The Brothers Grimm

STRATEGIES & SkiLLS AT A GLANCE
Read to
Find Out
What does thi s
author want you
to kn ow about
sto ry telle rs?
Comprehension
• St rategy: Summary
• Skill: Author's Purpose
Vocabulary
• acceptance excitement, proper,
single, ta lented, useful
Vacabulary Strategy
• Content Clues: Word Clues
Content-Area Voc abulary
Words related to storytellers
(see glossary)
CONTENT STANDARDS
Social Studi es
• History
Word count: 538**
Cover Phot o: Lawrence MlgdolelPlXIAlomy
Illus tra tio n Credits: S (t) Joe LeMo nnier
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Music and Art s Photo Llbrory/Alorny. 10 : (er) Duve Bartruff/CORBIS . II : (bTl The Gronger Collection, New York
14: (br) Bo b Doernrnri ch! PhOfOEdl t .
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Table of Contents
Introduction ....................... 2
Chapter 1 Aesop ................... 4
Chapter 2 The Brothers Grimm ..... 7
Chapter 3 Virginia Hamilton ....... 11
Conclusion . ....................... 14
Glossary/Index . ................... 15
Comprehension Check ............. 16
Inl..oduclion
Why do we like stories? Are they fun
to read? Do they teach us useful lessons?
We enjoy stories for a lot of reasons.
Some of the best stories come from
today's talented authors. Others come
from long, long ago.
Old stories are often
passed down in families.
Where did those stories
come from? Who told
them first? Let's find out.
o Aesop, the Brothers Grimm,
and Virginia Hamilton were
storytellers. They gave us many
stories that we enjoy today.
3
Chapter
I
Aesop
Do you know the story of the tortoise
and the hare? They wanted to race.
The hare thought he would win. So he
stopped for a nap. The
tortoise kept going,
and he won!
The story is a
fable, or a short story
with a lesson. Many
fables came from a
man named Aesop
(EE-suhp).
Aesop lived in Greece:l
many years ago. He
told fables to people
he met as he traveled
around Greece.
o In Aesop's times Greece covered a
lot of different lands.
Aesop's fables are famous. But we don't
know much about Aesop himself. We do
know that he was born a slave. He was
set free later in life.
Aesop's fables have been gathered into
books. Today there are many collections
of fables to enjoy. Each fable has a
lesson, or a moral. The morals teach us
about life.
Aesop's fables are like old friends. We
never get tired of them.
Here are some morals from Aesop's fables.
• Do not count your chickens
before they are hatched.
• Don't cry over spilt milk.
"The Milkmaid and Her Pail"
• Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing.
"The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"
Chapter
2
The Brothers Grimm
Which fairy tale do you like best?
Do you like "Snow White"? How about
"Tom Thumb"? There are so many to
choose from. It's hard to pick one single
tale as the one you like best.
Where did these wonderful stories
come from? Some of the best tales come
from two brothers.
They are called the
Brothers Grimm.
The Brothers Grimm:>
lived in Germany.
n The brothers lived in this house
when they were young. The house
is now a museum.
The Brothers Grimm loved stories.
And they traveled far and wide to hear
tales that people told. The brothers
wanted to save the tales they heard. So
they wrote them down.
The brothers printed the tales in
a book. At first they just wanted to
share the tales to save them. But they
achieved more than this. The tales
found acceptance by readers. The readers
enjoyed them. They became known as
Grimm's fairy tales.
Storytellers from Germany, Denmark, and
France also told fairy tales.
9
Grimm's fairy tales are filled with
excitement. But they also teach lessons.
They show us
that hard work
pays off. Mean
people get
punished. And
clever ones
Will.
Thanks to
the Brothers
Grimm, we
can still enjoy
these old lessons
today.
o This statue stands in a
town in Germany. The
animals are from Grimm's
fairy tale "The Bremen
Town Musicians." In the
tale the animals learn to
work together.
Chapter
3
Vi"ginia Hamilton
Have you ever heard of Brer Rabbit?
He's a clever rabbit in African American
folk tales. He's smart and quick, like the
storytellers themselves had to be.
The people told other tales, too. Some
were about nature. Others were about
freedom from slavery. A writer named
Virginia Hamilton loved these tales.
Brer Rabbit is tricky. In
one story he fools a fox.
He begs the fox not to
throw him into some
thorn bushes. The fox
doesn't know that Brer
Rabbit grew up in thorn
bushes. So he throws Brer
Rabbit in. That's just what the clever rabbit
wants, and he hops away.
II
As a girl Hamilton heard lots of
stories. When she grew up, she wanted
to share her these stories with others.
Hamilton wrote down the tales she
knew. She told them in the proper way.
She wanted to make sure her tales were
true to the old tales.
Virginia Hamilton wrote a book called The
House of Dies Drear. It is set in a house
that was on the Underground Railroad. The
Underground Railroad helped slaves escape
to freedom in the North. It was made up of
people and places. Safe places along the way
were called "stations." People who helped the
slaves were called "conductors."
o These are paths slaves took when they
escaped.
The title for The People Could Fly comes from
the last tale in the book. In the tale some
people escape slavery by flying away.
Hamilton put the tales in a book
called The People Could Fly. The book
is written for all readers. It tells about
hopes and dreams. It helps us honor the
lives of the people who told the stories.
Virginia Hamilton knew that telling
folk tales keeps the past alive.
The title for The People Could Fly comes from
the last tale in the book. In the tale some
people escape slavery by flying away.
Hamilton put the tales in a book
called The People Could Fly. The book
is written for all readers. It tells about
hopes and dreams. It helps us honor the
lives of the people who told the stories.
Virginia Hamilton knew that telling
folk tales keeps the past alive.
Glossary
fable (FAY-buh/) short story that
teaches a lesson (page
ll)
fairy tale (FAYR-ee tayf) story with
magical events and characters, such
as fairies, elves, and giants (page
7)
folk tales (FOHK TAYLZ) stories that
are part of the culture of a people,
passed down from generation to
generation (page
11)
moral (MAWR-uhf) lesson about how to
behave that is taught in a fable or
other story (page 6)
Index
Aesop, 4-6
folk tales, 1/-/3
Brer Rabbit, /I
Hamilton, Virginia,
Brothers Grimm, 7-/0
fables, 4-6
1/-/3
morals from fables, 6
fairy tales, 7-/0
15
Comprehension Check
Summarize
Clues
Use the Author's Purpose
Chart to tell why the author
wrote the book. Then
+
Autho r's Purpose
summarize that information .
Think and Compare
I. Reread page 14. Why did the author
write about Aesop, the Brothers
Grimm, and Virginia Hamilton?
(Evaluate Author's Purpose)
2. Name an old story that taught
you a lesson. What did you
learn from it? (Analyze)
3. People still tell the old stories today.
Why do they do this? (Synthesize)
16
Write Interview Questions
Write three questions you would like to
ask the storytel lers in the book. Share your
questions with a partner. Talk about how the
questions might be answered .
Favorite Stories
Ask a grown up in your family to tell you his
or her favor ite old story. Write down the title
of that story. Then share the story with a
partner. Listen to the story your partner tells.
Are they alike in any way?
3.2 Week 5
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