&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS                                                                    CA806C.TXT

GRADE 6, 1980s

combined: CA806 16 page sample (n=5750) drawn from OISE/UT Toronto 9-10 Dec 2003
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1st Edited by dph 21 Dec 2003
re-edited 21 June 2005

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His cheeks, head and wings are a rich tawny color, edged in black. His talons and beak are black,
and his eyes are big golden circles.
=Pops came to us when he was about three months old. He had never seen anything but people,
so it was much too late to convince him that he was an owl. Because he was such a mixed-up
bird, he couldn't be released back into the wild, but neither could we keep such a big owl in the
house. We had to put him out in a large flight cage with some other Great Horned Owls, but not
knowing they were his species, it must have been a lonely life for him.
Then one spring we made an amazing discovery. We had just received a young Great Horned
Owl with a broken leg, and we had to put its leg in a splint for two weeks. Because we wanted
the young owl to see its own kind while its leg was healing, we hung its hospital cage outside the
big cage so it could see other birds at Horned Owls. The little cage had a tiny door through which
we could push mice.  When it saw all those adult Horned Owls sitting there in the big cage, the
juvenile instinctively began to call for food. It knew that they were its species, and it obviously
felt they should be doing something about fetching food. The next day, when I came along with
the basket of mice, what should I see but =Pops, perched on a branch beside the little cage. He
was trying to push one of his mice through the wire to the owlet. Needless to say, the juvenile
was in whole-hearted agreement with this effort and was doing its best to grab the incoming end
of the mouse. It was also keeping up a constant squeal of encouragement.
What a fantastic sight! I could hardly believe my own eyes when I reflected that =Pops had just
sat forlornly in a corner of the big cage for the last three years, keeping well away from the
others.
Could it be that his behavior was triggered by instinct when he heard the owlet calling for food?
We knew that Pops had never had the experience of being a father himself. To test his instinct,
we started giving all the juvenile's mice to =Pops, along with his own. He never let us down. In
fact, he was such a diligent provider that he often gave the owlet his own mice too!



O n the day school closed for the summer, the =TEaton Department Store announced it was
going to sponsor a pet parade two weeks later, and there were going to be prizes for the most
interesting pets, and the best displays. =Bruce was the first of our gang to hear about it, and he
came right over to my house to tell =Murray and me.
"Hey!" said =Bruce, after he had told us all he knew. "With the animals we got, we could win a
dozen prizes. What about it?"
=Murray and I didn't need much convincing. We spent the next couple of days planning what
we'd do.
First we decided to hitch =Mutt and =Rex to my old express wagon. We would fix it up with
colored cardboard and stuff, so it looked like a circus wagon. We planned to put an old fur muff
of my mother's around =Mutt's neck to make him look like a lion, and we were going to paint
black stripes on =Rex so he would look like a zebra. Then we decided to build a circus cage on
the wagon, and fill it with different kinds of gophers. Finally, we decided to have the owls riding
on top of the cage, all dressed up in dolls' clothes.
We had two weeks to get things ready, and we really worked.
First we built the circus cage, and when we were finished it looked just like the real ones that
used to come to =Saskatoon with the =BaileyBrothers Circus every summer. Ours wasn't as
strong, though, because the sides were only cardboard, painted red and blue and yellow. And
instead of iron bars, we used chicken wire to keep the gophers from getting out.
When it was finished we made a hike out to the bluffs near the exhibition grounds, because that
was a good place to find wood gophers. We caught six of them, and on the way home we snared
about a dozen striped gophers that were living in a cutbank by the roadside. Together with the
thirty ordinary gophers we already had, this


publishers, all of whom promptly returned it. =Maud was discouraged. She tossed it into an old
hat box in the clothes room and forgot about it. She came across it some months later while
rummaging for something else, and on reading it over, she thought "it didn't seem so very bad."
She decided it was worth sending it out one more time before reworking it. This time, it was
accepted, together with a suggestion that she begin right away on a sequel.
"I thought girls in their teens might like it but that was the only audience I hoped to reach," she
wrote, astounded at the book's instant success when it was published in June =1908. The little
redheaded orphan girl had touched the hearts of all readers. "The most fascinating book of the
season," wrote the =MontrealStar. "An idyllic story, one of the most delightful books we have
read for many a day," commented the =NewYorkAmerican. The venerable =73-year-old =Mark
=Twain sent a personal letter to =Maud. "He wrote me that in =Anne I had created the dearest,
and most lovable child in fiction since the immortal =Alice.'" Almost the only critical voice was
that of the =NewYorkTimes: "=Anne is a bore  a mawkish, tiresome, impossible heroine."
In February =1909, =Maud received her first royalty check for the sum of =$1730. She was well
into the sequel demanded by her publishers, which appeared the following year as =Anne of
=Avonlea. Altogether, =Maud was to write eight books about =Anne, and by the time the last
one, =Anne of =Ingleside, was written in =1939, she was heartily tired of her heroine. "If the
thing takes," she had written prophetically after her second =Anne book, "they'll want me to write
her through college. The idea makes me sick. If I'm to be dragged at =Anne's chariot wheels the
rest of my life, I'll bitterly repent having created her." In the first five years of publication by the
=LCPageCo, =AnneofGreenGables ran through thirty-two editions. Two movies were to be made
from it, as well as two television serials and a popular musical. Since its first publication,
millions of copies have been sold in more than fifteen languages and in Braille for the blind.
=AnneofGreenGables is as popular today as it was in =1908.


