CHAPTER 1 LESSON 1

Read the short story below and work on the questions that follow it. Put all your answers in your Reading notebook.

“The Farmer and the Troll”

by

Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

and Clara M. Lewis

(1) There was once a man who owned a little farm. He worked hard and his crops grew well. But then things began to go badly. The milk went sour. And weeds choked his crops.

(2) Then one night the farmer saw a bright light skipping about in the field. He knew it was the one shining eye of a troll. So that was the cause of all his troubles! A troll had come to live on his farm. He looked high and low, but he couldn't find the troll's hiding place.

(3) One day the farmer was out digging, getting ready to plant some crops. He turned over a large clod of earth. And then he heard a grumbling voice coming up out of the ground.

(4) “There, you did it again," said the voice. “You're tearing up my roof. I live down here under this hill!" It was the troll who spoke.

(5) Well, the farmer didn't know what to do. It was his hill also. Then he thought of a plan. He called down to the troll.

(6) “I'm sorry I disturbed you. What do you say to this? I'II grow a crop each year and we will share it. One year you shall have everything that grows above the ground. I will take what grows below the ground. The next year you shall have what grows below. And my share will be what grows above. That's fair, isn't it?"

(7) “Very good," said the troll. “This year I want what grows above the ground."

(8) The farmer laughed to himself. That was fine, for he was planting potatoes. When they had sprouted

and grown, the trop came with a little knife to cut all the potato tops. He didn't seem to know that the potatoes grew underground. And he was content.

(9) The next season it was the troll's turn to have what grew below the ground. So the farmer planted corn. When the corn was ripe, the farmer cut it. The troll stayed underground cutting the roots. So it went year after year. And the troll stopped making mischief.

(10) And that just goes to show that troIIs are easily satisfied-and very poor farmers.

How Well Did You Read?

1. (Recall the result.) After the troll came to live on the farm,

a. everything went wrong

b. the crops grew well

c. nothing happened

2. (Recall the order.) The first time the farmer heard the troll speak,

a. he was a out digging

b. thinking of a plan

c. watching a bright light in the field

3. (Recall the details.) The farmer's plan was to

a. share his crops with the troll

b. give the troll all the crops

c. share his money with the troll

4. (Recall the result.) After the troll was given part of the crops, he

a. began to ask for more

b. stopped making mischief

c. invited other trolls to the farm

5. (Choose the main idea.) This story just goes to show that trolls

a. can be greedy and troublesome

b. are easily satisfied-and are poor farmers

c. grumble a lot

Learn about Words

A. Often you can find out the meaning of a word by seeing how it is used in a story. The other words in the story give you clues.

Directions: Find the word in the story that best fits each meaning below. (A paragraph number tells you where to look.) Write the word.

6. stopped the growth of (1)

7. ugly dwarf (2)

8. lump; piece (3)

9. muttering; complaining (3)

10. bothered; upset (6)

11. divide; each take part of (6)

12. satisfied; pleased (8)

13. trouble; damage (9)

B. A word may have more than one meaning. Its meaning will depend on how it is used. For example:

My dad is a football fan.

He keeps cool with an electric fan.

Directions: Look at each word in heavy type below. Note the paragraph number. Look back at the paragraph. How is the word used there? Which meaning does it have? Write a or b.

14. fine (8)

a. all right; satisfactory

b. thin; slender; delicate

15. poor (10)

a. bad; not good

b. not rich; having little money

C. draw cause

straw haunt

In these words, the sound of aw is the same as the sound of au. When this vowel sound is at the end of a word, it is usually spelled with aw-as in draw. When it comes before the end, it is usually spelled with au-as in cause. But a few words have aw before the end. Lawn and hawk are like that.

Directions: There are three words on each line. Two of them have the same vowel sound. Write the two that have the same vowel sound.

16. pause, plants, paws

17. sap, sauce, saw

18. draw, drank, daughter

19. hawk, ham, haul

20. clamp, claw, clause

D. rip sit bat

ripped sitting batter

All the words in the top row end with a short vowel and one consonant letter. The second row shows how they look with the endings ed, ing, and er. Notice that the final consonant of the shorter word has been doubled before the ending. When words end with a short vowel and only one consonant letter, you usually double that last letter be- fore the endings ed, ing, and er.

sitting = sit + t + ing

Directions: Each word ends in ed, ing, or er. Write it the way it would be without the ending. For example, if you read digging, you write dig.

21. running

22. digger

23. tripped

24. sipping

25. canned

CHECK ANSWERS