A culture seen through a story from another country

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The Pot of Wisdom (folktale from Ghana, retold)

   [1] Among the Akan people of Ghana, the stories of Ananse the spider are told aloud in the evenings, when the day's work is done and the household sits together under the open sky. [2] Ananse is a trickster who is clever, greedy, and rarely as wise as he believes, and the listeners always know it before he does. [3] In one story, Ananse decided that wisdom was too valuable to be shared among so many people, and set out to gather all of it from the world and keep it for himself. [4] He walked from village to village, collecting wise sayings, clever answers, and quiet advice, until he had stuffed them all into a large clay pot.

   [5] Ananse then decided to hide the pot at the top of the tallest tree, where no one could reach it, and tied the pot to his belly with a rope so that both hands would be free for climbing. [6] The pot got in the way at each branch, bumping against the trunk and pushing him backward, and Ananse struggled and sweated and made no progress. [7] At the foot of the tree, Ananse's young child watched for a long while and finally called out that it would be easier to tie the pot on his back.

   [8] Ananse stopped, astonished, because he had gathered all the wisdom in the world and had missed the one idea that a child could see. [9] In frustration at his own foolishness, he threw the pot to the ground, where it burst, and the wisdom flew out in every direction, carried by the wind to every village. [10] People everywhere found a scrap of it that evening, a saying here and a clever answer there, and that is why wisdom is found in every household and not stored in a single pot. [11] The villagers kept the sayings that came to them and passed them from elder to child and back again. [12] The story says that this is how it came to be known that no single person ever holds all wisdom.

2. 1.

   Bo imagines retelling this story in a school in the United States. Which choice says what a retelling would have to explain and what listeners there would understand without help?

   • Explain: why the child is small. Understand without help: the Akan evening storytelling.
   • Explain: nothing, because the story is the same everywhere. Understand without help: who Ananse is.
   • Explain: the clay pot and the tree. Understand without help: nothing in the story.
   • Explain: who Ananse is and why the stories are told in the evening. Understand without help: a clever grown-up missing what a child can see.
3. 2.

   Esme checks a claim against the text: wisdom ends up held by many people, and even a child can see what a great trickster misses. Which set of sentences supports both parts of the claim?

   • Sentences 7 and 8.
   • Sentences 10 and 12.
   • Sentences 8 and 10.
   • Sentences 1 and 8.
4. 3.

   Jun checks a claim against the text: Ananse begins by treating wisdom as something to own, and the story overturns that belief. Which set of sentences supports both parts of the claim?

   • Sentences 3 and 4.
   • Sentences 8 and 12.
   • Sentences 3 and 8.
   • Sentences 2 and 8.
5. 4.

   Kira compares two communities. In a US classroom, a teacher keeps the answer key locked in a drawer so that only the teacher has every answer. Which comparison is supported by both?

   • Alike: one person tries to keep all the answers to themselves. Different: nothing.
   • Alike: both the teacher and Ananse tie a heavy pot to the body to climb. Different: the teacher uses a drawer.
   • Alike: nothing. Different: in the story, a child's idea breaks open the hiding place and wisdom spreads to everyone.
   • Alike: one person tries to keep all the answers to themselves. Different: in the story, a child's idea breaks open the hiding place and wisdom spreads to everyone.
6. 5.

   Luz compares two communities. In a US town, neighbors put extra vegetables on a table outside and take what they need. Which comparison is supported by both?

   • Alike: both treat something valuable as meant to be shared among many people. Different: nothing.
   • Alike: the sharing happens by accident when the pot breaks, while the table is shared on purpose. Different: both treat something valuable as meant to be shared among many people in their communities.
   • Alike: both treat something valuable as meant to be shared among many people. Different: in the story, the sharing happens by accident when the pot breaks, while the table is shared on purpose.
   • Alike: both are about food that neighbors grow. Different: the story is about a pot and the table is about vegetables.

