Comics

The boys have been busy making comics of medieval stories.

Above is Ethan's version of The Sword in the Stone. Caleb posted his version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight on his own blog.

Our Island Story Chapter 2: The Coming of the Romans

Well, we are back to Playmobil narrations. This one tells the story of the Romans invading Britain.

The Britons await the landing of the Romans from the sea. You can see some up on the cliffs ready to attack with darts.

The Britons had fierce war chariots with several men aboard and swords that stuck out from the wheels to cut down their enemies.

The Romans arrive on their galleys.

Fierce fighting between the Romans and Britons.

Androclus and the Lion

There once was a slave named Androclus.

One day he ran away to a cave.

When he woke up there was a lion at the cave.

There was a thorn in its foot so Androclus pulled it out.

The lion brought food for Androclus to eat.

One day a soldier found Androclus.

They brought him to the arena where a hunrgy lion would
eat him.

Then Androclus found out that it was his old friend the lion.

Then the people declared that Androclus and the lion should go free.

By Caleb

Theseus and the Minotaur

A tag team narration....

Theseus and the Minotaur

C: Every year King Minos ordered seven young men and women to be sent from Athens to ….

E: Crete. He needed food for the minotaur. One year Theseus went.

A: The minotaur was half bull and half man.

C: Theseus was the prince of Athens.

E: He wanted to kill the minotaur.

C: Theseus told his people that if he beat the minotaur, he would come back with white sails on his ship instead of black.

M: When they arrived in Crete, King Minos showed them the labyrinth that hid the minotaur.

C: The prisoners would be fed to the minotaur that night.

A: Ariadne gave him some rope and said that he should tie it onto the door of the labyrinth so that he could get back out.

E: He found the minotaur and they were fighting for hours. He finally killed it.

C: Then Theseus followed the string back to the door of the labyrinth and Ariadne had freed the other prisoners. Then they got on their ship and headed back to Athens but in their haste, they forgot to put up the white sails.

E: Theseus’ father, King Aegeus, saw the black sails and threw himself off a cliff into the sea.

A: When he arrived, the people told him that his father had thought he was dead and jumped into the sea. And the people told him that he was king now.

C: Theseus named the sea the Aegean Sea.

Horatius at the Bridge

The boys had fun narrating today. We read Horatius at the Bridge from Fifty Famous Tales Retold by James Baldwin. Then they used their Playmobil and Legos to narrate the events from the story. If you are not familiar with the story, the Etruscans are coming from the north to invade the city of Rome in the 6th century B.C. and only one bridge over the Tiber River stands in their way. Horatius volunteers to face the coming army.....

Here are their photos along with some prose from Thomas Babington Macaulay.

"In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three:
Now who will stop on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?

Then out spake Spurius Lartius-
A Ramnian proud was he;
'Lo, I will stand at thy right hand,
And keep the bridge with thee.'
And out spake strong Herminius, -
Of Titian blood was he:
'I will abide on thy left side,
And keep the bridge with thee."

But now no sound of laughter
Was heard among the foes.
A wild and wrathful clamour
From all the vanguard rose.
Six spears’ lengths from the entrance
Halted that deep array,
And for a space no man came forth
To win the narrow way.

But meanwhile axe and lever
Have manfully been plied;
And now the bridge hangs tottering
Above the boiling tide.
"Come back, come back, Horatius!"
Loud cried the Fathers all.-
"Back, Lartius! back, Herminius!
Back, ere the ruin fall!

Back darted Spurius Lartius;
Herminius darted back:
And, as they passed, beneath their feet
They felt the timbers crack.
But when they turned their faces,
And on the farther shore
Saw brave Horatius stand alone,
They would have crossed once more.

But with a crash like thunder
Fell every loosened beam,
And, like a dam, the mighty wreck
Lay right athwart the stream:
And a long shout of triumph
Rose from the walls of Rome,
As to the highest turret-tops
Was splashed the yellow foam.


.
Alone stood brave Horatius,
But constant still in mind;
Thrice thirty thousand foes before,
And the broad flood behind.

‘Oh, Tiber! father Tiber!
To whom the Romans pray,
A Roman’s life, a Roman’s arms,
Take thou in charge this day!’
So he spake, and speaking sheathed
The good sword by his side,
And with his harness on his back,
Plunged headlong in the tide.


But fiercely ran the current,
Swollen high by months of rain;
And fast his blood was flowing,
And he was sore in pain,
And heavy with his armor,
And spent with changing blows:
And oft they thought him sinking ,
But still again he rose.

And now he feels the bottom;
Now on dry earth he stands;
Now round him throng the Fathers
To press his gory hands:
And now with shouts and clapping,
And noise of weeping loud,
He enters through the River Gate,
Borne by the joyous crowd.

With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old.