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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Narrative Text - Why Does the Cock Eat the Millipede?


In this section, you will learn how to:
• read narrative text
• respond narrative text
Why Does the Cock Eat the Millipede?

Long ago the cock had a pair of beautiful horns on his head. But at that time there was a dragon who was prevented from ascending into heaven because he lacked a pair of horns. And so he offered the millipedenas a guarantor, and borrowed the horns from the cock!

When the millipede came for the horns, he said to the cock: "When you want your horns back, you must call out at dawn: 'Give me back my horns!' and they will be returned to you at once. You need have no occasion to be concerned in the least."

The kind cock knew how difficult it was to ascend to heaven, so, reassured by the good security the millipede offered, he loaned his horns without hesitation, just twisting them right off his head. He also thought to himself that when the dragon returned from his visit to heaven, they could sit down and have a good conversation; he would ask the dragon to tell him how things were in heaven, and if it really was beautiful there, as he had always heard. If it was true, he might consider going there himself someday, he thought.

So, next morning at daybreak (for the dragon's visit was scheduled to be brief), the cock called out loudly: "Give me back my horns!" But, even though he repeated this demand ten times over, there was no sign at all of either the dragon or the horns. Worried, the cock promptly went off to complain to the millipede, who soothed him, saying: "If the dragon has not returned the horns this morning, then he will certainly do so tomorrow. At the very latest, the day after that. Just learn to be a little patient and your horns will soon be back on your head, just as before."

The cock did wait several days, but although he called out every morning at sunrise: "Give me back my horns!" They never did reappear. The cock was extremely annoyed at this deception and loss, as you can well imagine, therefore he ordered all the members of his family to eat millipedes on sight.

Even so, the cock has not yet given up hope of getting his horns returned. He ordered his descendants always to call out at the break of day: "Give me back my horns!" He still hopes that the dragon may hear him!

Activity A 
Choose T if the statement is true and F if it is false based on the text.

  1. T - F The cock got information about heaven from the dragon.
  2. T - F The dragon didn't return the cock's horns.
  3. T - F The millipede was a successful deceiver.
  4. T - F The cock asked all the members of his family to eat millipedes because he had been deceived.
  5. T - F The cock didn't expect the dragon to return his horns anymore.

Activity B   
Still in pairs, answer the questions based on text in Activity A.

1. Find out the participants of the story.
2. What is the first paragraph called?
3. In which paragraph can you find complication of the text?
4. In which paragraph can you find Resolution of the text?
5. What tenses are mostly used in the text above?

Taken from Developing English Competencies for Grade XI of Natural and Social Science Programmes, page 39 - 41.