opponent would finally realizehis mistake and correct the injustice.

Gandhi was successful in many of the campaigns he carried out in South ilfrica. However, the timecame for him to return to India where a vast movement for independence from British Rule was in progress.

He felt it was his du{y to join the movement and contribute.to the final objective of a fnee India.

l6

And rnost importantly he taught his lndian followers the principles of Ahimsa and how to use themin the freedom struggle.

As the movement progressed Gandhi himself continued with his search for Truth and formulated astrategy to rneet the enemy. He called it Satyagraha or Truth Force. Gandhi believed that the power ofyour own truth and suffering would change the heart of the enemy. Satyagraha was used extensively inthe freedom struggle and it was very effective. A point came in this struggle when the British could nolonger hold out against lhe masses of people who stood up to them, non-violenlly demanding freedom.However Gandhi was a f irm believer in training and every'campaign was led by people wlto werepersonally trained by him in the methods'of Satyagraha, and it was this discipline and training too thatcontributed to the success of the struggle.

Gandhi lived to see India gain her independence from the British but his life was greatly saddenedby the division between Muslirns and Hindus and all the massacres that took place when Muslim leadersdemanded a separate state for the Muslims. Because of his unshakable belief in the brotherhood of man,he resisted the idea of separation for a long time but finally gave in and lndia was divided into a Muslimstate (in two parts, East {nd West) called Pakistan and lndia which was predominantly Hindu. The lastyears of Gandhi's life were filled with sorrow because his idea of Satyagraha could not prevent the hatredof Hindus against.Muslims and the division of India. ln 1948 Gandhi was assassinated at a mass ral ly bya Hindu fanatic whO coul{ not agree with the idea of the brotherhood of man advocated by Gandhi"

Questions

1. Guess lhe meanings of the fol lowing words, using clues from the reading. Give reasons for your

. answers.Fakir, con$tantly, racial, prejudice, defiance, strategy, hold out, massacres, resisted, fanatic, assassinated

2. lmagine that you were one of the peopld trained in Satyagraha by Gandhi. Write an account of yourtraining course. i

3. Gandhi was very concerfied about Truth. Discuss in ymrr grgups whether a concern with lruth is importantfor onels life. Fleport to'yourclass.

4, Ffom whal you have read 'in the lesson and from what you already know about Gandhi, carry out a PMI(Flus - Minus - Inlerestihg) analysis on his life"

5. Group projects

g'. Find out about at ledst two of the following and their work for freedom in their countries. Write a brief.biographical note about those you selected.Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ho Chi Minh, Sukarno, Cory Aquino

b. What elsb do you know about a) Ein$tein b) Winston Churchill?

c. What has happened to the two parts of Pakistan mentioned in this passage? When and how did thishappen?

t /

The following passage, by one of America's most famous writers, Mark -[wairt, is, not a biography.But in looking back on a different aspect of the lives we lead, lt should make us think of the very differ-

ent ways in which people can seek satisfaction in their lives.

THE BOYS' AMBITION

When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on

the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboatman. We had transient ambitions of

other sorts, but they were only'transient, When a circus came and went, it left us all'burning to become

clowns; the first Negro minstrel show that ever came to our section left us all suffering to try that kind of

life; now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates.

These ambitions faded gut, each in its turn; but the ambition to be a steamboatman always remained.

Once a day a cheap, gaudy packet arrived upward from St. Louis, and another downward from

Keokuk. Before these events, the day was glorious with expectancy; after tliem, the day was a dead and

empty thing. Not only the boys, but ihe wfrote village, felt this. After all these years I can picture that old

time io myielf now, just as ii was then: the white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer's morning;

the streets empty, or pretty nearly so; one or two clerks sitting in front of the Water street stores, with

their splint-bottomed chairs tilted back against the walls, chins on breasts, trats slouched over their faces'

asleep, a sow and a litter of pigs loafing along the sidewalk, doing a good btlsiness in water-melon rinds

and seecls; two or three lonely little freight piles scattered about the "levee"; a pile of "skids" on the slope

of the stone-paved wharf, and the fragrant town drunkard asleep in the shaddw of them; two or three

wood flats at the head of the Whad, but nobody to listen to the peaceful lapping of the wavelets against

them; the geat Mississippi, the majestic, the magnif icent tr/ ississippi, rol l in$ i ts mile-wide t ide along,

shining in the sun; the dense forest way on the other side; the "point" above the town, and the "point"

below, bounding the river-glimpse and turning it into a sort of sea, and Withal d very still and brilliant and

lonely one. preiently a film of dark smoke appears above one of those rBmoto "points"; instantly a negro

drayman, tamous tor fris quick eye, and prodigious voice, lifts up the crf, *[i-t-e-a-m-boat a-comin'!" and

the sceng changes! The town drunkard stirs, lhe clerks wake up, a furious clatter of drays follows, every

house and store pours out a human contribution. and al l in a twinkl ing ' the dead town.. is al ive and

moving. Drays, carts, men, boys, all go hurrying from many quarters to a common centre, tlre wharf.

Assemiled t'he,re, the people fasten thlir eyes upon the coming boat hs upon a wonder they are seing

for the first time. And the boat is rather a handsome sight, too. She is tong and sharp and trim and pretty;

she has tl,vo tall, fancy-topped chimneys, with a gilded device of some kind swung between them; a

ianciful pilot-house, all glass and "gingeibread" perched on top bf the "texas" deck behind thern; the pad-

dle-boxes are gorgeous with a piCture or with gilded rays above the bsat's name; tlre boiler deck, the

hurricane deck, and the texas deck are fenced and ornamented with clean white railiri'gs; there is a flag

gallantly flying from the jack-staff; the furnace doors are open and the fires glaring bravely; the upper decks

Ire blaek-wiih pass"ng"rr; the captain stands by the big bell , calm, imposing, the envy of al l ; great

volumes of the blackesi smoke rol l ing and rumbling out of the chimneys - a husbanded grandeur created

with a bit of pitch pine just before airiving at a town; the crew are grouped on the forecastle; the broad

stage is run far oui ouei the port bow, und "n

enviecl deck-hancl stands picturesquely at the end of it with

a coit of rope in 5is hand; the pent sleam is screaming through the gauge-cocks; the captain l i f ts his

hand, a bell r ings, the wheels stop; then they.turn back, churning the water to foam, and t lre steamer is

at rest. Then such a scramble as there is to jet aboard, and to get ashore, and to take in freight and to

discharge freight, al l at one and the same time; and such a yell ing and cursing as the mates faci l i tate i t

alll Ten minuGs later the steamer is under way again, with no flag on the jack-staff alrd no black smoko

issuing fronr the chimneys. After ten more minutes the town is dead again, and the lown drunkard asleep

by the skids once more.

. pi-,;

IB

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My fattrer was a justice of the peace, and I supposed lre possessed the. power of. life and death

over al i men, and could hang anybody that .offended him. This was dist inction enough for me as a.

general tlring; but the clesire to be a steamboatman kept intruding, nevertheless. I first wanted to be a

iabin-boy, so lrat I could come out with a white apron on and shake a table-cloth over the side, where

all my o|d comrades could see me. Later I thought I would rather be the deck-harld who stood on the

end of the stage-plank with the coil of rope in his hand, because he was particularly conspicuous. But

these were only day-dreams - they were too heavenly to be contemplated as real possibilities. By and by

one of our boys wbnt away. He was not heard of for a long time. At last he turned up as apprentice

engineer or ',striker" on a steamboat. This thing shook the bottom out of all my Sunday-school teachings.

Thit boy had been notoriously worldly, and I just the reverse; yet he was exalted to this eminence, and

I left in obscurity and misery. There was'nothing generous about this fellow in his greatness. He would

always manage to have a rusty bolt to scrub while his boat tarried at our town, and he would sit on the

insidl guard and scrub it, where we all could see him and envy him and loathe him. And whenever his

boat was laid up he wouild come honre and swell around the town in his blackest a.nd..greasiest clothes,

so that nobody could help remembering that he was. a steamboatman; and he used all sorts of steam-

boat technicalities in his talk, as if he were so used til thern that he forgot common people could not

understand them. He would speak of the "labboard" sicle of a horse in an easy, natural way that would

make one wish he was dead. And he was always talking about "St. Looy" like an old citizen; he would

refer casually to occasions when he was "coming down Fourth street," or when he was "passing by the

planter,s House,,, or when there was a fire and lre took a turn on the brakes of "the old Big Missouri";

and then he would go on and lie about how many towns the size of ours were burned down there that

day. Two or three of the boys had long been persons of consideration among us because they had been

to St. Louis once and had a vague general knowledge of its wonders. But the day of their glory was over

now. They lapsecl into a humble si lence, ancl learned to disappear when the ruthless "cub"-engineer

approaclred. Tlris fellow had money, too, and hair-oil. Also an ignorant silver watch and a showy brass

watch-chain. He wore a leather belt and used no suspenders. lf ever a youth was cordially admired and

lrated by his comrades, this one was. Nd girl could withstand his charms. He "cut out" every boy in the

village. when his boat blew up at last, it oittuseo a tranquil contentment among us such as we had not

known for months. But when he came home the next week, alive, renowned, and appeared in church all

battered and bandaged, a shining hero, stared at and wondered over by everybody, it seemed to us that

irre partiarity of providence for an undeserving reptile had reached a point where it was open to criticism'

This creature's career could produce but one result, and it speedily fol lowed. Boy after boy

managed to get on the river. The minister's son became an engineer. The doctor's and the postmaster's

sons became,,mud clerks"; the wholesale l iquor dealer's son became a barkeeper on a'boat; four sons of

the chief merchant, and two sons of the country judge, became pilots. Pilot was tlre grandest position of

all. The pilot, even in those days of trivial wages, had a princely salary - from a hundred and fifty to two

hr,rndred ancl fifty dollars a month, and no board to pay. Two months of his wages would pay a preach'

er's salary for a year, Now some of us were left disconsolate. We could not get on the river - at least our

parents would not let us.

So, by and by, I ran away. I saicl I would never come home again till I was a pilot ancl could come

in glory. But somehow I could not manage it. I went meekly abroad a few of the boats that lay packed

together l ike sardines at the long St. Louis wharf, and humbly inquired for the pi lots, but got only a cold

shoulder and short words from mates and clerks. I had to make the best of tlris sort of treatment for the

time being, but I had comforting clay-dreams of a future when I should be a great ancl honoured pilot,

with plenty of money, and could kill some of these mates and clerks.

l9

4.

5.

Questions

1. Guess the meanings of the following words from the context - transient, gaudy, drowsing, remote, prodig'rous,drays, gilded, gorgeous, en'Vy, grandeur, discharge, distinction, conspicuous, exalted, eminence, consideration,glory, ruthless, showy, partiality, princely, disconsolate.Which of these words suggest something special / attractive? Divide them inlo nouns and adjectives.

2. ldentify the technical ter.ms in this passage that refer to a ship or i ts pans. ls i t necessaly lounderstand their meanings gxactly?

3. Find the following words / phrases and note what'is odd about lhe words they are used with - doing a good

6.

7.

B.

L

10.

business, fragrant, ignorant.

Study the way in which Twain describes his village(a) before (b) aftei the steamboal is seen.

Write accounts of your villqge / towna) on an ordinary day b) during an exciting event.Include descriptions of whal people do in your accounts"

Vt'hat was the permanent ainbilion of the wriler and his friends during their boyhood?

What were lheir transient arlibitions?

the image that has {onned in your mind about the writer's village.

Why was the 'cub'' engineei adprired and hated by his comrades?f ' ,; I

What elfect did the news'of lfie'cub'engineer's boat blowing up kve on the village boys? Flow did thFB&feelings change a little fate{; {:J,*l why?

What did the writer'Jinally dr:!',WaS he succ.essful?

Write about your own chitdho.<x1 arnbitions, describing the background in vrn{ch they arose.

Young children are often impressed by lhe accomplishments of slightly o.lder boys or girls. lf you re,meruE$radmiring some older bqy oi girl Wh€n you were young, write about it.

Pretend'you are a child seAihg a train for the lirst lime, and write a descriplion d this.

The writer appears to be !r vel! ordinary person recalling a childhood common to most people, even thoUgfrlaler on he became one of America's best writers. What qualities in his early years do you ltrink sugge$,hfslaler development?

Write a brief account of yofur life as seen by an observer on your 70th birthday.

11.

12.

13,

14.

15.

1S.

I

t t. .Jr;

4" i \

?o

Part 4

Historical Sketches

by

Gootboi Gunqsekqrq

,1

THE RENAISSANCE

By the Sth century A.D. the great Roman Empire in the west had €nded. Law and order had beengradually breaking down and little by little learning also died away. There were no proper schools. Bookswere found mainly in monasteries, and since they had to be written bf hirnd they cost a lot. In thosedays the cost of a book was equal to the cost of a piece of land. Th'erefore, most pe'ople could notafford to learn to .read. Even great kings like Charlemagne of France coUld do little more than sign theirhames. The old culture (1) of Greece and Rome was forgotten in Europe. This era (2) was rightly called"The Dark Age".

In the eastern part of the Roman Empire things were different. Thi$ Christian Empire lasted until1453 when Constantinople was captured (3) by the Ottoman Turks. ln Constantinople learning went on;learned men and teachers went on living and working there. A few of themtegan to get frightened of theSeljuk Turks who had won the great battle of Manzikert and so around the end of the 11th and 12thcenturies (4) A.D. they ran away to Europe. Little by little more and more learned men came to ltaly.They carried with them many old papers and books of ancient knowledge.

When thery came to ltaly students began to read these old papers which had so much knowledge. Anew interest in searching for knowlddge began. This new cultural morement that now swept Europehas been called the Renaissance.

The word "Renaissance" means "Re-awakening" or "Re-birth". In History it is used to describe there-awakening of men's minds. Men began to study Classical (Greek ar,rd Roman) art, l i terature andscjence. People star.ted to copy Classical styles of architecture (5). Great thinkers like Plato and Aristotlewere read again. The Dark Age was coming to an end. All this took plaee between the 11th and 15thcenturies.

The Renaissance first began in four states of ltaly namely Florence, Venlce, Milan and Bgme. Thesestates had powerful rulers who helped writers and artists of that time by paying them salaries out of theirown money. Dukes like the Medici of Florence, the Visconti of Milan and even the Pope in Rome set outto make their own gities places of beauty. lf you visit Florence you will see hundreds of examples of Ren-aissance art and architecture that make it one of the most interesting cities of the world today.

ih" R"n"issance soon spread a{l over Europe but it was in ltaly that it was best seen. Studieschanged. Universiiies came up everywhere. The university of Salerno was the oldest. The one in Bolognawas well known for its studies of Law. The university of Paris and the university of t)xford were begun inthe 12th and 13th centuries. There were over a h.undred universities in Europe alter the 14th century. Butfor this new learning to spread one invention (6) was necessary. lt could never have spread so fastwithout it. This invention was the printing p.,rpss.

ri !

. ! .. ;I - , , i

;no

2l

Print ing

Tlre Chinese knew the art of print ing very early. Europeans learned the art of making paper fromt5e Arabs. They also found out how to print by using wooden blocks which had been carved with letters.They would then press the block onto an ink pad and then place it on the paper. Tlr is method was longand slow.

Then in 1439 the German Johann Guteqberg was said to be working on a secret machine. Hefound out the art of using movable metal letters... . . , . and the age of print ing began. By the year 1500A.D. the secret had got out and there were printing presses all over Europe. There were 73 in ltaly. Therewere 51 in Germany, 39 in France and 24 in Spain. Wil l iam Caxton produced the f irst book to be printed

in England. The name "Caxton" has since then been found on mil l ions of books printed by this company.

Thanks to the invention of the print ing press the Renaissance was able to have an e{fect on al lforms of thought. To make it easy we lrave divided this development into f ive groups namely Art,Architecture, Sculpture (7), Literature (8) and Science.

Art

Renaissance artists are thought to be amongst the best in the world. Tlteir works can be seen inmuseums (9) in Europe and America. The work of an art ist l ike Leonardo da Vinci or Michaelangelo ispriceless.

Most of the art in Europe, upto this t ime, had been rel igious (10). The new art ists began to paintvery l i fel ike f igures. They studied the human body thoroughly. They looked at muscles and bones.Everything was l i fel ike

Some of the best art ists were Leonardo d.a Vinci (1452 -1519), Raphael (1483-1520), Michaelangelo(1475 - 1564) and Tit ian (1477.,- 1576)" There were hundreds of others; too nnany to be mentioned here.

Da Vinci painted the famous "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper". In the last painting he used hisown face as a model (11) for one of Jesus'followers. ln the Vatican in Rome you can see Michaelangelo'sbeautiful paintings on the ceil ings (12) of the Sist ine Ctrapel. Raphael, who was a very handsonre man,is best known for his painting "The Entombment". Tit ian was famous for the bright colours he used;especial ly for his red-haired women.

Architecture

Architecture followed classical styfes, that is Greek and Roman styles. Michaelangelo was as greatan architect as he was a sculptor. He beautified Rome through his buildings too. Sairrt Peter's Calltedralin Rome was built by both Michaelangelo and Raphael. The dome (13) of Saint Peter's is by Michaelangeloalone.

Sculpture

Some of the best sculptures and carvings of the Renaissance period are found in churches.. Statueswere made of either bronze (14) or Carrarq marble (15). They were also very big. For exampleMichaelangelo's statue of "David" is over 1'4 feet tall. As in art everything was lifelike. When Michaelangelofinished his "Moses" it looked exactly like a living man. He is supposed to have hit the statue crying, "Whydon't you speak?" The nrark made by him can sti l l be seen.

zz

Tlre great bronze carving of Johrr the Baptist 's head being given to Salome by King Herod was doneby another famous sculptor, Donatel lo. Niccolo and his son Giovanni Pissano are often said to be the f irstRenaissance sctr lptors.

seten_qe

People were not al lowed to study science during the Dark Ages. The church did not look kindly onmen l ike Gali leo who said that i t was the earth that moved around the sun and not the sun arori 'r id theearth. But with the new freedom of thought men became braver. They began to see that unreasonablefears were foolish, and that everything had a natural cause. Copernicus (1473-1543) from Poland saidthat the sun and not the earth was the centre of the whole universe (16). Vessalius (1516-1564) fromHolland wrote a book called "A Descript ion of The Human Body" and gave drawings in i t of the body.This was unusual because dissection (17) was not al lowed. Both men were found fault with at that t ime.But they both lrelped in ,the "rebirth" of knowledge.

Uteralure

Due to the invention of print ing writers were able to get their work published in book form. Theybegan to write on al l sorts oJ subjects. Dante wrote his well known "Divine Comedy". Boccacio made'theshort story famous in his book "The Decameron". A man named Machiavell i , who was a high off icial inllre government, wrote a book called "The Prince" which told rulers how tlrey should rule a kingdom tobenefit themselves frorn i t . One of the most learrted men of this t ime was Erasmus who wrote " ln Praiseof Folly" and rnany other works.

All over Europe learned tnen and writers were beginning to write in t lreir own language. Beforb theyItad written mostly in Latin. Tlre print ing press turned out many copies and learning spread to al l people.Books were no longer costly but could be bought cheaply.

General Comments

You wil l notice that men l ike Da Vinci and Michaelangelo were good at many things, This was anidea that came from Greece in the Sth century B.C. Becoming very good at just one thing is a new idea.The Renaissance man was a person wlro was an 'al l-rounder' so to speak.

Muc.h of the work of the Renaissance is there to this day. A trip througlr Europe will give you anidea of how much of it there was. Happily films and TV shows are.able to bring the world into our housesand l lrose wlro cannot travel can sti l l see the wonders of that t ime. The one thing common to the wholeRenaissance was the great love of beauty. The best example of a Renaissance man is Leonardo da Vinci.

GLOSSARY

a way,of l i fe which includes development through education(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Culture

Era

Captured

Centuries

ArchitectureArchitect

a period of time

seized and took ownership of

tirne periods of hundred years

clesign of a builclinga person who designs buildings

al . l l

ZJ

{6} lnvettt ion

'(7) Sculpture

i -_., , SculPtor

(B)- Literature

rtt iJ Museums

{1O) Religious

Jl,t) Model

(t?) Ceil ings

{*3) Dome

(td) Bronze

$$) Marble

(,i 6) Universet \

(17) Dissection

the making of a new thing

a shape made from clay or m'eta{ 'a person wlro makes things out of clay and metal

all writings of a partibular language, period, people, subject etc.

places in which works from earlier ages are shown

concerned with religiotl

a person or thing that serves as a subject for an artist

the linings that are at the top of a room

a curved roof

a brown coloured metal mainly of copper and tin

a white'coloured type of stone used a lot in sculpture and archi-tecture

the planets, tlre stars and everything else throughout space

scientifically cutting up the body

Questions

1. What was called " The Dark Age"? Why do you think it was called that ?

2. What was the beginning ol the Renaissance and lrow was it brought about?

3. In what way do you think the invention of printing helped the Renaissance?

4. What was special about the Art of the Renaissance period ?

5. Write down in the first person the feelings that Michaelangelo might have had after he had completed his statueof Moses,

What was a feature of the Renaissance man Z'Wtrat can we learn today irom him?

'Form irrto groups and discuss how you rnay bring about a Renaissance in our ow.n sociely. Write your ideasdown and iead tltent to the class"

Write clown in one paragraph of not more than 250 words the main points matle about the Renaissance'

Write a brief account of what was trappening in Sri Lanka round about the 1Sth century. You should mentiondevelopments in architecture and literature as well as history.

10. Group Projects

a) Find pictures of tlre places or items mentioned in tlre chapter and make a scrapbook with them.

b) Find out about one of the following, and write a brief report on its ltistory.

i . The Roman Empire ii. Constantinople iii. The Vatican

c) Find out about ffie of the foltrowing, and write a brief biographical note about him.

6.

7.

B.

9.

i i i. David

24

i. Gal i leo ii. Copornbus iv. Charlemagne v. Aristotle

2

THE ABABS AS RULERS OF SPAIN

ln the year 711 A.D. the Arabs etttered Spain. By 717 they had conquered most of i t . They madeCordoba their capital and it contained nearly half a mil l ion people. This was a great nunrber of people forany city of that era (1) to have.

Although lhere was no caste system amcng the Arabs there were certain class divisions. At the topof society in Spain were the Emirs - the Muslim landowners, r ich merchants and high army off icials. Asthey had a culture. tlrat was higher than that of the people they ruled over, the Arabs could sometimesbe proud.

Tlre Christians formed the lower class since they were under the Arabs. They were called 'Mozarabs'(made AraL. 's) because they took on Arabic customs (2), language and dress"

We must take special r tote of somethrng ve: ' i 'QfcJ which the Arabs did. As rulers they weretolerant (3). They ruled their people fair ly. They did not i l l - ireat anyone because he was of a di l ferentrel igion to t lreirs. This kind of belraviour was very unusual at that t ime. Very few nations showed suchki"Cness to people they had conquered.

:- ' : : ' - 'e Spaniards dicJ change over to lslanr. But they were not trusted (4) by either the Arabs: ' " : -€ S::- . -= -- : , 'were cal led'renegados'meaning'persons who had run away' . The tolerant at t i -I : : : ' ' - : l - , - ! =: : - - ' i -em to stay in Spairr fornear ly 5O0 years.

Benef i ts i : ' : '=-=-=

The Arabs drd a lc l ' : . SE: - : - : :1.-- : - - - -= ' - ' : : j ' : ' -s , . , ' - t ' ' , ,eC there. Many fami l ies stayedon and had l i t t le contact with the Arahs . ' ' ,?n a,..a,, : a:?s rxe S_v.:a and Palestine. But the Arabs ofNorth Africa were always coming and going. There was a i*t cf c:niact with the Arabs of Morocco, Tuni-sia, Algeria and so on.

Here are some of the ways in wlr ich Spain benefited from Arab rule.

(1) The Arabs irnprovecl the agriculture of Spain. They introduced new crops and new plants. The or-ange was one such plant and to this day orangeS of the Sevil le area are famous.

(2) They irr igated (6) the land. They taugltt the peasants new ways of building canals.

(3) They made Cordoba the centre ofto be found trere.

(4) Tlrey buil t beautiful palaces (l ike

learning. The best teachers of Mathematics and Astronomy were

the Alhambra). They beautif ied cit ies.

(5) The Arabs were great map makers. The maps they made later helped Marco Polo, Vasco da Gamaand Columbus.

(6) They taught the Spaniards how to use the gitta. This became the Spqpish guitar which is now al-most a national instrument.

(7) They gave the Spaniards a higher.slandard of life. Flouses begarr to have beautiful gardens withfountains playing in their courtyardg, Fwn'ishings began to be rich and comfortable. Carpets.wereused.

25

In tSese ancl irr rnany other ways t lre Arabs*passed on their culture to Spairt. But i f ie ertd of Arab

rule had to come. Tlre Arabs did not become part of Spain. They remained the rul ing class and lhe two

nations rarely internrarried. They were fr iendly to each other:but soon t l te Christ ians in Spain b'egan to

think of breaking free frorn Muslim rule.' * ,

In Castile and Aragorr strong rulers came up. A famous hero called El Cid was supposed to have

done many brave deeds. His real nanle was Rodrigo di Vivar and lte tried to unite Spain. Probably his

bihve deeds did rrot actually take place.

Litle by little Spain began to be laken back by Christian kings and the Arabs were beginning to bepushed soutlrwards.

In 1118 Sargossa was captured by the Spaniards.Later in the year Catalonia was taken.

ln 1236 Beautiful Cordoba fel l .. In 1238 Valencia was caPtured.

In 1241 Seville became tlre next to go.ln 1243 Mttrcia fell.

By the 14th century the Arabs only ruled Granada in the South. Most of the Arabs returned toother Muslinr countries. But Granada was protected (7) by the ArrCalusian Sierras and was not easy tocapture.

* Granada was ful l of farratical (B) Muslirns. l t was close tc ttorth Africa and could easily get helpfrpm the Arabs who lived there. But the Arabs lost Granada. The lovely clly tlrey lraC ruled so well andfor so long was takett from them at last.

"Reconquista" (Tlte Reconquest of Spain)

ln 1469 lsabella of Casti le married Ferdinand of Aragon. This marriage united two very strongSpanish States. Ferdinand was young and full of energy and lsabella was a strong Catholic. They were

determined to conquer and rule t lre wlrole of Spain.

