Modest, hospitality, larder, scald, linden

Facts and details: Literal Meaning

What were Philemon and Baucis doing when the strangers arrived?

What did Baucis tell the travelers that wasn’t really true?

Why does Philemon think the guests are someone special?

What happens to the town where Philemon and Baucis lived?

How does Jupiter keep his promise that they won’t have to see each other die?

What’s going on? Reading comprehension

Why does Baucis tell the travelers that she and Philemon already ate supper?

Why does the goose fly up onto the bench and sit between the guests?

Why did Jupiter decide not to let Philemon and Baucis drown with everyone else?

What connection is there between how Philemon and Baucis treated the strangers and how they act towards each other?

Newspaper activity

In this story, Jupiter punishes evil by sending a flood to the Earth. Ancient people tried to find meaning in the bad things that happened to them, and we do the same today.

Find a recent newspaper story about a natural disaster and look into what causes these events. Is there a way that people could stop that sort of thing from happening? Is there anything people can do to lessen the damage from these events?

Where did the event you discovered in the paper take place? Are there reasons that it did more, or less, damage there than it might have done in another part of the world?

What are the chances this could happen in your community? If it could, and did, would it be worse, not as bad or about the same as it was in the example you found? Why?

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