The Months

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

shout	remarry	hardworking
wild	meanwhile	stepmother
pick	cook (2)	wildflower
bloom	talk back	successful
cane	come back	find/found/found
wood	clearing	make it fast
grass	deep (2)	blow/blew/blown
woods	around (2)	come/came/come
lady	dress (2)	stand/stood/stood
fine	approach	gentleman
storm	introduce	mushroom
magic	close (2)	give/gave/given
thing	pass (2)	Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms
melt	basket	become/became/become
fill	frustrated	make/made/made
berry	cucumber	sell/sold/sold
beard	wind (2)	buy/bought/bought
empty	disappear	throw/threw/thrown
share	eventually	empty-handed
fresh	divorce	throughout

 
 
 
 
 

Diana

Once there lived a successful farmer. He had a good, hardworking daughter, Diana.

The New Stepmother and Stepsister

After a while, the farmer remarried another woman. She had her own daughter, Matilda.

The new stepmother made Diana clean the house, cook the meals, and wash the clothes. Meanwhile Matilda did nothing but play.

January

On evening in January, the stepmother told Diana to go to the forest to pick wild flowers for Matilda’s birthday.

“But flowers won’t be blooming until April!” said Diana.
“Don’t talk back to me!” shouted the stepmother as she opened the door. “Now go out and find some flowers. And don’t come back until you do!”

Snowing

And so Diana entered the woods. It was snowing and the wind was blowing. She went deeper and deeper, but couldn’t find any flowers — or grass, birds, or animals.

Only snow.

And more snow.

The Clearing

Suddenly, Diana came upon a clearing. There she saw twelve men standing around a big fire. They were of different ages and dressed in fine clothes. She approached them.

“Greetings young lady,” they said to her. “Why are you out here…in the forest…at night…and during a snowstorm?”

Diana introduced herself and told them what had happened.

Mr. January

“My name is Mr. January,” said a man with a long, white beard. “Don’t worry, we will help you.”

Mr. January then said some magic words and gave his cane to Mr. February. Mr. February did the same thing and passed the cane to Mr. March, a man about Diana’s age.

After Mr. March had said the magic words, the snow started to melt. It became less cold.

Mr. April

Mr. March then gave the cane to Mr. April. It became warmer. And now flowers bloomed.

Diana thanked the men and began picking and filling her basket with violets, snowdrops and heathers.

Back Home

When she returned home, it was snowing again.

Diana gave the flowers to her stepmother and told her what had happened in the forest.

The Next Day

The next day the stepmother gave Matilda some baskets and told her to go to the forest.

“Ask the twelve men for berries, mushrooms, apples, and cucumbers,” she said. “We can sell them for lots of money!”

Matilda went into the forest and found the twelve men around the big fire.

Berries, Mushrooms, Apples, Cucumbers

“Okay July, August, September. Give me berries, mushrooms, apples and cucumbers! And make it fast, I’m cold here!” said Matilda.

Mr. January said magic words and gave the cane to Mr. July. It was warm and there were berries, mushrooms, apples, and cucumbers everywhere. Matilda was about to pick them, but Mr. July passed the cane to Mr. November, and they disappeared. Mr. November threw the cane to Mr. December and it snowed. And on and on.

Empty-handed

Frustrated, Matilda returned home empty-handed.

Eventually the farmer divorced the stepmother and married a nice woman.

And throughout the year, Diana and her family always had lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, berries, and mushrooms which they shared with everyone.

 

Questions

1. Describe the family in the beginning.

2. What happened one evening?

3. What did Diana find in the forest?

4. What did the 12 men do?

5. What happened the next day? The next day…

6. What happened in the end? In the end,

7. Is there a moral to this story? What is the moral or lesson of the story?
 
 
A. Are all the foods in local stores or supermarkets available year round or are they season? Which are seasonal and which are available year round?

B. Do you wish you could control the weather, climate and seasons?

C. What is your favorite month or season?

D. What are your favorite foods?

E. What might happen in the future?