First of all Queen lsabella sent a rude letter to the King of Granada asking him to pay taxes lo

her. Very angry at such a request (9) the king replied that he would do no such thing. So in 1483

Ferdinand and lsabella sent an army to Malaga to try and capture that town, which was owned by the

King of Grarrada. The Spaniards were soundly beaten by the Muslims.

It is possible that the conquest of Granada might have been put off for a long t ime if not for

treason (tb) among the Muslirns themselves. A Prince of Granada (nicknarned Boabdil the Unlucky)was capiured by Ferdinarrd. Ferdinand gave him freedotn in exchange for a promise to help in

conquering Granada. Boabdil fool ishly agreed, and surprisingly, he kept his promise to Ferdinand.

He helped Ferdinarrd to capture Ronda in 1484 and Malaga in 1487. After t lre capture of these two

towns Ferdinand cJid not behave too well. Many Muslims were forced to pay large sums of money to

hinr. Others were sent into exi le (11). Many became slaves.

- Finally Boabdil 's faiher died and lre becante King of Granada. He sudclenly realised what a fool lre

'had been. He decicled to defencl Granada. But i t was too late. In 1491 Ferdinatrd was at his gates with

an army of 40,000 men. l t tool< hitn one year to capture Granada.

26

Ferdinand entered the city in tfirmrph (12). With tears in his e1res Boabdil said farewell to the beautiful

city in which he had grown up and which he ttad lost, thanks to his own foolishness. The re-conquest

of spain was now "oinplete.

Spain had a spanish Kkrg and Queen again. lt was a Christian country

once nlore.

Summarising Arab rule in Spain, we see that the Arabs benefited the cqJfitTy in every way. They

behaved wit6 tolerance and generosity (13). As rulers they are.to be lmked up to.

(1)

(2i

(3)

Era

Customs

Tobrant

(4) Tn&d

(5) Bensfits

(6) ' lrigffad

(7) Protected

(B) Fanatical

(9) Re$lest

(1O) Treascn

(11) Erib

(12) Triumph

(13) Gfferosity

GLOSSARY

a period of time

set ways of doing things

be,ng patient and fair towards those whose i6as and practices differ from

one's own

had laith in

good thirqs

to suppfy $and) with water bv megl'bl etfeams passing through it

kept safe

being unreasonablY keen

ask {s sotrething

'.r'orkffr$ against one's cotrltry or gove$Fnent

away from one's country

having overcome one's enemies

open hearte&tess

Exercises

1.

2.

3.

4"

5.

Use the words in tfue Glossary in sentences c* your own that brtng out their n€anlrrg. How many of

them could you have guessed the meaning of from tlre conlext ?

Who were the Emirs ?

Who were fu,czarabs ?

ln what ways did Arab rule benefit Spain ?

Why do you think the author says "the end of Arab rule hacJ to come"?

6. How did the Spaniards get back their country from the Arabs?

7. .ln paragraph 2 the autntr says the Arabs had "a culture higfrer than that of tfr€ people they ruled over'"Do you think a culture can said to be higher or lower than another? How do you decide whether oneculture is "higher" lhan another? Once you have thougtrt this oul, discuss in your group and report tothe class.

B. We learn that the Arabs did much for Spain. Why then do you think they were driven out of Spain bythe end of the 15th ceqtury? You may discuss this in your group and report to the class.

9. What is the dominant idea in this adicle? What is the crucial factor that pins down the dominant idea?:11

10. Write an account of Arab rule in Spain trom the point of view of a Mozarab.

11. Write the letter that Queen lsabella might have written to the king of Granada.

12. Working in your groups write a dialogue that ndght have taken place between Ferdinand and lsabellaafter Ferdinand's enlry into Granada.

13. Group Projects i'

a. Find out about the'Arabs in the period before they entered Spain. Write a brief account of theirconquests.

b. Find out about one of the following, and wrile a brief account of hls prirrcipal achievenrentsi. Marco Polo

ii. Vasco da Gamaiii. Columbus.

c. Find out in your groups what was happenlng in (q) lrdia (b) Ghlna during the period in which tteArabs ruled Spain. Write a brief outline.of the histories of these countries during this period.

14. Write a brief account of what was happening in Sri Lmka during the period the Arabs ruled Spain. Youshould mention details bf the type g{ven in the paragraph about how Arab rule benefited Spain.

28

3

THE CONQUEST OF SOUTH AMERICA

In the 15th centriry Europeans began to undertake Voyages (1) of Discovery (2), They wanted tofind a way to get to the East by ship. The reason they were forced to do this was because the Turkshad closed all the land roads in 1453. Since Gonstantinopfe was now in the hands of the Muslims theChristian kings of Europe sent sailors and ships to look for new sea passages.

There were many gre'at discoverers. This is a list of some of the most famous.

1. Christopher Columbus was sent by King Ferdinand and Queen lsabella of Spain to find a new wayto go to lndia. He disovered America instead, by accident.

2. Balboa was the first European.to see the Pacilic Ocean.

3. Amerigo Vespucci, an ltalian exptorer (3), gave his name to the New Wortd ( the two AmericanIContinents, North and South ).

\4. Bartholemew Diaz sailed around the Cape of Good Hope"

5. Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape and was the first to come to India. He landed on the. MalabarCoast on May 26th, 1498.

6. Cabot, an Englishman, discovered Cape Breton lslands near North America.

7. Henry iludson explored North America and gave his name to the Hudson River.

B. Ferdinand Magellan was the first man to try to sail around the world. He died halfway but his shipcomplete.d the voyage

9. Captain Cook discovered New Zealand and explored parts of Australia's coasiline (4).

Thanks to these brave men Europeans now went to the East and to the West. Since it was aSpanish King and Queen who took owhership of the land that Columbus discovered, many Spaniards nowwent to South America to search fbr riches. (Because the Spanish language comes from the oldRoman languale, Latin, Gouth American countries are also called Uaiin American c6untries). Some of themwere soldiers. They were called Conquistadores. They were often cruel and greedy. We especiallyremember two names. They were Hernando Cortes and Francisco Pizarro. These two mgn destroyed t5etwo great empires of south America, those of the Aztecs and the Incas.

Early History

We.know veff little about the history of the South American Empires because they left no records inwriting. We can only make some sort of guess (5) afler examining the great ruins (g) ihey left behind.

One such empire was that of the Aztecs in Mexico. The Aztecs believed in an old story which saidthat their 9cd, Quetzacoatl, would return one.day and lead them to glory. He would be very fiir and wearsi lver clothes.

Just at this t irne Cortes came with a small number of tnen. Tlp Spaniar{s had fair skins and woresilver arrnour (7). The Aztecs tlrought their story had come true. So tlrey didl'ltot chase them away buttreated them l ike gods.

The Spaniards saw tlre great wealth of the Aztecs. The Aztecs did not know the value of gold andsilver. Tlrey usecl i t for every day l iving. The Spaniards decided they would conquer (B) Mexico. By thetime tlre Aztecs realized the Spaniards were not gods it was too late.

It was easy for a few Spaniards to conquer the huge Aztec lands. The Aztecs had never seen gunsor horses. A few guns could easily kill lrundreds of unarmed men. Mexico was td<en. l(ing Montezumawas killed. Tlre capital city of Tenochtitlan was burned to the ground and rebuilt as modern Mexico City.

It took Pizarro just one day to conquer Peru" and lhe Incas. The lnca King, Atalrualpa, was ki l ledand Peru also became part of the Spanislr Ernpire. Gold and silver were melted down into bars and takenby ship to Spain. Spain now became one of the r ichest countries in Europe. But the poor Aztecs, theIncas and all the other native (9) people of South America were treated with little care and even outrightcruelty. The Spaniards were not good colonial {10) masters.

Spanish Rule In South America

\A/hat was Spanish rule l ike? lt has been called one of "peaceful corruption {11)".The whole ofSouth America gradually came under the rule of Spain and Portugal (which ruled Brazil). The Continentwas divided into four Spanish Viceroyalt ies. They were the Viceroyalt ies of New Granada, Peru, La Plataand New Spairr. The Viceroyalty of Brazi l was Portuguese. The Spanish Viceroyalt ies were ruled by fouri)errinsulars who were t lre Governors of the four divisions. The army \A/as control led by Captain Generalswhile twelve Audiennas (bodies of law) carried out justice.

The Peninsulars and other Spanistr officers made a lot of money in trading. There was a greatdeal of smuggling (12), bribery (13) and other corrupt practices"

The white men were called Creoles"Feople of mixed white ancl native blood were called Mestizos"Natives were called Indians (although they had nothing to do with India),People of mixed Negro and white blood were called Pardos.lndian and Negro mixtures were the Zambos.The Spaniards brought in Negroes as slaves to do plantation work.

Tlre Creoles had huge estates, They also owned the mines (14). They made the others do all thowork while lhog remained rich and lazy. Under Spanish nrle only the white men benefited (15). The poorPeons (peashittn) remained poor and unhappy.

. i j

Education

Some gf- th,A first ur,iversities in tlre American 'Continent were built in the South. The University ofSalamanca was*one. The University of Mexico was founded in 1551. But the Colleges were only for therich. The pag"r peopE were educatecl by the Catholic Church where the priests triecl to help clever boyswho were ts posr to go'to the Creole schools.

More aftd rnore Spaniards came from Spain to live in the Viceroyalties. They formed the upper classes.Spanish becqff€ the language urhich was spoken everywhere. Portuguese was spoken only in Brazil"Rich Creoles went to Spain and Europe to complete their education. But they always returned to LatinAmerica. They now felt tlrat it was their home.

30

ln this reading you came to know of how the Spanish destroyed the civilizatlons of tfie Aztecs andlncas. Here is a poem written by an Aztec Poet.

BROKEN SPEARS

Broken spears lie in the roads. We have torn our hair: in grief.The houses are roofless how and the wallsAre red with bloodWe have pounded our hands in despairAgainst the adobe walls.Our inheritance, our city, is lost and deadThe shiefds of our warriors were its defenceBut they could not save it.

Here is another account of the Spanish Conquests, written by a Spanish Priest.

THE LAST JUDGEMENT

All the wars called conquests were and are unjust and cruel. We have taken all the kingdoms andlordships of the Indies by force and held them without any legal right.

Even our king, wittr all the power God gave him, cannot justify the wars and robberies against thesepeople.

Almost all the gold and silver, pearls and riches brought to Spain from the Indies are stolen.

The natives of all those conquered lands have the right to wage just war against us and eraseus from the face of the earth, and this right will last until the Dav of Judgment.

GLOSSARY

Use these words in sentences of your own to bring out their meaning. What words connected to

these do you know? ie. discovery (noun) discoveired (verb)

(1) Voyages

(2J Discovery

(3) Explorer

. (4) Coastline

(5) Guess

(6) Ruins

(7) Armour

(B) Conquer

journeys to distant places

to f ind something

a person who travels,over land, sea etc. to find new things orplaces.

the line of the sea-shore

to form an opinion without being sure of i t

buildings which have broken down or been partly destroyed

any covering worn as a protection during war

to take ownership of by force

3l

(9) Native

(10) Colonial

(11) Corruption

(12) Smuggling

(13) Bribery

(14) Mines

(15) Benefited

born in a particular country

a counlry that rules another

made bad

to import or export goods in a secret unlawful way

giving gifts or money to make people in offices do somethingwhich'they would not usually do

places which have been dug up for coal, precious stohes etc.

got some good out of a thing

EXerciSes

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Draw a "mind mapn of the great discoveries made as a result of the Voyages of Digcovery.(A mind map is a diagram that shows connnections between the various ideas it deals with),Name some of those who undertook voyages of discovery. What places did they discover?

Why does the author say the Spaniards were not good colonial masters ?

For whom was university education available in South America under Spanish ruld ?

Whom did the Catholic Church teach ?

Wri teyour|ee| ingsandthoughrsas},oureadtheAztecpoet.spoem'BrokenS$ears

Would you agree with the Spanish Pliest when he says "all the wars called conquests were and areunjust and cruel"? Give reasons for yotir answer.

lmagine that you are one of the Aztecs remaining after the Spanish conquest ol your nation and writea letter to the King of Spain telling him what you think.

8. Gioup Projects

a) In addition to the Incas and lhe Aztecs, there had also been people known as thb Mayas whohad a great civilization in South America before its discovery by Europggns. Find out about them.In what countries now can you find remains of the Mayan empire ?

b) Find pictures of some of the artislic and architeclural achievements of the nativ€ South American_ empires, and make scrapbooks r,\dth them..

c) Find out what was happening in North America during the 16th and 17th centuries and write abrief account of this.

d) Find out about one of the following and write a brief introduction atloLrt him.i. Atahualpa

' i i . Cortes

iii. Magellan i"iv, Captain Cook

'T

I

' ;11- t ,

32

4

SOUTH AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

Demand For Freedom From Spain

Litue by little even the Creoles in South America began to want freedom to manage their own

affairs. They greyv tired of sending so much wealth to Spain in taxes. They began to be unhappy. There

were many reasons for this.

1. They saw the example of North America. The thirteen British colonies had gained independence(l)

from England in 1776.

2. A few years later the Frenctr Revolution (2) took place in 1789. The Creoles of Spain saw that it

was possible even to gdt rid of a king.

g. The educated Creoles began to read French philosophers (3) like Voltaire and Rousseau who wrote

about the freedom to govern oneself. They also read the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

4. Both the Creoles and the peons were not happy with the inefficient (4) Spanish government.

5" $pain was too far away so 'nt toqk 3 fong time to get anything done.

6. The Church was very power{ul and most of the priests did not want to separate from Spain. But

some of the village Priests did.-

Revolutions In $outh Amerioa 2

Modern -south Anerican couh,tries were born because of revolutions. There were many revolutions

and many revolutionaries. Here is a ghort account of some of these revolutionary leaders and the

bountries they helPed to form.

1. The rirst revolution for ,ilrtepetndence from spain actually took place in an island (5) near south

Anerica. A ;il;rreU Be's*lines killed almost all the white men and led the natives to free-

dorn. He formed the stab of Flaiti in 1804. However, without the white planters (6) the economy

went down : ,(

A, Thd father of Sourh Araeticah r"uolrtion, was a man called freihbisco Miranda. Hb was not. successful but he gave o*rerd ideas. Most of his attempts at revolution were failures.

g. 'ln 1g13 Jose Francia led u$isings in the Viceroyalty of La Plata,.' He established the state of

Paraguay. r,'

4, A famous revolutionary was Jose San Marino. He was a rich Creole. He was determined to

crush Spanish power-in South America. He fought hard from 1812 onwards. ln 1816 he

defeated the Spanish armies in Chile and Chile gained independence. He then continued the

war into peru. ln 1g21 he entered Lima, the capltal of Peru. Peru also gained independence

from Spain

S,. We now come to of|e o{ Bg6n America's best loved men, Simon Bolivar, who was responsible:i

dg3

fl'

for the freeing of Venezuela, Cofumbia and Ecuador. He was a romantic (7) figure.He had"soft hands.and beautiful black eyes," said the ladies. Women loved him and he love.d women!

In 181B Venezuela gained independence thanks to him. Ecuador followed in 1822. Boiivar thendefeated the Sparrish in the area of Charcas. The people were so grateful they named their new countryafter him. lt became modern Bolivia.

Brazil and Mexico

These two countries gained independence but established two kingdoms. ln Brazil the Viceroyaltywas ruled by Portugal. When Napoleon had chased the King of Portugal off his throne he came and livedin Brazil for some time. He was quite popular with the Brazilians. This king, Joao Vl, returned to Portu-gal'only after Napoleon's defeat. He did not go back to Lisbon until 1820. But his son, Dom Pedro, re-fused to leave Brazil. "Fico (l stay)", he said, declaring his decision to remain. He helpbd Brazil to gainindependence from Portugal and he became King of Brazil in 1822. He called himself Dom Pedro l.

In Mexico, a revolutionary named lturbide was able to get much power after declaring independence. Hecalled himself a king and gave himself lhe name of Emperor Augustine l. Mexico gained independencefrom Spain in 1821.

C.omments

Most of the Latin American countries gained their freedom between the years of 1804 and 1822,Spain could not fight in so many places at one time. She did not have enough men to do so. TheCreoles and the Peons knew the land well. So the Spaniards left. But their language and religion'became the main language and religion of South America. This is so even today. Both Brazil and Mexicodid not keep kings for long. Today lhere are no kings in South America.

Problems

It is not difficult to start a revolution. With popular support it is not even too difficult to win one. Butit is very difficult to settle down afterwards and try to govern the country properly. The Latin Americancountries noW faced great problems.

1. Firstly, the country was very uneven. The high Andes mountains made it hard to travel in thoseareas. Control of distant villages was not easy.

The second problem was that only the Creoles were educated. So only the Creoles knew how tocarry on a government. But they had had no experience. The Spanish took away many governmentcivil servants when they left. There was no one to take their place. Work in government departmentsgradually slowed down.

There was also a problem of class division. The upper classes like the Creoles did not communl-cate (B) with the Peons. The Peons and peasdnts did not see any change in their itandard ofliving..They remained poor and downtrodden (9). Only the government had changed; nothing hadchanged for them'. Instead of one bad master they got another bad master.

Another problem was that most of the Latin Americans were illiterate. That is, they could neitherread nor write. Such people cannot make very good citizens.

And finally, the revolutionaries themselves began to quarr,el. Their quarrels weakened the govern-ments of Latin America.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Comments

About twenty new states were formed after the Spanish were sent away. None of these did verywell economically. There was still much poverty (10). Freedom from Spain did not bring much changefor the poor man. Democracy was not possible. lt was just a dream.

By 1829 Bolivar was fed up. "lt would be better for South America to adopt the Koran rather thanfollow the United States form of government ........ even though the latter is the best on earth," he wrote.All these little quarrels made him realise that his people could not govern themselves efficiently.

These twenty states continued to fight over boundary l ines too. They fought over unimportantdetails. They even went to war over land that had no value to either side. Bolivar was fed up. "Wehave got independence gt the expense of everything else", he said.

Modern Latin America

The probtems ol the 19th century were carried over into the 20th. The four great Viceroyalties hadbecome about twenty modern states. Big, modern cities began to spring up.. The capitals of countrieslike Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, etc. are some of the most beautiful in the world. Unlortunatelypoverty continues to be a curse (11) in Latin America. This is not necessary. Latin America has rich naturalwealth. But it is not well used.

Problems of the Modern States of South America

Most new states have problems. Latin America seems to be unable to settle down even now.

1. The first problem came in the shape of foreign capital. The British were the first to see that theSouth American countries would need railways and roads. They immediately began to contract (12)for thent. A lot of foreign capital began to flow in and out of the country but it was the British whobenefited from it.

Foreigners began to exploit (13) the natural wealth of South America.

Many of the states depended on just one or two main exports. For example :

Bolivia tinChile - nitrateVenezuela - oi lBrazil - coffeeParaguay - banana

lf the world price for these articles dropped the countries suffered. The economy was therefore veryunstable.

A further problem of modern Latin America began when the people of the big cities and ports (theportenos) began to quarrel with the people of the provlnces (14). Cities like Buenos Aires controlfedexports. They began to control the national income. The provinces felt that not much money wascoming to them.

Poverty continued to be great. The Industrial Revoiution (15) took a iong time to reach these coun-tries. Though South America had begun to industrialise her people were still slow.

2.

3.

4,

5.

6. Many of their industries were started for thern by foreigners. Naturally_the loreigneT€ did not keeptheii profits in South America. They took ihe money out of the country. Certain Latin Arnerican statesnationalised (16 )some industries. But they did not do at all better by thetnselves.

7. At the time of independence large areas of land fell into the handd of the Church. The Church isvery powerful. Leadels like Percjn of Argentina tried to reduce the power of the Church. They failed.

Relations with the United States cf America r i

' i

Latin American countries have a strong and powerful neighbour (17) ln the itlptth - the United States.of America. Their relationship is strange.. At no time has the USA tried to take away any land from theSouth. She has respeCted the South American States! sovereignty. ;

South America is protected by the Monroe Doctrine. This Dootrine promised that the USA would notallordr any other European country to invade (18) or td interfere with Latin America.

Unfortunately, this protection became a nuisance. The Latin American coyntries often feel that theUSA is meddling in their affairs and they do not like it. They call the USA .the Colossus (19) of the

INorth (a bully)." . . " l

The Spanish language is now one of the most important languages of the world. ln the UnitedNations it is regarded as "World Language Number Two" (rrext to English). A Latin American culture hasgfown up which varies from country to counky.

(1) Independence

(2) Revolution

(3) PhilosophOrs

(4) Inefficient

(5) lsland

(6) Planters

(71 Romantic

(8) Communicate

(9) Downtrodden

(10) Poverty

(11) Curse

Certainly we can say that the continent of South Americd has flld a varied history from the tkm theConquistadores first landed in the empire of the,Aztecs.

GLOSSARY

beir{g fre€ from foreign rule=\\

rising up against authoritY j

thinkers

not able to handle things proPerlY

land that is surrounded by water. FOr example, Sri Lanka is anisland.

''

. people who manage.estates or plantatlons lil.<e tea, rubber andcoconut

. having fanciful, sentimental ideas :

i

tdlk or exchange ideas with

trampled upon

the state of being poor

an evil that cannot be got rid of "'"

(12) to contract

(13) Exploit

(14) Provinces

(15) IndustrialRevolution

(16) Nationalised

(17) Neighbour i

(18) Invade

(19) Colossus

How did the French Revolution ngtp the Crebles in their demand lor freeiom from Spain?

Where did the first revolution for independence from Spain take place ? Who led that struggle ?

starting with the father of south American Revolutions,.give the names of revolutionaries whose efforts

brought freedom from Spain. Girle also lhe names of the. countries they,freed' As a home task look

,p" '*"po|SouthAmericaand.|pcatethesecountr ies.

Draw a mind map of the problems that the revolutionaries faced aft?: \v:nnilq independence from Spain'

Why is lhe economy of modern Latin America unstable ? I '

summarize rhe problems of the modern south American states.

what is the Monroe Doctrine and why isitconsidered a nuisarrce by'Lqtln, American countries ?

Write a desqription of Simon Bolivar from the point of view of

a) a woman who loved him b) a politician who hated him' ',,.

Wdte the observqtions that a descendant of the Aztecs Or Incaq iTtnn, make.about modern South'Ameriba.

I

a) Find out how the following countries got their independence lrdm colonial powers, and write thls

down in Point form.i. The United States of 'America

' ii. Canada iii. The Philippines,

b) Find roul what trdde links exist at present between s/i Lanlta and 1gouth America. How can thgse

be developed? :t , '

' i

Find out lrom whefe, how and when rubber was inlrqduc,ed td 6rj Lanka'

The following are names of towns in Brazil. Find whal bapn one of them is famous for"

i. Rio de Janeiro ii. ,Manaos tiii. Byasilia iv. lguacu

to enter into an agreement to do something

to make unfair use of

the parts of a country outside of the capital or largest cities

the period in which agricultural communitieschanged to industry, roughly in the nineteenth century

taken under government control

living or situated next to another

to enter-as if to take Possession

:the name of a huge giant coming clown from Greek mythology

Exercises

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

L

9.

10.

.")

d)

t1"rri

2,7

Part 5

A COURSE INREADING AND THINKING

INTRODUCTION

This reading course was specially prepared for students following the General English Language

Teaching (GELT) programme conducted by the University Grants Commission. There was a great need

for the iompilation oi a Course such as this as refle-cted in the requests of past pupils, teachers and

others acquainted with the GELT Programme. We are very happy to have finally been able to meet this

need in our programme. The lessons in this Reader follow a general pattern where most of the material

is in the form of dialogues between students and the teacher.

We have introduced for the first time in these lessons some thinking techniques which are very simple to

apply but help people to look at problems in a detached and balanced manner. These techniques are an

extension to the lateral thinking exercises covered in the Speech Course for GELT students. We hope

ilrat students and teachers wil l use this Reading Course not only to improve reading skj l ls but also the

thinking ski l ls that are desirable to make what they say have a greater elfect.

1

ln this lesson,.you wil l come to know something about the students who wil l be studying Eng-l ish and sharing their l ives, thoughts and feelings with you during this course"

: Nalika - She has been selected to follow an Arts course at the University of Peradeniya. She

is from a quiet tittte village in the hills of Kandy. the tl a q.uiet girl herselt, a little shy, but when you getto know her she is not s"hy at all and is a realiy friendly giri, alwiays willing. to help and go ?lol.g with,theothers. Nalika has long stiaight black hair and dark brown eyes. She is neither tal l nor short. She is darKin complexion and has a lovely smile. She l ikes to read books and l isten to the radio.

padmalal - He has been selected to the Faculty'of Management Studies at the University ofSri Jayewardenepura. He wants to do a degree.in.Marketing Management because he feels he can con-tr ibute" to the development of his vi l lage thiough the knowledge h9 would gain. His vi l lagg is poor andunUJr-Oeveloped eveh though there ard a lot oiresources in i t . He feels that with a.knowledge of market-ing:*un"dni*t f"r" wil l be"able one day to improve th.e condit ion of his vi l lagq. Padmalal. is tal l , dark andit;ong. His strength comes trom the wolk he does to help his father with his farming. other than farmingwork, he l ikes reading and swimming'

Suresh - He is from Chunnakkam in Jalfna. He has been selected to the Faculty-of Ag,ric.ul'ture, ,Univeisiiy-ot .laffna, in Kilinochchi. His father is a farmer and Suresh is proud, of the famous lertilereO'soit of Chirnnatlim r,,'itrictr yields rich harvests of vegetables, chillies, potatoes and tobacco. All his lifehe has lived with iaiming and'that is why he wants to-study Ag. riculture at Univergily. H9 hopgs. that. h.eCan give back to tfre tarFrers of his villagje the knowledge h"e w-ill gain from his studies. Suresh is a tall,lean,-serious looking boy.

Matini - She is from Galle. She has been selected to the Faculty of Medicine in Karapitiya,Galle" She lives in the Galle Fort which was built by the Dutch in the 17th Century. Because the Fort isso small, houses in i i don't f ,ave gaidens. But she' loves her home which is very.-old.but cool and darkinside. She often walks on the rariparts which is the place most people go to. relax- 4rrllg., the evening.Fiorn here you g"i i wonderful view of the Galle harb6ue and the sun'sets-are beautiful. Malini is a studi'ous giri-wh6 lov6s to help her fellows. She would like to. be a good, kind, caring doctor one day.

