Lesson 12

Trumpet of the Swan

“Well,” said the cob, “I guess it’s no use. I guess you are dumb.” When he heard the word “dumb,” Louis felt like crying. The cob saw that he had hurt Louis’s feelings. “You misunderstand me, my son,” he said in a comforting voice. “You failed to understand my use of the word ‘dumb,’ which has two meanings. If I had called you a dumb cluck or a dumb bunny, that would have meant that I had a poor opinion of your intelligence. Actually, I think you are perhaps the brightest, smartest , most intelligent of all my cygnets. Words sometimes have two meanings; the word ‘dumb’ is such a word. A person who can’t speak is called dumb. That simply means he can’t say anything. Do you understand?”

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. Text © 1970 by E.B. White. Selection reprinted by permission of Harper Collins Publishers.

1. a. Listen as your teacher reads the literature passage. Read the passage silently. Ask your teacher to help you with difficult words. When you are ready, read the passage out loud to your teacher. In your own words, tell your teacher what is happening in this passage. The retelling of an event is called narration.

b. As your teacher reads the lines in bold print out loud, write them down. Compare your copy to the literature passage and make corrections.

c. List four to six words that you should study for spelling this week, or use the following list of suggested words: heard, misunderstand, comforting, voice.

The three most common ways of spelling the /er/ sound are er, ir, and ur. There is one more, ear.

Spelling Tip

Words with a soft g sound preceded by a sh