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 Literacy
in AUSTRALIA
PEDAGOGIES for ENGAGEMENT

Donation
made to
the ILF
with every
copy sold

Amy SEELY FLINT | Lisbeth KITSON | Kaye LOWE | Kylie SHAW

 Contents
Preface xi Language practices are dialogic and evolving 31
About the adapting authors xiv Language practices are culturally and socially
How to use this book xvi situated 32
Additional resources xxi Language practices reflect power and politics 33
Acknowledgements xxii
Variations in oral language 34

1 Examining literacy in the Increase of multiple languages in classroom

settings 35
twenty-first century 2
Linguistic variation within English: Is there a
OPENING VIGNETTE Discovering what makes a good reader standard? 37
and a good teacher of readers 2 Language variation as a resource, not a deficit 39
The gap: Literacy practices in school and outside of Language policies: Implications for teaching
school 4 literacy 41
Perspectives on what it means to be literate 6 Conditions and models for oral language acquisition 42
Models of schooling that impact literacy development 7 Cambourne’s model of oral language development 43
Learning is about skill building: Industrial model 7 Halliday’s model of language acquisition 46
Investigating a question: Inquiry model 9
Language cueing systems that support reading and
Problematising the status quo: Critical model 10 writing development 52
Six guiding principles for teaching reading and writing
Graphophonemic: Sounds and symbols 53
in the twenty-first century 12
Semantics: The meaning of words 56
Principle 1: Literacy practices are socially and culturally
constructed. 12 Syntactics: The structure of language 57
Principle 2: Literacy practices are purposeful. 14 Pragmatics: Language in use 58
Principle 3: Literacy practices contain ideologies and Summary 59
values. 14
Principle 4: Literacy practices are learned through
inquiry. 16
3 Getting to know students:
Developing culturally relevant practices
Principle 5: Literacy practices invite readers and writers
to use their background knowledge and cultural for reading and writing 64
understandings to make sense of texts. 17 OPENING VIGNETTE Mr Brown learns from Allora 64
Principle 6: Literacy practices expand to include Examining cultural diversity in classroom settings 67
everyday texts and multimodal texts. 18
Recognising differences in literacy learning within
The Australian Curriculum 20 the classroom 68
Creating a vision for effective literacy instruction 22 Learning about home and community practices 69
Summary 23
Teaching from a culturally relevant perspective 73

2 Oral language learning in and out Supporting linguistically diverse learners in reading
and writing 74
of the classroom 28 Establishing culturally relevant interaction patterns
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Fisher learns from Mi Sun 28 in literacy events 81
Oral language development from a sociocritical Using early assessment to know your students 86
perspective 31 Kid-watching 86

vi Contents
 Attitudes and interest in reading and writing 90 Organising for literacy 149
Interviews 92 Reading and writing procedures 150
Summary 92 Structure of the literacy block 162
Creating a literacy-rich environment 165
4 Theories of literacy development 96 Spaces and places in the classroom to support literacy
development 166
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Campbell discovers the role of theory
Summary 168
in creating curriculum 96
What does theory have to do with curriculum
building? 99 6 Entering into the literacy landscape:
Uncovering your beliefs about teaching and Emergent readers and writers 174
instruction 100 OPENING VIGNETTE Zac reads at home 174
Four classroom portraits and four theories of literacy Historical beginnings of emergent literacy 176
development 101 Reading readiness 177
Ms Robyn Teal’s classroom: Learning to read means Emergent literacy 179
focusing on skills 101
Oral language learning: What it means for emergent
Ms Cheryl Battle’s classroom: Learning to read means reading and writing practices 182
understanding the meaning of words 106
Conditions for developing oral language skills 183
Mr Thomas Ruby’s classroom: Learning to read means
Conditions to support young English language learners
learning how to respond to a text 112 (ELLs) in preschool settings 184
Ms Pauline Fuller’s classroom: Learning to read means Dimensions of emergent literacy 185
critically examining the text 117
Concepts of texts 187
Looking across the four reading models 123
Concepts of words 190
Summary 125
Concepts of letters and sounds 191

5 Literacy programs and approaches 128

Assessing the dimensions of emergent literacy 193
Emergent writing 194
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Binns rethinks sustained silent Inventing and refining written language forms 195
reading time 128 Emergent spelling 196
Changes in reading and writing 131 Emergent writing and meaning making 200
Skills: Grammar, decoding and drills 131 Literacy and technology in early literacy settings 201
Whole language: Authentic texts and meaning Concepts of screen 201
making 132 Electronic/talking books 201
The balanced approach to literacy development 133 Literacy events and practices: Promoting emergent
Approaches based on rigorous scientific research reading and writing 203
evidence 134 Noticing environmental print 203
The current situation in Australia 135 Writing centres 204
Classroom approaches to literacy programs 137 Storybook reading 205
Developing or adapting a program 137 Storybook reading as a cultural practice 206
Commercial reading programs 139 Sociodramatic play settings 207
Theme-based units 142 Language experience approach stories (LEA) and the
Literature–based units 143 digital language experience approach (D-LEA) 208
Resourcing your classroom literacy program 146 Summary 212

Contents vii
7 Beginning readers and writers 218
Text use with intermediate and accomplished readers
and writers 308
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Simon’s class reads There was Developing critical practices with intermediate and
an old lady who swallowed a fly 218 accomplished readers 311
Guiding principles to promote beginning reading Summary 314
and writing 221
Exploring beginning reading through the four-resource
model 225
9 Effective assessment practices
for reading and writing 322
Code breaking to exemplify how words work 226
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Taylor invites alternative
Becoming a text participant 236
response 322
Understanding how texts are used 240
Formative and summative assessments 325
Text analyst — thinking critically about texts 241 National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy
Literacy blocks for beginning readers 242 (NAPLAN) 326
Creating a routine for primary level literacy Purposes for assessments 328
blocks 243 Literacy assessments reveal ideologies about learning
Mini-lessons 244 and literacy 330
Reading and responding 244 The cycle of reflection–assessment–instruction 332
Connections to national achievement standards 259 Who is interested in assessment? High stakes for parents,
Summary 262 teachers and schools 334
Authentic assessment practices 335
8 Intermediate and accomplished Characteristics of authentic assessments 335
readers and writers 266 Types of authentic assessment practices 336
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Bell discovers her Year 5
Documentary/observation 336
readers 266 Responsive listening assessments 345
Needs and characteristics of students in middle Gathering information to use in assessing readers’ and
to upper primary 269 writers’ growth in literacy development 348
Guiding principles for intermediate and accomplished Portfolio systems 349
readers and writers 270 Assessment practices align with code breaking, text
What do we teach intermediate and accomplished readers meaning, text use and critical practices 350
and writers? 273 Code-breaking assessment 351
Key understandings about multimodal and digital Text participant assessments 354
texts 278 Text use assessments 357
How do we teach intermediate and accomplished readers Critical practices assessments 358
and writers? 280 Summary 360
Selecting texts for intermediate and accomplished
readers 281
Reading and writing conferences 283
10 Literature in the classroom 364