Rev. l(. Dhammanalda. - He is from Kalawana irr the Ratnapura Dislrict. He has been se-

lectecl to tlre urriveGity of Kelaniya ro rorrow un Arts Degree. His dream is'to do a special degree in Bud-

dhist phirosoprry. wi-'err liu *ui i tittr" ug.v rl.u ran away- {ronr rrome because his parents refused to allow

him to be orctained';;'; erjlhisi Moni<.-Fihatty iis pa.reirts consentecl and he was ordained as a samanera

when he was 1+ v"*, JJ. ru"n rhough i.rGiit" is oitt icutt the order and discipline of it make lt im strong

ancl powerful. He is very. popular amon! lr is fellow students'

Molraned - He is from Batticaloa town. He has been selected to tlre Faculty of Engineering at

Moratuwa UniversitffM;M;";[ ' ' lrJ;;-i i l ; ihe rniddre of a_grove of cadju trees. In the far distance he

can see the Batticiloa lagoon with"its"t""unilr iir.,ging-fislr. Mihamed is a talkative boy, interested in all

sorts of things but lre is quite qazy-anqui compriter!. He wanti :to specialize in coniputer Engineering

otte day.

Nishantha - He 5as been selected !o- ilre U.niversity of Colombo to follow a degree in Biologi'

cal science. He is fronr a vigage in ilre"rie-aii"Jr Mrir-rur"d;;i;;'!"*u*t.,etu u"tween wattala-and Negombo"

Muthurajawela is a strange place wiur'niire upon mite'ot *iste land, covered only by scrub jungle' You

can travel for rni les wittrout seeing a single person .even though far away.you can 3ee- the tal l bui ldings ol

colonrbo..suddenly you conre rpon trti""niltha's village- lt is"a small s'etilement of well-built homes with

coconut groves an'd fouttry {arms i" ti..'" 'ui*"Giroensl, Trlre ii a very old church in this village and peo-

ple from at over "o,i"

r-.'"i" to nrake"vl*J-th1i church *is rruirt a long tims aqo but it is well preserved

and is rhe cenrre of village life. people gather.here to *lr*rli[. ""

sunolys. tttitT*"illu is a Youih Leader

in his clrurclr ancJ tlrey do a lot of comm-unity develqpr"ni *Jtk-through the church Fellowship' Nishantha

rikes to be with propr6 and enjoys tn"".Jrpl'i,.;l tjiJ ;ni yorng..arik"e. He wanrs to become an environ-

mental scierrtist "*to'-,"

Oiy fielp to preserve Muthurajawela and its uniqueness'

sriyani - slre is from weligama which is a town close to Matara' she hae been selected to

Ruhuna University to folow "

o"gr#"ii" Fnvriirji 5"'[n"" Her home overlooks the beautiful weligama

Bav, wirh its emeralc1 waters dotted *itr, ritt1"'qi""n i.tunii. s.yani;J passion is Mathernatics and she can't

understand rvlry so many students rair in i t . She wantsG b"6or" i Professor in Mathematics one day'

S;iy;;,i l; iatt ahcJ slirn with straight black hair'

Notes and Exercises

Notice carefuly the words used to describe each of the students anb their ltouses &Ytd villages irr this

lesson. Such words are called adjectives' , *

Eg: She is a quiet girl, allltle-qhJ'" She is from a qUiet little village'

Slre is npl ghy at all and is a reafly friendly gi'rl'

Notice also tlre use of a (the indefinite article) before adjectives'

Slre is a quiqt gir l .She is from d quiet l i t t le vi l lage'She is a reallY friendlY girl'

Notice ilrat we use tlre indefinite articre in this ma.nner when we uss a troun after the adiective' Flemem'

ber that the articles a and lhe go *iili n"uni and not wiirt uai""tives bf-iiGnrselves. Qne of lhe articles

mirst usually be used with ani singular common noun' i

She is a quiet gt!.She is a reallY friendlY g[['

But look at the fol lowing sentences :

She is quietShe is reallY fr iendlY.

39

(A) Look at all the sentences describing the students in this lesson and turn sentences such as

She is a quiet gir linto sentences l ike

She is quiet.

(B) Turn sentences like

Padmalal (He) is dark, tall and i;trong' into sentences like

Padmalal is a dark, tall, strong boy.

In this lesson you read about other students like yourself. Now write a description of yourself usingsentences like

I am Sunil and I am from Polonnaruwa. I am not tall and not short. I am fair and strong.

Here is a group activity. Form into groups of six, and sit in circles.

In thls fesson you. read'about students like yourselves and you wrote about your own selves. In all thesedescriptions you find .positive qualities like itrong, friendly,'hard-working, kind and so on. W" call theseplus points, but rrue all have. negative or minus floints to6. After oiscuiiing ttris in y*i gdtj see if youcan write down the. plus,and minus pojnts of each of the students you real about. Write down also someinteresting points about them. lf the i-eading doesn't give such poinrt JireJty yo, can guess them.

2

ln this lesson some of the students you read about earlier talk with their teacher.

Teacher :- By now I think you all know about each other, don't you? Today, I want to talk abcut some-'thing that is extremely imp6rtant, that is thinking.

Rev. Dhamlnflrianda:- Thinking? But Sir, we all think. There is nothing special about that.

Teacher :- ' Exactly. We al l feel that thinking is not special because we do it al l the t ime. But the pointis that we don't really think. WJ gather facts and increase our knowledge but we don,t pay

' much attention to thinking itself. All this time it was believed that by i,io"".ing knowledgewe could improve our thinking skills. But we find that when it comes to solving the mostdifficLtlt problems of life, knowledge gained from education proves to be of not rnuch use. Inyour speech course you will practise some lateral thinking. Tkris is training in thinking skills.It helps you to see different points of view, and how other people may be thinking Lnd soon. Edward de Bono, who invented the word lateral thinking; has n6w introduced us to evenbroader ways of thinking than lateral thinking. He lras developed various deliberate instru-ments or methods which help people to think better.

Suresh :.

Sriyani :-

Sir, I would l ike to know what those methods are"

Yes" we would all like to know them.

Teacher :- The methods are really quite simple. All of them have abbreviations. So after some timeyou use the abbreviation only and you become quite used to carrying out the operation jqstlike you would do for solving a mathematical equalion.

40

Sriyani :-

Teacher :

\A;,hgrr€d :

Teacfier :-

Nishantha :

Teacher:-

Malini :-

"Teacher :-

l 'm gett ing more and more interested, Sir. Please tel l us the methods quickly.

lss, Qri, '3ni. I know you l ike mathematics and lcan understand your impatience. I ' l l tel l you

ab:-:: :e l irst and simplest operation. l t is cal led PMI - P stands for Plus, M stands forr.l r.us and I stands for Interesting. Now what all this means is that when you are given a

s,tuation or problem you consider all the plus points in it first, then you consider all the mi-nus points and finally you consider all the interesting points.

That sounds very easy. Can you give us a problem please?

Not so fast, Mohamed. Let me tell you about a few more of the operations before we stail

thinking. There is OPV, which means Other People's Viewpoints. You will do some exer-

cises similar to OPV in your speech course. Then there is APC - which means Alternatives,

Possibilities, Choices. You are given a problematic situdtion and asked to carry out an APC

- so what you have to do is consider alternatives to the situation, possibilities which can

arise and choices you can make. You will understand this better when we actually considerproblem situations in later lessons.

Are there more operations, Sir?

Yes, there are. There is ADI which means Agreements, Disagreements and lrrelevancies.Here when you are given a situation you consider all the points on which you agree, then

the ones on which you disagree and finally you have to consider the points which you think,6re not relevant or necessary. Then there is EBS which means Examine Both Sides. This

would naiurally apply to a two-sided situation and you are required to examine. both sides

carefully. I think that's enough for to-day.

Sir, we would like to practise using some of these thir*irg operations. Could you please

give us some examPles?

Certainly. I have found some situations where you can apply these thinlsng techniques. They

come from a series of books that were writlen for GELT sttrdents some years ago. In factyou should try to read some of these books if you get the chance, The situation I'm going

io give you liist comes from the book Economics in Our Lives by Wilfred Jayasuriya. Here

is the passage on which I would l ike you to apply a PMI:

Adam Smith showed that there shoutd be trade between countries fucause each country

could produce cerlain goods better than other couhtries. At that time Britain could produce

industrial gods better and France could produce agricultural goods better. If they could ex'

change tiese two types of goods, both woutd benefit..The'peofle of these countries would

be abte to get moie goods at cheaper prices. This was called the Theory of ComparativeCosts. The nupber oi peopte who began to believe in this theory was so great that Britain

stopped the piotection.it had for agriculture (the Corn Laws) and allaved free impori of food.

ln ieturn she'waited to be freety allowed to export her industrial products to other coun'

tries. Thus the weatth of the nations was made more by removiS ffns sorf of control over

the economy.

Now Sir, tell us what we have to do with this'Padmalal :-

A1

Teacher :

Noteln Lesson 1, we locused on adjectives, which descrhe'rpttns. [n this lesson we will lock at

ways of describing verbs'

words ttrat describe verbs are called adverbs. Exarnples of these in this lesson are realiy'

now, quickly (note that we also use adverbs to describe adiectives, ie' extremely' quite)'

A npre cotllmon way of describing verbs however is through phrases, ie. groups of werrjs

The most "o**on

type of adverbiar ptrrase is riade with prepositions (these aFe words that show a con-

nection between a noun ancl the rest of tlre sentence). Examples of adverbial pltrases frorn the passagE

are (the preposit ions are underl ined) - about each other, by increasing knowledge' ln \ '3u'sDeech course'

Adverbiai phrases can be used to cesc: | l€ l t - .g :2ce . ] . : .nej a- ] : : : .

ldentify all the adverbial phrases rn the Dassag€ f'crn Econon*:s in our Lives' |\lote thal

\rrf len you are reading, i t is easier to understarrd the main ideas, $lrbject - verb - (otr jecl) ' i f you are als?

abb qlickty to identiiy the phrases that describe these'

3

. ln ilris lesson ttre teacher cliscusses an interesting thinking technique'

Teacher :- i,m very happy about the way you all participated in the thinking activ'ityi,Fg,did ir

Lesson 2.

Nishantha, Sriyani and Mohamed (together) :- But Sir, we really enjoyed that activity'

Teacher :- well, that,s good. I hope you will enioy all the lessons we do in this course' what I want tt

clo to-clay is to introcJuc€ you to an activity that you migrht find a little surprising at first Bu

I think you' l l f ind i t very useful as we go along'

Mohamed : ' Tell us Please'

Teacher :- well , t lre techniclue is cal led Random stimulation and is one of the methods'ttsed for lateri

ilrirrking. Random mearF not lraving a definite plan, pattern or purpose and stimulation mean

to excite to a greater level of activity. You wil l understand t lr is better when I tel l you ttt

actual tecl inique. what you do is think of some problem {irst. Then you select a word rar

dornly from a dictionary Lncl find all the. meanings of the word you selected' Then you try t

establish a connection between the prbblem unJ th" meanings of the word selected by yot

Padmalal :- Wil l that lrelp to solve the problem' Sir?

Teacher :- rt may or may not. The important thing is that you force your rnind to think of a wide rang

of solutions'

Right 'Youtnustf i rstofa| | {ormintoagroupbysi t t i r ry}nacirc le.

Now read the paragraph over again' What I want'you !o do is to carry out a PtJl s"- :^e

idea of two countries producing goods they are good fl producing and exchanging these

two types of goods; that means you must'discusi all the ph.rs points and then the minus

points and laslly tfre interesting points of this situatlron. i'Then you must present your points

to the class.

h

Sriyani :-

Teacher :

Suresh :-

Teacher :

Sriyani :-

Teacher :

How does the method actually work?

The method works because of the way our brains process information. lf we call incominginformation inputs, any twb inputs ( ie. two unconnected pieces of information) cannot remaiiseparate. The nature of the brain is to establish a connection betweon inputs if they areheld long enough in attention

Normally i f there were lwo unconnected inputs one of them would be ignored and the otherwould be attended to. But if both are deliberately held in attention thln a connection willform between them in the end.

But I can't still understand how unconnected inputs can help to solve problems.

It is because there ar-e established patterns on our memory surface. These patterns are al-tered by the sudden inclusion of new information. When you introduce a random input youbring a new entry point lo the problem under ccnsideration. At lhis new entry point the mindestablishes a new connection, different {rom the earl ier established path. in' this way youmay see a way to solve your problem.It may not work the first time but if you keep on adding new inputs you will establish moreconnections and one of them may show you a solutiOn to the problom under consideration.

Now I think I can understand, sir. could you give us a problem please?

Yes, I could, but I must add that you shoulcl consider the problem over a period of only f iveminutes' The problem is "The Housing Shorta.le". Now turn to any page in your dict ionaryand choose a word m that page randomly. Look at al l the different meanings of that wordand see if vou can connect them with the Drrlt fem. Remember, you are al iowed only f ivemrnutesi

NoteThis ex6rcise is excellent for building vocabulary. The teaci .r Lran use it many times in the week both forvocabulary building and problem solving. Here are some n:ore problems that can be considered duringthe course :-

(1) How to spend less t ime learning a subject(2) Design for a better school(3) How.to solve the Ethnic Problem in Sri Lant<a(4) Students'own problems.

Each lesson should consider one problem and one random lvcrrl at a time - but you can come back toth6 same probfonn with different random inputs in rater ressorrs.

4

In this lesson the students are going to use another thinking operation (ApC - See Lesson 2) inaddit ion to PMl.

ln Lesson 2 you practised PMI and you all did very well. To-day I'm going to give you an-other situation where I want you to use pMl as weli as ApC.

Can someone tel l me what APC is?

a Teacher :-

43

Mohamed :-

Teacher :-

Class :-

Teacher :-

Malini :-

Sriyani :-

Malini :-

Teacher :-

5

Lesson 4 was a short one but the students had to do a lot of work. ln this lesson the teacher

introduces another situation to practise PMI and APC once again'

Teacher :- You did quite well in lesson 4, didn't you?

I think, Sir, we should practise APC a little more'

Not a little rnore. We should practise a lot more'

Teacher :- Thank you, Malini and sriyani, not only for the suggestion but for the expressions you both

used.

lknow-| tmeansA|ternat ives,Possibi l i t ies,Choices.

Very good, Mohamed. Now lrer9 .is..a situation I chose for you from a GELT reader called

Staying Healthy by-Ot Sanjiva Wiiesinha, where you can apply both thinking operations'

tris is taken from the chapter on High Blood Pressure :-

How does one know if one has blood pressure? Because peopte do n.ot know the need to

get their pressure checked regularly, often the first sign orf Hypertension (high blood pres'

"sure) is when a person gets a stroke or heart attack'

A safe plan for all those over thirty five is to get their pressure checked once a year by

tlteir doctor. tt is i iiiin^t is-itain'less, does nlot need any iniections and takes only a few

minutes!

Now what I want you to clo is form a group and then carry out a PMI on the situation in

the second paragraph. Then you must Jarry out an APC on it, that is, consider what alter'

natives there are to the suggestion given in the paragraph, what possibi l i t ies do the alterna-

t ives offer and l inal ly what choices you can make'

Yes, let 's try. But i t seems diff icult '

you will find it difficult at first. But I know you will enjoy it and see how easy it is as you

get used to the group discussion'

What exPressions, Sir ?

Malini you said, "a little more" and sriyani.. Y!U. . Slid "a lot more"' You both Said

that correctly. Many people forget or diop the 'a' belore 'little' or 'lot', and that is wrong' I

hope you will all remember to uie 'a' before the two adjectives 'little' and 'lot''

Sir, I have seen 'little' used without an 'a' before it'

Very good, Padmalal. I was coming to that. Yes you can say for instance, "l havre little monef'

or ,,1 have little knowledge of this subject". In both ]hes.g "it"s it means that you don't have

very much money, even no money oi lno*teOge. But if you say "l'have a little money" or "l

have a little knowtedge of this subject" it means you. haue some money and some

knowledge.

Padmalal :-

Teacher ;-

44

Nishantha:- l t 's interesting isn't i l , how a l i t t le letter l ike a simple'a'can'make such a big difference in

meaning.

Teacher :. yes, English. is like that. That is why you mustn't ignore the little words when you read and

write and speak. Never forget to use 'a' and 'the' when you need them, especially before

ordinary singular nouns.

Now to come to our main task. To practise more APC, I have chosen another paragraph

from Economics in our Lives. Here it is-

Adant Smith pointed out that just as each country was especially good at producing a dif;

ferent thing, ihe idea of special jobs for special groups found in the caste system in louth-Asian Countriels may have had this thought at tbe back of it. This is called the division of

labour. Division of labour in a farm or factory means that each person'is given one particu'

lar thing to do. This is now uery common.

Now what you must do is lo consider the idea of caste and carry out an APC on it. After

that consider the divisi<-rn of labour in a factory and carry out an APC on that-

Rev. Dhammananda :- This I like very much. Let's start. j

Tdacher :- Flemember you must give the results of your discussion to the whole class.

Students :- Sure, we will.6,

Teacher :- you all did very well in the last lesson. Today l'm going to take up anorher thinking oFrh-

tion and you will have to practise it today.

Rev. Dhammananda :- What is the name, Sir ?

Teacher :- lt is catled EBS. Can you remember what it stands for?

Sriyani : I remember. lsn't it Examine Both Sides?

Teacher :- Very good, Srlyanl. As the name says, you have to have a two sided situation to carry out

an Eds on it. i have selected a paisage from andther reader called Ou+ Llulng World by

Janaki Galappatti. Here it is, slightly modified'

New higtt yielding varieties of 'rice developed at tRRl (lnternational Rice Research Institute)gtre so much more grain than tlte older varieties that their widespread cultivation and suc-

Less was catted the iGreen Revolution". ln Sri Lanka now, much of the rice grown is devel'

oped from the high-yielding tR varieties prodqced at lRRl. These new varieties need large

atmounts of fertilizeri to increase yietds and other chemicals to stop diseases.'So they are

expensive to grow. lJowever, the yields are so good that most farmers have planted thesenew varieties.

Now I want you to carry out an EBS on the use of high yielding rice varieties. You must dothis as a group task and tell the class the results of your application. I think this EBS isvery easy ior you, so when you finish it here is a very short passage for further practice.

This is from Economics in Our Lives.

My friend and I have Rs. 30/- to spend next saturday. we need two lunch packets whichcosf Fs' 6'50 each and we would like to eat two ice-creams which cosf Fs. 4/- each. Wehave Rs' 9/- left. Should we have another ice-cream or see a film with this?

t want you to carry out an EBs on whether you want to see a film or eat an ice cream andtell me your conclusion. You can then read the book to see what is likely to happen in eco-. nomic terms. .

Nishantha, Malini & sriyani :- Hm, that souncis interesting. Let's see what we come up with.

7

Teacher :- You are all getting very good at these thinking operations, don,t you think?Rev. Dhammananda and suresh :- Not very good,'sir, but we think we are managing.

Teacher :- padmalal, what do you think?.

Padmalaf ;- | think, sir, with more practice we'il get better.

Mohamed :- Yes, please give us more practice.

Teacher :- All right. Flemember you 'wanted it. what would you like to practise today? pMt, Apc or

Nishantha :- I'm not very sure of Apc yet. could we praclise that today please?

Teacher :- Yes, you could. I have a very short extract from Economics in our Lives. Here it is.

For example sri La.n.k1 is .go9d at producing tea and lraq is good at producing oit. tn thiscase lt could be said that both countries woid be better otf if They produced onty what theyare best at producing' Thus sri Lanka would produce only tea and gbt oit from lraq whilelraq would specialize in producing oit and import her tei fiom sri.Lar"*i.' -.'

I $nqw this passage is difficult to do .an.APC analysis on, but you must try. what I wantyotr 'lo do is consider the alternatives to this situation, what othei possibilities there are artdwhpt choices Sri Lanka and lmq could make in the light of the possibilities.

Malini :- | don't think I can do it, Sir.

Teacher :- Now Malini, you must not start like that.that.

Together in a group you can all do it, l,m sure of

Surdsh r Yes Malinl, let's try and see how we fare.

Teacher :- That's the spirit suresh. Nowplease all of you get into your groups and start this acrivity.

i

46

Rev. Dhammananda :- Consequence means the result of an action.

Teacher :- Very good, and what does sequel mean?

Students :- We don't know, Sir.

Teacher :' Actually sequel is similar to consequence. One of its meanings is that. lt also -means alater development or course of events or happenings. You will understand all this more clearlywhen we actually apply a C and S to a situation. This situation iS taken from the GELTreader called About Our Past by Goolbai Gunasekara. This passage is very short. Here itis.

A man named Machiavelli, who was a high official in the Governntent, wrote a book calledThe Prince, which told rulers how they should rule a kingdom mainly so that they couldtltemselves benefit from their position.

What I want you to do is consider this passage carefully. Consider what Machiavelli told. rulers to do. Now I want you to apply the thinking operation C and S to what Machiavelliadvocated. That means think of all the consequences or results that could arise lrom suchactions and all the follow up or sequels to such results. You must do this in y0ur groupsand tell the class the results of your discussion.

Rev. Dhammananda :- | think I 'm going to enjoy this.

Teacher :-

Student :-

Teacher :-

Malini :-

Teacher :-

Students :-

Teacher :-

Nishantha :-

Teacher :-

Nishantha :-

Teacher :-

B

I'm going to give you another passage for you to apply a thinking operation we haven't donebefore.

What is i t , Sir?

It's called a C and S. C stands for consequences and S for sequels. Do you know whatthose words mean?

It seems very difficult Sir, but We'll try.

Yes, thafs the spirit. Now please.get into your groupb and start the activity.

I

Let's do something different to-day, Sir.

I'm glad you want that because we're going to talk about books and writers to-day.

I saw some old English l-essons that my sister had done long ago at University. In one. ofthem I read about a book called For Wlrom the Bell Totts.

Do you remember who wrote it ? i

I think it was Ernest Hemingway

Yes, that's right. What else can you tell us about that book Nishantha? :

47

Nishantha:- | read t lrat in that story some people were f iglt t ing t l te Fascists i tr Spain. They.were verybrave and fought with courage but t lrey were'defeated. lrr that lesson t lrere was a beautifulpassage about the last thoughts of one of ttre fighters, but I can't remember the words ndw.

Teacher :- Yes, that passage is sometimes called "Sordo's Stand". Do you want me to read it out toyou?

Students :- Yes Sir, please.

Teacher :- Well lrere i t is:

Dying was nothing and he had no picture of it nor fear of it in lils rnind. But living was afield of grain blowing in the wind on the side of a hill. Living was a hawk in lhe sky. Livingwas an earthen jar of water in the dust of the threslting witlt tlrc grain {lailed out and thechaff btowing. Living was a horse between your legs and a carbine under one leg and a hil

' and a vatley and a stream witlt trees along it and the far side of the valley and the hillsbeyond.

Mohamed :- That is so beautiful. I can alnrost see the pictures that passed tlrrough that man's mincl.

Malini :- That means in his dying moments he remembered only the pleasant scenes of his life andhe was not afrhid to die.

Rev. Dhammananda :- Thatls the way it is. I have heard that before

Padmalal :- A lot of that passage reminds me of my own life, about the field of grain, the threshingfloor and the chaff blowing.

Nalika :- l t reminds me of my vi l lage in the hi l ls and the f ields on the hi l l side.

Teacher :- I'm so happy to hear you talk, Nalika. This is the first time you did, well done!

Sriyani and Sureslr :- But Sir, Nalika talks with us in our group.

Teacher :- I know, I have se.en her. But now she is not shy to speak up. Well, what I want all of yorJto do now is write poems of your own, start ing every l ine with "Living is .. . . . . . . . . ."

Rev. Dhammananda :- | like that. I'm going to start right now.

Teacher :- That's the spirit. Now come on you others. Please start writing. In later lessons you must allbring me passages from books you have read and liked and we will read tlrem together.

NoteStudents should bring books they like to cliss and they may read and discuss them as an exten-sion of this keading Course.

10

Here students are given tllree more passages from GELT readers for practising PMI and C and S.

1) From Economics in Our Lives.

ln law, firms are thought to have a life just like people. That is, they have a separate life from thepeople who make up the firm. For example if Mr. Perera and Mrs. Rajeswary are directors of a companycalled P & R Ltd., this firm will have to pay taxes separately. The Law sees what belongs to Mr. Pereraand Mrs. Rajeswary as being separate from what belongs to the company which ts also a firm. Thus

48

Mr. Perera can have a car in his nanle, Mrs. Rajeswary can lnve a car in her nante and P & R Ltd. can

have a car in its name. By having this clever idea of a separate life for a firm, Britislt law made it possi'

bte for private Susrnesses to go on forever. "George Steuart and Co." wlticlt was started in the 1870s is

the oldest tea firm in Sri Lanka. lt does many other things besrdes sellittg tea now and the ownership has

changed. However, the finn has gone on for more than a hundred years'

Students must form into groups and carry out a PMI on the idea of a firm havingj a separate life.

The results of their discussion must be presented to the class.

(2') This passage is again from Economics in Our Lives.

Firnts ntake profits because tlteir sltareholders do not want to lose money. Shareholders do not want

to lose money because it is valuable to thent. lt stands for what they lnve eanrcd or got and is used by

them in their own lives. tf a firm does not lnve to give nroney to its shareholders, why should it make

profits? State firms are also thought of as persons by the law. They are found all over the world. ln ntost

Western and some Third Wortd coutntries they tive side by side with private firnts. ln Sacialist Countries,

they cover lhe econonty almost completely

Students must form into groups and carry out a PMI first on private firms and then on state firms.

The results of their discussion must be presented to the class.

(g) This is taken from Science in our Daily Life edited by Janaki Galappatti'

Computers however are much better at sonte kinds of information processing than humans. A Com'

puter is able to process or order a large amount of data (facts) and do very compticated calculations much

faster l.tan a huntan can. A huntan brain would need many days to do calculations that some computers

could do in a few seconds

Students must form into groups and carry out a C and S (Conse(uences and Sequels) on the

following two situations:'

(a) l f there were no computers at al l and the human brain had to do everything.

(b) lf the human brain stops thinking and computers had to do everything. Students must present the

results of their discussion to the class.

49

Part 6

MODERN FABLEShv

Chitra Fernando

1

NONCHT NONA AND KOTIYA THE CAT

There was once an old woman who lived alone. Her name was Nonchi Nona. She was thinand tall and had only one good eye. He.r teeth were brown because she chewed betel. Her hair wasgrey. She had only two cloths. One cloth had big orange flowers on it; the other had little, purple flowers.

