BRITISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

P LOT S UMMARIES
The Pot of Gold

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Shaun OBrian wants to be rich, but he doesnt like hard work. One day, while hes sleeping, a leprechaun cuts some of Shauns golden hair and wakes him. The hair becomes real gold and the leprechaun runs into the forest with it. The next day, Shaun manages to catch the leprechaun and he takes Shaun to the pot of gold. Its under a bush. Shaun needs to go home and get his shovel to dig for the gold. But he cant leave because he wont remember where the bush is! The leprechaun tells Shaun to tie his yellow scarf around the bush to mark it. He promises not to take the scarf. But when Shaun returns with the shovel, there are yellow scarves on all the bushes! Shaun cant find the gold! The clever leprechaun has tricked him. The Two Boxes Mrs Spring lives with her two daughters, Megan and Bella. Megan is lazy, but Mrs Spring gives her everything. Shes cruel to Bella. The family needs money, so Mrs Spring tells Bella to leave home and find a job for one year. Miranda gives Bella a job on her farm. Bella works hard and is very kind to the animals. When it is time for Bella to leave, Miranda gives her three difficult things to do. The animals help Bella and she succeeds. Miranda then tells Bella to choose a box from her cupboard. There are two boxes, one gold and one black. Bella chooses the black box and takes it home. Mrs Spring is angry because Bella didnt bring any money, but when Bella opens the box, there are diamonds and jewels inside. Megan wants jewels too, so she goes to the farm to work. But Megan doesnt work hard and shes cruel to the animals. After a year, Miranda gives Megan the same three difficult things to do but the animals dont help her and she cant do anything. Megan also chooses a box, the gold one, but theres only a spider inside! Bella buys a farm with the jewels from the black box. She forgives her mother and sister and invites them to live with her. The story shows that its better to be hard-working and kind than lazy and cruel. George and the Dragon One day, George arrives in a town on his white horse. There arent any animals or vegetation in the area. George learns about a ferocious dragon with poisonous breath. It destroyed the vegetation and ate all the animals. Then it wanted to eat all the people. The King of the country and the dragon decided that the people must give the dragon one young man or woman to eat every day. Now it is the Kings turn to give Princess Claire. She goes to the dragons cave. When the dragon comes to eat the Princess, George kills it. He saves the Princess and all the young people.

B ACKGROUND Leprechauns are imaginary people. They live in Ireland, are very small, honest and always keep
a promise. They trick people and make strange things happen. There are many stories about them.

St George lived in the 3rd century AD. He travelled to different countries to tell people about
Christianity, and the English made him their patron saint. George and the Dragon is a famous legend about him.

L IST

OF

M AIN C HARACTERS

The Pot of Gold Shaun OBrian: ___________________________________________________________ A leprechaun: _____________________________________________________________ The Two Boxes Bella:_______________________________________________________________________ Megan: __________________________________________________________________ Mrs Spring: ______________________________________________________________ Miranda: ________________________________________________________________ George and the Dragon George: ___________________________________________________________________ Princess Claire: _____________________________________________________________

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BEFORE READING ACTIVITIES.

1. What is a myth or a legend?

2.

Why is it important to work hard? Explain your reasons

3.

Draw and describe a dragon

4.

What is a knight? What characteristics did a knight have?

5.

Does money make people happy? Why / Why not?

6.

What is a generous person? Give examples of things that generous people do.

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7. Find a picture in the book of: a. a lazy person: page b. a hard-working person: page c. a brave person : page

8. Read the first paragraph on page 2. Find four adjectives that describe leprechauns.

9. Look at the picture at the top of page 3. What is the young man dreaming about?

10. Read the first paragraph on page 10. Who are the people in the picture?

11. Look at the picture and speech bubble on page 11. How do we know that the girl is kind?

12. Read the last two paragraphs on page 23. Find a sentence that explains how George knows that the people are sad.

13. Describe the picture on page 25. What is happening? How do the people feel?

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K EY V OCABULARY
1. Write the correct number next to each word in the box.

.... farmers wife .... bush .... grass .... scarf .... rock .... field .... farm .... bucket .... river .... cow

8
5 9 6 2 3 10 1

2. Write the meaning of the following adjectives. Be ready to act them out in front off the class:

Strong: Angry: Rich: Ill:

brave: heavy: lazy: surprised:

3.

Write the correct letter next to each sentence.

a. cave b. gold c. fire d. jewels e. lake f. spider i. forest j. horse

g. princess h. pot

..... 1. There were many trees in the ..... 2. The man has got a lot of ..... 3. ..... 4. A . ..... 5. The woman has got beautiful .

. coins.

..... 6. Theres a

on the table. . .

..... 7. There were fish in the ... 8. A dragon lives in the ..... 9. The woman made soup in a

came from the dragons mouth. is a kings daughter.

.....10. The

runs very quickly.

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I RREGULAR V ERBS
Write the infinitive and the meaning of the following verbs: INFINITIVE: ___________ became (page 4): ___________ ate (page 24): ___________ hid (page 29): ___________ shone (page 17) : ___________ began (page 3) : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ fell (page 32) : __________ hit (page 32) : __________ spoke (page 28) : __________ brought (page 12) : __________ found (page 16) : __________ left (page 11) : __________ stole (page 4) : ___________ bought (page 22) : ___________ forgave (page 22) : ___________ made (page 15) :

___________ took (page 9) : ___________ caught (page 5) : ___________ gave (page 12) : ___________ put (page 4) : ___________ thought (page 4) : ___________ came (page 5) : ___________ went (page 3) : ___________ ran (page 4) : ___________ threw (page 18) : ___________ cut (page 5): ___________ had (page 3) : ___________ said (page 5) : ___________ woke (page 3) : ___________ dug (page 9) : ___________ heard (page 3) : ___________ saw (page 5) : ____________ wore (page 27):