The four-resource model for intermediate and OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Wilson’s Year 5 students talk about
accomplished readers and writers 284 Infinity ring: Divide and conquer 364
Code breaking for intermediate and accomplished What is literature? 367
readers 284 The picturebook 369
Text participant practices with intermediate and Graphic novels and manga 371
accomplished readers 293 E-literature 372

viii Contents
Literature and context 374 Integrating reading and writing in the content
Historical, cultural and social contexts 375 classroom 435
Responding to literature 377 Using resources to develop knowledge and understanding
Reader-response theory 377 in the content areas 436
Take a stance: A reader’s purpose and attitude 378 Inviting children to use informative resources for
Goals for literature discussions 383 content-area learning 436
Response and interpretive authority 384 The role of informative texts in developing readers and
writers 438
Teacher-led discussions 386
Selecting informative texts 439
Teacher-led, student-centred discussions 386
Using a range of texts 442
Student-led discussions 387
Teaching strategies for reading and writing in the
Examining literature for its features and language 389
content areas 444
Key features of literary texts 390
Read informative texts aloud 444
The language of literary texts 391
Provide time to read in content areas 445
Creating literary texts 395
Scaffolding creating and communicating with
Author craft 395
ICTs 445
Poetry 395
Developing literate practices in the content areas: The
Innovation on a text 396 four-resource model 447
Digital storytelling 397 Code-breaking practices 447
Summary 399 Text participant practices 450

11 ICTs and reading to learn in the content Summary 455

areas 406
OPENING VIGNETTE Mr Gallagher and Ms Reiner invite their
12 Working with struggling
readers and writers 462
students to inquire 406
Reading to learn: The literacy demands in content OPENING VIGNETTE Mrs Laughlin supports Ray as a reader
areas 409 and writer 462
Literacy demands in history 413 Factors that contribute to struggling reading and
Literacy demands in science 415 writing 465
Literacy demands in mathematics 416 Cognitive processing 465
Technology and literacy 417 Motivation and engagement 466
Integrating ICTs and literacy in the content areas 420 Teacher beliefs and attitudes 470
ICT capability across the content areas 424 Identifying struggling readers and writers during
Using inquiry-based learning 426 literacy events 472
Key principles of inquiry-based learning 428 Instructional practices for struggling readers
and writers 473
The teacher’s role in inquiry-based learning 429
Echo reading 474
Selecting an inquiry topic 429
Shared reading 475
Planning for inquiry in the classroom 431
Embedding literacy demands within an inquiry Neurological impress method (NIM) 475
approach 432 Interest and background 475
Reading and writing to learn in the content Read alouds to extend comprehension 476
areas 435 Independent reading time 477

Contents ix
 Buddy reading 477 Teaching all children to lead literate lives in the ­
Scheduling easy reading time to gain twenty-first century 487
confidence 478 Summary 489
Scaffolding 480
Comprehension monitoring strategies 481 Appendix 494
Supporting struggling readers through parent Glossary 495
education 484 Index 499

x Contents
Preface
Steven was 26 and struggling to keep his job, afraid that his employers would
­discover he couldn’t read. I showed him how reading works, moved him from fix-
ating on unknown words and demonstrated effective strategies. A few weeks later,
he triumphantly appeared — proud and smiling — at my office door. He said he
had never been into a bookshop in his life but had the courage to do so at the
weekend. In the bookshop, he was immediately drawn to a display shelf featuring
Bear Grylls. Being a Bear Grylls fanatic and having recorded every episode, he not
only knew about Bear Grylls — he knew what to expect in the book. Much to his
own surprise, he took out his credit card and paid the $28 to purchase the book.
Deciding to walk into that bookshop, picking up that book, and paying $28 was the
real beginning of Steven’s literacy success.
I am saddened that this experience had not occurred sooner for Steven. In
­Canberra’s Belconnen Mall, on a Saturday morning, Steven was compelled to take
a risk to read, and was interested enough to do so and willing to recognise that the
pay-off for reading just might be worth the $28 outlay. He had endured years of
struggle, fear and humiliation. All he ever wanted to do was succeed in the world
of literacy with the right book, supported by effective strategies and surrounded by
a network of advocates that celebrated his success.
Our education system has let students like Steven slip through the cracks; the
older they become, the less likely they will encounter the assistance they need. On
the other hand, I know it is never too late to make available the magic of reading to
anyone, irrespective of their age or stage in life. In the book Life is so good, George
Dawson (at the ripe old age of 98) describes how he decided to hang up his fishing
rod and do what he had always wanted to do: ‘learn to read’. He undertook the
lengthy walk to the closest school, with his packed lunch, and learned to read. At
age 103, he successfully completed the equivalent of a TAFE entry course. In this
truly inspirational journey of a reader, George reminds us of what inspired him:
Every morning I get up and I wonder what I might learn that day. You just
never know.

Our hope is that in Literacy in Australia, your passion to teach literacy well will
be reaffirmed or ignited and that, when you look into the eyes of your students,
you will notice that there is joy in turning up to learn in your class on a daily basis.
Students do not need convincing about the value of reading and writing. They do
not need to be cajoled, manipulated or bribed to read or write. They know that their
lives are enriched through literacy experiences with which they connect and that
reading and writing is central to who they are and who they can become.
Literacy in Australia highlights the sense of urgency and the compelling need for
all children, from their very first days in a classroom, to have access to what works.
Steven, and every other ‘Steven’ who has crossed my path, should never need to
endure years of fearing reading. There is no magic formula, no one-size-fits-all

Preface xi
 reading program, nor a set of blackline masters to teach reading. There is, however,
effective teaching driven by committed teachers who understand how best to sup-
port all readers and writers.
Research by John Hattie highlights what we all intuitively know and under-
stand — that is, that the teacher makes the difference. Dedicated teachers are busy
people but they never lose sight of what teaching is about: students, not programs,
formulas or assessment. This book was written to support teachers’ efforts in class-
rooms and provide real and research-based practices that inspire children to learn.
It is about putting power and responsibility in the hands of learners and providing
authentic purposes for engaging in literacy experiences that are mindful, not mind-
less. I know my literacy programs work when students leave messages asking if
I could purchase the next book in the series, or when the only copy of the ‘hot
book’ goes missing because someone has stashed it in a secret location in order
to finish it. I know parent literacy education programs work when parents recall
finding their child reading with a torch under the sheets way beyond bedtime, or
having to drive home in the dark with the car light on because their child couldn’t
stop reading.
Astute teachers only have to observe children’s responses to the implementa-
tion of their literacy programs to garner a measure of their teaching effectiveness.
I know my writing program works when the children elect to read each other’s
writing in SSR time, they moan in unison when it is time to stop writing, or they
enter authoring circles with enthusiasm to share their ideas and listen to the ideas of
others. They know the purpose for writing and celebrate their efforts and those of
their peers. They know writing improves their learning. In a writing classroom, my
job is multifaceted. I observe, conference, plan, assess and — importantly — I write.
I lead all students to the realisation that one of their biggest and most enduring
assets is the ability to write skillfully.
There is nothing more rewarding than hearing the writing voices of students,
freely expressed, and strong and confident. When students discover the power of
manipulating words, there are no limits. There are no boundaries to the worlds they
create, the knowledge expressed and elaborated, cultures they celebrate, nor the
stories they share. To focus on margin size, number of words, spelling and gram-
matical errors trivialises the writer and silences the power and purposes of the
writing. The conventions get in the way when they become what writing is about.
We live in different times. With spelling checks, grammatical prompts and apps that
can convert SMS to conventional spelling, students are freed from focusing on con-
ventions more than ever before. This is not to say that conventions are unimpor-
tant; they are extremely important because they impact on the meaning the writer
conveys. Conventions can be corrected. Desensitising and inspiring a silenced
writer proves more difficult.
In Literacy in Australia, you will notice that literacy experiences in classrooms are
based on identifiable and meaningful purpose(s) for reading and writing. Effective
teachers know their students and use formal and informal assessment data to make
informed choices to address the diversity of needs and interests of their students.