Nonchi Nona lived in a hut near the forest. There were no other people living near her; theyall lived further up in the village. Nonchi Nona lived near the forest because she was a firewood seller.She sold lirewood in the town two miles away from'the village. Every day Nonchi Nona went into theforest, picked up the dry sticks on the ground, tied the sticks into bundles, placed them on her head andwalked to the town. She walked througtr the town calling out, "Firewood! Firewood!" The people in thehouses heard her. Sometimes a housewife clapped her hands and shouted, "Hoi! Nonchi Nona! | want abundle of firewood today." Then Nonchi Nona put down her firewood on the verandah ol the house andthe housewife chose one or two bundles. Sometimes Nonchi Nona stayed on for a chat. The lrousewifetalked about her children or about her neighbours"

"Our Leela has a bad cold. I gave her some coriander water yesterday but she isn't belter."

"Add some ginger to the coriander water. Ginger is good for colds," said Nonchi Nona.

"Simon Appu's daughter is going to marry Martin Appu's son! Have you heard the news? Shehas a crooked nose and he has'a hump on his back. What a pair!"

"The f ishmonger lold me about i t . ls Simon Appu pleased? What's the dowry?

"Three bags of rice and a bull without a tail. Simon Appu isn't a rich man and he has anotherdaughter. That daughter has one leg shorter than the other. How can he give Crooked Nose a biggerdowry?"

"Yes, yes. Life is always hard." said Nonchi Nona. She got up, placed her bundles of firewoodon her head and lett. Nonchi l.lona trad no husband and no children. She was alone in the world.

When Nonchi Nona had sold all her firewood, she went to the market-place. She met the veg-etable woman, the fishnronger and the butcher there.

"Ah! Nonchi Nona!. What can we give you today?" they asked her. Nonchi Nona never boughtany meat. She did not eat meat. She believed that eating meat was sinful. But she ate f ish. 'Sometimesshe bought a quarter kilo of little sprats or a piece of dried fish. Sometimes she did not buy any fish. Shebought only some cabbage leaves or a piece of pumpkin. Fish was expensive and Nonchi None was apoor woman.

When she got home in the evening, Nonchi Nona cooked herself a pot of r ice. Then she leftthe pot of rice by the fire and cleaned the fish. Next she washed and cut up the cabbage or she cut upthe pumpkin. While the fish and the vegetables cooked, she sat by the fire 4nd blew on it now and then.

The sparks flew up, the smoke curled upwards and Nonchi Nona's eyes watered. when the fish and thevegetables were cooked, she served herself some rice and tirese cuiries onlo a tin plate. Then she ate.She made the rice into l i t t le balls with her f ingers and popped rhem one by one into her mouth. Shenever left even one grain of rice on her plate. She did not iike waste. After she had eaten, she sat bythe fire and watched the glowing red embers. Sometimes she thought to hereself, ,,1 wish I had someoneto talk to." She thought of tlre other people in the village. They did-not live alone. They had brothers and

' sisters or fathers and mothers or children, But Nonchi Nona was alone. So she sat looking into the fire.Now and tlren she could hear a jackal howling in the forest. The .crickets outside chirped noisity.-nrteisome time, her head rolled from side_to side. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. Nonchi Nona was rl""p'.She spread out l ter mat and slept. She slept t i l l the vi l lage headman's red-gold cock crowed loudly andhis cows mooed. Nonchi Nona sat up and rubbed her eyes. Then she rollecl up her mat and got readyfor the new day.

She washecJ herself, ate one or two slices of bread with some coconut sambol and drank somehot tea' She lrad no cup. She drank the tea out of a coconut shell and always burnt her fingers. Afterthis morning meal, she wenl into the forest. She picked up the dry st icks on the ground. Sometimes shebroke off the dead branches on the trees. when she had collectei enougtr sticks, sle came back to herhut, tied the sticks into bunclles, placed them on her head and walkeo t6 tne town. She walked throughthe little town calling out. ,,Firewood! Firewood!"

One day Nonchi Nona was at the market place. She had sold all her firewood and had fiverupee.s and fifty cents in her purse. She was happy. "Today I'm going to buy mvserr a ni"" ji""" of fish,,,she thought' The l ishmonger saicl, "How ut" you today, Nonchi Noia? I have some nice sprats today.Look at them. Fresh. Fat. Sti l l jumping. Shall I give you a quarter ki lo of sprats?

Nonchi Nona said, "Nb. Today l ' l l have a quarler ki lo of l l rora f ish.,,

"Thora fish! Thora fishl Have I heard you right, Nonchi Nona? Thora fish is expensive. lt,ll costyou five rupees for a quarter kilo. Five rupeesl Have y6u *on a lotteryi you.are rich today.,,

"l'm not rich. I haven't won a lottery. Can't a poor woman eat thora fish sometimes? I like eat-ing well' I haven't eaten thora fish for a long time. I've forgotten the taste of thora fish. So I thought,'Today l'll buy myself some ilrora fish arrd eat \,iell'."

. " l .kno1, lknow, Nonchi Nona. We all l ike eating well, don't we? l ' l l give you a really goodpiece of thora fish."

The fishmonger chose a Eood p.iece of thora fish for Nonchi Nona. He wrapped it up carefullyin an old newspaper' Suddenly they heard a little voice. lt said, "Miaow! Miaow! l,m very, very hungry.Give me something to eat. Give me some fish."

Nonchi Nona looked down' The f ishmonger looked down too. They saw a l i t t le grey kitten infront of them.

"Miaow! Miaow!" said the kitten sadly. , ,1'm so hungry",,

Nonchi Nona looked at the kitten. The kitten looked at her. Nonchi Nona felt sorry for the kit-ten' She said, " l ' l l take this kit ten home. No one wants i t . l t 's hungry. l ' l l take it home and l ive i t food.Wil l you come with me, ki l iva?', -. . .e.1- " '

"Miaow! Miaow!" said the kitten. "Yes, l'll come with you. I am alone. I have no father or mother,no brothers or sisters. l ' l l come with you. wil l you feed me?,,

5l

"Yes, l'll feed you. I am alone too. I have no father or mother, no brothers or sisters. I haveno husband and no children. We will live together.".

So the kitten went home with Nonchi Nona. When they reached her hut, he jumped out ofNonchi Nona's arms. He ran inside and sniffed every corner of the kitchen. He liked the kitchen. He washappy. He sat iti the ashes in the fireplace and purred. "Krrr! Krrr! Krrr!" Nonchi Nona cooked a pot ofrice ancJ sorne cabbage. Then she cleaned the fish. But before she cooked it, she cul off two pieces. Shecut up the two pieces into little bits, mixed them with some rice and gave the rice and the fish to thekitten who gobbled it up. He ate every grain. Then he curled himself into a little, round ball and slept bythe f ire.

Wlren the headman's cock crowed the next morning, Nonchi Nona awoke. She sat up andrubbed lrer eyes. Tlren she rolled up her mat and began to get ready for the new day. But she was notalone. The kitten was witli her. She gave him some bread and coconut sambol r,vhich he gobbled up forhe was lrungry. Then Nonchi Nona went into the forest. The kitten followed her. While Nonchi Nona waspicking up sticks, he climbed up the trees. and chased the squirrels. He frightened the birds. He ran afterbutterflies. He was very fierce. Nochi Nona said, "You're very fierce. I'll call you Kotiya, which means leop-ard." Now, Kotiya was not like a leopard. He'had no spots on his body, he had stripes like a tiger. ButNonclri Nona had never seen either a tiger or a leopard. So she called the kitten Kotiya.

Wltile Nonchi Nona was in town, Kotiya slept in the sun. When he awoke, he was lonely. Hehad no friends. So he sat in front of the hut and waited for Norrchi Nona to come back. When she cameback, he was very happy. He ran to her, rubbed himself on lrer legs and purred. "Krrr! Krrr! Krrr!" NonchiNona was happy too, for there was someone waiting for her at home now.

After tlreir evening meal, Nonchi Nona and Kotiya sat by the fire. Nonchi Nona talked to Kotiya.She told him al l about her day in town.

"Today Simon Appu bought all my firewood. They are cooking the wedding lunch. Simon Appu'sdauglrter is going to marry Martin Appu's son. The bride and bridegroom are both ugly. But that doesn'tmatter, does it? There'll be a grand wedding lunclr at Simon Appu's house tomorrow. People will eat anddrink till their bellies ache! There'll be good, red country rice arrd polished white rice. There'll be fish andmeat and many vegetable curries. There'll be curd and honey."

Kotiya listened. His golden eyes grew bigger arrd bigger. They shone. He loved to hear storiesabout food. Then he slept. But Nonchi Nona talked on and on. She told Kotiya about the price of fish.She told him about the people in the town. She had a friend now. Slre wds trot alone.

'One afternoon Kotiya sat waiting by fhe doorstep for Nonchi Nona. Three children came along,two girls and a boy. They were the headman's sister's children. They lived in a big town many miles awayand ltad come to their uncle's village lor the holidays. They saw Kotiya. He was not a kitten now. H€was a big cat. His coat was smooth and shiny. His whiskers were long,ar.rd his eyes trig arrd golderr. Hewas a very beautiful cat.

Tlre childrerr liked cats. They came up to Kotiya arrd strokecl him. He was glad to see lh-.n.He was often lonely. Few people came to that part of the village. Kotiya purred, "Krrr! Krrr! Krrr! l(rrr!"Then he lay on his back with lris paws in the air. The childr.en tickled his belly. f-le liked that very much.t-le purred again. Nonctri Nona talked to him every day but she did not stroke hinr. And she never tickledhis belly.

The next day the clrildren came again. When they went back to tlreir uncle's house, Kotiyafollowed them. He walked right into the headman's house. lt was a grand house. The roof hacl tiles on it.

"'he wails were whitewaslrsr:. There were chairs, tabies, cupboards and beds in the rooms inside. Therewas a mirror on a wall in itre hall and brass vases ch the tables. They shone like gold. Kotiya walkedround, sniffing in all the corners. He looked round, sniffing in all the corners. He liked the headman's housebetter than Nonchi Nona's hut. Tlre heaclman's house was big. lt had a lot of furniture in it. Kotiya jumpedonto a chair. He had never sat on a chair before. He liked the chair with its soft cushion. Kixiya purred."Krrr! Krrr! Krrr!" He slept and he snored softly. He spent the morning at the headman's house. When heawoke the children gave him some milk in a saucer. Kotiya drank the milk greedily. .{e had never drunk'milk before. He liked the cold sweet milk. ln the afternoon he went back.

Nonchi Nona came back ltome in the evening. She did not know of Ko.iya's visit tc the head-man's lrouse. She thought that he had stayed at home all day.

"Look! I've brought some thora fish today! lt was cheap. The {ishmo;:ger solcl it to me for lworupees.

_We can have a good 'meal tonight." I

Kotiya rubbed hinrself against Nonchi Nona's legs. :ie purrecl. "l(rrrl l(rrr! l(rrr!" (-le liked fish.rlcr,chi Nona'cooked the fish and a pot of rice. She gave Kotiya lsome rice ancJ fislr. l(otiya ate tlre fishout not the rice. He was not hungr,y. He had drunk a lot of milk at tlre heacJrnan's lrouse. Nonchi Nonawas worried. "Are you ill?" she asked. Kotiya sat by the fire and shut his eyes. lJe clid not want to an-swer. He did not want to tell Nonchi Nona aboUt his visit.

"Tomorrow, l ' l l get 'you a special herb fronr lhe forest. l t 's a cat rnedicine. l t ' l l cure Vou," shesaid.

The next day Kotiya went to the headman's lrouse again. He werrt every day. The,childrencalled him Tiger because he had stripes on his back. The clrilclren loved their Tiger. They strokecl him.They -ic.rled his belly. They chased him round and round llre garden. He ran up the mango tree anddown the mango tree, He chased the white and yellow butterflies and frightened lhe bircls. He glared atthe earthworms and the ants with his big, golden eyes. He was very fierce. When he ',vas tirecJ, he jurnpeclonto a chair. He slept and he snored softly. '.1-iir-' is good," thought Kotiya.

\One day the children said, "The holidays are over. We are going home tornorrow. Will you come

with us, Tiger?"

Kotiya thougltt for a while. He l iked the children. He l iked milk ancJ he l iked sleeping on softcusl ions.

"Yes," he said, "l'll come with you."

"Then stay the night with us. Don't go away. We are going to leave very early in lhe morningtomorrow. Uncle is going to send us to the station in the buggy cart. We are going to travel by train toGalle."

. Kotiya was very excited. He was going to the station in a buggy cart! fle was going to lravelby train to Galle! He almost forgot Nonchi Nona. He remembered he: in the night. lJe was lying on achair in the hall . He felt a l i t t le sad. "Nonchi Nona wil l miss me. She'l l be sad," he thought. " l rnust goand see her before I leave. But I can't go now. lt's dark. The doors are slrut. I can't get out. l'll go tomorrow.I'll go e rrly in the morning. I'll tell her, 'Nonchi Nona, ! was happy with you. You were kind to me. Yougove ffw food. But I am happier with the children. They play with me, they give nre milk. So I am goingaway with them'." Then Kotiya slept and snored softly"

Wlren Norrchi Nona came home that evening, Kotiya was not in the hut. She lookecl for hirn in

53

all the corners of the hut. She looked for him in the garden. She called out, "Kotiya! Kotiya!" Kotiya didnot come. She went into the forest. She called out, "Ko-ti-yaaa! Ko-ti-yaaa! Ko{i-yaaa!" Kotiya did not come.Nonchi Nona went back to her hut. She did not eat. She sat staring at the wall. "He is lost," she thought.Then she thought, "No, someone has stolen him. He is a beautiful cat." Then she thought againl "No, heis dead. The jackals in the forest have eaten him up."

After a long time, she got up. She spread out her mat and slept. But she did not sleep well.She had dreams. ln her dreams she saw a big brown jackal with wicked, red eyes and a bushy tail. Thejackal chased Kotiya and she chased the jackal with a big dtick. And they all fell into a deep, black holein the forest! Nonchi Nona woke up. She shivered. She was alone in her hut. The headman's red-goldcock crowed thrice, "Kuku kuku kuuuu! Kuku kuku kuuuu! Kuku kuku kuuuu!" Nonchi Nona jumped up."l must f ind.Kotiya," she said.

It was cold. Nonchi Nona threw an old cloth over her head and shoulders. She looked like aghost as she went through the village calling out, "Ko-ti-yaaa! Ko-ti-yaaa!" She walked to the end of thevillage till she came to the headman's house. The house was lit but the doors were shut. The headman'sbuggy cart was on the road. His big, black bulf snorted and stamped betweenl the shafts. The bells roundhis neck jingled. Jingily jingily jingily. "Kotiyal Kotiya! Kotiya!" Nonchi'Nona shouted hoarsely. Kotiya heardher. He was inside the headman's house. He said, "Miaow! Mialow!" loudly.

. "lfs Kotiya," said Nonchi Nona joyfully. "Hes inside the headman's house." She went up andknobked on the door. The headman opened'the door.

-"Nonchi Nona!" he said in surprise. Why have you come here so early in the morning?"

"l've come because my cat is in your house, Sir."

"Your. cat! ls this your cat?"

"Yes, Sir, this is my Kotiya."

The children heard voices. They ran out.

"This is Nonchi Nona's cat," said their uncle, the headman.

"He is our cat," said the children. "He's coming with us. He wants to come with us."

Then Kotiya said, "Nonchi Nona, lwas happy with'you. You were kind to me. You gave mefood. But I am happier with the children. They give me milk every day. They play with me, they strokerne. And I like my new name. I am Tiger. lt's an English name. I like you but I like the children better. Iwant to live with them.."

' (l am a poor woman. I must sell firewood in the town every day. I am busy every morningand every day. I am.not young. I can't play with you. And I don't know English. I am a poor woman."

The headman said. "Here is ten. rupees, Nonchi Nona. Give the chiidren the cat. They wanthim. He wants to go. I know you are poor. So here is ten rupees." He put the ten rupees into NonchiNona's hands. lt was a lot of money. But Nonchi Nona did not seem to notice that. She went out slowlyand stood on the road.

The headman's carter jumped onto the seat. The big, black bull snorted and stamped and hisbells iingled noisily. Jingily jingily jingily jingily. The children jumped in. Kotiya sat on tne littte girl's lap

and looked at Nonchi Nona with his big golden eyes. The carter poked the black bull with his stick and

shoute!, ".Jak_mAk, iA_k_mAk, Kalua." Away went the black bull. Away went the children and away went

Kotiya.'

Nonchi Non4 Went back to her hut- And shd was alone again'

.Exercises

Vocabulary and Sentence Structure

1. Draw pictures to illuslrate the following wordsverandah, hump, sparks, embeis, whiskers, vases, cushion, slripes, bushy

2. Make noises or actions to illustrate the following words 'howling, chirped, ru6bed, sniffed, curted, fierce, stroked, tickled, belly, snored, greedily, snofted

g. Think of abslract nouns that will give you the qualities of the characters in this story.

4. Use verbal nouns la rnake senlences about activities the various characters in the stor! would like ddng.

Speech

1. Discuss in your Eroups the ailitude villa$ers in this story seem to have towards deformities such as ii crookednose. Do you th'ink tnis is the actual attitude ol our villagers to deformities? Give real eramples tq supportyour answer. -

writing

(nfiva ae chp rhinks of it n rew dats after he left her.l. pretending that you are Ndnchi Nona, tell the story of Kotiya as she thinks of it a few dals afteDb nqt use mone than 200 words. Now tell the same story in Kotiya's words.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

lrnagire you are Nonchi Nona and write an account called.'I)nq Day in My Life."

V!fd!e. a brief account of what the kitten may have. thought to himself when he firsl saw Nonchi Nona.

Write ab$ut a weddiqi lunch you aftended,. giving details of the food you ate.

Wlfte fu end bf this story giving the thoughts that may have passed through Nonchi Nona's mind. .

{t is gfftdfdlty assumed that when cats get used to a place, they very rarely leave it for erdther. TAking this

as truo, write a dilferent ending to thjs story.

55

2

THE COMPETITION

*by

Chitra Fernando

Jayasena Appu was stretched out in his armchair'on the yerandah. His day's work was over.How comfortable his sarong and banian felt! He had just lit a cigar when his wife Sopie, their daughterBhadra, and son Sinha, came in. He looked at them eagerly: "Well, so how was the visit? What has NimalPiyasena sent from Dubai? Did Piyasena Baas show you?'

"Yes, yes, he'showed us everything. Everything. Amme! Ffow my head is aching!" SopieJayasena sat down heavily in the chair next to Jayasena Appu.

"Rani was wearing a beautiful new frock and Raja a new suit. Nimal had sent them the clothfrortr Dubai. And he'd also sent an electric iron. No more charcoal irons for them! How lucky some peopleare!' Bhadra blew her nose, almost crying.

'Did you see the TV and the fridg!" asked Jayasena Appu tugging at his moustache.

'The TV was on when we went. A colour TV," Josie Piyasena saU. 'Sopie Akke, you knowhow much my children love me, especially Nimal. He said he wanted to send me a TV. I said, no, no,I'm aR,old woman - whal TVs for me! I don't want anything. But it won't be at all gobd if Martin Mudalallgets a TV before we do. His son is also in Dubai. So then Nimal sent this TV and all these things'. That'swhat Josie said. I had to listen to her chatter in silence. Amme! How my head is aching!"

"Just you wait and sde! Jeeva will send us a TV, a fridge, a fan and an iron. Then we willshow those Piyasenas our worth-" '

"But Jeeva has still sent us nothing!" said Sopie tearfully.

"That boy has only bden in Doha for two weeks! Wait a lew lnonths. Be patient. Jeeva won'tdisappoint us."

Jeeva did not disappoint his family. Six months ' later, one sunny nrorning, the Jayasenahotrsehold was full ol joy and wild excitement. Jayasena Appu and Sopie were expected back froni Colomboany minute, Bhadra kept running to the road every now and again. Sinha Was on the mango tree. Fromup there, he goutd spot the van the minute it came into sight. Would it never come? Bhadra and Sinhawere almost crying with impatience. Suddenly, Sinha shouted, "lt's coming! I can see Martin Mudalali'svan."

The van stopped in front of the house. Jayasena Appu and Sopie got down with broad smileson their faces. Two men carried three big crates on to the verandah. Sinha danced round them like amadman singing.

"Our TV, our TVNow we'l l see, now vle' l l seeWho is better,Raja, Raja,You or me, you or me?"

56

"l am going to Piyasena Baas's house to ask them to come over this bvening. We must showthem all our new things - everything. Three crates! Oooh! Nimal sent only two. Brit we have three. Oooh!'Bhadra laughed and clapped her hands.

When Bhadra returned from the Piyasenas', all the crates were open. Sopie Jayasena was tellingthe workmen where to place the fridge.

"Not there, Qando. What's the use of a fridge if no one can see it? Put it here. That's right.Near the armchair. Now people can see our new fridge even from the road."

"Sinha, where are those bottles of Lanka Lime? Put them in the fridge. We must have cooldrinks for the Piyasenas."

"Yes, Thathe."

"Thathe, aren't you going to offer Piyasena Baas any arrack? That's what he likes," said Bhadra.

"Daughter, use your brains. We have just got a fr idge al l the way from Doha. Our visitors mustfeel the prescence of this fridge in our house. I've never heard of iced arrack! From this day on, PiyasenaBaas wil l drink only Lanka Lime in this house."

"Amma, shall I have the iron on the sideboard?"

"Yes, Bhadra. After the Piyasenas have geen it, take it lo your bedroom."

"What about the cooker?" asked Jayasena Appu. "We can't put i t in the kitchen, can we? ltmight get dirty."

"Leave it on the dining-room iable," said Sopie. "lt's only a small cooker. \Mry didn't Jeeva eendus a bigger one?"

"Where can we eat then? And where will I sit to read my horoscopes?" asked Jayasena Appu,

"We can eat in the kitchen and you can read horoscopes on the verandah. We must give ourcooker an honourable place in our home. We must treat it well."

"Yes, Thathe, Amma is right. Let the cooker have the table. We'll eat in the kitchen, saidBhadra.

When the Piyasenas'came that evening, the treasures from Doha were all in their proper places:the TV on the centre table, the fan by the door, the iron on the sideboard, the fridge beside the armchairand the cooker on the dining table. All the Jayasenas were dressed as usual; the Piyasenas were not.Piyasena Baas wore a new cloth and coat and a large, new watch on his wrist. His bald lread shonernore brightly than usual. Josi6 Piyasena wore a new silk sari and a heavy gold chain.

Rani Piyasena also wore a new silk sari; her face was well powdered, her lips reddened. RajaPiyasena's brown shorts, brown silk shirt, brown and gold tie and large wrist watch were all new and shiny.His new brown shoes creaked as he walked.

The Piyasena show of finery may have been in honour of the new Doha treasures from JeevaJayasena or it may have been in honour of the older Dubai treasures from Nimal Piyasena. The Jayasenasdid not know. What they did know was that all the Piyasenas looked very grand in their fine new clothes,

57

And all the Jayasenas were very sorry that they weren't better dressed. Then tirey looked around at thetreasures from Dpha and cheered up. They smiled, they held their heads high.

"Ah, eome in, come in. Sit, sit ," cal led out Jayasena Appu from the dining room. "Not on theverandah, not there. Come inside. Bhadra, turn on the fan" Ah, that's right. Sit near the fan. Feel the cool

-l-he Piyasenas somehour managed not to see the fridge, the cooker and the iron.'But they

could hardly not see the TV. Tlrere it was right in front of them.on the centre table. '

Pivasena Baas cleared his throat. "Hm, that TV there - daughter, Rani, don't you think ours isa little bigger?" he asked.

"No, no, Piyasena Uncle, ours is bigger. Oursyou can't see properly," said Badhrd.

, !

is bigger. You're not wearing your $asses. So

"As I see it, lioth are the same size," $aid Jayasena Appu.

"Ah, now don't be angry, We mustn't forget that we are old friend$, but t knaw ours is bigger.And don't forget, friend, that we were the first in Kudagama to own a TV." Piyasena Baas looked aroundproudly.

"And it was Nimal.Piyasena who sent it," said Raja Pi;'asena iocking srnugly at Sinha Jayasena.

'1 "Jeeva Jetyasena sent this TV and it's bigg6r," shouted Sinha.

.. "No, it's not," yelled Raja. ;

"Sinha,o ordered his motfrer, Sopie, "go and get the biscuits. Bhadra, put this iron:back on thesideboard.'

"Ah," said Rani Piyasena taking the iron from Sinha, "is ttris the iron Jeeva sent from O6nagIt's much lighter than ours. lsn't that so, Amma?" She passed the iron to Josie Piyasena who held lt for amoment, then pronounced, "Ours is heavier.'"

Bhadra took the iron from her. "You're wrong. This iron is very mrch heavier than yours. Lookat rny blouse. Not a single crease or wrinkle. Now look at your blouses. See thg difference?"

"There's nothing wrong with our blouses. They're as good as yoursl' said Rani Piyasena angrily.

"Bhadra," said'Jayasena Appu, "bring that Lanka Lime from the fridgo- Our trlends must bethirsty. Piyasena Baas, you'll have $ome Lanka Lime, wo6t't you?"

"Ah,hm-that 'stosay-I .usual ly-you-yes-hm-yes,yes,LankaLime."PiyasenaBaaslooked longingly at the bottle of arracli on the sideboard. Jayasena Appu ignored this look and gave hisfr iend a ful l glass of Lanka Lime.

"How is the drink, my frlend? Nice and cold?"

"Yes, yes, very nice and cold. Very nice, very cold," said Piyasena Baas, looking unhappily aithe arrack.

58

ilt r

j

a

The Piyasenas drank their Lanka Lime but, offered a second glass, they refused.

"Don't you think, fr ien<J, that al l t l tese things - these fr idges and thirrgs, can make us changeour. way of l i fe - our food, our drink? What do you think?" asked Piyasena Baas, sadly gazing at thebott le of arracl<.

"Yes, yes, they most certainly can. And why not? That's progress. We must sacrif ice forprogress - sacrif ice even our l ives, no? l. .u* u progressive man."