stand when =Mom and =Dad told her that it was nearly time to light the Sabbath candles.
=Debbie felt awful that night, but there were other times that upset her even more. Times with
her aunts and uncles. Sometimes when =Grandma was all right and would forget little things like
anybody else, they would look at each other as though she were sick again. =Debbie thought that
every time old people forget things, younger people acted like they were senile. It was so unfair.
Then they would speak about =Grandma as if she weren't there, just the way they did with
children.
Other times with her aunts and uncles frightened =Debbie terribly. =Grandma was starting to
phone her children in the early hours of the morning sometimes, and they would come over the
next day and speak to =Mom and =Dad about what they called "the problem."
=Debbie remembered when =Mom wanted =Grandma so very much. Now the relatives gathered
in the living room trying to figure out what to do about the problem that no one wanted. =Debbie
shuddered when Uncle =Phil used the words, "put her away." He kept asking, "Will we have to
put her away?" =Debbie remembered =Sandy, =Richard's pet cocker spaniel. She remembered
how terrible her friend =Richard had felt when =Sandy grew old and sick and his parents took
Sandy to an animal shelter. They used the words "put her away" then too, and =Richard never
saw =Sandy again.
Even when Uncle =Phil wasn't around, the awful words, "put her away," kept ringing in
=Debbie's ears. The rest of the family was more polite. They kept saying "nursing home."
=Debbie had never been in a nursing home but =Jennifer once said that old people had
wheelchair races there. When =Debbie tried to imagine what a nursing home would be like, she
couldn't even begin to picture it. She just knew that they couldn't leave her grandmother in one of
those awful places. She would never let them take =Grandma away, no matter what.
Then one night when winter was over, just at the very start of spring, one night after =Debbie had
gone to bed, the doorbell rang. =Debbie looked at her clock radio. It was nearly midnight.


children at their mother's knee, each trying to claim her attention, and sometimes they all talked
at once, and interrupted each other, in their eagerness.
=Eighty-seven years before, the =Tucks had come from a long way to the east, looking for a
place to settle. In those days the wood was not a wood, it was a forest, just as her grandmother
had said: a forest that went on and on and on. They had thought they would start a farm, as soon
as they came to the end of the trees. But the trees never seemed to end. When they came to the
part that was now the wood, and turned from the trail to find a camping place, they happened on
the spring. "It was real nice," said Jesse with a sigh. "It looked just the way it does now. A
clearing, lots of sunshine, that big tree with all those knobby roots. We stopped and everyone
took a drink, even the horse."
"No," said =Mae, "the cat didn't drink. That's important." "Yes," said =Miles, "don't leave that
out. We all had a drink, except for the cat."
"Well, anyway," =Jesse went on, "the water tasted-sort of strange. But we camped there
overnight. And =Pa carved a =T on the tree trunk, to mark where we'd been. And then we went
on."
They had come out of the forest at last, many miles to the west, had found a thinly populated
valley, had started their farm. "We put up a house for =Ma and =Pa," said =Miles, "and a little
shack for =Jesse and me. We figured we'd be starting families of our own pretty soon and would
want our own houses."
"That was the first time we figured there was something peculiar," said =Mae. "=Jesse fell out of
a tree.  "
"I was way up in the middle," =Jesse interrupted, "trying to saw off some of the big branches
before we cut her down. I lost my balance and fell."
"He landed plum on his head," said =Mae with a shudder. "We thought for sure he'd broke his
neck. But come to find out, it didn't hurt him a bit!"
"Not long after," =Miles went on, "some hunters come by one day at sunset. The horse was out
grazing by some trees and they shot.


"Fleas," whispered =Veda.
"Fleas," the little ones responded.
Of course we all know that many of the villagers have fleas. And lice. We do not. The =English
do not allow it. "And did they like the bath?" asked =Krithi, his finger hovering near his mouth.
"Like it? They loathed it," replied =Indira with a wicked-sounding laugh. "In the end we had to
throw buckets of water over them while Mrs =Welles held first one and then the other. She never
did get them clean, though she herself was quite soaked."
The idea of Mrs =Welles being wet made us all laugh with =Indira. Actually, we all liked Mrs
=Welles, the little ones often quarreling over whose turn it was to sit in her lap during evening
stories. But to think of her dripping-her hair, usually so tidy and pinned, plastered down over her
ears with water, was really funny. I joined the laughter.
=Indira pantomimed it well, and our laughter further encouraged her. She grabbed Rama around
the waist, pretending she was washing him. He screamed in a high-pitched voice, half words, half
howls.
"Oh, no!" he cried.
That started us all laughing again.
Suddenly =Indira let =Rama go. "But you should have seen the scars," she said.
"Scars," =Veda whispered.
"Scars," =Preeti echoed.
"What scars?" I asked.
=Indira turned to me and said, "When some of the dirt was removed, we could see their bodies
were covered with scars. And scratches. And scabs. It was quite horrible." She shuddered.
=Veda nodded and whispered, "And their knees. Tell about their knees."
Eagerly we all turned to =Indira.
"Their knees and their hands and elbows, too, have these heavy pads of flesh on them."
"Calluses," I said.