xii Preface
When it comes to writing, students are clear about ‘why I am writing’ (and for
whom). Far too many writers start by seeking clarity regarding how many words
they need to write, whether they need to use margins or a particular font, or write a
report, recount or narrative. Writers who know why they write, respond, refine and
adjust their writing style to align with purpose and audience. They make informed
choices about ‘how’ to write for whom and in doing so consider form, style, mode
and the medium. On the other hand, when it comes to reading, readers who make
choices about what they read know that their questions about life, themselves, the
world and the world of print are answered. What they repeatedly ask for is more
time to engage with the book they just can’t put down.
A sound knowledge base and passion provide the essence of good teaching.
Our intention is that Literacy in Australia provides the fuel to contribute to a fresh
perspective on what is happening in your literacy lessons. The fact that you have
picked up this book is a statement about your desire to learn more and make a
difference to the students you encounter. Moving readers from a world of trepi-
dation, disinterest and disengagement to a world filled with prolific readers who
talk and devour books is more than a worthy pursuit — it is life changing for stu-
dents. Moving writers from the mundane regurgitation of content to communi-
cation across a range of print-based and digital forms that inspire the reader is
more than pleasurable, it is essential to the future of all students. The world changes
because good teachers teach well. They know what it takes for the ‘Stevens’ in our
classrooms to discover the joy and love of reading and writing before they turn 26.

Kaye Lowe, August 2013

Preface xiii
 About the adapting authors
Kaye Lowe
Dr Kaye Lowe is Director of U-CAN Read at the University of Canberra and
­associate professor (adjunct). She has had a lifelong passion for literacy learning
and began her teaching career in a K-3 classroom in the small rural town of Marrar,
where the school was staffed by two teachers.
Since completing a PhD at Indiana University, she has taken up academic pos-
itions at the University of Kentucky, James Madison University (Virginia), Uni­
versity of Western Sydney and Charles Darwin University. She was the Chief
Investigator and Evaluator of Reading First in Kentucky. While in Kentucky, she
also received a grant to design and produce an online program to support strug-
gling adult readers using voice recognition technology, screen readers and inter-
active activities.
She has worked in many learning contexts including P-12, parent education,
adult education, jails and juvenile justice. She aspires to make the journey of the
reader fun and easy. Her research interests include supporting struggling readers,
supporting Indigenous learners, parent education, the impact of technology on lit-
eracy learning, boys’ education, adult literacy education, and inspiring reluctant
writers. In 2012, she instigated the project i-Read for disinterested and disengaged
secondary readers. It now occurs in 9 high schools in NSW and the ACT. She also
instigated Boys, blokes and books, a parent literacy education program for dads and
their sons.
She has written four books and numerous articles on the teaching of reading and
writing. She has been the recipient of many grants, three of which were for projects
of national significance.

Kylie Shaw
Dr Kylie Shaw is a lecturer at the University of Newcastle where she convenes the
Bachelor of Teaching (Primary)/Bachelor of Arts program and is the Director
of Student Experience in the School of Education. She coordinates and lectures
in literacy, educational psychology and ICT courses in the undergraduate and
­postgraduate programs. Before this, Kylie taught in primary and middle schools,
and held leadership positions of Stage 3 Coordinator and Coordinator of Academic
­Programs in Years 5–8 in the independent school sector. She presently maintains
her teaching credentials through continual work as a teacher in DEC primary
schools.
Kylie is currently a Chief Investigator on a global research project investigating
innovative teaching and learning practices for the twenty-first century, sponsored
by DEC and Microsoft. She has presented at global forums on innovative teaching
and has collaborated with the Stanford Research Institute (SRI International) to
further develop teacher engagement in twenty-first century learning design in

xiv About the adapting authors

schools. She consults in this area in schools in both the government and indepen-
dent sectors.
Kylie’s research interests also include the area of higher education, where she
has developed a measure of research preparedness for students involved in under-
graduate research and a methodological tool for tracking learning journeys. She is
­currently the Convenor of the Research into the Doctorate Special Interest Group
for the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) and the T ­ reasurer
of the NSW Institute of Educational Research (NSW IeR).

Lisbeth Kitson
Dr Lisbeth Kitson is a lecturer at Griffith University at the Gold Coast, Queensland.
She teaches in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Literacy and Eng-
lish education, multiliteracies and middle years English curriculum. Lisbeth is also
actively engaged with pre-service teachers in her role as the First year coordinator
of the Bachelor of Education (Secondary).
Her areas of research interest are related to literacy and multiliteracies, with a
particular focus on the integration of information and communication ­technologies
and multimodal texts into teaching practices. Lisbeth’s honours research investi-
gated the literacy practices developed by one middle year student as he engaged in
computer game play during his recreational time. Literacy practices were discussed
for a variety of computer games, applying the four-resource model.
Her doctoral research explored how teachers in one school integrated the inter-
active whiteboard into their English curriculum to develop students’ multiliterate
practices. In particular, it investigated how teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices
were shaped by the implementation of interactive whiteboards, and how this influ-
enced what counted as multiliteracies.

About the adapting authors xv

 How to use this book
Literacy in Australia: Pedagogies for Engagement has been written and designed as a
practical and user-friendly learning resource.

Chapter

3 Getting to know students:

I knew that Russell could not speak or understand English. Allora, on the other hand, was
able to speak and understand both English and Australian Aboriginal Creole. I thought

Developing culturally
she could possibly use her cultural knowledge and experiences to help Russell feel more
comfortable. Maybe she could explain assignments and procedures to Russell. I also had
a picture in my mind of the two of them becoming best friends over conversations about

relevant practices for

their similar family backgrounds.
Unfortunately, I was wrong. Allora hardly talked to Russell at all. Russell would just