7. The Grass Bridge (story set in Peru)

   [1] High in the Andes of Peru, Noah traveled with a school group to a canyon where a footbridge made of woven grass hung above a fast river. [2] The guide, Mr. Quispe, explained that the bridge was rebuilt every year by the families of nearby Quechua communities, because grass ropes weaken in the weather and are not meant to last. [3] Noah had expected a tourist attraction, but what Noah found on the canyon rim was a busy work site, with families sitting in rows, twisting dry grass into ropes as thick as an arm.

   [4] Each family, Mr. Quispe said, brought its own rope to the work, and the ropes were braided together into huge cables, which were pulled across the canyon by teams from both sides. [5] Noah asked who was in charge, and Mr. Quispe answered that the community leaders gave directions, but that the work itself ran on ayni, a Quechua word for repaying help with help. [6] When one family needs a roof raised or a field planted, he said, the neighbors come, and the family returns the same help at the neighbors' next need, without keeping a written account.

   [7] The builders worked for several days, tying cable to cable while teams hauled on the ropes from both rims of the canyon. [8] Noah was handed a short length of grass and shown how to twist it, and the braiding took forty minutes to learn and a lifetime, Mr. Quispe said, to do well. [9] On the last day, the finished bridge was tested, and a line of builders crossed it in single file while the watchers on both rims answered with a shout.

   [10] Noah noticed that nobody had been thanked in speeches, and asked why. [11] Mr. Quispe said that thanks in speeches belong to a gift, and that ayni is not a gift but a way of living with neighbors, where the next turn always comes. [12] Back home, Noah wrote in a notebook that the bridge was not only a bridge across a river, but also a bridge between one year's neighbors and the next.

8. 6.

   Milo imagines a school in the United States telling this story in a town like its own. Which choice says what would have to change and what could stay the same?

   • Would change: neighbors repaying help with help, without keeping a written account. Could stay: the grass bridge, the Quechua communities and the word ayni.
   • Would change: everything, including the habit of repaying help with help. Could stay: nothing.
   • Would change: nothing, because neighbors everywhere use the word ayni. Could stay: the grass bridge.
   • Would change: the grass bridge, the Quechua communities and the word ayni. Could stay: neighbors repaying help with help, without keeping a written account.
9. 7.

   Pia checks a claim against the text: the community treats the bridge as work that belongs to everyone and repays help with help. Which set of sentences supports both parts of the claim?

   • Sentences 4 and 6.
   • Sentences 1 and 2.
   • Sentences 5 and 6.
   • Sentences 3 and 4.
10. 8.

    Ren checks a claim against the text: thanks in this community are given through the next turn of help and not through speeches. Which set of sentences supports both parts of the claim?

    • Sentences 9 and 10.
    • Sentences 8 and 9.
    • Sentences 1 and 11.
    • Sentences 10 and 11.
11. 9.

    Tala compares two communities. In a US town, neighbors sign up on a chart to bring meals to a family with a new baby, and the chart records who gave. Which comparison is supported by both?

    • Alike: both communities build a bridge together over a river. Different: ayni keeps no written account, while the chart records who gave.
    • Alike: neighbors give help to a family at a time of need. Different: ayni keeps a written account, while the chart does not.
    • Alike: nothing. Different: ayni keeps no written account, while the chart records who gave.
    • Alike: neighbors give help to a family at a time of need. Different: ayni keeps no written account, while the chart records who gave.
12. 10.

    Zee compares two communities. In a US school, a parent group thanks volunteers with speeches and certificates at the end of the year. Which comparison is supported by both?

    • Alike: both communities rely on volunteers to get shared work done. Different: the school thanks volunteers in speeches, while ayni treats the next turn of help as the thanks.
    • Alike: both communities rely on volunteers to get shared work done. Different: nothing.
    • Alike: both communities give certificates to the builders. Different: the school gives speeches, and ayni gives nothing.
    • Alike: nothing. Different: the school thanks volunteers in speeches, while ayni treats the next turn of help as the thanks.