Complete the corrections of the pourquoi tale from classwork
Homework: Write your own Pouquoi Tale
1, 2, or 3 paragraphs -- your choice
Indicate 1 of each DRESS UP per paragraph
Indicate 1 of each OPENER per paragraph
Indicate 1 DEC in each paragraph
Indicate 1 M3 in each paragraph
Indicate 1 OWL in the whole essay
NOs are the same . . . . EXCEPT for dialogue . . . . Minimal dialogue is allowed
How to Write a Pourquoi Tale
There are several elements to a pourquoi tale. As you read these how and why stories, you’ll probably notice a pattern among the various folktales.
- The title should have “How” or “Why” in it.
- Animals, people, and elements of nature are at the center of the story.
- Animals or natural elements have human like-qualities, such as the ability to talk.
- The story begins with how things were, before i.e, “In the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk.”
- A character has a problem or a habit.
- A series of events occur causing a change.
- The folktale ends with the character or element of the world as it looks now.
There was once an old woman who was very poor and lived in a small mud hut thatched with mats made from leaves of the palm in the bush. She was often hungry, as there was no one to look after her.
In the olden days the moon used often to come down to the earth, although she lived most of the time in the sky. The moon was a fat woman with a skin of hide, and she was full of fat meat. She was quite round, and in the night used to give plenty of light. The moon was sorry for the poor starving old woman, so she came to her and said, “You may cut some of my meat away for your food.” This the old woman did every evening, and the moon got smaller and smaller until you could scarcely see her at all. Of course this made her give very little light, and all the people began to grumble in consequence, and to ask why it was that the moon was getting so thin.
At last the people went to the old woman’s house where there happened to be a little girl sleeping. She had been there for some little time, and had seen the moon come down every evening, and the old woman go out with her knife and carve her daily supply of meat out of the moon. As she was very frightened, she told the people all about it, so they determined to set a watch on the movements of the old woman.
That very night the moon came down as usual, and the old woman went out with her knife and basket to get her food; but before she could carve any meat all the people rushed out shouting, and the moon was so frightened that she went back again into the sky, and never came down again to the earth. The old woman was left to starve in the bush.
Ever since that time the moon has hidden herself most of the day, as she was so frightened, and she still gets very thin once a month, but later on she gets fat again, and when she is quite fat she gives plenty of light all the night; but this does not last very long, and she begins to get thinner and thinner, in the same way as she did when the old woman was carving her meat from her.