Piyssena Baas looked uncertain but said nothing. After a few moments, he got up from hisclrair"

"Ccrr ie, c i r l ic i ren, come" i la ia, Rani - i t 's get t ing late. We must be going. We' l l go and come""The Piyaserras i : ! t

The Jayasenas anci the Piyasenas Cir r : i ' , rs: i ea: i r c i r ier f r - : r several vyeeks af ter that . But theJayasenas had other visitors who kelrt t lrenr busy. The nrcst res rectecJ of these visitcrs was EmmalinHamine, Jayasena Appu's elCer sister, She l ived in another vi l lage aoout thirty miles from Kudagama. Unliketlreir olher visitors, she ditln't corne to look at the Doha treasures. To visit Jayasena Appu frorn lirne toi irne was lrer habit.

q ial i l . : 'ca r: . , ' : tr t ' ian. she alr,ravs came carrying tulo large straw bags. Her clothes were in onehag; tl:e otlter' ',";?: i,rii cf kal'-.r .-t_pcii.jXll_€lAi--llula_gu-Ll and irieEJ cJe! chips. She also brouglrt a farge

': iar;k umbrelia - ir i clse i t raine'-]. Ei:rr-rr.?i in i- j?: i . ine ai, i 'a; 's toicJ lhe Jayasenas exactly what she was thinkingpa:oui . * f ten. t i - :ese t i ' l , l , . lnts ' ' r ia. le lhelr i3?' u l : :n i r l taL. ls.

On ihe day of Emmalin Hamine's arrival, Jayasena Appu said to his wife, Sopie, " l arn sureAkka wii l l ike al l cur new things from Doha. Wlrat do you think?"

"V/lry slrouldn't she l ike thern?"

"Akka's ideas aren't airvays l ike our own." Jayasena Appu soundecl ,anxious"

Emrnalin Hamine came in the afternoon"

"Come. Come, sit , sit , Akke," said Sopie l- lamine. "Sit near the fan. Bhadra, get Nenda a glassof Lanka Lime from the fr idge,"

"Hah!" saici Emmalin l-{arnine, putt ing down her bags and her umbrella on the f loor and sitt ingdown. "Fan! Fridge! Where did these things come frorn?"

"Jeeva Aiva sent t lrem from Doha." said Bhadra.

"!Ve have a TV too," added Sinha proudly. "Look, there i t is on the centre table." He pointedproudly to the TV.

"Fan, fr idge, TV. What nextl" said Emmalin Hamine. She looked at the centre table. Suddenlyshe asked in a loud voice, "Where is our father's phctograph, Jayagena Mall i? l t was always on this table"Now there is t lr is TV. Wt,ere is the photograph?"

"Aney. Akke, don't giet so excited! The photograph is on the sideboard. Tlrere i t is." '

Ernmalin Hamine looked at the sideboard. "Hm. And what is that?" She had noticed the cooker.

'lAh, thut is - rhat is Akke - that's lhe cooker Jeeva sent. That also is from Doha." JayasenaAppu tugged nervously at his mouslache. Sopie Hamine began dusting the sideboard, though it wasn't atal l dusty. Her l ips t ightened.

"Why is this cooker on the dining table? Does it eal?",

'Ah - ahem - that is - you know, no, Akke, the kitchen is full of smoke and soot. We don'twant to dirty this beautiful cooker. We want to keep it bright and clean.till Jeeva comes. When hb comes,we'l l bui ld a new kitchen."

'Man, why don't you.keep it on your head t i l l Jeeva comes?"

Jayasena Appu laughed nervously and almost tugged his moustache off. "Progress, Akke, -:

orogress. We can't always be the same, can we?"

l'ls it progress to make a cooker head of the household, hm?"

Jarasena Appu took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his face.

Emmalin Hamine saw the Lanka Lime on the table. "Bring me a nice hot cup of tea. And takethis cold thing away."

In the evening, Emmalin Hamine said, "Bhadra, Sinha, go get ready. I want to see MartinMudalali and his wife. Go, get ready."

"Ane,y, Nenda, don't be angry, Nende, I want to watch - to watch TV. There's a nice film on atseven o'clock,' said Bhadra. She looked pleadingly at Emmalin Hamine.

said Sinha.

myself."

"l want to watch TV too. I don't want to go to Martin Mudalali's house. They haVe ho TV,'

"All right. You don't want to come. You want to watch this TV thing. Don't bome. l'll go by

"Ah - hah - Akke -l - W- We - Hamine......."JayasenaAppu stammered, shilt ing uncomfortably 'from one foot to another.

"No," said Emmalin Hamine firmly. "l will go by myself. No one in this house need come withme." And taking up her umbrella, in case it rained, she marched out of the house.

Tirc rrext evening, Emmalin Hamine went out again. This time it was to the temple. The templecourtyard was cool and quiet. The great Bo tree had little flags, red, blue, white and yellow hanging fromits branches. The oil lamps on tlreir tiered stands flickered against the white of the vihara. Emmalin Haminewas happy fot the first tirne since her arrival. Usually, she enjoyed her visits to her brothei. Stre spent alot of time gossiping and laughing with Sopie and Bhadra. ln the evening they visited their friends, eatingbiscuits and drinking tea at dvery house they went to. In the night, Emmalin Haririne told Bhadra andSinha ol her girlhood when people often travelled by bullock cart because there were few buses and fewercars. But on this visit no one had time for Emmalin Hamine. Everybody watched TV till late into the nightand she went early to bed. Thinking of the change in Jayasena Appu's household, Emmalin Hamine sighed."Anicca. anicca. anicca," she said to herself. But she spoke more loudly than she had wished to, Some'

one heard her: Roslin Hamine, Martin Mudalali's wife'

"Anjeca, yes, anicca! We can't escape change. When I climbed Sri Pada, we went by foot.

Now they're even going by helicopter! That is not the way to go on a pilgrimage, no?"

"No, certainly not! But tell me, Roslin Akke, why have you no TV in your house? lsn't your

son in Dubai? What has he sent ba;k?"

"My son sends only money. We need it to send our younger boy to university. Martin M.rdalali

isn't interested in TVs and such things. "He is in his shop from morning till night. That's his way. So for

how long are you staying in Kudagama, Hamine?

"l'll be leaving tomorrow. The TV has charmed my brother and everybody else in that house.

They are like children with a new toy."

. Emnraiin Hamine left the next morning, bags, umbrella and all. She didn't visit the Jayasenasagain for a long time. But the Jayasenas hardly noticed her long absence. They were too busy watchingTV. Six months went by in this way. Then they trad exciting news: Jeeva Jayasena was going to returnfrom Doha in a few weeks' time. But not alone. He was returning with a car. A new car. The Jayasenaswent across to the Piyasenas. This was news that had to be told at once.

"We have come to tell you son'le good news because you are our dearest friends," said Sopie

Jayasena.

Jayasena Appu took over from his wife. "Jeeva is returning frorn Doha with.a car. lf you want

to go anywhere - Colombo, Kataragama, Kandy - we'll give you a lift. But we can take only one person -only if there's room. Bad to overload cars, no!"

"No need to give us lifts," said Josie Piyasena. "Nimal is also returning from Dubai with a car."

"ls that so? Good, goodl" Jayasena Appu gave a weak laugh. "lt's so good when our friendsprospert My heart fills and overllows with joy when I hear news like this. But we have work to do. Wemust go now." The Jayasenas left.

The Jayasena house was like a wedding house the day Jeeva drove up from Colombo toKudagama in his new car. There was a gokkola pandal at the entrance to the Jayasenas' garden, PunKalas at the door and flowers in all the vases. Several neighbours. were invited to a grand lunch.

"Jeeva has brought honour to his family and to Kudagama. We must receive him in the proper

way," said Jayasena Appu.

. The Piyasenas had been invited but they could not come: Nimal Piyasena was also driving upto Kudagama on tlre very same day in his new car.

Jeeva Jayasena drove into his father's garden and parked his car in front of the house. As hegot out, Bhadra came forward with an araliya mal garland which she placed on her brother's neck; theassembled neighbours clapped"

"So, so tell us, Jeeva, how was Doha? You must have worked like a buffalo to have broughtal l these things!" said one of their neighbours.

Jeeva smiled air i ly and sat down. Sinha took around a tray laden with drinks. Afterwards,

6l

everybody ate and drank again till they were ready to burst; white rice and yellow 'i;e, thora fish, devilledpotatoes, seeni sambol, brinjal, arrack, toddy ancJ Lar.ka Lime" The piyasenas had a similar feast in theirtruus€' Everything done in those two householcJs that day was almost exactry alike excepting in 1re matterof Nimal Piyasena's gariand which was made of picca mai.

And now that our heroei f i 'om Doh- and Dubai were back at home, what did they do? Theydrove down the narrow rogds of Ktrcagama in their new cars as fast as they. could. Up and down, roundand round they went' The dogs sleeping peacefully in the middle of the road jumped out of their way;fowls squawked and ran; even the slow buifaloes moveo lurribdly to the side of the road when these twoca{s roared past' The peace and quiet of Kudagama were no more. At first, the villagers said nothing.But after two weeks of noise and danger on thelr quie.t roads, they began to cornplain. Jeeva Jayasenanearly ran over Martin Mudalali's grand-daughter and Nimal Piyasena iu'n ouu, his dog. Martin Mudalali,swife, Roslin Hamine, wept.

"our Karua was l ike a dear fr iend. And he never harmed anyone",,

Nimal laughed at her. "why didn't you keep your dog indoors? why let him sleep on the. road?We l ivg in an age.of progress." - ! r - - - ' - 'v ; 'YrrJ rst r r r r r r DrEcP

when Martin Mudalali scolded Jeeva Jayasena for nearly killing his grancl-daughter, Jeeva saidcarelessly, "But I didn't ki l l her, did l?"

After three we9kg, nearly everybody in Kudagama began to wish that the heroes of Doha andDubai had never returned' No one was really qorry when one day the Doha hero crashed into the Dubaihero'. A crowd gathered on the road. Two ril"n plrr"J out one hero and then the orher from out of thesmashed cars.

"How can we get these boys to hospital?" asked Jayasena Appu, almost weeping.

"How can we get a car?" asked piyasena Baas, armost weeping too.

chin in "

,"I,"?,il';:t ,"' our car to take these two to the hospitat," said Martin Mudatali, stroking his

"Your car, Mudarari! we didn't even know you had one!,,

"My son came home last.week. He brought a car from Dubai. why go drumming these things '

around the village? why rouse the evir eye and the Jvir ,orlhz,i

rninute.,, "Aiyo' Mudalali, ask your son to drive here quickly. Quickly, quicklyl rhese boys may die any

Neither Nimal or Jeeva died. But Nimal lost all his front teeth and Jeeva limped. The accidentcost the Jayasenas and the Piyasenas a"lot of money. Neither r"rniiv-*"r rich. There was only one wayto gef the money for the doctor's bills and the hospitai nitt.' to seil the treasures from Doha and Dubai.' Martin Mudalali said he would buy whatever they. wanted to sell. These things - these fridges,fans' cookers and rVs - had their uses but they were not his legs or front teeth. He knew their propervalue' He would pay them so much, but not one cent more. No, not a cent more. They could take hisoffer or leave it' As they needed the money quickly, they took if. Bhadra and sinha wept when they sawthe TV, the fridge, the fan and the cooker leave their house in Martin Mudalali,s van.

62

"And we never even once used the cooker," said Sopie Jayasena wiping her eyes.

Only the iron was left. "At least, we lrave one thing left from Doha. AncJ Jeeva is al ive. Let 'sbe thankful for that," said Jayasena Appu.

When Emmalin Hamine came again, every.hing was as i t had been before the arrival of theDolta treasures: t lreir father's photograph was back again on the center table; wlren Piyasena Baas visitedhis good fr iend, Jayasena Applr, he lrad lr is usual gl- ss df arrack; and in the evening, the Jayasenas sattogether, talking and laughing as before.

Sometimes, Martin Mudalal i invited the Jayasenas and the Piyasenas to watch TV at his house.When they came, he often said in greeting: " l l ike progress. Ebpecial ly when the fruits of progress fal l intomy hands l ike r ipe mangoes. I know how to handle these things properly. Properly.. Not l ike some people."

Martin Mudalal i said this and smiled. Then, Bhadra and Rani almost cried; Sinha and Rajascowled; ancl the two men and t lreir wives sighed deeply. They knew that Martirr Mudalal i spoke truly.And there was nothing, nothing they could say in reply.

Exercises

Vocabulary and Sentence Strucl 'e

'1. Find words that can be used in place of t lre fol lowing -dissappoint, crates, directing, proper, creaked, finery, grand, sideboard, pronounced, longingly, gazing, sacrifice,progress, habit, uncorl l fortable, anxious, excited, nervously, tugged, shift ing, t iered, f l ickered, gossiping,assembled

2" ldentify the art icles in paras 11-30 and explain why they are definite or indefinite.

3. Write 10 sentences nraking comparisons between the oeople in this story.

4. ldentify the pronouns in the-first 10 paragraphs of the story and state to whom or what tlrey refer.

5. Write a letter from Emalin Hamine to a ir iencl in her vi l lage describing the f irst night when she visited herbrother. Use at least 5 sentences in the r;edect tense as approprate.

Questions

't. Why did Sopie Jayasena's head ache?

2.

3.

4.

5.

What according to Mrs. Jayasena was the use of a fridge?

, Why was the cooker kept on the dining table?

Why do you think "The Piyasenas somehow managed not to see the fridge, the cooker and tlre iron"?

Why was Piyasena Baas unhappy about his cold drink?

- Why did Emmalin Hamine as{:whether lhe cooker ate?

Why didn't Martin Mudalali hmre a TV even though his son too was in Dubai?

Why did everybody in Kudagama wislr that the heroes from Doha and Dubai had never returned?

What happeneOto all the thirrgs Jeeva and Nimal brought from tlre Middle East and why?

,- 6.

7.

B.

9.

13.

10

11.

12.

14.

15.

16.

Why did Marl in Mudalal i say " l know how to handle these things properly. Not l ike some people."?

Why did Emmalin l - lamine say "Anicca, Anicca."?

Carry out a PMI analysis on owninga) aTV b) a fridge c) an electric iron

What is the dorninant idea and the crucial factor in this story? You may discuss irr your groups before youwri te t l re answer.

Do you think this story shows some trulh about our society? Give reasons for your answer.

Why do you fhink this story is cal led "The Competi t ion"?

Write out ancl act a dlalogue that took place 2 years later between Josie and Sopie about the incidents describedin t l te competi t ion.

64

3

THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE

by

Oscar Wi lde

"Slte said lhat she would dance with me if I brought her red roses," cried the young Student,"but in al l my garden there is no red rose."

From her nest in the holrn oak tree t lre Niglrtengale heard him, and she lool<ed out throughthe leaves and worrdered.

: \ . , . l , ,r"No red rose irr al l rny garden!" l te cried, and his beautiful eyes f i l lecl with tears. "Atr, on what

l i t t le t l t ings does happiness depettd! | l tave read al l that t lre wise men have written, and al l the seciets ofphilosophy are ntine, yet for want of a red rose is rny l i fe made wretcftecJ."

"[-{ere at last is a true lover," said t lre Nightingale, "Night after night have I sung of him, thotrghI knew ft inr rrot: night after night have I told his story to the slars and now I see [ inr. His hair is c. lark astl te hyacirrt l t-blossotlt , attd his l ips are red as t l te rose of lr is clesire: but passion has macle his face l ikepale ivory, and sorrow has set her seal uporr lr is brow""

"The Prince gives a ball to-morrow night," murmured the young student, "and my love wil l beof t l te company. l f I bring l ter a red rose she wil l dance wit lr me t i l l dawn. l f I bi ing her a red rose, Ishal l hold her i t t , . ty anns, at td s l re wi l l lean l rer l read upon my shoulder, an6 her l rand wi l l be c laspecl inmine. But there is no red rose in my garderr so I shall sit lonely, arrcJ she wil l pass me by. Slre wil l haveno heed of me, and nry heart wil l break."

"l- l t}re, indeed, is the true lover," said the Nightingale" "What I sing of, he suffers: wtrat is joyto me, lo l t irr is pain. Surely love is a wonderful thing. l t is more precious than emeralds, and dearerlhait f ine opals, and pomegranates cannot buy it , nor is i t set forth in the market-place. l t may not bepurchased of the mercltants, nor can it be weighted out in the balance for gold."

"The tnusicians wil l si t in their gal lery," said the young Student, "ancl play upon their str ingedinstrumetrts, and rny love wil l dance to ttre sound of the harp ancl the viol in. She wil l dance so l ightly thather feet wil l rrot touch t l te f loor, and the court iers irr their gay dresses wil l t l rrong arour1cl her. But wit l meshe wil l t tot dance, lor I have tro red rose to give her"; and he f lung lr imseli dowrr op the grass, andburied lr is face irr lr is lrarrds, and wept"

"Wlty is he weeping?" aslted a l i t t le Green Lizard, as he ran past hirn wit lr his tai l in lhe air.

"Why, incJeecl?" saicJ a Butterf ly, who was {luttering about after a sunbeam,

"why, indeed?" whispered a Daisy to his neighbour, in a soft, low voice.

- ' [Je is weeping for a recJ rose," said the Nightingale

"For a recJ rose?" they criecl, " l-1ow very r idicr,r lours!" and the l i t t le l izard, who was something ofa cyhic, laughed outright.

Butt t l te Nightingale understood lhe secret of the Student's sorrow, andoak tree, and thought about the mystery of love.

Suddenly she spreacl her brown wings for f l ight, and soared into the air.the grove l ike a shadow and l ike a shadow she sailed across the garden"

ln the centre of the grass-plot was standing a beautifui Rose-tree, andflew over to i t , and l i t upon a spray.

slte sat si lent in the

She passed through

when she saw it she

"Give nre a red rose," she cried, "and I will sing you rny sweetest song."

But the Tree shook its head.

"My roses are wlrite," it answered; "as white as the foam of the sea, and wlriter than the snowupon the mountain. But go to" my brother who grows rouncJ the old sun-dial, and per5aps he will give youwhat you want."

So the Nightingale flew over to the Rose-tree that was growing round the old sun-dial.

"Give me a red rose"" she cried, "and I wil l sing you my sweetest song."

But the Tree shook its head"

"My roses are yellow," i t answered; "as yel low as the hair of lhe mermaiden who sits upon anamber throne, and yellower than the daffodil that blooms in the meadow before the mower comes wiilrtris scythe. But go to my brother who grows beneath the Student's wincJow, and perhaps he will give youwhatyouwant."

. . \ ! - . t

So the Nightingale flew ovJ to rhe Rose-tree that was growing beneath the Student's window.

"Give me a red rose," she cried, "and I wil l sing you my sweetest song""t

But {h^e Tree shook its head./

r ^- 2

' 'u9 ]oS"t a?e red," it answered, "as red as the feet of the dove, and redder than the greatfans of coral that wave and wave in the ocean-cavern. But the winter has chilled my veins, and thejrosthas nipped my buds, and the storm has broken my branches, and I shall have no ror"r at all this year."

"One red rose is all I want," cried the Nightingale, "Ohly one recJ rosel ls there no way bywhich I can get it?"

"There is a way," answered the Tree; "but it is so terrible that I darerr't tell it to you."

"Tell i t to me," said the Nightingale, " l am not afraid. '

"lf you want a red rose," saicl the Tree, "you must build it out of music by moonlight, and stainit with your own hearl's-blood. You must sing to rne with your breast against a thorn. All night long youmust sing to me, and the thorn must pierce your heart, and your l i fe-bloocJ must f low into my veins, indbecome mine."

"Death is a great price to pay for a recJ rose," cried the Nightengale, "and Life is very dear to

66

all. l t is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and to walclt t lre sun in lr is chariot of gold, and t lre Moon inher chariot of pearl. Sweet is the scent of the hawtlrorn, and sweet are the' bluebells that lr ide in thevalley, and the lreather that blows on t lre lr i l l . Yet Love is better l l tan Life, and wlrat is ttre lreart of a birdcompared to the heart of a nlan?"

So slre spreacl lrer brown vuings for f l ight, and soarerJ into t lre air. She swept over the gardenlike a shadow, and l ike a shacJow slre sai led t l trouglr the grove.

The young Studerrt was sti l l lying on lhe grass, wlrere she hacl left l t i tr , and the lears werenot yet dry in his beautiful eyes.

"Be happy," cried t lre Nightingale, "be lrappy; you shall have your red rose. I wil l bui ld i t outof music by rnoorrl iglrt , and stain i t with my owtr lreart 's-blood. All that I ask of you in return is that youwil l be a true lover, for fove is wider than Philosophy, t l tough he is wise, and rnightier than Power, thougl- lhe is mighty. Flanre-coloured are his wings, and color-ired l ike f lame his body. His l ips are sweet as l toney,and his breath is l ike frankincense."

The Stuclent lookecl up iro* the grass, and l istened, but he could not understancl what theNightingale was saying to him, lor he only knew lhe thirrgs that are written down in books.

But the Oak-tree understoocl, ancl felt sad, for he was very fond of the l i t t le Nightingale, whohad buil t lrer nest in l i is branches.

"Sing me one last song," he whispered. " l shal l feel lonely when you are gone."

So t lre l i l ightingale sang lo lhe Oak-tree, ancl her voice was l ikd water bubbling fronr a si lverjar .

U/hen she ttad f inishecl her song, the Student got up, and pulled a notebook and a lead-pencilout of his pocket.

"She has form," he said to himself, as he walkecJ away through the grove. "tlrat cannot be deniedto her; but has she got feel ing? | arn afraid not. In fact, she is l ike most art ists; she is al l style wit l toutany sincerity. She would not sacrif ice herself for others. She thinks merely of music, and everybody knowsthat the arts are self ish. Sti l l , i t must be adrnitted that she has some beautiful notes in her voice. What apity i t is that they do not nrean anything, or do any practical good." And he went into lr is room, and laydown on his l i t t le pallet-bed, and begarr to think of his love: after a t ime, he fel l asleep.

And when lhe moon shone in the heavens the Nighlingale f lew to the Rose-tree, and set l terbreast against the thorn. All night long she sang, with her breast against the thorn, and the cold crysralMoon leaned down and l istened. All night long she sang, and the thorn went deeper and deeper into herbreast, and her l i fe-blood ebbed away from her.

She sang f irst of lhe birth of love in the heart of a boy and a gir l . And on the topmost sprayof the Rose-tree lhere blossomed a marvelloLrs rose, petal fol lowing petal, as song fol lowed song. Palewas it , at f irst, as the mist that hangs over lhe r iver - pale as the feet of the morning, and si lver as thewings of dawn. As the shadow of a rose in a water-pool, so was t lre rose that blossonted on lhe topntostspray of the Tree.

But the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the thortr. "Press closer, l i l t leNightingale," cried the Tree, "or the Day wil l come before the rose is f inished."

67

So tl te Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, ancJ loucJer grew her song, for s5e sangof the birth of passion in the soul of a man arrcJ a maid.

Arrd a delicate f lush of pit lk came into the leaves of the rose, l ike the f luslr in the face of thebridegroom when he kisses the l ips of ' the bride. But the thorn lracj not yet reached Jrer heart, so therose's l teart remained white, for only a Nightingale's heart 's-blood can crimson t5e heart of a rose.

Arrd the Tree criecJ to t lre Nigtrt ingale to press closer against the thorn. "Press closer, l i t leNightingale," cried the Tree, "or thr) Day wil l come before the rose is f inisftecl.

So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touchecJ her heart, and afierce pang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bit ter was the pain, and wilcler ancl wilcler grew f ier song, forshe sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of t lre Love that dies not in the tomb.

Ancl fhe marvellous rose became crimson, I ike the rose of the easterrr skv. Crirnson was i lregirdle of petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.

But the Nightingale's voice grew fainter, ancl her l i t t le wings began to beat, ancl a f i lm cameover her eyes. Fainter and fainter grew her song, and she felt something choking lrer in lrer throat.

Ttten she gave one last burst of tnusic. The white Moon heard it and she forgot the dawn,and l ingered on in the sky. The red rose heard it , and it trembled al l over with ecstasy, ancl opened itspetals to t l te cold morning air. Echo bore i t to her purple cavern in the hi l ls, and woke the sleeping shep-herds from tlreir dreams. l t f loated through the reeds of the r iver, and they carried i ts message to thesea.

"Look, look!" cried the Tree, "the rose is f inished now", but the lr l ightingale made no answer,for slre was lying dead in the lorrg grass, with the thorn in lrer heart.

.}And at noon the Student opened his window and looked out.

"Why, what a wonderful piece of luck!" Jre cried. "Here is a red rose; I have never seen anyrose l ike i t in al l tny l i fe. l t is so beautiful that I am sure i t has a long Latirr name." Anct he leaned downand plucked i t "

Then he put on his hat, and ran up to the Professor's house wit lr a rose in his hand.

The daughter of the Professor was sitt ing in the doorway winding blue si lk on a reel, and herl i t t le dog was ly ing at l rer feet .

"You said that you would dance with me if I brought you a red rose," cried the Stuclerrt. " lJereis the reddest rose in al l the world. You wil l wear i t tonight next your heart, and as we dance together i twil l tel l you how I love you."

But the gir l frowned"

"l am afraid i t wil l not go with my dress," she answered; "and besides, the Chantberlain's nephewhas sent me some real jewels, and everybody knows that jewels cost far more t lran f lorn/ers."

"Well, upon my word, you are very ungrateful," said the Student angri ly; ancl he threw t lre roseinto the street, where it fel l i rrto the gutter, and a cart-wlreel went over i t .

"Ungrateful!" said the gir l . " l tel l you what, you are very rude; and, after al l , who are you? Onlya Student. Why, I don't bel ieve you ltave even got si lvqr buckles to your slroes as t lre Clrarnberlairr 's

6B

nephew lras"; ancl s lre got t - tp f t 'om l ter c l tair at ld went into the l louse.

"Wlat a si l ly t l r ing Love is!" saicl t l re Student as l te walked away. " l t is not hal f as useful as

Logic, for i t does not prove arrything, ancl i t is always tel l ing one of things that are rrot going to l tappen,

ancl making one bel ieve things t l rat are not true, In fact, i t is qLr i te unpract ical and, as in this age to be

pract ical is everyt l r ing, I sf tal l go back to Plr i losophy and Metaphysics'"

So he returned to his roorn ancl pul led out a great dusty book, and began to read.

