The document appears to be a short story titled "The Aged Mother." It describes a farmer who lives with his aged and widowed mother in Japan during a time when the local shogun has decreed that all aged people must be put to death. To follow the law, the farmer takes his mother up a mountain to abandon her. However, during the climb his mother leaves a trail of twigs to help guide them back down, showing her love and wisdom. They return home, and the mother later helps solve a problem for the shogun, causing him to repeal the cruel law.

1. Jens Martensson
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2. Jens Martensson
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abby
grace
hershey
mygan
kisslyn
anora
jerah
jecil
Questions:
Q1.Knowing that The Aged Mother is
a narrative like Androcles and the
Lion, what do you expect it to be
about?
Q2.Knowing that The Aged Mother is
a narrative, how do you expect it to
be structured?
Q3.How would your expectations
change if The Aged Mother was a
romantic comedy or a crime or a
horror film? Pick one of those types
of film for this answer.
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Vocabulary
Do you know what word I am?
1. Shogun
2. aged
3. Widowed
4. Province
5. proclamation
6. the kindest mode of death
7. the summit of the mountain
8. the shogun and his officials
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Vocabulary
Now let’s find out!
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10. Jens Martensson
Vocabulary
Now let’s find out! 1. Shogun – a military ruler of a part of Japan a long time
ago
2. aged - old
3. widowed – a woman whose husband has died
4. province – a state or region within a country
5. proclamation – an announcement by a government
that affects the citizens
6. the kindest mode of death – a way of dying that
involves the least suffering
7. the summit of the mountain – the top of the mountain
8. the shogun and his officials – the leader of a province
and the people who help him to carry out his tasks
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Component 4:Lesson Activities
The Aged Mother
A long time ago at the foot of a mountain in Japan there lived a poor
farmer and his aged, widowed mother. They owned a bit of land
which supplied them with food, and they were humble, peaceful and
happy.
Unfortunately, they lived in a province ruled by a shogun who made
a proclamation that all aged people were immediately to be put to
death. The farmer loved his mother but no one in this province ever
disobeyed the shogun. So he strapped his mother to his back and
took her up the mountain called Obatsuyama, the mountain where
the aged were often abandoned to die. This was considered the
kindest mode of death.
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Component 4:Lesson Activities
There were many paths up to the summit of the mountain and it was
easy to get confused. Unknown to the farmer, his mother carefully
pulled twigs from the bushes and threw them on the ground so that
her son would know the way back down. When they reached the top,
he laid her down carefully and was about to leave her when he
realized he did not know the way back.
“Follow the twigs I laid down for you”, his mother said. It was then he
knew that he could not leave her there to die alone. Once again he
strapped his mother to his back and together they went back down
the mountain. Once home, he decided to hide his mother from the
shogun and his officials.
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Component 4:Lesson Activities
One day the shogun visited the province and demanded that the people
give him a rope made of ashes. No one knew how to make one.
However, the farmer’s mother found the solution.
“Make a rope of twisted straw, she said, “then stretch it out on a row of
flat stones and burn it on a windless night”.
When the shogun arrived to claim his rope of ashes, he asked who had
been able to make one. The farmer admitted that it was his aged mother.
The shogun was surprised and said, “My country needs more than just
the strength of youth. How could I have forgotten the well-known saying,
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Component 4:Lesson Activities
“with the crown of snow there comes wisdom”? At that very hour, the
cruel law was abolished.
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abby
grace
hershey
mygan
kisslyn
anora
jerah
jecil
Questions:
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Q1.What event causes the
farmer to take his mother up
the mountain?
Q2.Find evidence of the
mother’s love for her son.
Q3.Find evidence that the
mother is very wise despite
her age

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Q4.What reason does the shogun have for ordering all aged people
to be killed? You will have to look very closely at the text to find the
answer.
Q5. Explain the meaning of ‘with the crown of snow there comes
wisdom’ in your own words.
Q6.Your teacher has asked for your opinion about whether or not
this story should be used again next year in Year 8. Write a short
paragraph in the Workbook either justifying it being kept OR it being
dumped. Give your reasons.
WORKBOOK ACTIVITY
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Component 5:Lesson Conclusion
Q1.The focus of the lesson was on learning more about
how narratives work. How has the lesson helped you to
understand this? (Group 1)
Q2.Which questions were easy to answer? Why? (Group 2)
Q3.What strategies did you use to answer the harder
questions? (Group 3)
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Launch