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video script

Unit 8  Stories we tell

Video script
Our world is full of incredible landscapes. These days, science can explain how
these natural wonders were formed. However, in the past, people used stories
to explain their creation. Here are two of those legends.
The first legend is about Giant’s Causeway, on the northeast coast of Northern
Ireland. Giant’s Causeway is made up of about 40,000 tall rock columns, most
of them with six sides. Together, they appear to form a path from the cliff into
the water. We know that these formed after a volcano erupted millions of
years ago, but the legends of the causeway are more entertaining.
According to one of the legends, there was a Scottish giant, Benandonner,
who wanted to fight an Irish giant, Finn MacCool. Finn agreed to fight, and
built the causeway across the sea so that the two giants could meet. When
Finn saw that Benandonner was much bigger than he was, he dressed as a
baby and got into a baby’s cradle.
Benandonner saw the “baby” Finn and thought that his father must be
enormous, and was terrified. To avoid fighting him, he ran back to Scotland
across the causeway. Benandonner destroyed most of it so that Finn could not
follow, but some of the path still remains on the Northern Irish coast.
The second legend is about Table Mountain in South Africa. This mountain,
which has a flat top like a table, is over 1,000 meters tall, nearly 3,000 meters
wide, and looks over the city of Cape Town. Table Mountain is one of the
oldest mountains on Earth. It is six times older than the Himalayas in Asia and
five times older than the Rockies in North America.
One of the legends about Table Mountain comes from the Xhosa people
of South Africa. According to the story, the Xhosa god Qamata created the
world, but by creating dry land he made a great sea dragon very angry.
The sea dragon wanted to fight Qamata and stop him creating land, but
Qamata’s mother placed four great giants at the four corners of the Earth
to protect him while he did his work. When Qamata’s work was finished, the
giants were each turned into stone, making mountains that could watch over
the land. The biggest of the giants became Table Mountain.

© Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014