Exercises

Vocabulary and Setrtetrce Slructure

1. Pick al l t l te nouns and'adiect ives thal refer to plants '

Z. pick out all the nouns anrJ acljectives that refer lo precious things that are used for comparisons'

3. Pick out the abstract nouns. Use t l tem in sentences of your own.

4. Wlrat effect is created by the writer's use of capital lelters wltere they are not ordinatily used?

5. lclentify ilre cJitferent clauses, together witlt tlreir verbs, in the first four oaragaplrs of tlris story'

6. ldentify the conrplex sentences in the next 10 baragraohs ol the story. Wlrat are tlte words usecl to join tlre

diffe+ent clauses, and what do the, -o?

7. Write 5 sentences using relative pronouns about each of the following -

Trre stucJerrt, The Nighiingale , the musicians, Ttre red Rose Tree, The student's hair, The courtiers, Love, Tlte

Night ingale's nest

g. Use the higlrlightecl words in this story in sentences of your own to bring out their rneaning.

Quest ions

1. Whv did the Niglr t ingale say of the young Student, "Here at last is a true lover"?

2. Why oo you t l r ink the l i t t le Lizard lauglted?

g. . , , wha. n1 Co you think t l re Niglr t ingale understood the Student 's sorrow?

4. List lhe attempts ltte Niglrtingale made irt vain to get a re<J rose for the Student'

s. what are the ilrirrgs ilrat riake up Life for ilre Nightingale? why do you think she thought tlrat Love was bel'

ter t l ran Li fe?

Describe tlre way the Rose-tree protJuced tlre beautiltrl red rose lor the Student'

What clicJ the Niglrtingale want in return for lter sacrifice, and did she get it?

Do you think the Nightingale's sacrifice was worth it? Give all your reasons'

Write the story of the Nightingale as though it were told by lhe red Rose Tree'

lmagine you were 1re professor ancl that you tlrought very.highly of the student, and hoped that your daughter

woulcl perhaps rnarry li inr. Write out a diaiogue you woulc! ltave witlt your daughter before tlre ball'

6.

a

B.

q

69

4

THE BUTTERFLY THAT STAMPED

by

Rudyard Kipl ing

This,OmyBestBelove'rc l , isastory-anewandawonderful story-astorycl i f ferentfromtheother stories - a story about The Most Wise Sovereign Suleiman-bin-Daoud - Solomon the Son of David.

There are t l tree l tuncJrecl arrd f i f ty-f ive stories about Suleiman-bin-Daoud; but this is not one ofthem. l t is not the story of the Lapwirrg who found the Water; or the Hoopoe who shaded Suleiman- bin-Daoud from the heat. l t is not the story of the Glass Pavement, or the Ruby with the Crooked Hole, orthe Golcl Bars of Balkis. lt is the story of the Butterfly that stamped.

' Now attencl al l over again and l isterr!

Suleiman-bin-Daoud was wise. He understood wlrat the beasts sai.d, and wlrat the insects said.He understood what the rocks said deep under the earth when they bowed in towards each other andgroaned; and lre understood what l lre trees said when they rustled in the micldle of the morning. Heunc[erstood everything, from the bishop on the bench to the hyssop on the wall, anrj Balkis, his HeadQueen, the Most Beautiful Queen Balkis, was nearry as wise as he w"s.

Suleiman-bin-Daoucl was slrong. Upon the third f inger of the r ight hancl he wore a r in!. Whenhe turned it once, Afri ts and Djinns came out of the earth to do what"u"i h" told them. When he turnedit twice, Fairies came cJown frorn tlre sky to clo whatever he tolcl them; and when 5e turnecl it three times,the very great angel Azrael of the Sword came dressecl as a water-carrier, and told him ilre news of lhethree worlds - Above - Below - ancj Here.

And yet Suleirnan-bin-Daoud was not proud. Fle very selcJom showed off, and when he did hewas sorry for i t . Once he tr ied to feed al l the animals in al l the worlc] in one day, but wSen the food wasready an Anintal came out of the deep sea and ate i t up in three mouthfr.r ls. Suleiman-bin-Daoud wasvery surprisec{ and said, "O Animal, who are you?" And the Animal said, "O King, l ive for ever! | anr thesmallest of t lr ir ty t l tousand brotl ters, and our lrome is at the bottom of the sea. We hearcJ that you weregoing to feed al l t fre animals in al l the worlcl, and my brothers sent me to ask when dinner would beready'" Suleirnan-bin-Daoud was more surprisecJ tharr ever'and said, "O Animal, you irave eaten al l t5edinner that I made ready for al l the animals in the world." Arrd the Anirnal said, "O King, l ive for ever,.butglo yoLt really call that a dintrer? Where I come from we each eat twice as much as that between meals.,,Then Suleiman-bin-Daolrci fel l f lat on his face and said, "O Animal! | gave that dinner to show what agreat and riclt kirtg I was, ancl not because I really wanted to be kind to the animals. Now I am aslramecl,and it serves rne rigltt." Suleirnan-bin-Daoud was a really truly wise man, Best Beloved. After that he neverforgot that i t was si l ly to slrow off; and now the real part of my story begins.

He married ever so many wives. l- le married nine hundred and ninety-nine wives besides i lrernost Beautiful Balkis; and they al l l ived in a great golden palace in the midcJle of a lovely garden .withfountains. He didn't real ly want nine huncJred an<l nirrety-nine wives, but in l lrose days everybody nrarriedever so many wives, and of course the King had to nrarry nrore just to show ilrat he was tne rcirig.

Some of the wives were nice, but some were simply horricl, ancJ 6e lrorrid ones quarrelledwit l t the nice ones and made them horrid too, ancl theri they woulcJ al l qurrel wi6 Suleirnan-bin-Daoud,and that was horrid for him. But Balkis the Most Beautiful never quarrel lecl wii lr Suleiman_bin_Daoud. She

70

H:ti,",l,f.:?:rtTTr:he sat in lrer rooms in the Golderr Falace, or warked in the parace sarden, and

of course if he had cltosen to turtt n', n,nq.-:T his f inger and call up i lre Djinns and Afri ts i lreywould have magicked all those nine huncireo anJ n'inety-nine q"urilior" wives into i,vhite mures of thedesert or greyhounds or pomegranate seecls; but suleiman-bin-DaouJ' i lrouglrt that would be showing off.so' when they quarrelled too much, he only walkeJ Ly himserf i; ;;;p;n of rhe beautifur parace garcrensand wished l"ie had never been born.

one day, when they has quarrel led for three weeks - al l nine hundred and ninety-nine wivestogether - suleiman-bin-Daoud went ouj for peace and quiet ",

,rrui; ' and among the orange trees hernet Balkis the Most Beautiful, very sorrbwtut 'necause suieiman-bin-oaouo was so worried. And she saidto him' "o my Lord and Light of my Eyes, turn ir.'e ring upon t;lJ;g"r and show these eueens ofEgypt and Mesopotamia and Persia and chinu that you, are the great a'd terr ible King.,, Bui suleiman-bin-Daoud shook his head and 'said' "9, *y luJy "no'oetight oi ri l i l," r*r"rber the Anirnar rhat cameout of the sea and made me ashamed beiore

"il r'" animlls in ali the world because l s'owed off. Now,,l,J,'ilil:i ffl,i:T:"J:::":ffT*'jtJ#ll"iflirut*t.i,"i."",i ffi;;,""',iou"",se they

And Balkis the Most Beautiful said, "o my Lord and rreasure of my soul, what will you do?,,And sufeiman-bin-Daoud said, "9 ty Lady and content of my Heart, I shall continue to endure .rny fate at the hands of these nine hundred and ninety-nine eueens'who vex me,with their continualquarrel l ing.

so he went on between the lilies and the loquats and the roses and the cannas and the heavy-scented ginger-plants that grew in the garden, tit he came to the great camphor-tree that was cared thecamphor Tree of suleimanlbin-DaouJ' Erie;rkjr iriilrong the tail irises and the spotted bamboos andthe red lilies behind the camphor-tree' so as to be near her own true love, suleiman-bin-Daoud.

Fresenily two Butterfries frew under the tree, quarreiling.

suleiman-bin-Daoud heard one say to the other, "l wonder at your presumption in talking likethis to me' Don't you know that if I stamped with my foot all suleiman-bin-Daoud,s palace and his gardenhere would immediately vanish in a clap'of thunder?,

Then suleiman-bin-Daoud forget. his nine lylol"g and nienty-nine bothersome wives, andfaughed' tifl the camphor-tree shook, at tf,e gufierfry's boast, And he helo out his finger and said, ,,Littleman, come here."

The Butterfly was dreadfully frightened, but he 13nao9d to fly up to the hand of suleiman-bin-Daoud and clung there' fanning rrimseti, srireiman-Lin-oaouo benl his r,eat a1o whispered very sofry, "Littr€;man' you know that all your stamping wouldn't o"nJone brade or grr;s. whut made you te, that awfulfib to your wife? - for doubtless she iJ youryitu.;

- - v' 's urcrLrci ur grass'

i

The Butterfly looked at suleiman-bin-Daoud 3.nd. saw the most wise King,s eyes twinkle likegtars on a frosty nisht, bnd'he picked y r,11.;il"gJ ,ritp both wings: il he put his head on.one sideandsaid, . .oKing, | iveforever. .ShelFmywite;andyoukno*whatwivesare| ike. , ,

suleiman-bin:Daoud smired in his beard and said, ,,yes, I k,now, rittre brother.,,

71

,,one must keep them in order somehow," said the Butterfly, "and she has been quarrelling

with me all the morning. I said that to quiet her"'

And Suleiman-bin-Daoud saicJ, "May it quiet her. Go back to your wife, little brother, and let

me hear what You saY."

Back flew the Butterfly to his wife, who was all of a twitter behind a leaf, and she said, "He

heard you! Suleiman-bin-Daoud himsell heard you!"

,,Heard m"r" said the Butterfly. "Of course he did. I meant him to hear me."

"And what did he say? Oh, what did he say?"

,,V, e11,,, said the Butterfly, lanning himself most importantly, "Between you and me, my dear - of

course I don,t blame him, because his p"alace must have cost a great deal and the oranges are just

ripening - he asked me not to stamp, and I promised I wouldn't."

,,Gracious!,, said his wife, and sat quite quiet; but suleiman-bin-Daoud laughed till tlte tears ran

down his face at tlre impudence of the bad little Butterfly.

Balkis the Most Beautiful stood up behind the tree among the red lilies and smiled to hersell,

for she had heard all this talk. she thought, "lf I am wise I can yet save my Lord from the persecutigls

of tlese quarrelsome eueens," and she-held out her linger and whispered softly to-the.Butterfly's wife,,,Litile woman, come here.,, Up flew the Butterfly's wife, very frightened, and cluirg to Balkis's white hand'

Balkis bent her beautiful heacl down and whispered, "Little woman, do you believe what your

husband has just said?"

The Butterfly,s Wife looked at Balkis, and saw tlre most beautiful Queen's eyes shining like

deep pools with starlight on them, and she picked up her couarge with both wings and said, "o Queen,

be lovely lor ever. You know what men-folk are like'"

And the eueen Balkis, the Wise Balkis of Sheba, put her hand to her lips to hide a smile and

said, "Little sister, I know."

,,They get angry," said the Butterfly's Wife, fanning herself quickly, "over nothing at all, but we

must humour them, o eueen. They neve, *""n half they say. l f i t pleases my husband to believe that I

believe he can make Suleiman-bin-Daoud's Palace disappear by stamping his foot, I'm sure I don't care'

He'll forget all about it tomorrow."

,,Little sister,,, said Balkis, "you are quite right; but next time he begins to boast, take him at

his word. Ask lrim to stamp, and see what will happen. we know what men-folk are like, don't we? He'll

be very much ashamed."

than ever.Away flew the Butterfty's wife to her husband, and in five minutes they were quarrelling worse

"Remember! ' said the ButterJly. "Rernember what I can do if I stamp my foot";

,,1 don,t believe you one little bit," said the Butterfly's Wife. "l should very muclr like to see it

done. Suppose you stamP now."

72

"l promised Suleiman-bin-Daoud that I wouldn't,,, said the Butterfly, ,,and I don,t wanl to breakmy promise."

"lt wouldn't matter if you did," said his wife. "You couldnrt bend a blade of grass wi6r yourstamping. I dare you to do it," she said, "stamp! stamp! stamp!" - -r5vv vr

Suleiman-bin-Daoud, sitting under the camphor-tree, heard every word of this, and he laughedas he had never laughecl in his life bbfore. He forgot all about his eueens; he forgot all about the Animatthat came out of the sea; he forgot about showini off. He just laughed with joy, and Balkis, on th'e otherside ol the tree, smiled becaust her own true love-was so joyful.

- Pre.sently the Butterfly, ve! hot a.nd pufry,. cjl.me whirling back under the shadow of the camphor-tree and said to suleiman, "she wa.nts me to stamp! she wants i-o ,"" what will happen, o suleiman-bin-Daoud! You know I can't do it, and now she'll never believe a word I say. she,ll laugh at me to the endj of my days!"

"No, little brolher," said Suleiman-bin-Daoud, "she will never laugh at /ou again,,, and he turnedthe ring on his finger - just for the little Butterfly's sake, not for the sake of showing off - and, lo andbehold, four huge Djinr.s came out of the earth!

"Slaves," said Suleiman-bin-Daoud, "when this gentleman on my finger,, (6at was where theimpudent Butterfly was sitting) "stamps his le{t front forefooi you witi mare my palace and these garclensdisappear irt a clap of thunder. when he stamps again yo, *i[ 6ring in"r back carefully.,,

"Now, little brother," he said, "go back to your wife and stamp all you:ve a mind to.,,

Away flew the Butterfly to- his wife, who was crying, "l dare you to do it! | dare you to do itlStampl stamp now!" Balkis saw ihe.four vast Djinns stoop down to the four corners of the gardens wirhthe Palace in the middle, and she clappecl her hands sofily ancl said "At last suleiman-bin-Daoud will dofor the sake of a Butterfly what he ought to have oone roig ;g"-f"; his own sake, and the quarrelsomeQueens will be frightened!"

Then the Butterfly stamped- The Djinns jerked the Patace and the gardens a thousand milesinto the air: there was a most awful thunder-clap, and everythinj grew inky-black. The, Butterfly,s wifefluttered about in the dark, crying, "oh, l'll be good! l'm so rorry i #ore. only bring the gardens back,my dear darling husband, and r'il never contradict again.,'

The Butterfly was nearly as frightened as his wife, and suleiman-bin-Daoud laughed so muchthat it was several minutes before he found breath enough to whisper lo the Butterfly, ,,stamp again, lililebrother. Give me back my palace, nlost great fnagician." rrlv svrle"'v' ur

gYes,. give .h.im back his Paface," said the Butterfly's Wife, still flying about in the dark like amoth. 'Give him back his Palace, and don'l let's have any more horrid magic.,,

"v/ell, my dear," said the Butterfly as bravely as he could, "you see what your nagging 5as ledto' of course it.doesn't make any differenc-e to me - i'm used to this'kind of thing - but as a favour to. vou and to suleiman-bin-Daoud I don't mind putting things right."

So he stampecl once more, and that instant the Djinns let down the palace and the gardens,without ey'en a bump. The sun shone on the dark-green orange leaves; the fountains played among thepink Egyptain lilies; the birds went on singing, and t[e Butterfly;s wife lay on her side under the camphor-tree waggling her wings and panting, "Oh; l , l l be goodl | , l l be good!,,

I

73

sr_rleiman-bin-Daoud coulcl trardly speak lor laughing. l- le leaned back al l weak and hiccoughy,

and shook lr is f inger at the Butter{ly and said. "o great wizarcl, what is the sense of returning to me my

Falace if at the sanre t ime you slay rne with mirt lr !"

Then came a terrible noise, for al l the nine hundred and ninety-nine Queens ran out of the

palace shriekirrg arrcl shouting ar,cl cal l ing for their babies. They hurried clown the great marble steps be-

low ttre fountairr, one hundred abreast, ind the Most wise Balkis went forward to meet them and said'

"What is your trouble, O Queens?'1

They stood on the rnarble sleps one hundred abreast and shouted, "What is our trouble? We

were l iving peacefr-r l ly in our golderr 1:alaie, as is our custonr, when upon a sttdden the Palace cl isappeared'

ancl we vrere left sit t irrg irr a thick- an,j ncisome darkness; and it t lrundered, ancl Djinns and Afri ts moved

about in the ciarknessi Tlrat is o,. ir trouir le, o l-{ea.J Queen, and we are most extremely troubled on account

of that trouble, for i t uras a troublesorne trouble, unlike anv trouble lve have known""

-[hen Balkis t lre ivlost Beautiful eueen - Strleiman-bin-Daoud's Very Best Beloved - oueen t lrat

was of slreba and sabie anrj the Rivers of i l re Golcl of the south from the Desert of Zinn to tt te Tou/ers

of Zinrbabwe - Balkis, almosi as wise as the Most \,Vise Suleiman-bin-Daouo" hirnself, said' " l t is nothing,

o eueens! A Birtteri ly lras r-nacle complaint against fr is r,ni i fe because r. i te quatrel ie'-J lvit lr hir l and it l ias

pleasec our Llrcl Sr-: ieinran-!: i i - ,-Daor-r,J ic reacll i :ei ' a iesscn ir !oi ' , ' -si:eaking arrC irunlbleness, for that is

counted a Vir tue alNol l r - l thc ur i " 'es c i t l re t ' l r t ler : ' ' :s

-[ ' l ren up ancl spoke an Egyptian Queen - the daughter of a pharaoh - " lg

she said' "out '

palace cannot be pluckeci up by the-ioots l ike a leek for the-sake of a l i t t le insect. l 'Jol Suleiman-bin'

Daoud must be cleacl, ancl what we heard and saw was t l te earth thurrr jering and darkening at t tre r legrs'"

Then Balkis beckonecl t lrat bolcj eueen without looking at her, and said to her and to the oth-

ers, "Come and see."

t hey came down lre nrarble steps, one hundred abreast, and beneath his camphor-tree, st i l l

weak with lar_rghing, they saw the Most Wise King Suleiman-bin-Daoud rocking back anci forth with a Buttedly

on eitlrer lraricl, ui'.,.1 1"1by heard hinr say, "o w'iie of my brother in the air, remenrber after this, to please

your Susbarrcl irr al l things, lest he be provoked to stanip his foot yet again; for lre lras said that he is

used to this rnagic, ancl he is most emirently a great magician - one who steals away the very Palace of

suleiman-bin-Daoucl himself. Go in peace, t i f l te folkl" ano ne kissed thetn on the wings, and they t lew

/\/ay.

Then al l the eueens except Balkis - the Most Beautiful and splendid Balkis,. wlto stood apart

smil ing - fel l f lat on their faces, {or they saicl, " l f these lhings are done when a Butterf ly is displeased with

his wiie, wliat stral l be i lone to us who have vexed or-rr King with or-rr loud-speaking arrd open quarrel l ing

i lrrouglr ntany davs'/"

" l 'hen they put their vei ls ovcr their" treads, and they put their hancls over their mouths, and

tlrey t iptoec.l back to t lre Palace ntost t trousy-rl t t ict '

Then Balkis - i l re Most Beautifui and Excellent Balkis - went forwarcJ t l irough t lre red l i t ies into

the shade of t lre carnphor-tree ancl laicl her hand upon Suleiman-bin-Daoud's shbulder and said, "O my

Lord and rreasure of my soul, rejoice for we have tauglrt tlre Queens of Egypt and Ettriopia and Abyssinia

ancl Persia ancJ India ancl china with a great arrd a memorable teaching."

Ancl Suleirnan-bin-Daoud, st i l l looking after the Butterf l ies, wlrere they played in t lre sunlight,

said, , ,o my Lorcl and Jewel of nry Felicity, wtren oiO this happen? For I have been jesting with a Butteri ly

ever since I came into the garden." Ancl he told Balkis what he had done'

7A

Balkis - the Tender and Most Lovely Balkis said, "O my Lord and Regent of my Existence, Ihid behind the camphor-tree and saw it all. lt was I who told the Butterfly's Wife to ask the Butterfly tos_tamp because I hoped that for the sake of the jegl Iy Lord would make some great magic and that theQueens would see it and be frightened." And she iold hih what the Queens had said and se"en anO tnought.

Then Suleiman-bin-Daoud rose- up, from his seat under the camphor-tree, and stretched his armsandrejoiced and sa!d,. "9 jny.Lady and Sweetener of my Days, know thdt if I had made a:magic againstmy Queens for the sake bf pride or anger, as I made that feast for all the animals, I shoud ceriainfy"havebeen p-ut to shame.

-But by. means of your wisdom I made the magic forr the sat'e "i "-l"ri

and ior thesake of a little Butterfly, and - behold - it has also delivered me from" the vexations of my vexatious wives!Tell me, therefore, O my La.dy anC Heart of my Heart, how did you come to be so wisei"

--"

And Balkis the Queen, beautiful and lall, looked. up_ into Suleiman-bin-Daoud's eyes and puther head a little on one side, just like the Butterfly, and said, ';First, o my t-ord, beca;;; I ld"" you; dnO

.secondly, O my Lord, because I know what women-folk are."

Then they went up to the Palace and lived happily ever afterwards.

But wasn't it clever of Balkis?

There was never a Queen like Balkis,From here to the wide world's end;But Balkis talked to a butterflyAs you would talk to a friend.

There was never a king like Solomon,Not since the world began;But Solomon talked to a butterflyAs a man would talk to a man.

She was Queen of Sabaea -And he was Asia's Lord -But they both of 'em talked to butterfliesWhen they took their walks abroad!

Exercises

1. Note down the nouns you have not come across before. How many of these are used only lo add to descrip-tions without contributing to the action of the story?

2. Note down the verbs you have not come across before. Of how many of these can you guess the meaning?

3. Pick 20 adjectives you think sound expressive and use them in sentences of ,your

own.

4. ldentify 3 noun phrases in the first 9 paragraphs of this story.Which of thenr include adjectives commonly used with nouns?

5. ldentify 3 phrasal verbs in the story, Which could you replace with a single verb?

6. Describe the differenl ways in which the proper nouns in the first 2 paragraphs aie described. Why are thewords Above - Below - and Here in capital letters?

7. Think of lour adjectives each to describe the four main characters in this story and write about them in sen-lences.

B. a) Write a letter from Balkis to lter parenls describing her life in the palace of Sulaiman-Bin-Daoud before lheincident described in "The Buttedly that Stamped."

b) Write out and act a cJialogue between the Butterfly's wife and a friend, in which the former describes thatincident.

75

Part 7

Modern Stories't

THE MUDALIYAR'S WIFE

by

Nirmal i Hett iarachchi

The Muclaliyar becarne a very rich man. He used tris money carefully and made many wise invest'

ments and in next to no time he was the biggest land-owner in the village. Then it was time lor the

Mudaliyar to 6ink of taking a wile. Mothers witti young daughters bggan .being very nice to him, once it

was known that he was ldoking for a wife. Marriage-biokers visited him daily but he was a long time in

making up 5is mind. In fact, tie village got a miid shock when he did. They had expectg9 to be told

about-his'marriage beforeharrd. Suddenly, one day, he began gett ing re3{V for his wedding. The Mudaliyarhad chosen a wife from a far-off vi l lage. He lrad met her-during one of his famous "jungle-tr ips" and had

fallen in love with her at once. Anyway the villagers put up a pandal to welcome her. Cooks were broughtin front the neighbouring towns and a great'feast was prepared.

The bride looked lovely as she entered the vi l lage on the arm of the Mudaliyar. No one could fai l tonotice how young she was. She was fair and sl im. She smiled with everyone and her eyes seemed topromise many lovely things.

Although she came from a poor family, she seemed to know what was expected of her as aMudaliyar's. wite. She won ..re hearts of the village folk and no one said anything against her. She neverdid anything that was not quite eorrect; and never let it show that the difference in age between theMudaliyar and herself made her unhappy in any way.

And then there was talk of the Mudaliyar being appointed to the governing body. 'fhis would be agreat honour. lt wor.rld also rnean that the Mudaliyar would have to travel to Colombo a lot and go toilany big {unctions. There were times when his wife would have to go wilh him. Then he would have toenteitain others too. Pelhaps he would throw a party at a big hotel"

The Mudatiyar told his wife about his grand plans and she was just as excited as he. He told herthe people in Colombb would think her very beautiful. There wdren't many women in Colombo as prettyas she was. She was very happy to hear this.

And then'the Mudaliyar saw that there was d sl ight problem. His wife knew no English. Now hehimself could speak Englislr after a {ashion. His bosses understood what he said so he was all right. TheMudaliyar saw no differ-ence betweeh the Engtish he spoke and the English the White Genllemen spoke.But hid wife could not speak a worc of it. All she had learnt was to sign her name in English and this tooafter marriage so that she could sign on the backs of tlre cheques given to them as wedding presents.Sbmething ilould have to be done about this. The little woman was perfect in every other way.

. The Mudaliyar decided to get a teacher for his wife. A young school-master had just come to thevillage school. People. said he knew Englislr very well. He would be the right man for the job.

When the Mudaliyar saw the school-master, he had second thoughts. He wgs very young and gogd

looking. The Muclaliyar got him to lower the fees so much that it was not worth lris while to teach for thatamount. He then *arne! him that in a few months his wife's English must be as good as his own. Tlreyoung man smiled but said nothing.

76

Tlte Mudaliyar asked in the village about the school-master and got to know that lre was an ,,adoptedchild". He had grown up irr an orphanage and had no 'relations of his. own. He dicJ not seem to havemany fr iends either. The Mudaliyar did not l ike such people. But this could not be helped. ,

The Mudaliyar's wife was afraid that people would hear her mistakes so the class was taken in ilre"Office-room" - the room next to their bedroom.

The Mudaliyar was out of the house a lot now. He would come back late in t5e night arrd often he, slept in the spare room so as not to disturb his wife. Sometimes he would be away for-6 few days and

come back in the afterhoon and ask if his wife was upstairs. The servants woulcl tell hinr slre had a Seacl-ache and was asleep. Even on the few evenings he spent at home, his wife would go to becJ ea.rly witlr aheaddrche. The Mudaliyar was worried about his wife and told her he would take her to the best doctorsin Colombo' But she told hinr i t was noll t ing to worry about. He even said she s6ould stop her Englishclasses as they could be the cause of her tieadachei but this made her cry. He was touched when she'said slre wantecl lrer Engh'sh to be so good that he would be proud of lrer.