reading and writing

sit there staring at his paper. I would say, ‘Allora, can you tell Russell in Aboriginal to
draw a picture of himself?’ Allora would answer, ‘I don’t know how to say it.’ I would
answer, ‘Well, can you say the word ‘picture’ for me in your language?’ Her answer was
always, ‘I don’t remember how.’
There was similar resistance from Allora anytime I asked her to tell me anything
mr Brown learns about her culture. It wasn’t that she was a quiet child afraid to open up. She had plenty
from allora to say about most things. However, in response to questions about her culture, she said
nothing.
I finally called Allora’s mother in for a conference. I felt that Allora was abandoning
her culture and I didn’t know what to do. This conference was invaluable as I learned
about Allora and how to draw out her strengths and cultural knowledge.
Allora’s mother told me that she, too, was having trouble with Allora. She said that
she didn’t understand it because Allora never wanted to speak Yarrie Lingo, the Australian
Aboriginal Creole the rest of her family spoke, at home. Due to her daughter’s dislike of
their language, she was trying to speak only English around Allora. She also told me that
she felt it was important for Allora to learn English so that she could ‘fit in’ with the other
students at school and understand her work at school. She then explained that Allora did
not think fondly of their time in the Northern Territory because her father had stayed
behind and Allora didn’t understand why. I explained that it was very important for Allora
to continue to use her language at home and in the classroom; that the other students
and I could learn from Allora’s knowledge and experiences if we could just get her to share
them with us. I knew that unless Allora valued her knowledge and knew that others valued
it, too, she was never going to want to share it or remember it.
In addition, I learned from her mother that Allora had many responsibilities at home.
‘Mr Brown, wat dis?’ ‘Mr Brown, go play?’ If she wasn’t asking me questions, then she was
She was expected to help her mother with her two younger brothers and to clean their
asking the person at the table next to her or the child walking by to sharpen a pencil.
rooms. Learning this information about Allora really helped me to understand more about
Allora, a bright, inquisitive learner was learning how to navigate two languages and two
Allora’s home life and background experiences. I felt that her knowledge of organising
cultures.
could be brought into the classroom. I began to ask her to be in charge of organising the
Allora was returning to my school for the second time. Last year, she originally started
writing centre, straightening the library books, and clearing the art centre. Allora demon-
in another teacher’s Foundation year class, only to leave to visit family in the Northern strated leadership and skill in organising and participating in these classroom jobs. She
Territory. Allora returned months later and re-enrolled. At the beginning of the following took pride in being able to do it so well. Other students noticed her new responsibilities
school year, she entered my Year 1 classroom. I remembered her from the year before and before long they all wanted to help and be involved.
and was looking forward to having her in my room. I wanted to learn more about her I made a conscious effort to include more stories and pictures that highlighted Abor-
culture. Allora was an Indigenous student who spoke Aboriginal Creole at home, but also iginal places and people during reading and writing time. My calendar area, which had a
had some pre-school and school experience of speaking Standard Australian English. calendar, weather and other daily markers, reflected both English and Aboriginal Creole
On the first
books day of school,
including My home I decided to sit Allora
in Kakadu next Christophersen
by Jane to another child whoandalso
Walking with the seasons words. All of my students were learning more about Indigenous culture as I continued to
had an Aboriginal Australian background. At that time, Allora and Russell were the only encourage Allora and Russell to share their own knowledge and experiences. I brought
in Kakadu by Diane Lucas with the class. This small change in the classroom made a big
two children in my classroom who did not speak English as their first language at home. in my own photographs and stories of visiting Kakadu National Park. I also read some
difference for Allora. She began participating more in the learning centres and other
activities. After sharing my photographs, I noticed that Allora started to open up a little
64 Literacy in Australia more about her knowledge and experiences. She started to help me pronounce words cor- Chapter 3 Getting to know students: Developing culturally relevant practices for reading and writing 65
rectly during calendar time as the rest of the students repeated. She also started to talk
about her visits and experiences in the Northern Territory a little bit more.
On one occasion in particular, students were asked to put a set of picture cards in
chronological order and then create a story based on the pictures. I gave Allora a set of
cards that reflected a Dreamtime story. I hoped that Allora would have some knowledge
of Indigenous Australian oral story traditions and be able to put the cards in chronological
order. I will admit that as teachers, we must be careful not to over-generalise when
teaching about cultural traditions. However, fortunately Allora said, ‘I know that! That’s
the story of Tiddalik the Frog!’ Her story reflected not only her ability to accurately
sequence the pictures (which was the objective), but
also demonstrated her rich cultural knowledge and Each chapter opens with
experiences.
Allora taught me a lot that year. As she moves on a real-world vignette
to Year 2 and I on to another school, I hope that her
new teacher will see the value and importance of her that highlights teaching
cultural knowledge and experiences. I want her future
teachers to notice that she is full of knowledge and decisions made by
skills that they and their students can learn from.
Most of all, I hope that Allora will no longer be hesi- current teachers and
tant to share who she is and that she will celebrate her
Indigenous culture, knowledge and life skills as she con- specialists in the field,
fidently and proficiently navigates two languages and
two cultures. followed by I Wonder
questions that generate
I wonder . . .
• What misconceptions did Mr Brown have about English as an additional language reflective thinking
or dialect (EAL/D) learners?
• What strategies could Mr Brown use to foster Allora’s understandings about and contextualise
literacy and to build connections with her cultural background?
• In what ways could Mr Brown demonstrate to his class that cultural diversity is
valued and important?
the chapter’s leaning
outcomes.
Chapter overvIew
Teachers know quite a bit about their students as the school year goes by. They learn about students’ academic strengths
and weaknesses, cultural experiences and differences, and personality traits and behaviour. Teachers gain this infor-
mation through many avenues. They observe how students interact with those in the classroom. They document students’
conceptual understandings that reflect academic strengths and weaknesses. Teachers hold parent conferences where they

66 Literacy in Australia

xvi How to use this book

 Oral language development from
a sociocritical perspective
The opening vignette highlights how children and teachers access and use oral
language to understand the world around them. Mi Sun needed time to under-
stand literacy activities in her classroom as she was getting used to a new country
and a new language. She demonstrated how she increasingly understood how lan-
guage is socially and culturally situated by using familiar language patterns, and
Ms Fisher realised that involving her family in the new setting (school) and using
opportunities to provide links between the two languages would assist Mi Sun’s
progress in kindergarten. Children come into classrooms with a rich repertoire
of language from their communities and homes. They have learned how to com-
municate with those around them. Five-year-old Kadin’s ability to recount a per-
Literacy in context boxed features appear regularly sonal experience of finding his pet snake in the closet after it had been missing
throughout the chapter as reflective questions and for a week, or eight-year-old Ben’s question, ‘Is your country safe?’ when intro-
duced to a classroom visitor demonstrates the powerful nature of language use.
tasks that students use to juxtapose text material with Children’s use of language to make sense of their communities and the world they
their own experiences. live in is ever-expanding. The following guiding assumptions about oral language
development provide a framework for teachers to maximise children’s learning
and literacy development.

