MYTHS AND HEROES - DOCUMENTS

LESSON 1

HEROES AND CELEBRITIES

Match the words with the definitions on the right.

Celebrity, charity, hero, leader, legend, myth, philanthropy, role model, service, volunteer

Person who shows the way or directs others; guide; be the first or head of

A person who is usually successful or inspiring in some social role and serves as an example for others

Good will or love toward others

The act or work of helping others; aid

Private action for the public good

Someone who does a job or gives services freely and usually without pay

A popular story whose truth has not been ascertained

Any person admired for great courage, nobility, qualities, or achievements

A superhuman being of an earlier age taken as a true account, usually of how natural phenomena, social customs, etc, came into existence

A highly visible person, known for some form of talent, character, or quality

LESSON 2

Birth of a Hero

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Usually the boys played among themselves, but we sometimes allowed our sisters to join us. Boys and girls would play games like ndize (hide-and-seek) and icekwa (touch and run). But the game I most enjoyed playing with the girls was what we called khetha, or choose-the-one-you-like. This was not so much an organised game, but a spur-of-the-moment sport that took place when we accosted a group of girls our own age and demanded that each select the boy she loved.

Our rules dictated that the girl's choice be respected and once she had chosen her favourite, she was free to continue on her journey escorted by the lucky boy she loved. But the girls were far cleverer than us and would often confer among themselves and choose one boy, usually the plainest fellow, and then tease him all the way home.

The most popular game for boys was thinti, and like most boys' games it was a youthful approximation of war. Two sticks, used as targets, would be driven firmly into the ground in an upright position about one hundred feet apart. The goal of the game was for each team to hurl sticks at the opposing target and knock it down.

We each defended our own target and attempted to prevent the other side from retrieving the sticks that had been thrown. As we grew older, we organised matches against boys from neighbouring villages, and those who distinguished themselves in these battles were greatly admired.

After games such as these, I would return to my mother's kraal where she was preparing supper. Whereas my father once told stories of historic battles and heroic Xhosa warriors, my mother would enchant us with Xhosa legends and fables that had come down from numberless generations. These tales stimulated my childish imagination, and usually contained some moral lesson. I recall one story my mother told us about a traveller who was approached by an old woman with terrible cataracts on her eyes. The woman asked the traveller for help, and the man averted his eyes. Then another man came along and was approached by the old woman. She asked him to clean her eyes, and even though he found the task unpleasant, he did as she asked.

Then, miraculously, the scales fell from the old woman's eyes and she became young and beautiful. The man married her and became wealthy. It is a simple tale, but its message is an enduring one: virtue and generosity will be rewarded in ways that one cannot know.

On the first day of school, my teacher gave each of us an English name and said that from then on that was the name we would answer to in school. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. That day the teacher told me that my new name was Nelson. Why this particular name was bestowed on me I have no idea. Perhaps it had something to do with the great British sea captain Lord Nelson, but that would only be a guess.

From Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela, 1994

Find in the text the equivalents for:

1. to throw with great force: ….................................................2. to get or fetch back again: …................................................

3. a hut village in southern Africa: …......................................4. to turn away or aside : ….......................................................5. tendency: …........................................................6. awarded or given: …........................................................

LESSON 3

So who was King Arthur?

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We can be certain King Arthur was not a medieval King with a bevy of knights in suits of armour and a big castle called Camelot. We know very little historically but if he existed, then King Arthur was probably a 5th century warrior chief who protected his peoples from the Saxon invaders for a time. The battle of Camlan is probably connected to King Arthur. But everything about King Arthur is conjecture. He could have come from Cornwall, Wales, Southern England, Northern England. Britain abounds with sites which have King Arthur connections.

King Arthur was said to be the son of Uther Pendragon and Ygraine of Cornwall. Arthur is a near mythic figure in Celtic stories such as Culhwch and Olwen. In early chronicles he is presented as a military leader, the dux bellorum, during a war-torn period in Welsh history, and becomes the leader of a large kingdom he has created by military victories against the invading Saxons. In some accounts, Arthur goes on to invade France, defeats the Roman armies and almost conquers the remnants of the Roman empire. In later romance he is a king and emperor. The Tudor monarchs traced their lineage to King Arthur and used that connection as a justification for their occupation of the English throne.

According to the legend, one day, Merlin advised the Archbishop of Canterbury to invite the warring lords to London for Christmas, where mysteriously appeared in the churchyard, against the high altar, a four foot marble cube, and set in it a steel anvil, and stuck in that a sword. Written in gold on the sword were the words "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of all England ". Several tried, but all failed, so the Archbishop called a joust for New Year's Day, so everyone could have a try. Everybody there was out watching the joust, when Arthur removed the sword with ease.

Irrespective of whether King Arthur was real or mythical, it cannot be denied that King Arthur has been a major influence on literature, from the early Middle Ages to the present day. And although if King Arthur had been a "real" king, he would have lived around the 5th or 6th centuries, it is more as a Middle Ages knight that he is presented in literature. The central story is of a noble kingdom of high ideals, whose ideals are undermined by the adultery of Queen Guinevere with Lancelot, the most noble of all the knights. And eventually brought down by the treachery of Mordred. And in spite of this, Arthur's memory lives on.

From http://www.legendofkingarthur.co.uk

LESSON 4

LESSON 5

Campaigner: There is only one man who can rid the politics of this state of the evil domination of Boss Jim Gettys. I am speaking of Charles Foster Kane, the fighting liberal, the friend of the working man, the next governor of this State, who entered upon this campaign --

Kane: -- with one purpose only: To point out and make public the dishonesty, the downright villainy of Boss Jim W. Gettys' political machine -- now in complete control of the government of this State! I made no campaign promises, because until a few weeks ago I had no hope of being elected. Now, however, I have something more than a hope. And Jim Gettys has something less than a chance. Every straw vote, every independent poll shows that I'll be elected. Now I can afford to make some promises! The working man and the slum child know they can expect my best efforts in their interests. The decent ordinary citizens know that I'll do everything in my power to protect the underprivileged -- the underpaid and the underfed. Well, I'd make my promises now if I weren't to busy arranging to keep them. Here's one promise I'll make, and boss Jim Gettys knows I'll keep it: My first official act as Governor of this State will be to appoint a Special District Attorney to arrange for the indictment, prosecution, and conviction of Boss Jim W. Gettys!

LESSON 6

Past Perfect: Choose the correct form, past simple or pluperfect1. The meeting was at nine o'clock. When I ______________________________(arrive) at ten, the meeting had finished. 2. When we got to the airport, I realized that I ______________________________ (leave) my passport at home. 3. He didn't realize that he had gone through a red light, until a policeman ______________________________ (stop) him. 4. They didn't want to go to the cinema because they ______________________________(see) the film the week before. 5. Barbara ______________________________(change) so much that I didn't recognize her. 6. The next day, she moved away, as she ______________________________(plan) to. 7. They wondered where she ______________________________ (go). 8. When she had cried for half an hour she ______________________________ (begin) to feel better. 9. For three weeks she behaved as if nothing ______________________________ (change). 10. She ______________________________(take) the news as calmly as if she had expected it.

LESSON 7

Back, by Wilfred W. Gibson

They ask me where I’ve been,And what I’ve done and seen.

But what can I replyWho know it wasn’t I,

But someone just like me,Who went across the sea

And with my head and handsKilled men in foreign lands...

Though I must bear the blameBecause he bore my name.