The Mudaliyar noticed that in spite of her headaches his wife was growing lovelier daily. He wasvery annoyed that she had headaches so often. He did not like it at all when lre ient ttre Ayali up io herroom to tell her he would like to see her and she sent him word back that she was not well and did notwant to be disturbed.

One dfternoon the Mudaliyar thought he would go up to lhe bedroom himself. As he climbed thestairs he thought he heard voices. He thought it was his wife chatting with the Ayah. He heard her laughand was happy. lf she laughed it meant she was feeling well. But when he enlered the roonr he saw heralone. Her face was pink and her eyes looked excited"

"Whom were you speaking with?" he asked.

"1... . . . ! Why, I wasn't speaking lo anyone. I 'm al l alone here."

There was something different aboui trer smite. lt was not quite right./

"How nice lo see you ltome so early. Would you like some lea?" lt was a long time since she hadasked him if he would like arrything. The Mudaliyar'was just about to put his arm round her ancl lead herinto the bedroom when he lreard a noise comirg from the huge antique cupboard.

He started. "Whal's that?"

"Nothing. What are you talking about? | didn't hear anything.',

"l heard a noise coming from the cupboarcl. There must be something in there.'i

"How can anytlrirrg get in there? The cupboanJ ltasn't been opened for monlhs. You're, hearing 6ings."Slre laughed a little too loudly.

"All the same l'cl better lrave a look.,,

The Mudaliyar walked upto the cupobard. He heard heavy breathing frdm inside. He was about topull open the door when she caught hold of his arm.

"l tell you there's nothing in there. I've been here all day. Don't you believe me?"

Now the Mudaliyar was angiy.

"What does it matter if I have a look? | iust want to see for myself."

"lf you look in there, it means you don't believe me and if you can't believe what I say about a littlething like that what can I expect of you about bigger things? lf you open that door everything is overbetween us.' She looked very serious as she said this. He looked into her eyes but they looked steadilyback into his.

"Do you swear there is nothing inside the cupboard?"

"Yes, I swear it."

"Very well then." His hand dropped from the door. "Let's have tea upstairs."

There was a strange look in the Mudaliyar's eyes. He rang for tea. When tea was brought he gavethe Appu a list of things to buy and asked him to get a mason from. the village at once.

The Mudaliyar spent the whole evening *i,n ni. wife telling her all about what had happened inColombo. He did not seem to notice that his wife looked quite ill.

The qason came with his bricks and sand. The man himself was surprised at what he was askedto do. The Mudaliyar's wife ran crying into the bedroom when she heard.

"My dear, I thought I heard you swear there was nothing inside the cupboard. Do you still say so?"

"!es I do - but it;s such a waste to wall up such an old cupboarcl."

"suddenly I don't like it at all. I want it walled up with no space left in between at all."

He locked the door of lhe cupboard and took the key out.

The mason started work. The Mudaliyar ordered dinner to be brought'up. His wife could notanything but he enjoyed his dinner. He begged her to eat something but she lay silent and still onbed.

The mason had to work the whole night. As he went on groans and taps were heard from insidethe cupboard. Each time a noise was heard the,Mudaliyar's wife,would sob loudly and the Mudaliyar wouldtap her hand and remind her that she was thc one who had sworn there was nobody inside the cup-board.

.The mason finished his job and left. In the morning the Mudaljyar told his wife he was going toColombo and left. As soon as she heard him go down the stairs, she rushed to the wall and began tryingto pull the bricks cut.

"My dear, don't tire louself. You will fall ill trying to carry those heavy bricks. Besides, you told meyou're sure there's no one there. So why worry?" He had come up silently.

She fell down in a faint. He carried her to the bed. The next day she got high fever. She becamevery ill. The Mudaliyar got dofrn the best doctorS from Colombo but tfrey UiO not haue much hope for her.They thought she had lost her mind because she kept pointing to the wall and begging of someone topull it down. She died within a few days. Her funeral was so grand the village talked about it for years.

Nobody knew what on earth happened to the school-master.

78

eatthe

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L

Quest ions

Vocabulary and Sentence Slructure -

1. From the context work out the meaning of the following words -investnrent, ntild, slim, functions, annoyed, disturbed, antique, steadily, groans

2. Rewrite the first paragraph of the story in the future tense.

3. Using the present continuous iense where it is appropriate describe what happens from the Mudaliyar's pointof view while the mason is walling up..the cupboard.

4. Put the last six paragraphs of this story in the passive voice. Only change sentences that it is appropriate tochange and do not include the agent unless it is necessary"

lndividual/Pair Work -

1. Ftead the first 10 paragraphs of tlre story and write a letter from the Muclaliyar's wife to a friend describinEwhat l ras happened.

2. Read the rest of the story. Write out a dialogue between a policemen questioning the Mudaliyar about whathad happened, and the Mudaliyar denying that he had done anything wrong. Act it out in pairs"

3" Write out a dialogue between the Mudaliyar's wife's rnother and the Mudaliyar, in which he explairts to her theneed for his wife to know Engl ish, whi le she argues against this idea.

4. Pretend you are the Mudaliyar's wife and write a letter to your English tutor.

5. Relate the story of how the wall was built as if you were the mason who built it.

6. Using no more than 200 words, tell the story of the Mudaliyar's wife as though you were the Mudaliyar.

In groups

1. Dramatise a trial scene where the Mudaliyar is being tried for the murder of his wife's lover.

2. Dramatise a scene where the Mudaliyar and his wife attend a village fair"

3. Dramatise a scene in which the Mudaliyar attends a big function in the city without lris wife.

79

2

THE HIDING PLACE

by

Nirmali Hett iarachchi

"What is Your name?"

"Where do You come from?"

"What were you doing there at that time of night?"

"How do You know Banda?"

"What was he doing with You?"

"Why were You hicling?'r

" l f you were not a spy, wlty were you hicl ing?"

"Where are tlte otlters?"

They kept on asking and I kept on answering as best I coulcl, wondering all the time if the others

had managed to get away. wondering most of al lLbout channa. l f he was caught, our cause was lost '

Al l our work would have been in vain"

Banda and I had been unlucky. we lrad been a l i t t le too slow. when they lrad shouted "Halt!" I had

stopped without thinking. Now I wishecr r had kept on running, it wourd have been better to have been

shot in the back than to be caught like this. Bui I also knew tirese guys did not shoot to kill at once'

They shot at your legs or at the lower part of your stomach so that you ctid not clie but lay howling in the

jungle. But now I felt- l was suffering uribearably. lcould not stancJ the bulbs being f lashed in my face' My

body longecJ to fall asleep and yet they woulcl"not let me be. I was so tired I gave different answers to

the same questions. I did not know what had happened to Bancla. At last one of thenr hit me and they

draggecl me out and threw me into a room'

Either I fel l asleep or I faintecl. when I came rouncl, I hearcl Banda's voice. I opened nty eyes and

baw a man tlrat shourd have lookecJ rike Banda onry he seemed to be wearing a mask. His nose was

twice its size. His lips looked very thick and painted in rect. His eyes were covered over. He could not

see through them, "iJanda?" I reached towards tris face'

"Don't touch man, they've clone a thorough iob on me'"

lcouldn' tbearto|ookat l r im.Theytradn' tbeensorouglrwi thnte.

"What will they do to us?" I asked him'

,,The worst is over now. Now they're trying to make up their minds about killing us or letting us go'

we,re too small for them to worry too mucn a"bout. All they wanted was to get something out of us' I

hope you didn't tel l them anything"'

,,No. They didn,t ask me anything about our_ work. They didn't seem to think I was really one of us'

I said I just happened to be with you at the time""

"Good lacJ. Did they ask you about Channa?"

80

"No! TheY didn't think I knew him'":

. ,Good.P|ayi t thatway. | tmightbeyourt ic l :etoutgfhere. ' ' i

'Banda, supposing it gets very rough, what do I do? I mean, they might work on me till I tell them

everything I know. I don't have my capsule with me'"

"Me neither. Anyway try telling tlrem the things wecertain places we were never to hide hl""'"

The door oPened.

agreed on. You remember Channa mentioned

,,Channa eh? Well, yourig man, so you're quite a guy aren't you? Who would have thought it looking

: at you? Playing it dumb etrZ wow we'll see what you're really made of'"

The cell had been so small and dirty we hadn't thought ol checking it for bugs.

one of ,them kicked me. I screamed before I could stop myself. Banda sprang at him. The guard

fell; Banda's hands were at his throat. I heard a shot and Banda lay still.

I saw Death and a terrible fear came upon me'

The other guard laughed at me. "Look at your brave friend. Do you want the same thing to happen

to you? come, yor're a clever lad. I'm sure you'll do what we say.

They led me away. I wanted to hit thenr, to spit at therll; to sltow thenr I did not care for them and

that I was not afraid. I wanted to attack them so ihey would kill_me too. why didn't I do these things?

why did I just allow them to lead me down tlre long' dirty corridor?

I felt goose-pimples all over me as they ted me into the room. This time they came straight to the

point.

'Where is he?"

' rl don't know."

They hit me"

(Where is he?'Come on now. You saw what happens to people who don't do as we say' Besides

what 6uu" Vt, to gain by nbt telling us? What has Channa done for you?"

what indeed did he do for me that I should give'my life -for him? He was not a kind leader' He

never lroughialtui our problems. He expected uito do wonders and laughed in o.ur faces when we

could not. But, good or bad, he *". our leader. He led us in our fight for the cause' lf I betrayed hirn' I

betrayed the cause. And yet, what was the cause compared with my life? To die was to lie still in a pool

blood like Banda,

They hit me and I fell. Now they were. kicking me. I couldn't even shout any more. I knew I couldn't

last much longer. All I had to do was tell them wlrere channa was and they would stop. I kept opening

rfry mouth uuitne words would not come out. lcouldn't say i t . lmay.not.have.been brave enough to die

but I couldn't betray a fellow. There was a poini beyond which I would not go' '

81

. l . was surprised I was able to think. clea.rly. . l f only I could tel l them something to make 6em stop.I wondered where Channa was. He iouldn't hide in any of the "safe" places now. Tirey must have searchddall those by now. l f I knew where he was I could mislead t lrem by iel l ing them a l ie. And then, suddenly,it came to nre. Clranna had told us never to hide in a cemetery. He sliO it was the first place anyoriewould look in. lt was like a trap. Once inside anyone could spof you - the tombstones were too low tohide behirrd. He would never hide in a cemetery; not after warning- us. lt was the safest thing to say.

"The cemetery," I sltouted.

"Channa's hiding in the cemetery."

Everything stopped. I thought I heard someone laugh. Then they dragged me away ancl left me. '

The next day they came for me. They pushed me out.

"Get out!"

At f irst I didn't understand"

"out! You're free to go. You've been of great help to us. so scram!"

I was.limping out as fast as I could when I saw him. They were taking him into the room t hadbeen taken to.

"Channa! My God! How did they get you?"

Hd OiO not look at me. The guards laughed.

"The cemetery my lad, the cemetery. lt was so easy to find him."

Exercises

Vocabulary and Sentence Structure

1. From the contexl work out the meaning of the following words - howling, unbearably, flashed, longed, dragged,mask, capsule, goose-pimples, mislead, tombstones, limpinE

2. Using participial phrases combine some of the sentences in this story to form at least five new sentences,

3. Using the infinitive as the object, write five sentences about what the characters in this story were tryingto do.

4, Rewrite the two paragraphs after lhe opening dialogue in the present tense. Change the tense of verbs flratrefer to previous evenls as appropriate.

5' Put the conversation between Banda and the narrator in indirect speech, as though you were the narratorreporting what lrad been said.

Individually - .

1. lmagine you are Channa and write out or give a speech outlining your cause.2. Describe what happened ip 'The Hiding Place' lrom the point of view of one ol ilre guards.3. Write a letter from one of the prisoners to his family.In groups -

1' Dramatise a scene in a street where a group of people have just caught a young man robbing a slrop.2' Dramatise a trial scene where the tables are now turned and the jailers are being triecl for torturing theirprisoners.

3. Dramatise a scene of a r:voluiion where rebels enter the ruler's office.82

3

TI-IE LOST ONE

by

Nirrnali Hett iarachchi

I had seen him often, standing or sit t ing on his side of the gate, handsome and majestic, proud andaware of himself. Sometimes, i f he werc, sit t ing when I passed lr im, he would stand up ancl look at meinquir ingly. There would be no suspicion in his look - he knew I was one of his neighbours - only curi-osity at what I might be doing. Sometimes I would walk past in the heat of the noon, laden with groceriesin each hand and he would keep looking. I wondered what he thought of me. I certainly enr., ied him hiseasy l i fe. I envied lhe care lavished on him, his beauty and his sense of total securitv. He dicl not sow.neither did he reap and yet his master provided him with al l his worldly needs. ln retuin al l he had to dowas be himself. He walked round his master's garden. Sometimes he barked to announce his presence.Mr Doreswamy's chi ldren played with him and petted lr im and cared for him. I had often heard hirn beinqcalled for a bath or for brushing.

His house was by far the best down the lane. l t stood up tal l , dwarfing i ts neighbours. l ts walls werenever allowed to discolour. Mr Doreswamy had them painted once a year, The high wall concealed a beau-t i fulty laid out garden. I had seen the gardener go in twice a week. They said Mr. Doreswamy cult ivatedexolic orchids, begonias and paltns. The rest of us down the lane would olten excharrge cuft ings whenpruning our gardetrs but Mr. Doreswamy had never offerecJ any to anyone and certairr ly no one would askhim. He kept h security guard at his gate both day and night. We knew his t imes oi arr ival and departurebecause his huge gate would sl ide noisi ly on its hinges each l irne i t was opened or closed. And alwayshis arrival was greeted with loud barks of welcome

Although the big German Shepherd had never been known to bite anybody he was iu"n to growland bark threateningly at strangers who came to the house and everybody who livecl down the lanebelieved him to be very fierce. As soon as he had grown to his full size, Mr Doreswamy had put up abbard saying "Beware of the dog." Most of nry neighbours hated him. I could never bring myself io hate adog but I would certainly think twice before encroaching on his territory. I would have loved to have haclhim for rny own, to have had lr im on my side.

Loyalty prevented tne from comparing my own little pie with lrim. We had woken up one morning tothe sound of Sandy whimpering on our doorstep. She had only been a few weeks old then and, movedby pity, I had taken her in. Her temperament was as varied as her.ancestors. Sometimes she would rompand play, then suddenly, she would display a savage suspicion evolved fronr generations of misuse. Sandyconsidered protecting us her vocation in life but unlike her neighbour she had to make a great perform-ance before anyone took her seriously. Her looks did not inspire awe and fear. She had to growl from thedepths of her l i t t le being and charge madly, her body tense and her hair on end, before an intruder real-ised that she meant business. Sandy had nipped the arrkles of marry an unsuspecting visitor and yet hadbeen unsuccessul in earning for herself a reputation of ferocity. She was not discriminatirrg. To her every-one other than the members of the household, was an enemy and she kept constant vigi l at our gate,People passing could hardly fai l to contrast the majestic stance of the princely dog behinithe tal l eotnicwrought-iron gate and the squat mongrel behind the rickety gate with the rusty chain.

ln fact i t was Sandy's shri l l insistent barking that woke us up that night. We awoke to an untimelysunrise at the dead of night. The sky was painted in rosy hues muted by clouds of smoke. We could notfathom this sudden, unnatural beauty.

Then the telephone began to r ing. "They"re burning shops in Borel la."

"l say, did you hear? Siva's house has been burnt down. I don't know what has happened to th-en-l.

"The roads are impassable. "They are setting fire to all the passing cars."

"They're stoning cars near Kanatte."

, "They've organised themselves into gangs and are attacking different parts of the city. Everything isout of control. We cannot reach anyone. Violence has brqken out everywhere at once."

"They've robbed the gold shops down Sea Street and then set fire to them."

"They have noted down certain houses and are coming to destory them."

Everyone had expected something to happen soon. lt was the suddenness and intensity of this vio'lence that shocked us. We could not go back to sleep. Tissa 'phoned some of his friends. One or twowere angry at being woken up and called him a rumour-monge.r. "This is going to be worse than '58 or'71 chum." Rohan the pundit predicted.

The children did not go to school the next morning, but I had to go to market. Whether underesti-mating the situation or out of slreer laziness, Tissa let me go out alone. I was horrified at the sight thatmet my eyes. Many shops had been burnt and were still smoking. The glass,windows of a large radioshop had been smashed and people were walking off with the radios, TV sets and video recorders insideit. A nearby goid shop had been broken into. I saw a nian collect a handful of gold chains and stuff theminto the pouch of his sarong. A woman was admiring a pair of earrings she was walking away with. Therewas a huge pile of burning cloth in the rniddle of the road. Those who'were bold enough to walk on theroad seemed to be in a festive mood. There was nobody to stop the arson and looting.

The next day they starled entering the houses. They took what they could and set fire td the rest.Flohan 'phoned lo say his neighbour's house had been razed to the ground. "l'm hiding the family in myhouse. Hell of a thing -five extra people to feed and it's impossible to get anything."

My own mqrketing expedilion of the previous day had been unsuccbssful. Nothing'had been avail'able at the supermarket. I thought this was a temporary lapse and that new stocks would arrive the fol-lowing day. I was mistaken.

When I reached the junction a strange sight met my eyes. There were long queues of housewivesoutside the stores. I was amused lo see Mrs. Ellawala carrying a basket, her liveried chauffeur missing. lttook me a second to realise he was a Tamil. I stood behind her.

"There seems to be an awful mess. Why a1l these queues?"'

"Nothing is available. I tried everywhere. I heard there are some tins of lish and some rice here.I've been standing here for some time now."

My heart sank. There was hardly anything to eat at home. What woutd I give my ever-hungry brood?

We moved inside the shop. I saw it was depleted. I heard Mrs. Ellawala ask for ten kilos of riceand six tins of fish.

"Last six, madam," the boy said.

"Please let me have two of them!" I asked in desperation. She grabbed the tins and scowled at meand, saying nothing, paid for her purchases and stalked away. I couldn't believe it. Mrs. Ellawala wasalways so generous. She always sent us a tray of food after one of her grand parties. ln fact, I could notimagine canned sardines at her table.

BA

tt '

'1,:

'

I was forced to stancl in three queues before I could get anything to eat. one litfle shop had a largestock of canned foocJ - probably lootecl fronr other srropJ whicir hai been burnt. They were selling atalmost double the nortnal price tjut I was forcecl to buy irom them. ilitt *u would have go easy on ourconsumplion. I felt panic r isirrg within me. !

"Tissa for GocJ's sake go and fill up llre car." I shouted, as I enterecl the house. His face was grey.I sat down beside him; quiet wiilr fear.

"Tiru is dead," lre said quietly. "They stopped his car on lhe road and set fire to it while he was init'" Tissa and riru had been at university-togeiher. our children playecl toge1rer. T6is was a harcl blow. !pictured myself in Maltal's place - a young widow, burrrirrg wiirr a-hatred as intense as the fire whichconsurned lter husband' up to now the clestruction had nol touchecl us personally. Now we had lost a. fr iend.

- We were silting riown to a frugal dinner when we heard the fierce shouts. ,,That,s the one.,, ,,Burn it' down." "Don't let the clog escape."

They carne, about a lrunclred thugs with their sarongs tucked up ancl clubs and stones in their hands.we watchecl thern cotning, terrified. Tiisa bolted rhe doors and switched off the fights. I drew the curtainsand peeped through a chink.

They stopped at Mr' Doreswamy's gate. I heard the.dog barking ferociously at thern. They were shout-ing orders lo each olher now. -"Kil l the -bastards!"

"Break open the gate!,, one of rhem l i t a torch. I sawthat they had g:trol cans with tlrem. They broke open Mr. oor"r*"my"t g}e ano entered. The dog cSargedat them hut orre of tlrem threw a lighted torch at him.. I saw lrirn sifp, ?rrronted, puzzled. He had alwaysbeerr ablE to chase away intruders befc re. Their numbers and their 'urututity

intimidated him. He leapt atthem again. And then I hearcl a howl of pain. someone must have burnt him. I saw him dash out, his tailbetween his less. l{e ran he knew not wirere, away fronr i;; r;11"";j;;;r", or his home.

Then we heard the children screarning. ,:Appa!" ,,Ampta!,, ,,Appa, Appa, no, no!,, The mob emittedangry howls' There were soun'Js of crockery and furniture being ctasireo on the floor.

First the curtains were ablaze and the furniture. Then the house was one red glow. Thick black smokemounted from it.

We felt trappecl in our own home. We were forced to'witness rhis horrible clrama, unable to do anytingabout it, hypnotised by the horror. Ye^t_t!9re was a tiny spot inside me that was not sorry. Mr. Doreswamyhad once boasted that he paicl Rs. 60,000/- for an oinate antique couch. The couctr gnd its companionswere now paying dearly for their ostentation

The hysteria of the mob increasecl. They lost interest in the frouse once it was .completely ablazeand marched further down the lane' I hearcl "ries

of "Find the other devils, burn them down!,, and againand again variations of ,,Fillhy bastards!"

we crouclrecJ behind our curtain wondering if by some aberration of fate they would burn us too.- Anything seemed possible' Then like a storm governe.t by unknown forces they turned round. we sawtltem pile into trucks ancl lori'ies which *"ru pu-rk"d at the top of tre rane. Th;'*;;;; fJt un"orraged- thent, handing them stout sticks and black to"i.ion"r. ft,"i, heroes were going to conquer and plunder.

The next morning the view from my bedroom window was unusual. Instead of the magnificent 5ousethere was a charrecl ruin. I went out in rny.dressing-gown. There was no lock now at $ie gare. I wasgreeted by a low growl' The dog was seated amorj the rernains of hL home. I lroze as I saw him but

he put his ears back ancl turned away from my gaze. He could look no one in the eye. The guilt ofst' Peter had descencJed on him. He. had run away from his master in his hour of need. Who was I tocondemn him? However I was not going to risk an encounter. I turneo stowly and walkecl back home.

lrrs. Perera was standing at her gate in her dressing-gown too.

"My chilcl! Did you see what happened? lt was so terrible. I nearly fainted _. with fright. l,m stiltshivering with the thought of it. They say all rich people's houses have been;;ilti.'lir".l)

"! know, Mrs. Perera; The awful thing is that we were so helpless. Tissa and I were too scared tomove."

"What could you do, child? Don't worry, I heard they escaped to a refugee camp. They have set uprefugee camps in some of the big schools."

I sighed inwardly with relief. I wished I could tell the dog that his family was safe.

. "l'in going to market," Mrs. Perera shoutbd to me from half way down her gateway. ,,Have to goearly to get a good place in the queue. Do you have food in the house?" I shook my head. ,,Theh youbetter come early too' This is not gtting to enct soon and unless we stock some tooJ *6'ri rr"u" to starve.n

she walked back purposefully up to me. "You know that man?" she said, pointing to Doreswamy,sruin' "He treated us like dirt; he was so purse-proud. This is God's Aoing. you mark my wordt.,,eshe was basically a kind-hearted woman. Trying to hide the expression on my face t wavei, indi-cating I had to rush, and ran indoors

'- -"r '--

p-arked my car and resigned myself to a place in the queue. Mrs. perea had walked and she ar-rived a little after rne, panting.

"l h€af terrible things are happening. can't talk here child, we must be very careful.,,

I was reassured by her profound wisdom and nodded.

our little store-keeper ltad had a fielcl night. The store next to his had been set fire to and he hadspent the night shifting all those goods over to his own store. He now beamed at us, his face still sooty.suddenly the queue broke. we were all grabbing as much as we could. I saw some tins on a shelf andreached out for them' "Aney, two for me also." Mrs. Perera.behind me shouted. I found myself elbowingaway from her as fast.as l.cot-tld, ignoring her pleas. At last lhad got.sometning to feed my brood. ldidnot turn round to see the shock and hurt ln her'eyes.

I drained the oil off the tinned fish and mixed it with sandy's rice. Thank heaven she was nor afussy dog' I placed her bowl in its usual place under the mango tree and as I looked up I started. At firstI thought the sun had affected me. But no, he was there, standing in front of my gate. I walked up to himand he looked at me in dumb appeal. His fur was matled. His parched tongue moved about in his mouthas he swallowed slowly' My face must have registered pity for his expression changed. He still believedhe could trust humans for liis needs. He waggei rris iair ano started panting rhylhmically - the pant of athirsty 9os' 1 realised he had not had even a clrop of water for hours.ltuy r,"no was on the gate.--"

"What the devil do you think you are doing?,,

"Tissa, he's starving! .l can't bear to look at hirn.,,

,'Woman, are you nrad? He's a man-eater." Tissa came up to me. The dog stood still, watching us.

"Tissa, he won't bite anyone now. All he wants is something to eat."

,,yes, and after he's had it? You give him to eat once and he'l l be in the ltouse. Look at his size!Do you think Sancly'll stand a chance against him? What about Vinral and Shamara? They'll want to pet

him and then? He boesn't know them. I'm not risking a {ull grown dog attacking them. Do not start some-

thing if you don't know where it is going to ertd'"

I sighed and took my hand away from the gate. He saw the gesture

"Shoo! Out! Get out dog! Get.... ' ..!" - '

Something of his old majesty returned. He jerked his head and stalked away'

I saw lrim foraging in the garbage bins down the lane. But here he had to contend with the regular

customers - the striy fogr wh6 regirded these bins as their territory. I heard a huge rumpus. Indignant';',fi:;ii;;o siiii"ts and deep r"u"!" growts..Thgy were no match for hinr. He collected his food and

took it to the privacy of his ruined nJmei his pride hurt that he had to mess with such riff-raff. But he had

suruived according io the rules ol the jungle. The dogs watched him from outside. Not one dared to enter

his territory. But.riyheart bled as tre wotGO down tlre pieces of stale bread. He even ate a plantain skin.

It rained in the evening and l saw him lapping up water from the puddles. He drank fast, baring his

teeth and spitting out the mud and dirt in the water"

The uneasy stillness that night was worse than the pan-demonium of the night before. I could not

sleep. I found no warmth in humin contact. The night was full of darkness. My little house, no longer aplace of security, was stifling. I walked out into the moonlight.