with the robbers' bullets flying all around him, =Ben took slow and careful aim and shot every
single robber off his horse, one by one. =Ben stood there in perfect health and watched them
getting dragged off to the undertakers by their boot heels. He looked up and around the town. Not
a mountain in sight, not a bird.
That day, =BenGizzard was made sheriff, and thereafter =Depression =Gulch was safe from all
robbers except =BenGizzard himself. He began bossing the town and making up laws. He got an
office and started getting rich by making up laws and fining the people for breaking them. He set
up a bank and made himself president of it. He built a courthouse and made himself judge, and
got richer by stealing property and goods legally in trials. The town grew, and =Ben held an
election for mayor. He won the job because no one dared to run against him. When =Ben had
trouble with anybody, he found a weak excuse and simply shot him down. He never got hurt
himself. There were no birds in =DepressionGulch, and no mountains to be seen. Naturally, the
townsfolk were afraid of a man so powerful who seemed to be charmed against any harm.
Now it was Mayor =BenGizzard. =Ben dressed himself in fancy hand-tooled boots, a beaver hat,
fine suits and linen shirts with ruffles at the cuffs. He wore a diamond stickpin and tucked a gold
watch in his vest pocket. He carried a silver-knobbed ebony walking stick with which he pushed
open doors, rapped heads, and walloped dogs who came sniffing at him.
=Ben gave his sheriff's badge to a scarred-up villain who only needed a little violence now and
then to keep him relieved and happy. Together, they walked around town causing mischief and
misery. =Ben would hitch up his pants in satisfaction after a good swindle and say to his sheriff:
"I guarantee you I am not wearing silk shorts because I'm stupid." He used to say that quite often.
He was proud of his silk shorts. They reminded him how smart he was. Even the ladies in town
wore cotton. That was one of the laws.
There was also a law which the townsfolk considered stranger than the rest. It was this: no books
with pictures in them were allowed in town. This was an easy law to keep, so =Ben never
collected.
As Mr =Wendel got closer, =William unclenched his teeth little by little, so that the sound of the
radio got softer. As Mr =Wendel got farther away, he clenched his teeth gradually, so that the
sound got louder. He was trying to control the volume so that it seemed to remain constant to Mr
=Wendel, wherever he was. Mr =Wendel stopped. =William put his tongue over his tooth.
"=Melvyn, give me the radio," Mr =Wendel said. He had picked on =MelvynSchwartz,  the
wrong kid. Nobody knew that he had picked wrong, except =William, and =MelvynSchwartz. Mr
=Wendel had never picked wrong before. =Melvyn was delighted.
"=Aw, =geez, Mr =Wendel, it isn't fair. You always pick on me," =Melvyn said. He was just
warming up. "I demand my constitutional rights. You have no reason to accuse me. I demand a
trial by a jury of my peers."
"You are peerless, =Melvyn," Mr =Wendel said. "Give me the radio."
"I protest," =Melvyn said, rising from his desk. "You are persecuting me because of my past
misfortunes."=Melvyn was the one who had put glue on Mr =Wendel's chair. "I want a lawyer!"
"You will have the best defense that money can buy," Mr =Wendel said. "After that,
=Devil'sIsland. Give me the radio."
"I have no radio," =Melvyn said, trying to look shifty-eyed and guilty. The class was enjoying
this. It was obvious to them that =Melvyn was having a lot of fun.
"=Melvyn, open your desk," Mr =Wendel said.
"I demand to see your search warrant," =Melvyn said.
"Our principal, Mr =Feeney, will be glad to listen to your complaint about illegal search," Mr
=Wendel said. "Now, open your desk."
"Storm trooper," =Melvyn said, and opened his desk. It was empty, except for =Melvyn's history
book. "Didn't I tell you?" =Melvyn made a sweeping gesture to the class, which burst into loud
applause.
=William clenched his teeth, just a little. The radio played faintly.
"=Melvyn, empty your pockets," Mr =Wendel said. =Melvyn emptied his pockets and turned
them inside out. No radio. He smiled broadly at Mr =Wendel.


