"The Travelling
Musicians"
Passage from "Fairy Tales by the Brothers
Grimm"
...about midnight, when the robbers saw from afar that
the lights were out and that all seemed quiet, they began to think that they had
been in too great a hurry to run away; and one of them, who was bolder than the
rest, went to see what was going on. Finding everything still, he marched into
the kitchen, and groped about till he found a match in order to light a candle;
and then, spying the glittering fiery eyes of the cat, he mistook them for live
coals, and held the match to them to light it.
But the cat, not understanding this joke, sprang at his
face, and spat, and scratched at him. This frightened him dreadfully, and he
ran away to the back door.
But there the dog jumped up and bit him in the leg; and
as he was crossing over the yard the donkey kicked him; and the rooster, who
had been awakened by the noise, crowed with all his might.
At this the robber ran back as fast as he could to his
comrades, and told the captain how a horrid witch had got into the house, and
had spat at him and scratched his face with her long bony fingers; how a man
with a knife in his hand had hidden himself behind the door, and stabbed him in
the leg; how a black monster stood in the yard and struck him with a club, and
how the devil had sat upon the top of the house and cried out, "Throw the
rascal up here!"
After this the robbers never dared to go back to the
house...
Reading Comprehension
Questions
1) Based on the opening lines above, which of the following
most likely took place just before the passage began?
a.
robbers choose a house in hopes of finding some farm animals
b.
robbers enter a house, but something frightens them and they
leave
c.
robbers realize that they are doing wrong, and decide not to
do it again
d.
robbers decide to delay their plan and come back another
night
2) In the above passage, what is the major mistake of the
robber inside the house?
a.
he tries to rob a house with no valuable items
b.
he enters the room where the family is sleeping
c.
he lets his imagination get the best of him
d.
he gets lost and tries to rob the barn
3) In the first paragraph of the above passage, what does the
robber try to light with a match?
a.
a gas lantern
b.
a garbage can
c.
the eyes of a cat
d.
a dog's tail
4) In the above passage, who is inside the house when the
robber enters?
a.
a witch
b.
the devil
c.
animals
d.
monsters
5) In the above passage, the robber claims that the devil
shouted at him. In reality, which of the
following is the "devil" he thinks he heard?
a.
a rooster
b.
a dog
c.
a donkey
d.
a witch
6) According to the above passage, what do the robbers decide
at the end of the passage?
a.
they will try to rob the house on another night
b.
they will never return to the house
c.
they were silly to be scared of a few animals
d.
they were too quick to give up on the robbery
Answer Key
1)
Based on the
opening lines above, which of the following most likely took place just before
the passage began?
a.
robbers choose a house in hopes of finding
some farm animals
b.
robbers enter a
house, but something frightens them and they leave
c.
robbers realize that they are doing wrong, and
decide not to do it again
d.
robbers decide to delay their plan and come
back another night
2)
In the above passage,
what is the major mistake of the robber inside the house?
a.
he tries to rob a house with no valuable items
b.
he enters the room where the family is
sleeping
c.
he lets his
imagination get the best of him
d.
he gets lost and tries to rob the barn
3)
In the first
paragraph of the above passage, what does the robber try to light with a match?
a.
a gas lantern
b.
a garbage can
c.
the eyes of a cat
d.
a dog's tail
4)
In the above
passage, who is inside the house when the robber enters?
a.
a witch
b.
the devil
c.
animals
d.
monsters
5)
In the above
passage, the robber claims that the devil shouted at him. In reality, which of the following is the
"devil" he thinks he heard?
a.
a rooster
b.
a dog
c.
a donkey
a.
a witch
1)
According to
the above passage, what do the robbers decide at the end of the passage?
a.
they will try to rob the house on another
night
b.
they will never
return to the house
c.
they
were silly to be scared of a few animals
d.
they
were too quick to give up on the robbery