Literacy in context 2.1

Make a list of common words that you use that are relatively ‘new’ to our lexicon.
Factual description — Fynn: Grade commentary Examples may include: blog, wiki, globalisation and iPad.
Fynn has demonstrated a sound understanding of the features of a factual Where did these words come from?
description. The text has been adequately structured but is missing an intro- How often do you use these words?
duction. A clear image of the toy has been provided through good use of
adjectives and similes. Compound sentences have been used, and the spelling
and punctuation are adequate. There is some confusion with word order and interact with each other and, as they do, it is worthwhile to make notes and reflect
omitted words, suggesting that self-editing skills need to be developed. To Language practices
on what occurs as students are dialogic
participate andactivities.
in literacy evolving Ketch (2005) claims:
progress further, Fynn could use a variety of sentence beginnings, work on con- Language users are always in the process of refining their language use. Children
sistency of handwriting size, and conclude the text with a personal comment. Conversation is a basis for critical thinking. It is the thread that ties together
regularly and in visible ways try out various hypotheses about language structures,
This work sample demonstrates characteristics of work typically produced by a cognitive strategies and provides students with the practice that becomes the
word meanings, and pronunciations. Toddlers play with language, wondering if
student performing at grade C standard at the end of Stage 1. foundation for reading, writing, and thinking (p. 8).
certain combinations of sounds mean anything to those around them. Is it possible
Example of work sample for a factual description of a toy, with teacher annotations to Too often,
say ‘fa fa’ intalk in the classroom community
an English-speaking is overlooked andashave
a crucial
it mean building block
anything, or isfor
it
Source: Board of Studies NSW (2012). literacy
only when development.
the toddler In saysaddition,
‘wa wa’ teachers who schedule
that something happens? time each
Even day continu-
adults to listen
to fouracquire
ously or fivelanguage
children—read aloudnew
learning on avocabulary,
one-on-one basis gain
nuances a sound
of the language,under-
and
standing
rules of thelanguage
for using literacy inneeds of individual
particular contexts. students
Becauseaslanguage
well as gain
use isana human
overall
Assessing children on a variety of tasks and concepts provides a more complete
picture of the student as a learner. Each student engages with the learning pro- understandingitofisthe
phenomenon, literacy needs
constantly evolving of the
intoclass. The same
new forms. New process
words applies
becomeequally
a part
cess in a slightly different and unique way. They bring to the literacy event prior to writing.
of the lexiconTeachers whoiPad,
(e.g. blog, schedule a regular
twitter), whiletime
othersto conference
disappear. with students about
knowledge, experiences, and linguistic and cultural ways of being (as shown in the their writing gather important evaluative information that can
Language is dialogic in that it is negotiated from speaker to speaker. Bahktin be matched against
opening vignette). the achievement
(1981) talks aboutstandards for programming
how language is appropriated purposes.
by others,
In order to make informed programming decisions, a sound knowledge of the
[the word
Australian in language]
Curriculum is isessential.
half someone else’s.teachers
Effective It becomes are‘one’s own’ with
familiar only when
the con-
Literacy in context 9.1 tent the
of speaker populatesCurriculum
the Australian it with his own andintentions,
match what his own accent,
they know when
andheunderstand
appro-
Reflect on your own primary school experience. What assessments were you given as priates the word, adapting it to his own semantic and expressive intentions. . .
about their students with the achievement standards. Evaluation — both formal
a student? What are some of your memories regarding these assessments? Did the (pp. 293–294)
and informal — drives instructional decisions across the three strands (Language,
assessment fit the instruction and curriculum?
Literacy and Literature).
Share your memories with peers.
Chapter 2 Oral language learning in and out of the cla
Literacy in context 7.4
Literacy assessments reveal ideologies An invaluable document to support teachers across all stages is the Literacy

about learning and literacy continuum in General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum (ACARA 2012,
pp. 16–20). It is organised according to year levels 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. The Literacy
Literacy assessment practices, in conjunction with instructional practices, reveal continuum is a simple overview of literacy learning for classroom teachers and
the beliefs and values one has about literacy development. Recall the different ideol- provides a useful guide for planning. The Literacy continuum below outlines what is
ogical perspectives and models of schooling around teaching, learning and literacy expected of students by the end of Year 2.
presented in chapter 1— industrial, inquiry and critical. These perspectives and
models also influence teachers’ assessment practices. Assessment practices aligned Comprehending texts through listening, viewing and reading
with an industrial model reflect standardisation and uniformity. This can be seen
Reading and viewing learning area texts
in the large-scale, standardised testing measures currently sweeping the nation. All
• use prior knowledge and vocabulary to read and view learning area texts, using
students in a particular year group are given the same test at the same time, with the
developing strategies such as predicting, monitoring meaning and crosschecking
same amount of time to complete the test. There is little, if any, acknowledgment
that students come to the test with different experiences and knowledge. Listening
Teachers who view literacy from an industrial or bottom-up perspective will • listen to one- and two-step instructions for undertaking learning tasks, listen
most likely use assessment practices that address individual skills that make up the for information about topics being learned and to participate in discussions
reading process. The assessments often focus on discrete skills that can be easily Comprehending learning area texts
measured — for example, identifying parts of speech, correct usage of punctuation, • understand and use different types of learning area texts to explore topics,
determining the main idea of a reading passage, and selecting correctly spelled gather information and make some obvious inferences
words. These assessments are more often decontextualised, which means they are
Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
not connected to the everyday activities in the classroom.
Oral interactions
• participate in group and class discussions about learning area topics using
oral interaction skills such as speaking clearly, initiating topics, expressing
330 Literacy in Australia opinions and listening to the opinions of others

260 Literacy in Australia

How to use this book xvii

 and Infinity ring: Divide and conquer (Ryan, 2012). Infinity ring is a series of time-
travel adventure books suitable for middle years primary, where students ‘read the
book, follow the guide’ and then play the online game. The books are also available
in an audio format.
Keeping in mind that no text is neutral, the next section will explore the his-
torical, cultural and social contexts of literary texts.

Literacy in context 10.1

What do you consider as literature? Would you include postmodern picturebooks,
graphic novels, manga or e-literature? Find a text from each format and look at it
for its literary value. Is there the use of aesthetic language? What aspect of human
experience would it provide for students?

Going further . . . Going further . . .

There are a variety of organisations that have electronically recontextualised
The National Assessment Program ICT Literacy Years 6 & 10 assessment, conducted
literary texts. Some of these works are now in the public domain, as copyright
in 2005, 2008 and 2011, tests a random sample of students. It is a performance-
laws have expired, and include the historical texts discussed later in this chapter.
The Australian children’s literature digital resources (CLDR) project, involving based assessment which assesses the proficiency of students’ ICT skills and
several universities, involved the digitalisation of a selection of both popular and knowledge, using a series of authentic and simulated computer-based tasks. There is
rare Australian literature from the period of 1851–1945. It includes children’s and also a student questionnaire used to gauge ICT use at home and school, as well as
young adult fiction, short stories, picturebooks and poetry. Full text materials of student levels of confidence, interest and enjoyment.
primary and secondary sources are available through AustLit. Other useful resources Access the ICT Literacy Years 6 & 10 Report 2011 (ACARA, 2012) to learn more
include Project Gutenberg and the International Children’s Digital Library. Google about what types of tasks students complete. How do these align with the ICT
one of these organisations and look at what texts are available for your future use capabilities detailed above?
in the classroom.