"No. Don't turn it on again," his mother said.
His mother could not hear the man talking about the flying saucers. Where was it coming from?
=William lay very quietly, trying to figure out where the radio program was coming from. It
seemed to be coming from inside his head. "Maybe I'm imagining the whole thing," he thought.
"Maybe I'm going crazy." It seemed like an ordinary radio program-there wasn't anything crazy
about it. He had heard the same talk show before. The announcer was telling people to buy the
same bottled spring water, and canned hams, and pianos that always sponsored the program. It
was a real radio program going on inside =William's head. It worried him. He rubbed the tip of
his tongue against the new filling. The volume dropped very low. Wait a second! He did it again.
The volume dropped. He pressed his tongue against the tooth. No radio program at all! It was the
tooth! The one with the new filling was receiving radio programs! =William clenched his teeth.
The volume got louder. "I told you to turn that off' his mother shouted.
=William got up. He went quietly out into the backyard. He clenched his teeth. The radio got
louder. He clenched them harder. It got louder still. Keeping his teeth clenched, he pulled his lips
back in a big grin. It got so loud that it made an echo. He could hear windows opening, and
people shouting, "Turn that thing down!"
=William jumped up and down. This was wonderful. He didn't know how it worked, but it was
wonderful. He had a built-in radio. =William scurried back to bed before anyone could call the
cops. He had waked up the whole neighborhood. He was barely able to lie still, he was so
excited about his built-in radio. He decided it would be the most fun if he didn't tell anybody
about it for a while. Finally, he got tired of planning ways to use his radio tooth, and bored
listening to the man talking about flying saucers and potato pancakes. He put his tongue over his
tooth and went to sleep. That did it. I stopped and turned, my hands doubled into fists. "He is
not." "Want another poke?" =BillBlount pushed past the others. He had a tooth missing, right in
front, that made him look like a wild tom cat. My nose throbbed. I felt I just couldn't bear for it to
be hit again. I swallowed a sob and turned and ran.
"Don't tell =Grandpa," I begged, as =Gramma washed the blood stains from my shirt and ironed
it dry for the next day. "I expect it's just because it's the first day," =Gramma comforted me.
But it wasn't. On Wednesday I got a black eye and a cut above the cheekbone, but not until after
school, so Miss =Montgomery didn't ask any questions. At supper everyone stared interestedly at
my swollen face.
"I hope you won, boy," said =Grandpa.
I went on eating supper carefully. I'd just discovered that one of my teeth was loose.
Night after night I lay curled up in bed, longing for the familiar sound of the big trains and the
comforting wind in the mulberry tree, and wept into my pillow. By Friday things were no better
and I'd made up my mind.
"I'm not going back to school."
"Nonsense. Of course you are."
"I won't and you can't make me." I faced the circle of familiar faces at the supper table as
desperately as if it were the circle of my tormentors. "I won't wear those clothes again. The others
beat up on me every day. I won't go."
"You've got to learn to fight back," said =Grandpa, as I had known he would. "Don't stand for
their malarky." "But they're bigger than he is, =Alistair," =Gramma argued. Aunt =Rose chimed
in, and =Greatgramma watched with a gleam in her dried-currant eyes.
I

looked the waterfall where the kelpie, the water horse, was said to rule.
All her life, in times of joy or trouble, =Mary had come to this hill-the tornashee, the fairies' hill.
Below it, near the burn, was the rowan tree where the children came to dance on May Morning,
to tell their wishes and receive their luck. On the slopes of the hill the magic pearlwort, the
safeguard against evil spells, and the velvet heart's-ease grew in greatest abundance. It was on
that round summit that =Mary and =Duncan had been sure they would find the old ones one day.
She threw herself down on the hilltop, stretched out her arms, and put her ear against the ground.
Sometimes, beyond the rustling noises of the grass and of the insects that burrowed beneath it,
=Mary could hear what might be the pipes and fiddles of fairy music, and once in a great while,
in rare moments, she was sure she could hear the voice of the hill itself. It was a singing sound, a
low, even, soft, thrumming, humming sound, sometimes joyful, sometimes sad, and it came from
deep in the heart of the hill. In that sound joy and sorrow met and from it =Mary often felt that
she drew all her strength.
On this evening she was too upset to hear anything but the distress in her own heart. "I cannot go
to =Canada, =och, how can I go?" she whispered over and over. A sob was in her throat. "How
can you ask it of me? Are you so unhappy? Why do you not come home? =Duncan, I cannot."
Even as she said the words, the frenzy was growing in her. How could she not go to him? She sat
up, her hands clenched into tight fists. She knew she had no choice. She had to go to =Canada
and as she thought it, the means of going came to mind.
She stumbled down the hill and across the few feet to where the old rowan tree stood. She put her
face against it, her arms tightly around it. "Take my wishes," she whispered brokenly, "and bring
me good fortune." Then she turned and walked stiffly back the way she had come.



Monsieur =delaPerelle, the town mayor."
"Hello," I answered.
"Enchanted.  Are you enjoying your stay at =Louisbourg?" "Yes, thank you."
He continued on down the walk, stopping occasionally to gaze up at the sky where the sun would
have been setting, if there had been any sun. I watched him closely. Then it dawned on me. It was
=Richard! I went running up to catch him.
All night long I dreamed about the soldiers at =Louisbourg. I kept going up to them and trying to
explain that their war had been over for two hundred years, and this was =Canada now, that they
didn't have to guard the fort any more. But they couldn't see me or hear me and finally I; ended
up yelling at them: "You're all ghosts! You're stuck in the wrong century."
I woke up in a small, sunny room with flowers in the wallpaper. After a minute I remembered
that I was at =Richard's and that my trip had started yesterday. I jumped out of bed, threw on
some clothes and ran downstairs.
Ten past nine-there was plenty of time. =Richard called out from the kitchen. "You slept in. How
do you feel about pancakes for breakfast?"
We ate a huge amount of food and set off for the station. We arrived half an hour early but I
decided to get on the train anyway. We found my seat and =Richard started worrying about me. I
opened my knapsack and explained =Gram's system: the tickets in the same order as the
schedule, meal vouchers for the train and phone numbers for half the population of =Canada, in
case I got into trouble anywhere at all.
When he saw how organized I was, =Richard remembered that he was late for the fort. As he
rushed off I realized I hadn't thanked him. I scribbled a note and rapped on the window just as he
was walking past. He looked up to wave and I held up my sign: "Thanks for =Louisbourg and
pancakes and everything."



