Lesson of a Lifetime

Lesson of a Lifetime Lesson: Objective 2 (5.12) (H) analyze characters, including their traits, motivations, conflicts, points of view, relationships, and changes they undergo

Grade: 5

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Today you have an oriental folk tale and an episode about saving lives. It is a perfect lesson for everyday life and also for today’s objective.

The lesson will teach you to analyze characters, including their

traits, motivations, conflicts, points of view, relationships, and changes they undergo.

Introduction

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1. Once upon a time, there lived a greedy, rich man. He was also very proud and the type who wouldn’t talk to anybody. He just wasn’t happy with what he had. He kept wanting more. Infact it was his ambition to become the richest man. First he hired a magician to help him and then he hired a great mathematician. The rich man wanted the mathematician to find the best way for him to make the greatest profit in everything he did. The rich man was building a huge safe, and it was his greatest dream to see it filled with gold and jewels.

2. The mathematician was shut away for months in his study, before finally believing he had found the solution. But he soon found there were some errors in his calculations, and he started all over again.

3. One night he appeared at the rich man's house, with a big smile on his face: "I found the perfect solution," he said, "My calculations are just right." The rich man was pleased. But he was going on a long journey the next day, and didn't have time to listen.

Lesson of a Lifetime

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4. He promised the mathematician he would pay him double his wages if he would take charge of the business while he was away, and put the new formulas into practice. Excited by his new discovery, the mathematician was delighted to accept.

5. When the rich man returned, months later, he found that all of his possessions had gone. Furious, he went to ask for an explanation from the mathematician. The mathematician calmly told him what he had done. He had given everything away to the people! The rich man couldn't believe this stupid answer, but the mathematician explained it further.

6. "For months I analyzed how a rich man could gain the most benefits, but what I did was always limited. There's a limit to how much one man can do by himself. Then I understood what the key was: that many people could help us to achieve the aim. So the conclusion was that helping others was the best way to get more and more people to benefit us.”


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7. Disappointed and furious, the greedy man stormed off, desperate at having lost everything to the hare-brained schemes of a madman. He found it unbelievable that somebody had actually given away his hard-earned wealth. However, while he was walking away disconsolately, several neighbors ran over, worried about him.

8. All of them had been generously helped when the mathematician had shared the rich man's fortune. They felt so grateful to him that they offered him the hospitality of their houses, and anything such a special man might need. The neighbors even argued over who would get to help him. What most surprised him was that people whom he never knew or spoke to, seemed very concerned now.

9. Over the next few days, he saw the full results of what the mathematician had calculated. Wherever he went he was received with great honor, and everyone was willing to help him in whatever way they could. He realized that his not having anything had given him much, much more.


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10. In this way, he managed to quickly set up flourishing businesses, but this time he followed the brilliant mathematician's advice. No longer did he keep his riches to himself, locked in a safe, or anything like it. Instead, he shared out his fortune among a hundred friends, whose hearts he had converted into the safest, most grateful and fruitful of safes.


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Check Your Understanding1. Which group of words best describe the rich man in this story?

He was:

a. very clever, rich and handsomeb. very hardworking, with a friendly and helpful nature c. very honest, rich, and generous, who shared everything he had d. very rich, greedy and proud, who wouldn’t talk to others

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Check Your Understanding2. What was his ambition?

a. to become a very wellknown and famous personb. to acquire more friends and become popularc. to amass more wealth and become the richest man d. to get married to a rich and beautiful girl

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Check Your Understanding3. Which two of these did he do in order to realize his dreams?

a. he hired a fortune tellerb. he hired a magicianc. he hired a safe maker and a jewelerd. he hired a mathematician

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Check Your Understanding4. What did he ask the mathematiciam to do?

a. to count and calculate the total amount of money b. to calculate how the money can multiplyc. to get back money from the people to whom he had lent moneyd. to arrange and lock his valuables in a particular way in his safe

so it could never be stolen

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Check Your Understanding5. What did the man promise the mathematician if he took

charge of the business while he was away?

a. a share of the business and profitsb. to be appointed as his managerc. double the wagesd. a palatial house staffed with servants, on a huge ground

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6. What did the rich man find when he returned after a few months?

a. growth / profit in his flourishing business b. his business was exactly the same; no changec. there was nothing left of his assetsd.the mathematician had gone into hiding

Check Your Understanding

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Check Your Understanding7. What was the reason the man did not listen to the

mathematician’s solution first?

a. he was wary of him as he did not understand math formulas too

well and did not want to expose this weakness b. he trusted him blindlyc. too many people were standing near by, overhearing the

conversationd. he just did not have the time to listen

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Check Your Understanding8. What was the mathematician’s point of view regarding one’s

fortune?

a. wealth is meant to be sharedb. wealth has to be got by hard work, not idle waysc. wealth only comes to those who deserve it

d. wealth is not for keeps; it is temporary

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Check Your Understanding9. Which of these words / character traits best describe the

mathematician?