Many of the content areas (science, history, maths) are based on inquiry-based
learning approaches. The next section explores inquiry-based curriculum and
Literature and context learning approaches, some key principles of this approach, how to select inquiry
Children’s and young adult literature has always reflected the societal knowledge, topics, and some current models of inquiry-based learning. It will also explore
values and beliefs of the time (Sipe & Pantaleo, 2008). For this reason, under- how to embed literacy opportunities or demands (e.g. comprehension and com-
standing how texts reflect historical, cultural and social contexts — and how this is position of texts using text, grammar, word, and visual knowledge) within
always situated — is a key thread in the Australian Curriculum’s Literature strand. the content area knowledge and the processes of these inquiry-based learning
It is important that: approaches.
Students learn how ideas and viewpoints about events, issues and characters that
are expressed by authors in texts are drawn from and shaped by different historical, Using inquiry-based learning
social and cultural contexts (ACARA, 2013, p. 7).
‘Without one’s own serious and sincere questions one cannot creatively understand
This section will explore the key concepts of historical context, social context and
cultural context, and how these are reflected in a variety of literary texts.
anything other or foreign.’ Going further boxed
(Bakhtin, 1986, p. 11)
features present topical
Children are naturally inquisitive. They ask numerous questions about their envi-
iteracy in Australia ronment, their communities, why things happen and and
engaging
how thingsinformation
work. They often
use ‘why’ and ‘how come’ questions while exploring about thevarious aspects
world around them. Their
questions and interests expand as they enter school. However, in some classrooms,
content areas (English, mathematics, science, history) are taught as discrete of teaching literacy to areas
of knowledge that begin and end with facts. encourage students
In mathematics, to chil-
for example,
The picturedren book may complete worksheets of maths problems, while for history they read the
critically reflect on their
information from informational texts and answer a series of follow-up questions.
The first exposure to literature that children often experience is the picturebook.
The use of the term ‘picturebook’ as one word reveals its uniqueness as emphasised
by Lewis (2001). There is
Picturebooks a considerable
are amount
more than just illustrated of
storybooks, curricula
the written text, fonts and illustrations all part of the story (Lewis, 2001). As dis-
with practice in a broader
in science, history and mathematics to
address,
8, words andand images this ismeaning
a challenge
in a variety offor
ways.teachers who need to teach and report on each
cussed in chapter can make
picturebook has had a place in early years classroom learning since Meek espoused
The
context.
that ‘texts teachof these
what readers areas.
learn’ (1988,By structuring
p. 1). learning
However, the picturebook is not using an inquiry-based approach, teachers
can
use atintegrate
particular yearcontent areas andtopicconcentrate
just for Foundation to Year 3, it can be used throughout primary and secondary
schooling. Their levels will depend on the matter, the on important questions and issues, and
inquiry-based learning complexity of ideas,more anddeeply engage
the picturebook’s level oftheir
written students.
and visual language.
Some of these types of books are referred to as postmodern picturebooks and are
So,
an inquiry-based model ofdiscussed later in this what
chapter. The rabbits (Marsden,learning? Inquiry is an approach that starts with ques-
is inquiry-based
For example,
teaching that starts with 1998) uses a rather simplistic sentence structure throughout the
tions,
text, which may give the and through
impression research
it is easy reading and suit- and experimentation students gain new insights and
questions and through able for Foundation to Year 1. However, the ideas behind the text
are more complex.
research and experimentation understandings about
It is a partly allegorical tale topics.
that represents the An inquiry-based approach to learning underpins

and the ACARA History, Science and Mathematics curriculums, and is fundamental to
topic of colonisation told from the viewpoint of the native animals.
students gain new insightsIt presents consequences of the arrival of a group of rabbits
understandings with unfamiliareffective
ways, and how teaching andimpacts
their colonisation learning.
upon Berghoff, Egawa, Harste, and Hoonan (2000) liken
the environment and these native animals.
Teachers will also consider the opportunities a picturebook
may offer to meet outcomes in the various sub-strands of the
Literature strand: Literature and context, Responding to literature,
Examining literature, and Creating literature. Literacy, language
426 Literacy in Australia and literary goals are compatible as suggested in the Australian
Curriculum (ACARA, 2013). Lehman (2009) offered that ‘learning
to read can (and should) be learned by learning to read literarily,
Graphic novels and manga cater to a wide range of age groups — for example, or what Beavis (2005) refers to as ‘literary literacy’’. In particular,
Lehman (2009) suggested there is a synergy between particular
Red Ted and the lost things (Rosen, 2009) is suitable for younger readers, whereas literary understandings and literacy understandings, as shown
other titles like the French classic The little prince (Sfar, 2010), Skeleton key: The in table 10.1.

graphic novel (Johnston, 2009) and Vermonia (YoYo, 2011) appeal to older primary Table 10.1 Synergy between literary and literacy understandings

years readers. They also accommodate a wide range of genres, including fantasy, literary understandings Related literacy concepts
mystery-thriller, crime, historical narratives and drama. Graphic novels can also Sense of story Comprehension

address a wide range of themes, as evident in figure 10.2, which lists some other Plot of story Sequencing
The text presents a
examples of graphic novels that can be used in the classroom. Theme of story Main ideas of story
Language (e.g. sounds, images, word meanings) Vocabulary visually appealing
Beowulf (Hinds, 2007)
Teachers can use these synergies as they plan to develop student’s literary literacy,
recognising that ‘literacy can be taught in literary ways’ (Lehman, 2009, p. 198).
learning design with
Captain Mack series (Lomas-Bullivant, 2010)
Excalibur: The legend of King Arthur (Lee, 2011)
As language is central to literature, later in this chapter we will explore the types
examples of classic
Glister series (Watson, 2009)
Outlaw: The legend of Robin Hood (Lee. 2009)
children’s
369 literature
Chapter 10 Literature in the classroom

Red Ted and the lost things (Rosen, 2009)

Skeleton key: The graphic novel (Johnston, 2009)
through to cutting edge
Sticky burr (Lechner, 2008) multimodal texts.
Tagged (Crew, 1997)
The arrival (Tan, 2006)
Examples of The little prince (Sfar, 2010)
, comics and The watertower (Crew, 1994)