Sometimes what the people in a community share is something that makes them different from
most of the people where they live, for example, language, religion, race, sex, or age. Such a
community is often called a minority.
A common language is a very important bond. Have you ever been to a country where you did
not understand the language? How did you feel? In many countries there are communities of
people who speak a different language from the majority of people, in that country. These
minority communities believe that if they lose their language their will lose their cultural identity.
They work to keep their language alive in many ways. One way is to send their children to
schools where they will learn to speak their parents' language. Can you think of other ways?
A town or city may include a number of different religious communities. Each usually has its
own place of worship (temple, mosque, church, or synagogue), customs, day of rest, and other
holy days. The people of a religious community may "blend in," either because it is the religion
of the majority, or because the special practices important to the religion are not apparent to
others in everyday life. Sometimes a religion has very specific rules about how people should
live - telling them what to eat or how to dress   that make its followers "stand out" or appear
"different." In many places, the majority of people are likely to be from one racial or cultural
background. Other racial or cultural groups often have - and need - a very strong sense of their
own community. This may be because they are immigrants from another country and,


"Yes," said the traveler. "It is =Torr."
Lord =rail went to the queen. "Do you remember the boy who
came here to sing, Your Majesty?" he asked. "The one who opened
his mouth and croaked like a frog?"
"I remember him well," said the queen.
"He was only pretending," said Lord =Crail. "All the time he
could sing. He is singing now in another part of the country." "Why should he pretend he could
not sing?" asked the queen. "I mean to find out," said Lord =Crail. "I mean to bring him here
again. If he dares to pretend, he will be punished in a way he won't
forget."
"The boy did not seem to be pretending," said the queen.
"Your Majesty, he must have been," said Lord =Crail.
"I can't believe it," said the queen, "and as much as I wish to hear him, it doesn't seem right to
bring him here again."
"Then how can you hope to hear him?" asked Lord =Crail.
"I could go to him, instead," she said.
"Your Majesty!" cried Lord =Crail. "You could not do that!"
"Surely the queen may do as she wishes," she said. "I have stayed so long inside these walls that I
am weary of them. Find out where the boy lives, and we shall go there."
So it was that the queen set out on a journey with two ladies of the court, Lord =Crail, and three
servants. They traveled until they came to the hill country. Then they hid the royal coach in an
old barn. They dressed in the plain clothes of country people.
They found the house where =Torr lived. The queen said to the shepherd, "We have heard of the
boy who sings. When may we hear him?"
"In a little while, when the moon rises,"' said the shepherd. "Take the path to the clearing in the
woods. Many go there to listen, but they keep themselves hidden, because the boy is shy."
The queen and her party went down the path and into the Woods. When they came to the
clearing, they waited in the shadows. Others were waiting, too. Shepherds were there with their
wives

"I know what is in your mind and in the mind of the youth. I know that your mind has one
purpose and his the same. I know what is in the mind of the earth and of the moon and of the sun.
Yes, I know of this kingdom. It is farther than I have ever gone, but I will take you there if you
will be brave, for you will not find a welcome in that place."
The =NorthWind picked her up and carried her high over the earth. Wherever they went violent
storms blew and raged below. They traveled east of the sun and west of the moon, and by the
time they reached the troll kingdom the =NorthWind was very weak. He said, "Be careful in this
place. Some find their way here but few ever return."
The maiden was very tired from her long journey, but she walked up to the troll castle and
knocked on the door. "I am just a girl looking for work," said the maiden to the troll princess who
answered.
"Good. Then come right in," said the troll princess, who meant to let the poor girl work until the
trolls turned her into a stone statue. "Clean everything in the castle except the room behind the
door with the gold knob on the third floor."
The maiden began to work and all the while the trolls in the castle teased her and threw sand and
dirt on each place that she cleaned. When she reached the second floor the troll princess threw
soot all around and pulled her hair.
The maiden was so tired that she could hardly move, but she finally reached the third floor. She
found the door with the gold knob and opened it.
Before her was the youth. He lay motionless, his eyes closed, encased in a block of ice. Quickly
the maiden took the small tinder box from beneath her rags and set the bedclothes on fire. The
fire melted the ice and the water put out the fire. The youth stirred, and reached out his hand to
the maiden. He had been frozen for so long that he was very weak. The maiden took his hand and
together they walked out of the room and down the stairs.
Each evening as the sun went down people would hear the stallion neighing sadly from the
hilltop above the village, calling for her to come back.
The days passed. Her parents knew the girl was lonely. She became ill and the doctors could do
nothing to help her. They asked what would make her well again. "I love to run with the wild
horses," she answered. "They are my relatives. If you let me go back to them I shall be happy for
evermore."
Her parents loved her and agreed that she should go back to live with the wild horses. They gave
her a beautiful dress and the best horse in the village to ride.
The spotted stallion led his wild horses down from the hills. The people gave them fine things to
wear: colorful blankets and decorated saddles. They painted designs on their bodies and tied
eagle feathers and ribbons in their manes and tails.
In return the girl gave the colt to her parents. Everyone was joyful.
Once again the girl rode beside the spotted stallion. They were proud and happy together.
But she did not forget her people. Each year she would come back, and she always brought her
parents a colt.
And then one year she did not return and was never seen again. But when hunters next saw the
wild horses there galloped beside the mighty stallion a beautiful mare with a mane and tail
floating like wispy clouds about her. They said the girl had surely become one of the wild horses
at last.
Today we are still glad to remember that we have relatives among the Horse People. And it gives
us joy to see the wild horses running free. Our thoughts fly with them.