This time he let me walk in. His spirit was broken. What was there for him to guard? Whom could

he trust? Fcould not meet his eyes. He had no use for my unproductive pity. We stood. there silently, in-

the moonlight; creatures of two difierent kinds wlro had watctred the destruction of a third. Part of each of

us too had be;en destroyed but, each in our own ways, we refused to admit. lt. He.jouqht to survive with

his instincts but his faith was gone. My soul fought to reject the incomprehensible reality. His passive dignltywas embarrassing; I went home.

We were getting used to a new kind of life - curfews, food shortages, distant gunshots, ominous

silences, rurnouis and more rumours. We chose our friends carefully, confiding cautiously.

That noon the pack of strays was ready for him as he walked unsteadlly out of his gate. They were

on him before he could reach tfre first bin. Their shrieks grew louder and more triumphant. After a few

seconds I could not hear his growls. Then he was running, his tail between hls legs, emitting short whin-ing noises. I could not watch

-[-.'im. His shame was my shame. His degradation mine. My inactivity added

a new dimension to the concept of helplessness"

He was too weak to run fast for long and they caught up with hirn at the top of the lane. Now he,ivas fighting for his life. They tore him, their gloating. hysteria mounting. I did not realise I was sereaming

- till I leTt tissa's gentle hand over my mouth. l. would have run out if he had not held me.

I saw him break away and run, dragging one of his hind paws. And still they chased him. Pariahs,scavengers, hounding a produc[ of centuries of careful cultivation.

I do not know why he decided to take his last stand in the ruins of his old home. Was it to makeamends for running awdy the first time? Was it the last vestige of his sense of security? Some vain hopethat they would UJintimiOated? Was it merely his territorial instinct? Or did he iust give up?

87

Exercises

Vocabulary and Sentetrce Slructure

1. lclentify'10 acljectives that you lrave not come across belore. What impression are they used to convey?

2. Pick out 20 verbs which can be replaced by others that mean something similar.

g. Use t5e following i,'uords in senlences tlrat bring out lheir meaning - aberration, ltysteria, brutality, consumption,

rumpus, degradation, dimension, instin-ct, pandemonium, temperamenl

4. Read the first 4 paragraphs of the story. ldentify 10 mass nouns in thenr. For how many of them can you find

correspottding adjectives?

5. Read the next 20 paragraplrs of the story. Note down questions people would ask each other irr suclt a situa-

tion. Give answers to your questions.

6, Read llre next 2b paragraphs of the story. Using model verbs write 10 sentences lo indicate what people could

or shoulcl do lo tninimize suffering in such a situation.

7. Read lhe rest of the story. V/hich sentences can yoLt join with 'and' or 'bul'? Wltich sentences joined with

'and' or 'but' can you divide into two? Do they need another word to make clear tlte conttections?

B. Farse the senlences in the two paragraphs near the end ol the story that begin 'lt rained in tlte evening ........ '., ' '

9. Write a synopsis of ttris story itr ttot rnore thin a) 500 b) 1000 words

10. Farse l l re sentences in the last 4 oaragraplts of the storv.

Analysis

1. Write out a dialogue in which one person persuades anolher to participate in attacks against members of an'

other racial group.Now rewrite the dialogue in a way that inclicates an assumption tl.rat suclr an attack will have the support of

those in authority.

Z" Discuss in your groLtps ttre feelings that would lrave gone through Tiru's children after tlre incidents described

in 'The Lost One'. Write out a dialogue that might ltave taken pldce between two of them.

g. Describe the main public events in this story from the point of view of the store-keeper who is mentioned.

BB

4

COUNTERPARTS

by

James Joyce

Ttre bett rang fr.nirxlsly and, when Miss Parker went to the tube, a furious voice called out in a piercingN0fth of lreland accent: 'Send Farrington here!'

Hiss Farker retumed to her machine, saying to a man who was writing at a desk: 'Mr. Alleyne wantsggu upstairs.'

The man muttered 'Blast him!' under his breath and pushed back his chair to stand up. When he$bod up he was tall and of great bulk. He had a hanging face, dark wine-coloured, with fair eyebrowsaFd moustache: his eyes bufged fonruards slightly and the whites of them were dirty. He-lifted up the counterOnd, passing by the clients, went out of the office.with a heavy step"

He went heavily upstairs until he came to the second landing, where a door bore a brass plate withthe inscription Afr Alleyne. Here he halted, puffing with labour and vexation, and knocked. The shriH voicecried: 'Come in!' \

The man entered Mr Alfeyne's room. Simultaneously, Mr Alleyne, a little man wearing gold-rimmedghsses on a clean-shaven face, shot his head up over a pile of documents. The head itsel'f was so pinkald hairless it seerned like a large egg reposing on the paperS. Mr Alleyne did not lose a moment:Tarrington? What is lhe meaning of this? Why have I always to complain oi you? May I ask you w6y yoniharen't ma& a Copy of'that cohtract between Bodley and Kirway? ltold you it must be ready ny iourddock.'

'But Mr Sheltey said, sir....

ffi Snercy E*ld, sfr... Kindly attend to what I say and not to what Mr Sdley says, sir. you have&A}? some excuse or another for shirking work. Let me tell you that if the contract is not co6FJ beforetS wtdng l'ff lay'the rnatter before Mr crosbie....Do you heai me now?

^fts sir.'

- . '0o yur lroal lhe now?... Ay and another little matter. I might as well be tatking to the wall as taik-fng tb yw. tlnderstahd onse for all that you get a half an hour for your lunch and nol an hour and a halt.Hgtd tnsry cours€s dd you want, I'd like to know .....Do you mind me now?'

\fi9s, sir.'

Hr Alleyne bent-his head again upon his pile of papers. The man stared fixedly at the polibhed skullwhish directed the affairs of Crosbie & Alleyne, gauging its fragility. A spasm of rige gripped his throatfor a few moments and then passed, leaving attei it u

"t"l"rp "u-ns"tion oi thirst. The nnan iecognized the

eensation and felt that he must have a good night's drinking. The middle of the month was passed and, ifhe could get the copy done in time, Mr Alleyne might give him an order on the cashier. He stood still,gazing fixedly at the .head upon the pile of papers. Suddenly Mr Alleyne began to upset all the p"p"r.,searching for something. Then, as if he had been unaware of the manrs presence till that moment, heshot up his head again, saying: 'Eh? Are you going to stand there all day? Upon my word, Farrington,

) : .

you take things easy!'

' l was wait ing to see... '

'Very good, you needn't wait to see. Go downstairs and do your work.'

The man walked heavily towards the door and, as he went out of the room, he heard Mr Alleynecry after him that if the contract was not copied by evening Mr Crosbie would hear of the matter.

He returned to his desk in the lower office and counted the sheets v.,hich remained to be copied.He took up his pen and dipped it in the ink, but he continued to stare stupidly at the last worcls tr6 traOwritten: ln no case shall the said Bernard Bodley be... The evening was falling and in a few minutes theywould be lighting the gas: then he could write. He felt that he must slake the thirst in his throat. He stoodup from his desk and, lifting the counter as before, passed out of the office. As he was passing out thechief clerk looked at him inquiringly.

' l t 's al l r ight. Mr Shelley, ' said the man, pointing with his f inger to indicate the objective of hisjourney.

The chief clerk glanced at the hat-rack but, seeing the row complete, offered no remark. As soon ashe was on the landing the man pulled a shepherd's plaid cap out of his pocket, put it on his head andran quickly down the rickety stairs. From the slreet door he walked on furtively on lhe inner side of thepath towards the corner and all at once dived into a doorway. He was now safe in the dark snug ofO'Neill's shop and, filling up the little window that looked into the bar with his inflamed face, the colour of ''dark wine or dark meat, he called out: 'Here, Pat, give us a g.p., like a good fellow.'

The curate brought him a glass oi plain porter. The mair drank lt "t

u gulp and asked for'a carawayseed. He put his penny on the counter and, leaving the curate to grope for it in the gloom, retreated outof the snug as furtively as he had entered it.

Darkness, accompanied by a thick fog, was gaining upon the dusk of February and the lamps inEustace Street had been lit. The man went up by the houses until he reached the door of the office,wondering whether he could finish his copy in ti,rhe. On the stairs a moist pungent odour of perfumessaluted his nose: evidently Miss Delacour had come while he was out in O'Neill's. He crammed his capback again into his pocket and re-enlered the office, assuming an air of absent-mindedness.

. 'Mr Alleyne has been call ing for you,' said the chief clerk severely. 'Where were you?'

The man glanced at the two clients who were standing at the counter as if to intimate that theirpresence prevented him from answering. As the clients were both inale the chief clerk allowed himself ataugh.

' l know that game,'he said, 'Five t imeslin one day is a l i t t le bit. . . . Well, you better look sharp andget a. copy of our correspondence in the Delqcour case for Mr Alleyne,'

This address in the presence of the public, his run upstairs and the porter he had gulped down sohastily confused the man and, as he sat down at his desk to get what was required, he realized howhopeless was the task of finishing his copy of ithe contract before half-past five. The dark damp night wascoming and he longed to spend it in the bars, drinking with his friends amid the glare of gas and theclatter 'of glasses. He got out thd Delacour'correspondence and passed out of the off ice. He lropedMr Alleyne would not discover tlrat the last two le.tters were missing.

The moist pungent perfume lay al l the way up to Mr Alleyne's room. Miss Delacour was a middle-

aged woman of JewLh appearance" Mr Alleyne was saicl to be sweet on her or on her money. She came

to tne office often ancl stayed a long time when stre came. She was sitting beside his desk now in an

aroma of perfumes, smoothing the handle of her umbrella and nodding the great black feather in her hat.

Mr Aileyne had swivelled his chair round to face her and thrown his right foot jauntily upon his left knee.

The mjn put the correspondence on the desk and bowed respectful ly, but neither Mr Alleyne nor Miss

Delacour took any notice of his bow. Mr Alleyne tappecl a f inger on the correspondence and then f l icked

it towards him as if to say: That's all rigltt, you can go.

The man returne<l to the lower office ancl sat down again at his desk. He stared intently at the

incomplete phrase: ln no case shall the said Bernard Bodley be...... and thought how strange it was that

the last three words began with the same leler" The chief clerk began to hurry Miss Parker, saying she

would never have the le-tters typed in time for post. The man listened to the clicking of the machine for a

few minutes anr1 then set to work to finish his copy. But his head was not clear and his mind wandered

away to the glare ancl ratile of the public-house. lt was a night for hot punches. He struggled on with his

copi, but when the clock struck l ive he had sti l l lourteen pages to write. Blast i t ! He couldn't f inish i t in

t ime. He longed to execrate aloud, to bring his f ist down on something violently. He was so enraged that

he wrote Bernard Bernard instead of Bentard Bodley and had to begin again on a clean sheet'

He felt strong enough to clear out the wlrole office single-lranded. His body ached to do sometlting,

to rush out and revel in violence. All the indignit ies of his l i fe enraged him..." Could he ask the cashier

privately for an advance? No, the cashier was no goocl, no danrn good: he wouldn't give an advance"'

He knew where he would meet the boys: Leonard ano o'Halloran arrd Nosey Flynn. The barometer of his

emotional nature was set for a spell of riot.

His imagination had so abstraited him that his name was called twice before he answered. Mr Alleyne

and Miss Delacour were standing outside the counter and al l the clerks had turned round irr anticipation

of something. The man got up from his desk. Mr Alleyne began a tirade of abuse, saying that two letters

were missing. rhe man -answered

that he knew nothing about them, that he had made a faithful copy'

Tlre tirade conlinued: it was so bitter and violent that the man could hardly restrain his {ist from descend-

ing upon the head of the manikin before him: ' l know nothing about any other two letters, ' he said stu-

pidly.

'Yott - know - nothing. Of course you know nolhing,' said Mr Alleyne. 'Tell me,' he added, glancing

first for approval to the lad! beside hirn, 'do you take me for a fool? Do you think me an tttter fool?'

The man glanced from the lady's face to the little egg-shaped head and back again: and, almost

before he was aware of it, his tongue had found a felicitous moment: 'l don't think, sir,' lrq said, 'that

that's a fair question to put to me,'

There was a pause in the very breathing of the clerks. Everyone was astounded (the author of the

witticism no less than his neighboursJ and Miss Delacour, who was a stout amiable person, began to smile

broadly. Mr Alleyne flushed to tf'e hue of a wilcl rose ancl his moutlt twitched with a dwarf's passion. He

shook his fist in the man's face till it seemed to vibrate like the knob of some electric machine: 'You

impertinment ruff ian! You impertinent ruff ian! I ' l l make short work of you! Wait t i l l you see! You'l l apologize

to me for your impertinence or you'll quit the office instanter! You'll quit this, I'm telling you, or you'll apolo'

gize to me!'

He stood in a doorway opposite the office, watching to see if the cashier would come out alone' All

the clerks passed out and finally the cashier came out with the cNef clerk. lt was no use trying to say a

word to him when he was with the chief clerk. The man felt that his position was bad enough. He had

been obliged to offer an abject apology to Mr Alleyne for his impertinence, but he knew what a hornet's

9l

Questions

1. What does lhe word 'counterpart' rnean?

2' Write Mr. Alleyne's account, as he told it to his wife when he went home that evening, ol his encounterwith Mr. Farrington.

3. Write Miss Delacour's account of what she saw of the encounter.

4. Write a synopsis of what Faningtion did between work and going home (a) from your point of view (b) from Farrington's.

5. Write and act out a dialogue between two of Farrington's children about their father.

6. What do you think are the main obligations of parents towards children?

3

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95

5

MISS BRILL

by

Katherine Marrsfie!d

Although it was so brilliantly fine_- !h" blue sky p_owderecl with gold and great spots of light likewhite wine splashed over the Jardins Publiques - Miss Brill was glad tiat slre had decided on her fur.The air was motionlesg, but when you opened your mouth there vias just a faint chill, like a chill from aglass of iced water before you sip, and now and again a leaf came driiting - from nowhere, from the sky.Miss Bri l l put up her hand and touched her fur. 6ear l i t t le thingl l f ; ; ; 'nice to feel i t again. She hadtaken it out of its box that afternoon, shaken out the moth-powde-r, given it a good brush, and rubbed theli fe back into the dim l i t t le eyes. 'What has been happening to mi?' said the sad l i t le eyes. Oh, howsweet it was to see them snap at her again from the red -eiderdown!

..... But the nose, which was ofs9T9 black composition, wasn'i at all firm. lt must have had a knock, somehow" Never mind - a liile clabof black sealing-wax when the t ime came - when it was absolutely necessary .. . . . . Lit t le rogue! y6s, shereally felt like that about it- Little rogue biting its tail just by her leit ear. She coujd have taken it off andlaid i t on her lap and stroked it . She felt a l ingl ing in trer hands and arms, but that came from walking,she supposed. And when she breathed, someihing t ight and sad - ro, not sad, exactly - sonibthinggentle seemed to move in her bosom.

There were aJlumber of people out this afternoon, far more than last sunday. And the band soundedlouder and gayer" That was because the season had begun. For although the band played al l the yearround on sundays, out of season it was never the same. l t was l ike somJone playing with only the fdmilyto listen; it didn't care how it played if there weren't any strang"r, pr"."nt. wasnit tile conductor w€aringa new coat, too? she was sure it was new. He scraped with his foot ancl ttapped h;.-#r like a roosterabout to crow, and the bandsmen sitting in the green rotuncja blew out their cheeks and glared at thenrusic' Now there "came

a little 'flutey' bii- very iretty I - a little chain of bright drops. she was sure itwould be repeated. lt was; she rifted her head and smired

" Only two people

.shared lter. 'special ' seat: a f ine old man in a velvet coat, lr is hands clasped over ahuge carved walking-stick, and a big old woman, sitting upright, *itr.r u i"ir "L"iiil;il;

embroideredapron' They did not speak. This was disappointing, foiNaiss"giitt always-looked forward to the conversa-t ion' she had become really quite expert, she thorlght, at l istening as t irough she didn,t l isten, at sit t ing inon other people's lives just for a minute while they talked round hLr. !

she glanced, sideways, at the old couple" Perhaps- they would go soon. Last sunday, too, hadn,tbeen as interesting as usual. An Englishman and his wife, hL wearini a-dreadful panama hat and shsbutton shoes. And she'd gone on the whofe time about how she ought"to wear spectacles; she knew she'needed them; but that i t was no good gett ing any; t lrey'd be sure to break and they,d never keep on.And he'd been so patient. He'd suggested everything _ gold rims, the kind that curved round your ears,l i t t le pads inside the bridge. No, nothing would please her. 'They' l l always be sl iding down my nosel, MissBri l l l rad wanted to shake her.

- . ' - .r- -

The old people sat on the bench, st i l l as statues. Never mind, there was always the crowd to watch.To and fro, in front of the flower-beds and the band rotunda, t'" "orpr"s

anu g;Jd; p'ui"J"u, stopped totalk, to greet, to buy a handful of flower$ from the old begger who had his tray fixed to the railings. Littlechildren ran among them, swooping and\, laughing; l i t t le girts, t i t t te French dolls, dressed up in velvet and.lace' And sometim6s a tiny "t"g;"tZi.arne

suooenly rocking into the open from under the trees, stopped,stared, as suddenly sat down 'f lop', unti l i {s small high-stepping mother, l ike a young hen, rushed scolding

to i ts rescue' ot l ter people sat on the..benches and green chairs, but i lrey were nearly always the same,sunday after suncJay, ancl - Miss Brill hacJ often noiiced - ttreie was something funny about nearty aliof thern' They were odd, silent, nearly all olcJ, anci fronr the.way rrrey slreo ilrey lookecl as thougn *,ey,ojust come from crark ritile roorns or even - even cupboards!

Behind t l te rotunda the slender trees with yel low leaves c]own droooin$, ancl lhrough *rern just al ine of sea, ancr beyo'd the brr-re sky with gord-veined croucJs.

Tunt-lum-tunl t icldle-um! t iclcJle-urnl tum ticJdley-um tunr ta! blew the barrd.

. r*o.young gir ls irr red carne.bv. and two young solcj iers in blue rnet them, ancl lhey laughed andpaired and went off arm-in-arm. Two pleasant *or"n i"ith trnny straw hats passecl, gravely, leacling beau-tiful smoke-coloured cJonkeys. A cold, pale nr,,'r hurried by. A 'beautifui

woman carne along and droppedIter bunclt of violels, and a little boy ran after to hand il,'"ri t" rrlrl ;;i she took ilrenr ancJ 'rrew

t'ernaway as i f theyld been poisoned' Dear me! Miss Bri l l didn't know whether to adrnire that or not ! Andnow! And rlow an ermine toque and a gentleman irr grey met just in front of her. He was tal l , st i f f , digni-f ied' and slte was wearing the ermine toque slre'd boJgtit wtren rrer haii was yellow. Now everythi 'g, 'er

hair ' her face' even her eyes, was lhe same colour as the shabby ermine, ancJ her lrancJ, in i ts cleansedglove' l i l ted to dab her l ips, was a t iny yel lowish paw. oh, she was * fr""r",r to see hir ' , del ig6ted! sheratl ter thouglrt they were going to meet that afiernoon. she described where she,d been - everyw.ere,lrere' lhere, along by the sea. Tlte day was so charming'-; i ; . i ; ; i l i Ancr wourdn,t he, perhaps?.... . .But he sltook his l teacf, l ighted a cigarette, slowly breathed a great"cfeep puff irrto ler face, ancl evenwhile she was sti l l talking and laughing, f l icked t l ie match uuuuyi uno *urk"cl on. The errnine roque wasalone; she smiled nrore brightly than ever. But even the band seerned to'know wlrat she was feeling andplayed more soft ly ' Played tenclerly, ancl the drum beat, 'The Brute! The Brute!, over and over. whatt 'vould she do? what was going to happen now? But as Miss Bri l l wondered the ermine toque lurned,raised her hand as lhough she'd seen sonteone else, much rr icer just over i lrere, arrcl pattered away. Andthe band cfrangecf again and playe! .more quickly, more gaily got up and marchecl away, and such afunny old man with long whiskers hobblecl along in' r ime to th-e rnusfc and was nearly knocked over byfour gir ls walking abreast.

oh' how fascinating it was! How slte enjoyed it l How she lovecj sit t ing here, watching. i t al l ! l t waslike a play' l t was exactlv l i te a play' who couli bel ieve the sky at the Lact wasn,t painted? But i t wasn,tt i l l a l i t t le ' lheatre' dog, a t i t t le oog itrat hacj been drugged, ran on that Miss Bri l l discovered what i t wasthat made it so excit ing. They were al l on i lre stage" f i"] , weren,t orr ly the audience, not orrly looking on;they were acting' Evetl she llac{ a part a1d .o,nu"uu"ry sunday. No doubt sornebody woulcJ Save noticecJif she ltadn't bee' t l tere; slte was part of the perforrnance a{tei ai l . i- iow strange she,cl never thouglrt of i tl ike that beforel Arrd yet i t explair lecl why slre nrade such a poirrt of start ing fronr lrome at just r le sarnetime eaclt week - so as not to be late for lhe performance - and it also explained why she. had quite aqueer' slty feel ing at tel l ing lrer English pupils how she spent her sunday afternoon. No wonder! MissBrill nearly laughecl out louc-|. she wis o' tne stage. she tirougrrt of rtre Jrii"""i,u"';";il;;" to whor.rrshe read t l te newspaper four afternoons a weel< while he. slept in i lre garden. she had got quite used tothe frail head on the cotton pillow. The hollowed eyes, the open moirilr- and the high pinched nose. lfhe'd been dead she rnightn't have noticed for weelis; she wouictn,t have minded. But sudclenly he knewhe was having the paper reacj to hinr by an actress! 'An actress! ' The olci head l i f tecl; two points of l ightquivered irr the old eyes' 'An actress - are ye?' AncJ Miss Bri l l snrooitreo tne newspaper as ,rough itwere the nranuscript of l ter part ancl saicl genily: 'Yes, I have been an actress for a long t inre.,

The barrd hacl beerr having n ,"$;, Now tl tey startecJ again. Arrcr what they playecl was warr, sunny,yet t l tere was just a lairt t clr i l l - i sonrething whai was it? , not sadness - no, not sadness - a some'ringthat r lade you want to sing' Tlre tune l i f t ;cl, l i f tecl, the l ight shone; "n,t

i t seemecj to Miss Bri l l ' rat

inanother moment al l of thenr, al l lhe wtrole company, *; i l ; ; ; ; ; ' ;di l . ' tn" younn ones, lhe raughing

97

ones who were moving together, they would begin, and the men's voices, very resolute and brave, wouldjoin them. And then she too, she too, and the others on the benches - they would come in with a kind ofaccompaniment - something low, that scarcely rose or fell, something so beautiful - moving......... And MissBrill's eyes filled with tears and she looked smiling at all the othei members of the .oi.,p"ny. yes, weunderstand, we understand, she thought - thougfr what they understood she didn,t know.

Just at that moment a boy and a girl came and sat down where the old couple had been. Theywere beautifully dressed; they were In love. The hero and heroine, of course, just arrived from his father,syacht. And still soundlessly singing, still with that trembling smile, Miss Brill piepared to listen.

,'No, not now,' said the girl. 'Not here, I can,t.'

'But why? Becausg of- that stupid old thing at the end there?' asked the boy. ,Why does she comehere at all - who wants her? why doesn't she keep her silly otd mug at home?,

'lt's her fu-fur which is so funny,' giggled the girl. 'lt's exactly like a fried whiting.,

'Ah, be off with you!' said the boy in an angry whisper. Then: 'Tell me, ma petite chere:

'No not here,' said the girl. 'Not yef,"

^ On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey-cake at the bake/s. lt was her Sunday treat.Sometimes there was an almond in her slice, sometimes not. lt made a great difference. lf there was analmond it was like carrying home a tiny present, a surprise - somethinri tt'"t rigr,l ;;t well not havebeen there. She hurried on the almond Sundays and struck the match ior the feile in quite a dashingway.

But today she passed the baker's by, climbed the stairs, went into the litfle dark room - her roomlike a cupboard - and sat down on the red eiderdown. She sat there for a long time. The box that the furcame out of was on the bed. the unclasped the necklet quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But whenshe put the lid in she thougrht she heard something crying.

Quesllons

1' ldenfify some of the phrases and clauses that provide details about the varior.rs people Miss Brill sees. Whatimpression does the writer erbate through these aboul a) these people b) Miss Brill?

2' Write down as many unfamiliar words as you can find that name or describe types of clothing. Try to guesstheir meaning from the contexl.

3. Think of adjectives and adieotf,*al phrases not.in the text to describe the people Miss Brill sees.

4. What is the effect of the last 2 paragraphs of the story?

5' C.a1 you- imagjne a maR ldrg is fihe Miss Brill in his attitude/ approach to life? Write a description/characterskelch of such a person in no{ rnore than 800 words.

a:

I

+

98

4.

General Exercises

Vocabulary and sentence structure

1. Make up participial phrases to describe 10 of the characters in the stories you have read.

2 ' Using model verbs make five sentences to indicate any lessons you feel are important in the stories you haveread.

3. Write 10 complex sentences about the slories you have read, using 'so' to indicate "onr"qu"*es

or inten-tions.

Using verbs as complemenls or in apposition to objects, wrile 10 sentencqs aboul characters in the storiesyou have read.

Make up five conditional senlences of each sod about the stories you have read.

Analysis

L The stories by Nirmali Hettiarachchi included here are very different in subject matter and in style. Which ofthese adjectives would you apply to each of them?

realislic, dramatic, mythical, political, educational, sad, informative, thought-provoking, urbelievable, amusing

Some adjectives may apply to more than one story, some mayapply.to-n:n".

Do you think any of these stories is slmilar in any way (subject, theme, character$, sgb) to any of the otherstories in the book?

Many of the stories in this book deal with love, in various aspects. Which of the fcilfowing ad,actfues wouldyou associate with any of the characters whc display love in the stories?

possessive, protective, idealistic, jealous, ronrantic, foolish, selfish, sad

Which of these qualities would you most a) look lor b) avoid . in deciding to get nranied? Would yourviews be different if you belonged to the other sex?

Contrast the presentation o{ a) love b) marriage as presented by any two ol the wrilers represented Inlhis book.

5. What ideas about a) love b) marriage are suggested by a) teledramas b) advertieenrents? Dscuss whetherthese are realistic or not.

6. What sort of advice do you think parents shouid give their children about love? What do tl.rey usually say?

7. . Of the stories you read, which did you lind the most interesting? Why?

B' Do you think stories should have lessons about life? Debate this in your groups, making sure you look at bothpoints of view.

1

2.

f

4.

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