The impact of technology has meant that students are engaging with the internet
xviii How toanduse
and other information this book
communications technologies (ICTs) in their lives
outside school. Students are now experiencing opportunities to engage with other
types of literature, which has been termed electronic literature, or e-literature.
disregard the multimedia skills and knowledge that students possess. E-literature
can be defined as ‘a computer-based genre that merges literary arts with multimedia
design’ (Luce-Kapler, Dobson, Sumara, Iftody & Davis, 2006). But what does
e-literature include? Unsworth (2008, pp. 64–65) discussed three categories for
referring to literary materials: (1) electronically augmented literary texts,
(2) re-contextualised literary texts and (3) digitally originated literary texts. Elec-
tronically augmented literary texts refer to the availability of online resources that
supplement and ‘extend the storyworld of the book’ (Unsworth, 2008, p. 64). Historical, cultural and social contexts
Unsworth cites the Harry Potter (Rowling) series of All literature reflects a particular time period — whether they be historical through cultural beliefs today. The text also explores the impact of Chinese culture on
the passing of time (e.g. stories handed down over time, as in Dreaming stories), or the Vietnamese people who were struggling to retain their own cultural identity.
books as a classic example of this, where websites texts that are created with a particular time period in mind (e.g. historical narra-
play a key role in allowing students to discuss, inter- In these Vietnamese folktales, animals are considered more than pets — they are
tives). The historical context encompasses objects, places, ways of thinking, beliefs
pret, review and comment on the books. and values that reflect the society of that time period. Students explore texts that
regarded as friends and co-workers. The fates of the animals in these folktales often
tell stories that might be similar to their own stories (e.g. family life or the experi- tell an important lesson or moral. This is similar to the Dreaming stories of the
The second category, electronically recontextual-
ence of being a child). In the late 1800s, Australian literature portrayed the real Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Other texts like Mirror (Baker, 2010)
ised literary text, is literature that has been published
life experiences of Australians and family life. One of the most successful books offer us a visual feast and compare life in Sydney, Australia, to life in southern
as a book and then recontextualised online in a published in 1894 was Seven little Australians (Turner, 1894). The early twentieth Morocco. The peasant prince (Cunxin, 2007) depicts Li’s early experiences of life in
variety of ways (e.g. as text-based files, audio files or century saw other classic literature published — for example, The magic pud- north-east China and his later ones in America.
as a CD-ROM). Some are more classic historical ding (Norman, 1917), Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (Gibbs, 1918), Blinky Bill (Wall,
texts, such as A book for kids (Dennis, 1935), while 1933) — that still enjoy popularity today. From Year 2, students can start to explore
others are more contemporary (e.g. works by Paul the written text (character descriptions, dialogue) in narratives and poetry and
visual images to see how these reflect beliefs, traditions and customs. In the upper
Jennings, Andy Griffiths, Shaun Tan). They can take primary years, students might look at poems such as My country (Mackellar, 1908)
a variety of forms — some have merely been trans- to explore Mackellar’s perceptions of Australia. As we can see in the first few lines of
ferred from page to screen, whereas others have My country, the selection of language (coppice, lanes, woods) shows clear references
added in animations and other features. For example, to the author’s homeland of England.
The paper bag princess (Munsch, 1994) and If I were FiguRe 10.3 Screenshot from the If I were you e-book
The love of field and coppice,
you (Hamilton, 2009) are available as animated ver- Source: Hamiliton (2011). Of green and shaded lanes.
sions of the picturebook, offering the reader options Of ordered woods and gardens
to hear the story read aloud, or to read silently at one’s own pace or Is running in your veins,
at the set pace of the e-book. The TumbleBookLibrary (www.
Texts also provide information about those histories that are valued at that
tumblebooks.com) resource is an ‘e-library for e-kids’ and offers a time, or those that may have been omitted. For example, a lot of the ‘timeless’ lit-
variety of texts that are recontextualised into e-books and caters for erature was written by white middle-class men. Poetry published around the time
preschoolers, beginner readers and older independent readers. of colonisation of Australia similarly reflects the views of the British — not those
Digitally originated literary texts are those stories that have been of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Students can use such texts to
explore gender roles; the social roles of men, women and children; and how these
published only in a digital format. These types of texts can include
are represented in culture.
linear e-narratives, e-narratives with interactive story contexts, Culture is a challenging term to define. Rogoff (2003) describes it as the values, Some children’s literature today continues to be a vehicle for cultural repro-
hypertext narratives (whose main focus is written text) and hyper- norms, customs and language — all aspects that characterise human activity. duction (O’Neil, 2010). Postmodern picturebooks, however, provide opportunities
media narratives (text and images) (Unsworth, 2008). Included in Often, this reflects a particular geographic location, and the Australian Curriculum for readers to contemplate and reconsider
the digitally originated literary text category are video or computer (ACARA, 2013) and its cross-curriculum priorities in particular focus on the cul- societal norms — including aspects of gender
tures of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as those roles, age, race, and family. O’Neil (2010)
games. While there are numerous genres of computer and video
drawing from Asian areas. In exploring the cultural context of a text, we look at
games, those with particular literary value are ones that are narra- emphasises that postmodern picturebooks
what aspects of culture are portrayed, the cultural items referred to, the values, and
tive in nature, and character/activity based. Unsworth (2006) makes attitudes and beliefs of that cultural group. Texts themselves may also include nega- allow students to expand points of view
distinctions between two types of game narratives: story-focused tive representations or stereotyping of particular cultural groups, as well as positive and notions of justice and equity, to resist
and games-focused. representations. stereotypes, and to develop a sense of agency.
Story-focused games are those that relate to a complete story For example, The wishing cupboard (Hathorn, 1999) is available as both a Picturebooks such as The paperbag princess
picturebook and an online e-book with game-like features. This book tells the story (also available in e-book) (Munsch, 1992) and
that has been published separately from the game, or has been of Tan, who is waiting for his mother to return from Vietnam. The online version Princess Smartypants (Cole, 1986) question
created with game activities embedded in the story. Examples, for allows the reader to explore different drawers in the wishing cupboard, linking to
expectations of girls in society. E-books such
younger audiences, would include games like Alice’s adventures in Vietnamese folktales that Tan’s grandmother shares. These ancestral tales influence
as Ruby’s wish (Bridges, 2002), as shown in
figure 10.4, allow students to explore aspects
of Chinese culture, and question the role of
Chapter 10 Literature in the classroom 375
Chapter 10 Literature in the classroom 373 girls and their future potential (e.g. not being
FiguRe 10.4 Screenshot of Ruby’s wish able to go to university because education
Source: Hamilton (2009). for females is not prioritised).

376 Literacy in Australia

Another common rhyming pattern is an ABAB, as seen in Rudyard Kipling’s

If (1895):
If you can dream — and not make dreams your master; [a]
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim; [b]
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster [a]
And treat those two impostors just the same; [b]

There are also ABCB rhymes, as in Science verse (Scieszka, 2004):

Mary had a little worm. [a]
She thought it was a chigger. [b]
But everything that Mary ate, [c]
Table 10.5 identifies some of these narrative elements in Wombat stew (Vaughan, Only made it bigger. [b]
1984), which is a story about a dingo who catches a wombat and plans to make a
‘gooey brewy, yummy, chewy, wombat stew’. However, his plans are thwarted when
Wombat’s friends come to his rescue.
Table 10.5 elements and examples from Wombat stew (Vaughn, 1984)

Narrative element examples

Setting • ‘One day’ (when)
• ‘On the banks of a billabong’ (where)
• ‘A very clever dingo’ (who)
• ‘Caught a wombat’ (what)
Characterisation • Dingo – very clever (character description)
• Emu – waltzing, graceful (character description)
Plot structure Traditional simple narrative structure — orientation,
complication, resolution
Subject matter The bush animals come to the aid of their friend,
Wombat, to defeat the villain, Dingo, who intends
to make a stew of his victim.
Point of view Third-person specific — the narrator is still removed
from the story. We see all characters but the focus Rhythm is the beat of the language — it can emphasise what the poem is
is on the dingo, who we are positioned to dislike. trying to achieve, and create particular moods (Brian, 2008). For example, the
following Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s dairy (Dodd, 1983) excerpt creates a
The next section will look at the language devices used in literary texts
frenzied mood after the dogs (Snitzel von Krumm, Bitzer Maloney, Muffin McLay,
that allow the key elements of the narrative and poetry to come alive.
Bottomley Potts, Hercules Morse and, of course, Hairy Maclary) encounter Scarface
Claw, the toughest male cat in town:
Literacy in context 10.8 Off with a yowl
Select a chapter book or a ballad (poem or song) that you are familiar with. A wail and a howl,
Construct a table that shows examples of narrative elements for this literary text.
A scatter of paws
Share your insights with the teacher and your classmates.
And a clatter of claws

The language of literary texts The text presents a visually appealing poetry,
Repetition of words or particular refrains also serves a key purpose in prose,
songs and chants. It can be used to create a particular effect, to highlight a
‘Literature famously uses language in ways over and above what is necessary for the
minimal creation of meaning’ (Beavis, 2005, p. 64). Talking about language and how
learning design with examples of classic Knowledge of how language functions to achieve particular effects is important
key point, to increase the tension, add humour, or create a character through habit.

it is used in an explicit way ‘provides the metacognitive link between an author’s word
choice and the response of the reader’ (Scott & Nagy, 2009, p. 111). This can help stu- children’s literature through to cutting not only when examining pieces of literature, but also when it comes to creating
dents develop word consciousness at the morphological (i.e. meaning) level or at the
syntactic level (i.e. relating to the arrangement of words) in written prose. Literary edge multimodal texts.
texts, such as narratives and poetry, are often rich in literary devices such as figu- 394 Literacy in Australia
rative language, evaluative language, imagery, rhyme, rhythm and repetition.