&&000
&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS   2004                                                   CA8062.TXT

GRADE 6  2nd sample from OISE/UT 12 January,  2004 by dph
Edited by dph 19, 2004

&&111
"=Ugh," said =Adam. "I'm sick of cornmeal - and I'm sick of turnips. I can think of a dozen
things I wish we still had. I wish I could go to school again and have some books to read instead
of having to go over and over =Dilworth's =Speller and The =NewTestament.
"Well, at least you know how to read. Aunt =Abigail says I'm not to learn. She says that most of
the young men can't read and they won't want me for a wife if I can."
"Well, Aunt =Abigail can't read and she didn't get a husband."
"It wasn't her fault that the man she was going to marry joined the =American rebels. She
couldn't very well marry him after =Mother was killed during the rebel attack and =Father went
to fight for the =British Army."
"I'm glad Aunt =Abigail came with us, even if she is kind of strict," said =Adam, sauntering off
to find the cow.
=Martha was glad too. As she tidied the shanty, she thought how awful it would be not to have
Aunt =Abigail. =Martha still had frightening dreams about the night the rebels burned their barn
near Boston. She dreamed about that and other things too - the middle-of-the-night escape; being
seasick on the voyage to =Canada in that stuffy, crowded boat; the
first freezing =Canadian winter when the =Loyalists lived in army tents at =Sorel in =Quebec;
and the voyage on the bateau to the Bay of =Quinte.
=Martha stood daydreaming so long that she was just starting to cook lunch when =Adam
returned.
"I didn't find much for the cow to eat," he said. "Everything is as dry as fall leaves."
Just as he spoke, a streak of light flashed across the room.
"Look at that marvelous lightning!" cried =Adam.
"Close the door, please, Adam," she said. "The wind must have risen because it's blowing the
flames all over the place."
=Martha felt much safer with the door shut. It was as if her father was present in the cosy,
sheltered room. He had built the shanty and everything in it. He put up the log walls and chinked
them with clay, covered the roof with bark, fashioned the timber door, and made all the rough
pine furniture. He often said he was prouder of the shanty than the frame house they'd had near
=Boston because he had made the =Canadian home all by himself.
Just as =Martha started to spoon the porridge into a bowl, a blinding flash of


=Heber hit himself on the chest. "It's something like a lump in here. I think it's because I did
wrong to lose my temper and throw the chalk. I promised =Mom I'd always count to ten when I
felt a temper coming on - and I didn't do it - and she's going to look at me - when we are alone -
she won't say a word - just that sad sort of look -"
Uncle =John nodded in the dark. "Got to be borne, though, hasn't it, boy?"
"I guess I'll just have to go home and face it," he said.
"That's the ticket." Uncle =John gave =Heber's shoulder a squeeze.
When =Heber reached the door of his home, he hesitated before he opened it. All was quiet.
A pale light glimmered behind the drawn window curtains, showing that a candle was burning.
But there was no sound whatever. Had the boys gone to bed? Was his mother sitting there alone?
Waiting for him?
He lifted the latch, set his left shoulder against the door, and shoved.
"Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Happy birthday, =Heber."
=Heber closed the door behind him and leaned against it. "What do you mean, birthday? Mine's
not until next week."
"Yes, it is," said =Willie. "We moved it up specially to tonight."
"And we've got your present too," squealed little =Eddie, pointing to a newspaper parcel on the
kitchen table. "We've been keeping it hidden for ages and ages."
"It's true," said his mother. "We wanted to let you have your birthday surprise ahead of time.
Open it, Son."
Slowly =Heber undid the wrappings. Something black showed, then something shiny, and the
parcel fell apart into two pieces - a pair of new boots with copper toe-caps and copper eyelets for
the laces!
=Heber gave one big heave with each foot, and Uncle =William's old stogies flew into the far
corner behind the woodbox. Then =Heber stepped proudly into his new shoes.
"=Ge-ho-sophat =Jane!" he said. "Real store boots!"
start  not when we'd just been introduced. Still, I made myself bellow it at her as fiercely as I
could manage. And =Bella hopped smartly back down to the floor and wagged her tail like mad.
It was as though she wasn't sure I was hers until I'd bawled her out. After that we were friends,
although it still took time for us to learn to love each other the way we do now."
He paused, but =Dinah sensed he had more to say. She waited.
"Did you know that the students keep the dogs right with them during the whole three and a half
weeks they stay at The Seeing Eye? The only time I let go of =Bella's leash was when I was
sleeping or having a shower. Even then she slept right beside my bed and lay beside the tub,
making sure I washed behind my ears. And when you first take the dogs home, you keep them on
their leashes for the first couple of weeks. So they are never left deserted and lonesome."
"Oh," =Dinah said, "I'm glad."
"Now at home she's off her leash in the house," he told her, "but she still trails after me from
room to room, keeping an eye on me. I couldn't manage without her, and she knows it. =Tizzy
will grow up
to care for her blind master, but she'll
never forget you. The only reason she will love him more ... more tenderly, I guess, is because
she will soon figure out that he needs her in a way you don't. Does that answer your question?"
=Dinah caught herself starting to nod again and instead said huskily, "Yes, thank you."
She was glad to know that =Tizzy would not fall in love with her new owner right off the bat.
And she was glad that the person would not leave her by herself at first.
She was about to ask him if =Bella had ever wakened him by putting her cold nose on his bare
foot when she noticed =Mom looking for her.
"Thanks for telling me all that," =Dinah said politely, feeling shy again.
"I can't tell you how much it matters, what you're doing raising =Tizzy," the man said. "On behalf
of whoever gets her, I'd like to thank you. I'm glad she introduced us."
"Yeah. Well, goodbye. I've got to go now," =Dinah mumbled. Then dragging =Tizzy after her,
she followed her mother to the car.
"He must be at least forty," she thought. "Yet he keeps =Bella's lacrosse ball jammed into his
pocket."
She grinned.



