First Published February 09 in Great Britain by

© Mark Bartholomew 2009

The moral right of the author has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

ISBN-10: 1-905637-61-6ISBN-13: 978-1-905637-61-4

This Master may only be reproduced by the original purchaser for use with his/her students. The publisher prohibits the loaning or onselling of this Master for the purposes of reproduction.

Educational Printing Services LimitedAlbion Mill, Water Street, Great Harwood, Blackburn BB6 7QRTelephone: (01254) 882080 Fax: (01254) 882010E-mail: enquiries@eprint.co.uk Website: www.eprint.co.uk

The Sorcerer’s Servant

Written byMARK BARTHOLOMEW

‘Our King does not require gold, gems or precious metals, but virtue, glory,

immortality.’

Lord Mountjoy 1509

Alchemy (Arabic: al-kimia)

An early form of the investigation of nature combining elements of chemistry, metallurgy,

physics, medicine, astrology, mysticism, spiritualism and art.

Alchemy has been practised in Ancient Egypt, Persia, India and China, in Classical Greece and

Rome, in Muslim civilization and then in Europe up to the 19th century.

ContentsChapter 1 Pottage 1Task 1 Rhyming couplets 6Task 2 Writing from a different perspective 7Task 3 Invent a new physician 8Task 4 Tudor phrases 9Task 5 Writing within an historical setting 10

Chapter 2 Old King Henry 11Task 1 Spin doctor to the King! 17Task 2 Selling the palace 18Task 3 Writing a ghost story 19

Chapter 3 Disappearance 20Task 1 Portrait painting 29Task 2 Codes, clues and cryptology 32

Chapter 4 Uninvited Guests 33Task 1 Nursery rhyme 36

Chapter 5 Spies 37Task 1 Turn the chase scene into a playscript 41Task 2 Writing a chase scene 42

Chapter 6 The Shadow 43Task 1 Who is the stranger? 46

Chapter 7 The Potion 47Task 1 Make a potion 50

Chapter 8 Long Live the King 51Task 1 Where has Dr Culpepper been? 55Task 2 Alternative ending 56

Epilogue France 1607 57Task New adventure in France 58Additional Task 1 Comprehension questions 59Additional Task 2 Changing seasons 60Additional Task 3 Vocabulary Challenge 61Additional Task 4 Wordsearch 62

1

London, January 1547

Chapter 1: Pottage

“Tobias Greenleaf!” Cook bellowed up the narrow staircase and her booming voice knocked on my door like an angry clap of thunder. “Supper’s ready. Get down here at once! And don’t forget to feed Solomon on the way down!”

I was busy noting down the ingredients my master had wanted me to collect from the market in the morning. But despite being in mid sentence, I stopped writing immediately and put down my quill pen. It didn’t do to keep Cook waiting!

Hurriedly, I blew upon the fresh ink and when my scratchy letters had dried, I laid the parchment down upon my wooden desk. Then, I rose from my stool and blew out the beeswax candle that lit my tiny bedchamber. As the room was plunged into darkness I opened the door and ran down the stairs, stopping to give some seeds to my master’s pet on the way down.

“Pottage again!” Jack mumbled as I sat down upon the long bench next to Cook’s son. “Yes, Jack Nethergate. Pottage again!” Cook cuffed him around the ear and he grinned back at her.

Pottage was basically vegetable stew. I quite liked it, especially

2

in winter when it was made with turnips and carrots. I broke off a big chunk of black bread and dipped it into the bowl of steaming pottage before me. The bread soaked up the juices and I popped it into my mouth and chewed hungrily. “The master has gone out on urgent business!” Cook stated as she too sat down to eat supper. “Where’s he gone?” Jack asked. “Greenwich Palace to see the King himself!” Cook’s face beamed with pride. “Big deal!” Jack retorted as pottage dripped down his chin. “Your master is a very important physician, my lad, and don’t you forget it. If he can do well for the King then we will all benefit. Why, who knows, we might even get to meet His Majesty ourselves one day, imagine that!” “Old Culpepper will have to work miracles, then. Henry’s for the graveyard soon so they say!” Jack grinned. “Master Nethergate!” Cook exploded. “Where do you learn such talk? Fancy speaking about His Majesty like that!” “It’s what they say down by the river, Mother,” Jack explained, backing away from his mother’s raised hand. “Well you keep away from there. Mixing with all them mudlarks and guttersnipes. I don’t know.” Cook dropped her hand and continued to eat her supper. “Besides, Doctor Culpepper will take care of the King now,” she stated proudly.

My master, you see, was Doctor Ezekiel Culpepper. A practitioner of herbal medicine, a steady-handed surgeon and now, it would seem, private physician to King Henry VIII himself. And I was employed within the household as his servant.

3

My duties were numerous but the one I liked best was gathering the doctor’s ingredients from the markets of London. Sometimes I had to travel quite some distance around the great stinking city. I especially liked going down to the wharves by the Isle of Dogs where the privateers’ ships brought exotic spices from Asia and the Indies. Once, I even saw a ship that had returned from the New World where they say the natives who live there have painted faces, stand ten feet tall and have feathers on their heads instead of hair. I would love to see one of those.

Most of the time, though, I helped the doctor grind down the spices, collect and wash medicine bottles, label new batches of potions and deliver them to his many patients. Dr Culpepper was highly regarded around London, not least because some of his remedies actually worked, which was unlike many of the medicines sold by the other so-called doctors in town.

There was Dr Gasbottle, who gave everybody a dose of laxative to purge them, no matter what the ailment. ‘Dr Privy’ they called him as that was where you would spend most of your time for the next few days after he had visited.