He was:

a. a fraud b. slightly nerdyc. a genius with facts, figures and formulas d. a wise, talented and genuine human being

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Check Your Understanding10. Read these two paragraphs (numbered as per actuals in the

text). Which paragraph makes him realize his folly?

a.(paragraph # 7) Disappointed and furious, the greedy man stormed off,

desperate at having lost everything to the hare-brained schemes of a madman. He found it unbelievable that somebody had actually given away his hard earned wealth. He walked away disconsolately…

b.(paragraph #10) Over the next few days, he saw the full results of what the

mathematician had calculated. Wherever he went he was received with great honor, and everyone was willing to help him in whatever way they could. He realized that his not having anything had given him much, much more.

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Check Your Understanding11. After the rich man recovered his business, in what way did

he change?

a. he gave away everything to the mathematician b. he kept the keys of the safe himself, so the mathematician would

not be able to get at it c. he shared 50% of his fortune with the mathematiciand. he shared out his fortune among a hundred friends

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Check Your Understanding12. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words or phrases of your

own:

a. In the beginning, when the rich man saw the mathematician

had given away his wealth, he felt ……………………………………..

b. When he saw the people’s reaction and their efforts to help, he knew the mathematician was………………………………………………

c. When he again built up his business he …………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………

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Feature # 2 – Saving Lives1. He was a poor Scottish farmer and his name was Fleming. He

had to work very hard to make two ends meet. He had a large family with eight children. One rainy day, he was working on his farm which was almost barren, and in a desolate area of Scotland. He was usually sad because he doubted how he could provide a decent education to his children.

2. Suddenly, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in wet black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. His efforts were wasted, as they pulled him down more and more.

3. Farmer Fleming hesitated for a few moments. He could get bogged down too and that would be the end. Then he thought of his son, about the same age as this boy. He did not waste any more time. Somehow, with great presence of mind, he saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

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Feature # 2 – Saving Lives4. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's

sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

5. "I want to thank you and repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. “It could have been my son. Anybody else would have done it too.”

6. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel."Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.

"Yes," the farmer replied proudly. “And what does the boy want to do?” asked the nobleman.

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Feature # 2 – Saving Lives7. “He wants to go to medical school to complete his

education,” replied the farmer sadly. “You have a deal. Let me sponsor him and give him a good

education,” went on the nobleman. “If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to be a man you can be proud of."

8. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated with honors from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London in 1928. He went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. It saved many lives in World War II. Today penicillin is used to treat all kinds of bacterial infections.

9. Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill.

His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.

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13. When Farmer Fleming saw a young boy mired to his waist in wet black muck, screaming and struggling to free himself, but going down in the process, what was the conflict he was faced with?

a. he ignored the cry and looked away for some time, pretending

that nothing was happening b. he didn’t waste a second and immediately jumped in to save the

boy c. he hesitated for a few moments as he could get bogged down too

and that would be the endd. he went to get another person to help him


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Check Your Understanding14. How did the relationship between the poor farmer and the

nobleman progress?

a. it was a formal and cordial relationship; the nobleman sponsored

the farmer’s son’s education b. there was no progress as the farmer refused to accept any help c. the relationship ended as soon as the farmer’s son’s education

was over d. it was a very warm and rewarding relationship that led to a lot

of benefits for everyone, including the nobleman’s son

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Check Your Understanding15. “The farmer saved the lad from what could have been a slow

and terrifying death.”

Rewrite the sentences in their appropriate order to show how this one action helped to save the boy again.

a. the boy graduated with honors and became the discoverer of

penicillin b. he could only be saved with penicillin

c. the drowning boy’s father offered to sponsor the boy’s education

in medical schoold. years later the nobleman’s son was stricken with pneumonia

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16. How did the discovery of penicillin help more than just the nobleman’s son? (select more than one answer).

a. it was widely used to save lives during World War II b. it is used for healthy hair growth, and cure dandruff c. it is used for healthy teeth in infantsd. penicillin is used to treat all kinds of bacterial infections


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Check Your Understanding 17. Give a fitting title to the story.

a. Alexander Fleming’s childhoodb. One good turn deserves anotherc. The man who saved Sir Winston Churchill d. How penicillin was discovered

Summary

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Today’s lesson was a lesson in real life (feature # 2).

We can also learn a lesson on generosity (feature # 1).

You have learned to analyze characters, including their traits, motivations, conflicts, points of view, relationships, and changes they undergo.

GREAT JOB TODAY!

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Lesson of a Lifetime