=LittleBadger continued climbing down inside of the mountain. As he descended, he could feel
the heat of the fire. When he heard a soft growl, he knew he had met the Mountain Lion.
=LittleBadger reached out and touched the animal. As he stroked the smooth fur, he told the Lion
of his people. They could hear the drum far off in the distance and again peace settled over both
of them. The Lion growled softly, "YOU MAY GO ON."
=Little Badger continued his slow climb down. He knew he still had to meet the Grizzly Bear
and the Rattlesnake, but he was no longer afraid. If things went on as they had, he knew he would
make two new friends.
It was true. When he met the Grizzly Bear and touched him, they became friends. The Bear
warned him that the Rattlesnake was very dangerous.
"YOU MUST BE VERY CAREFUL, LITTLE BROTHER," He rumbled in his great voice, as
the boy turned to go. "YOU MUST USE WISDOM TO GET BY RATTLER, FOR HIS
MEDICINE IS VERY POWERFUL."
=Little Badger continued his climb down toward the fire. Soon he met the Rattlesnake. The
Snake coiled, rattled his tail, and raised his mighty head up to strike.
When =Little Badger heard the sound of the rattle, he quickly said, "You must be the Snake.
What a beautiful rattle you have."
=Rattlesnake was so surprised that someone, especially a small boy, would dare to talk to him,
and find him beautiful, that he relaxed without even realizing he had done so. "WHY ARE YOU
NOT AFRAID OF ME?" he hissed.
"I do not want to hurt you, so why should you want to hurt me?" replied =LittleBadger.
=Rattlesnake was astonished at the little boy's words. He was thinking about what the boy had
said and did not notice him leave to continue his climb.
=Little Badger had almost finished his journey to meet the =FireSpirit. It was so hot, he felt his
braids must be singed. He was also very tired and he stumbled. As he tried to catch his balance, a
voice crackled, "NO HUMAN BEING HAS EVER SEEN THE HOME OF THE =FIRESPIRIT.
WHY ARE YOU HERE?"
=Little Badger knew that at last he had met the =FireSpirit.
"I cannot see your home," replied =LittleBadger, "for I am blind. It is very warm. If my people
lived here, they would never be cold."


Then =MountainDweller was lifting her to her feet. "I knew you were the one," he said,
embracing her with joy. "And you said you would marry =MountainDweller."
First, though, he took them back to their father's house, with a gift of fine foods. And now
=Crushing-Mountain did not try to crush them; the floating kelp did not try to encircle and crush
their canoe; the fighting dogs stayed as quiet as mountain lambs. For the evil was gone from the
hills. Unless, as people later said, the gnats that pestered them were the evil woman. But that was
a danger that even the little princess could deal with.
When they neared the village, they heard sounds of mourning. And when they met the young
brother, who was heir to a mighty chieftainship in another village, they saw that his face was
blackened in mourning for them.
He stared at them in alarm, then turned to race, shrieking, back to the village.
"He thinks we're ghosts," =Maada told =MountainDweller.
"My sisters! My sisters!" the small prince shrieked as he rushed into the village.
"You're sure it's your sisters?" his mother demanded, grasping his heaving shoulders in desperate
hope. Her tear stained face, too, was blackened in mourning for her daughters.
In answer, the boy raced back to his sisters. Fearfully snatching a tatter from his younger sister's
robe, he turned to race off again.
"It's the princesses!" everyone cried out, looking at the tatter. For only princesses wore fine
marten skin robes. And they all rushed out to welcome the lost girls and the handsome young
chief who came with them.
The proud and spirited princess married =MountainDweller, as she had said she would. Then she
went back to the magnificent-but-crowded house by the alpine meadow. And it was much less
crowded when her husband had sent many well-filled food boxes and bowls to her family as a
marriage gift.
Indeed, =MountainDweller continued to send so many gifts of fine foods, and there was always
so much precious mountain sheep tallow in the special box, that the grandmother never again had
to say, "The old shaggy dog took it away from me."
My leg hurt so much by the time I had reached the house that it was hard for me to crawl under
the fence and move aside the heavy rock.
For five suns I could not go out because my leg had swollen so badly and I had no herbs with
which to treat it. I had enough food to eat, but on the third day the water in the basket ran low.
Two days later the basket was empty. It was necessary then for me to go to the spring in the
ravine.
I started out when the sun rose. I took with me shellfish to eat, also my spear and my bow and
arrow. I went very slowly, for I had to crawl on my hands and knees, carrying the food tied to my
back, and dragging the weapons.
There was a short way to the spring, but it was over many rocks, which I could not climb, so I
had to take a longer way through the brush. I reached the ravine when the sun was overhead. The
spring was not far off, and I rested there, though I was very thirsty, cutting a lobe from a cactus
bush to chew on.
While I was resting there, sucking the juice from the cactus, I saw the big grey dog, the leader of
the wild pack, in the bush above me. His head was down and
he was moving slow1y, sniffing the tracks
I had made. He saw me soon after I saw him, and stopped. Behind him was the rest of the pack,
trotting along one after the other. The pack stopped too.
I took up my bow and fitted an arrow, but as I did this the big dog faded away into the brush and
was quickly followed by the others. In the time of one breath they were gone. There was nothing
to aim my arrow at. It was as if they had not been there at all.