Then there was Obadiah Grimbold. ‘The bat’ he was nicknamed because of his fondness for bloodletting. He killed more than he cured purely because he often fell asleep whilst he was drawing out his patients’ blood.

But worst of all was Dr Jasper Skelton. He was my master’s greatest rival and sworn enemy, for my master declared that Skelton stole many of his ideas and sold them off as his own.

4

I had only ever seen old Jasper once, when he knocked upon the door last Christmastime. My master and he exchanged some bitter words on the doorstep and then he left. I looked down from my bedchamber window and watched his tall, thin frame disappear in the falling snow. But just as he turned the corner into Fish Lane he twisted his head like some great bird, drew back his black cloak and stared up at me. His eyes pierced my soul and I drew my gaze away but when I’d gained the courage to look back again...he had gone!

I had been in the service of Dr Culpepper for as long as I could remember. In fact, since birth, for my mother was a servant here before I was born. She died when I was only four years old. She contracted a terrible fever that struck down many. Dr Culpepper was stuck up in York and could not get home in time to save her. Ever since I have understood how Mother had died, I ensured that I learnt all I could about medicine from my master. One of the first things I studied was how to mix a fever potion. Shame I didn’t know what to do six years ago.

As for my father, I never knew him and no-one here ever talks of him. When I ask Cook or my master about him they say very little except that he had to go away. But at night, when the candle is out and the stars dance across the black sky, I look out of my window and wonder about him. Will he come and find me one day? Is he a sailor lost at sea or a soldier in a mercenary army fighting in Europe? But then the clouds roll across the sky and I begin to realise that I will probably never meet him!

5

“Stop day-dreaming, Toby!” Jack threw a chunk of bread at me and roused me from my thoughts. I grinned and threw one back. It hit him on the chin and fell into his pottage making it splash hot stew over Cook’s face.

“Right that’s it you two!” she howled. “Off to bed!”

Before she could catch us, Jack and I grabbed the remainder of the loaf off the kitchen table and chased each other up the winding, wooden stairs to our attic bedchambers, laughing loudly all the way up the tall, thin house in Harley Street.

6

Chapter 1 task 1:Rhyming couplets

Shakespeare wrote during Tudor times and often used rhyming couplets in his scripts. Take a short passage of dialogue from

the book and write it in rhyming couplets. Here is an example for you to look at:

“The master has gone out on urgent business!” Cook stated as she too sat down to eat supper. “Where’s he gone?” Jack asked. “Greenwich Palace to see the King himself!” Cook’s face beamed with pride. “Big deal!” Jack retorted as pottage dripped down his chin. “Your master is a very important physician, my lad, and don’t you forget it. If he can do well for the King then we will all benefit. Why, who knows, we might even get to meet His Majesty ourselves one day, imagine that!” “Old Culpepper will have to work miracles then. Henry’s for the graveyard soon so they say!” Jack grinned.

Cook: Thy master has gone out, into the dark night, On urgent business, I believe is his plight.Jack: Where has he gone?Cook: Greenwich Palace is the very place, To see the King, face to face.Jack: Big deal!Cook: Your master is a very important physician, my lad, If he can cure the King, we will all be glad.Jack: Then old Culpepper will need to work miracles today, For the King is for the graveyard, so they say!

7

Chapter 1 task 2:Writing from a different perspective

Cook’s point of view

The Sorcerer’s Servant is written in the first person and from the viewpoint of Toby Greenleaf. Toby is a young lad of

ten, who is a servant in the house he shares with his master, Dr Culpepper, his friend Jack and Jack’s mother, the cook, Mrs Nethergate.

Your task is to re-write the first section of the story where Cook calls the boys down for supper but you must do it from her point of view. How would she feel about the boys’ behaviour at the table? What does she think of Dr Culpepper’s visit to the King? Try to add some dialogue, write about her feelings and thoughts and write in the first person.

8

Chapter 1 task 3:Invent a new physician

A physician is another term for a doctor; your task is to invent a doctor that could easily fit into the story of The Sorcerer’s

Servant.

Think about what your doctor might look like, how he speaks, what he carries with him. Think also about how he moves and what clothes he wears. Will he be a good doctor or a bad one? Will he help the poor and needy or is he rich and greedy?

Finally, you need a good name that helps sum up what your new character is like. My doctors are called Obadiah Grimbold, Ezekiel Culpepper, Gasbottle and Jasper Skelton.

I chose the name Jasper because it was the name of a member of the Tudor family, Jasper Tudor. I think it also has a sinister feel to it. It reminds me of the word grasp. The surname Skelton sounds like skeleton and in my head this doctor is tall, thin and spindly. The ‘s’ sound of Skelton also helps to make him sound slimy like a snake.

9

Chapter 1 task 4:Tudor phrases

We use many phrases today that stem from Tudor times. These phrases come from actual everyday events that led to them

being used as part of the English language.

For example, at Tudor markets, tricky farmers would put stray cats in their sacks to sell at market instead of pigs. If the cat was let out of the bag then the trick was exposed. This led to the phrase ‘Don’t let the cat out of the bag!’ meaning don’t give the game away.

Another Tudor phrase stems from the time when all the family shared the same bathwater. Father went first, followed by everyone else in the family. By the time the youngest was washed the water was black! This led to the saying ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,’ meaning when getting rid of waste don’t also throw out what is worth keeping.

Your task: Think of everyday modern events that could perhaps be used to create phrases or sayings in our language today. For example, we use the phrase ‘You’ve missed the boat,’ meaning that someone has missed out on buying tickets for a concert or shoes in a sale!

Extension task: Research and find out where other famous sayings originate from. Many are from the Bible, William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde.