Beginners' Book in Language Part 23

Which do you care for least? Why? Do you think the third riddle is too long? What is in the third riddle that you do not find in the second?

2. Can you make a riddle of your own about the dandelion?

3. Make riddles for your cla.s.smates to guess, about flowers, birds, and animals that are seen in the spring.

=Written Exercise.= Write on paper the best riddle of a bird or a flower that you can make. Then, as Tom did, think it over a little longer and try to make it better. When you think it is so bright that your cla.s.smates will be much pleased with it, read it to them.[66]

=Group Exercise.= Some of the riddles should now be copied neatly on the board. It will be fun for the whole cla.s.s to try to make them better.

The very best ones the teacher will copy in a book to show to other cla.s.ses.[35]

=Written Exercise.= 1. Copy the riddle or riddles that your teacher chooses. As you copy them, notice the spelling of the words, the capital letters, the punctuation marks, and the beginning of the first line of each riddle. This will help you to write the riddles correctly when you reach the next exercise. Together with another pupil, correct your copy and his.

2. Write from dictation the riddles you have copied. Then correct any mistakes you may have made. You may do this work of correcting either alone or with one or more other pupils.

=59. Story-Telling=

CERES AND PLUTO

In the underground world, where Pluto was king, stood a magnificent palace, in which he lived. The pillars that held up the roof were of solid gold. Jewels of many colors shone and sparkled in the walls.

Two persons were talking together in a room in this wonderful building. One of these, who was no other than the lost Proserpina, was crying. Before her stood Pluto. He was trying to comfort her.

"Why do you keep on weeping day after day?" he asked. "Look about you and see what a beautiful place it is to which I have brought you."

Proserpina only shook her head and cried the harder. "I do not care how beautiful it is," she said. "I want to go back to my mother. I want to see the suns.h.i.+ne and the blue sky, and the flowers growing in the meadows."

Pluto pointed to the jewels that gleamed from the walls and floor and ceiling of the palace. Some were red as roses, others blue as violets. Still others shone yellow as dandelions or purple as lilacs or green as the young gra.s.s that grows on the banks of brooks.

"There are flowers for you," said he. "See all their colors! And these flowers are unlike those on the earth, that last only a day or a week. These never wither and never fade."

But Proserpina did not so much as look at the jewels that Pluto praised so highly.

"Please take me back to the earth," she begged. "If you will do that, I shall always think of you as a kind king. Perhaps I should visit you now and then."

Pluto smiled and shook his head. "I do not dare let you go back to the earth, Proserpina," he explained. "I am almost sure you would never come back to me. Think how lonely I should be down here. I should have no one to share my palace and my riches with me. But let me tell what I will do."

He took the golden crown from his head. It was the most splendid crown in all the world. He held it out before her. It sparkled with a thousand lights. The most skilful goldsmiths in Pluto's kingdom had made it.

"This," said Pluto, "I will give you, if you will stay with me."

Before Proserpina could answer, the bark of a dog was heard outside the palace wall. It was Pluto's giant mastiff. He was a huge three-headed dog that guarded the palace gate. Some one was coming. A minute later a loud knock sounded on the door. At once this flew open and showed a tall young man standing there. His face was flushed and he was breathless, as if he had run a long distance.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

When the stranger saw the king and Proserpina, he drew himself up to his full height and made a deep bow.

"What is it?" asked Pluto.

The tall stranger stepped into the room. He was still breathing hard. "I am the bringer of sad news, King Pluto," he began. "I come from the earth to let you know what has happened."

"Well, what has happened?" impatiently asked the king.

"The earth has lost its color and its beauty," answered the stranger. "Nothing grows any more. Where once there were beautiful fields and orchards, now there is nothing but the uncovered ground and bare branches to be seen. And Ceres sends me to you with this message, O Pluto. Until you return her daughter, not a blade of gra.s.s, not a shoot of corn shall grow, not a flower shall bloom, not a tree shall put forth leaves, on the whole earth that was once so green and wonderful."

Pluto smiled at these words. "What care I," he said, "whether anything grows on the earth!" Then he saw that Proserpina was weeping. His voice grew softer. "What does Ceres want me to do?" he asked.

"She wants you to return that which you have taken away," was the solemn answer.

"That," said Pluto, "I will never do."

The messenger of Ceres turned to go, without another word.

Proserpina stepped forward and stopped him.

"I have a plan," she said, "that will help us all." She turned to Pluto. "Let me spend half of every year with Mother Ceres," she said, "and I will gladly spend the other half with you."

Pluto looked at her and made no answer. He did not like being alone in his great palace six months of every year. But then he thought of how unhappy Proserpina would be if he never allowed her to see her mother again. He did not wish her to be unhappy. At last he said, "I will do it."

Proserpina clapped her hands. She laughed and danced about. "Six months here," she said, "and six months on earth. That will make six months of green and bloom on earth, and six months of bare branches and empty fields. Every year when I start back to the earth, things will begin to grow and bud and blossom. That will be spring. Every year when I return to this underground world, the leaves will fall from the trees, the gra.s.s will become yellow, and flowers will wither and fade. That will be fall."

Proserpina at once prepared for her journey back to the earth. When she had said good-bye to Pluto, Ceres's messenger led the way. They pa.s.sed the growling three-headed dog. They pa.s.sed the iron gates of Pluto's kingdom. Far ahead they saw a bright light. It was the suns.h.i.+ne of the earth. They hastened toward it. As they hurried along, Proserpina noticed that the dry fields began to change.

Green gra.s.s sprang up in them, and flowers. A veil of green covered all the shrubs and trees, and fruit blossoms began to unfold. The farmers had been sad over the long winter. Now they worked merrily in the fields, glad at the coming of spring.

It was not long before Proserpina saw that she had reached the meadow in which she had gathered flowers. Yes, there was the brook she had crossed without really meaning to do it. There was the place where she had sat in the gra.s.s to weave wreaths. And there, at the edge of the meadow, stood her mother's house. Hurrying from it and toward Proserpina with outstretched arms was Mother Ceres herself.

=Oral Exercise.= 1. Make believe that you are Proserpina in the story above. Think how you would feel if you were in an underground palace far from your mother. A cla.s.smate will play that he is King Pluto. Ask him to let you go back. Speak as Proserpina probably spoke. Pluto will answer you. He will try to explain to you that you ought to stay with him.

2. Make believe that you are the messenger from Ceres. Make the deep bow that he made when he saw the king. Tell the king what is happening on the earth. Give him the message from Ceres.

3. You and two cla.s.smates should now play the story. Would it be a good plan to have some one play the dog?

=Group Exercise.= 1. Now three other pupils[67] should play the story, and then three others. Each group will try to show the cla.s.s exactly how everything happened in the story. Each player will try to look and act and speak exactly as he thinks the person in the story did.

2. The cla.s.s will praise what is good in the playing and point out what might be done better.

=60. Talking over Plans=

Why couldn't the cla.s.s plan a spring festival? It might be held on a Friday afternoon. Every pupil could invite his parents and friends. The festival would be one way of showing how glad you and your cla.s.smates are that spring has come.

=Oral Exercise.= 1. Make a plan for a spring festival.[68] Then stand before the cla.s.s and tell the other pupils what your plan is. The following questions may help you to make a plan that your cla.s.smates will enjoy carrying out:

1. Shall the festival be held in the schoolroom or outdoors?