Not two meters from them, three men lumbered past, stumbling in the pitch black of the night.
"A fine idea of yours!" a voice boomed out above the wind. "Getting us out on a night like this!
I'm soaked. I tell you they've gone to =Munich."
"But I was sure the doctor was too eager for me to remain indoors tonight. He's a sharp one. He
knew I had no chest pains." It was the rough voice of the man with the bullet head.
A third shouted. "If he were on the mountains tonight, that dog of his would have found you and
torn you to bleeding strips. That brute would have. . ." The wind caught the rest of the words and
flung them into the night. Then, once more, there was only the sound of slash
ingrain, the rushing of water, and the thrashing of branches.
They waited for what seemed hours. Then =Perra led her charges on again, up a rocky cliff side
to the tall timbers. When, at length, she paused, a hut stood before them. Chris felt Perra's tail
thumping against his legs. She whined softly and scratched once on the door.
It opened instantly and =Perra bounded forward. The doctor cried out huskily, "You're safe.
Thank God! You're safe, my =Frieda! =Esther! =Chris! You brought them through, =Perra. You
did it, my girl!"
The doctor's great arms closed about his family.
A second figure separated itself from the gloom and stroked =Perra's drenched



. Some patients walked around in housecoats. And always, in every hospital there was that funny
smell in the air, like the cleanser =Mom used at home.
The nurse finally called out her name. =Marla and her mother followed the nurse into Dr
=Arman's office. =Marla could see her name on the file folder that the doctor held in his hand.
Dr =Arman asked all the usual questions. =Marla had heard those same questions so many times
before she could almost repeat the answers word for word. She also knew exactly when the
questions would change because the doctor couldn't get any family medical background. When
Marla was adopted there was no medical information given to her new parents.
After the questions came the usual physical checkup. Her mother always stayed in the room with
her during the tests; that gave =Marla strength. Dr =Arman had =Marla walk an imaginary
straight line on the floor. He had her close her eyes and touch her nose with a finger of first her
left hand and then with a finger of her right hand. He had her do a deep knee bend. He asked her
to walk on her toes; to walk on her heels.
Some of the things =Marla couldn't do at all; others she could do, but not very well.
=Marla and her mother sat back down in the same office chairs by the desk waiting while Dr
=Arman made a few notes about the examination. He put down the pen, clasped his hands
together and smiled at =Marla.
"I think I can help you," he said in a warm confident tone.
=Marla actually believed this doctor. She was so excited she barely heard her mother agreeing to
the arrangements for =Marla to be admitted to the hospital for knee surgery.
From Dr =Arman's office, =Marla walked with her mother to the Admitting Office. She could
feel her mother shivering. Both of them were excited and frightened. And they were hopeful.
Dr =Arman came to =Marla's room to explain what he would do during the operation. Her legs
would be all wrapped up when she woke up. All she had to do afterwards was heal and do what
the doctors said to help her along.
Right from the time the nurse woke =Marla the next morning, she was never really awake. The
nurse gave her one needle to relax her before the operation.
The other day a visitor to the =Buffalo Zoo parked her =Volkswagen near the grounds where the
elephants exercise. She and her children went walking to get a good view of the giants. While the
family were walking about, a very large elephant took a notion to step on the =Volkswagen. The
=Zoo officials expressed regrets and offered to pay for the damages.
Later, as the lady headed for =StCatharines along the Queen =Elizabeth Way, she passed an
accident, but didn't stop. In a few minutes, she found her car being pursued by flashing lights and
a screaming siren. The police in the pursuing car signaled for her to "pull over." She did, and
gave the officer a questioning look. "What's the idea of leaving the scene of an accident?" he
asked, sternly. The lady protested. The officer pointed at the rather crumpled car.
"Oh," she said, relieved. "An elephant stepped on our car this afternoon."
"I've heard some good ones," said the officer. "At least yours is original. You'd better follow me
to the next police station."
The officers at the station didn't believe her story either. Finally, they agreed to phone the
=Buffalo Zoo. "Yes," said the Zoo officials. "An elephant did step on a =Volkswagen this
afternoon." The police let the lady go. The last she saw of them, they were still shaking their
heads.

&&000