Name: Date: Teacher: Reading Fiction (myth, fable, legend) Lesson Quick Codes for this set: LZ691, LZ692, LZ693, LZ694, LZ695, LZ696 Common Core State Standards addressed: RL.7.1, RL.7.10, RL.7.2, RL.7.4 Lesson Text: The Story of Arachne, Nature s Weaver, adapted from the Greek Myth by B.P. Skinner Assessment Text: Snaring the Sun, adapted from A Collection of Native Legends compiled by Thos. G. Throm (1907), courtesy of Gutenberg.org Directions: Today you will be taking a short test using what you have learned about reading fiction texts. 1) (RL.7.10) Preview Snaring the Sun. Is this story a myth, fable, or legend? How do you know? Now read Snaring the Sun then answer the questions below.
2) (RL.7.4) Use the footnotes in Snaring the Sun to determine the meaning of the word kapas in the first paragraph. Then describe your understanding of what kapas means in the space below. 3) (RL.7.3) What kind of person is the character Maui? How do you know? Complete the table to explain what kind of person Maui is using evidence from the text to support your answer. What Maui thinks, says, and does What kind of person is Maui?
4) (RL.7.1) In the space below, sketch a plot development chart (story mountain) that shows the rising action, climax, and resolution of Snaring the Sun. Include at least six events on your chart. 5) (RL.7.1) Do you recognize any archetypes in the story Snaring the Sun? Explain your thinking using evidence from the text to support your answer.
6) (RL.7.2) What is a theme of Snaring the Sun? Use specific evidence from the story to support your answer.
Maui was the son of Hina- lau- ae and Hina, and they dwelt 1 at a place called Makalia, above Kahakuloa, on West Maui. Now, his mother Hina made kapas. 2 And as she spread them out to dry, the days were so short that she was put to great trouble in hanging them out and taking them in day after day until they were dry. Maui, seeing this, was filled with pity for her, for the days were so short that, no sooner had she got her kapas all spread out to dry, then the Sun went down, and she had to take them in again. So he determined to make the Sun go slower. He first went to Wailohi, in Hamakua, on East Maui, to observe the motions of the Sun. There he saw that it rose toward Hana. He then went up on Haleakala, and saw that the Sun in its course came directly over that mountain. He then went home again, and after a few days went to a place called Paeloko, at Waihee. There, he cut down all the coconut- trees, and gathered the fiber of the coconut husks 3 in great quantity. This he manufactured into strong rope. As Maui was working, Moemoe strolled slowly along and happened to see him bent, sweating, over the rope. Moemoe had heard the rumors about Maui and the Sun. With a wide, taunting grin Moemoe teased, You will never catch the Sun. You are an idle 4 nobody. Maui looked up slowly. His eyes narrowed, but his voice remained steady as he calmly replied, When I conquer my enemy, the Sun, I will come back and find you. You will regret your words, Moemoe. Moemoe shrugged his shoulders and walked away laughing loudly to himself and telling all who would listen about Maui s foolish plan. 1 Lived 2 In traditional native Hawaiian culture, kapas, or kapa- cloth, is a cloth made by pounding the bark of certain trees and then spreading thin sheets of the pulp out to dry in the sun. 3 The husk of a coconut is an extremely tough layer of material that is often used to weave mats, rope, or string. 4 lazy 1 Page
So Maui went back to his work, making a rope strong enough and long enough to capture the Sun. When it was complete, he went up Haleakala again, taking his rope with him. And when the Sun rose above where he stood, he tied a noose 5 in the rope and, throwing it, snared one of the Sun s larger beams. The beam broke off. Working slowly and carefully in this way, he snared and broke off, one after another, all the strong rays of the Sun. Then Maui shouted: Now you are my prisoner, Sun, and now I will kill you for going across the sky so swiftly that my mother, Hina, cannot dry her kapas. And the Sun said: Let me live, Maui! Let me live and you will see me go more slowly hereafter. Look, Maui, look! You have broken off all my strong legs, and left me only the weak ones. How can I go fast now? So the agreement was made, and Maui allowed the Sun to continue along its course through the sky. From that time on, the Sun went more slowly; and that is the reason why the days are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter. Maui returned from Mount Haleakala, triumphant. But he had not forgotten the mocking words of Moemoe. Before even returning to his mother, Maui sought out Moemoe. But Moemoe was nowhere to be found. Maui searched high and low until at last he found him in a place called Kawaiopilopilo. Moemoe, seeing the darkness in Maui s eyes as he approached, sword in hand, sprinted down the beach, dodged up a steep hill and then dodged right back down. Maui followed, never tiring. At last, Maui, the great warrior, Snarer of the Sun, leaped upon his enemy and slashed him with his sword. Moemoe instantly transformed into a long, shining black rock, which can still be seen to this day, lying idly by the side of the road. 5 A noose is a loop tied in a rope that can tighten around an object when the rope is pulled. 2 Page