Figurative language and imagery

The term ‘figurative language’ covers a range of literary devices or tech-
niques that writers use — the most common being alliteration, onomatopoeia,

Chapter 10 Literature in the classroom 391 How to use this book xix
 Pedagogies for the
classroom activities are
Pedagogies for the classroom highly practical, real-
the order in which our words appear and the conventions used to make sense of Access the Learning
What’s your job?
world opportunities for
Federation’s ‘What’s your
the written text. As Halliday reminds us, we learn about language because we are
language users.
job?’ learning object
and explore stereotypes
pre-service teachers to
bring something they
with students by playing
this on an interactive
Pedagogies for the classroom whiteboard. Here,
children meet a range
of families with varying
cultural backgrounds and
have learned into the
Print search, developed by Wilson (2002), is an opportunity to assess what students
understand about language conventions and rules.
1. Select a passage from a familiar text.
structures — including
an extended family, a
single-parent family and
classroom and apply it to
2. Identify various conventions and punctuation marks in the passage. Write those on
one side of the column.
a family with a step-
parent. Children identify the children they will be
3. Have students write what they know about the rule or convention. In other words, which family members do particular household tasks such as cleaning, cooking and
why did the author choose to do what she or he did? washing. This can lead to rich discussion about assumptions of what goes on in
households. teaching.
The cultural and linguistic diversity in
most classrooms contributes to teachers’
growing knowledge about students in their
classroom. Developing curriculum that
draws upon the students’ lives should also

Increase of multiple languages in classroom settings

include thinking about the resources and
knowledge that families use to navigate
From theory to practice
Classrooms throughout the country are in a constant state of flux when it comes to
their daily lives. For example, in the opening
vignette Mr Brown uses his knowledge about features comprise end-of-
student demographics. The past 20 years or so have seen a tremendous increase of Allora’s home practices to invite Allora to
students entering school with languages other than English as their primary
language. The 2011 Census data reported that 19.3 per cent of the Australian popu-
take on the classroom responsibility of organ-
ising the writing centre. As a result, Allora
chapter critical thinking
began to take on more responsibilities in the
lation speak languages other than English (LOTE) at home (Australian Bureau of
Statistics [ABS], 2012). There are over 112 different dialects of Australian
classroom. questions that assess
Indigenous languages. In addition to Indigenous languages, over 200 languages are
spoken in Australia. After English, most common are Mandarin, Italian, Arabic,
Children learn many skills
from family and community
members.
Funds of knowledge
Moll, Amanti, Neff and Gonzalez (1992) developed the concept of funds of
student understanding of
Cantonese, Greek and Vietnamese (ABS, 2012).
In Australian schools, all subject areas are taught using Standard Australian
funds of knowledge
historically accumulated
knowledge to talk about the knowledge, resources and competencies that families
and community members have, and how people come to have this knowl- the chapter content, and
resources, knowledge and edge through life experiences. This knowledge is representative of a broad set of
English (SAE). It is acknowledged that one of the barriers for successful educational
outcomes for those who do not speak SAE
competencies that families and
community members have
activities that are important to maintaining households and communities. They
are developed in social networks, from parents to children, siblings to siblings,
align with the learning
as their first language
Kyleigh is example
and Tamera’s their limited English
of print search
proficiency. This affects a range of students in
neighbours to neighbours. Take, for example, a garage sale happening in a suburb.
outcomes from the
AustralianLearning
schools,through
including language
refugees, migrants
The thirdAustralian
and Indigenous componentstudents.
of Halliday’s model is learning through language. In this com-
Research 70 Literacy in Australia chapter opener.
indicates ponent, language
that it can take is seento
three as five
the tool
yearsto for
explore and expand one’s understanding of
the world. Language processes — such as reading, writing, talking and listening —
second language learners to gain proficiency
are the ways in which children come to learn ideas and concepts as well as how
in oral language use, but it can take from four
to do things in the world (Mills, O’Keefe & Jennings, 2004). For example, in
to seven literature
years todiscussion
gain academic
formats proficiency
children take opportunities to process information,
(Miller, Mitchell
form new&ideasBrown,
and2005). The thinking
share their increase as it relates to the central themes in the
of studentstext.with diverseexamples
Additional languageofexperiences
learning through language include literature logs,
and needs has left many teachers struggling to
provide adequate instruction and teaching prac-
tices. In addition, the varying styles of teaching
50 Literacy in Australia
and learning in Australian schools means stu-
dents from a non–English-speaking back-
ground struggle to keep up with their peers, and
have difficulties not just with learning English From theory to practice
but with all curriculum areas (Multicultural
Development Association, 2010). They often • What are literacy demands that you need to consider to have literacy capability
have little opportunity to improve their English in the content areas?
skills — particularly if they are still speaking in • Why do you think information and communications technologies (ICTs) are so
their first language at home. Figure 2.1 shows a important when learning about the content areas?
child beginning to navigate the two languages • What are the ICT capabilities that students need to demonstrate? How do these
through their writing at school. match with literacy skills?
Some schools with a large number of families • What are some reading and writing teaching strategies you can use in the
who speak languages other than English at home content areas?
translate school notes and newsletters so that key • What aspect of inquiry-based learning in the content areas will you find most
information is understood by parents and car- challenging? Why?
egivers. In addition, many government agencies • What are the key features of informative texts that you need to consider
(including departments of education) now trans- teaching students about?
late their key documents into major languages, FIgure 2.1 A Year 4 student • Which role of the four-resource model do you need to find out more about so
such as Chinese and Arabic, acknowledging that many Australians speak other beginning to navigate two that you can teach literate practices in the content area? Why?
languages more fluently than SAE. languages

References
Chapter 2 Oral language learning in and out of the classroom 35 Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Household use of information technology. Retrieved
October 13, 2012 from http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs%40.nsf/mf/8146.0
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] (2013a). Australian
Curriculum: English. Version 4.1. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] (2013b). General

Children’s work examples appear Capabilities. Version 4.1. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] (2013c). Australian
Curriculum: Science. Version 4.2. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
throughout the text. Numerous photos, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2103d). Australian
Curriculum: History. Version 4.1. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
tables, illustrations and examples of real- Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] (2012). National
Assessment Program — ICT Literacy Years 6 & 10 Report 2011. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
world student work provide an important Applebee, A. N. (1981). Writing in the secondary school. Urbana, IL: National Council for the
Teaching of English.
visual component so that new teachers Bahktin, M. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Beavis, C. (2010). English in the digital age: Making English digital. English in Australia. 45(2),

can see how the classroom might look, or pp. 21–30.

Berghoff, B., Egawa, K., Harste, J., & Hoonan, B. (2000). Beyond reading and writing: Inquiry,
curriculum, and multiple ways of knowing. Urbana, IL: National Council Teachers of English.
how a student may respond to a reading Bull, G., & Anstey, M. (2010). Evolving pedagogies: Reading and writing in a multimodal world.
Carlton, South Vic: Education Services Australia.
or writing assignment. Bybee, R. (ND). Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS).
Caswell, L. J., & Duke, N. K. (1998). Non-narrative as a catalyst for literacy development.
Language Arts, 75 (2), 108–117.
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2009). Multiliteracies: New literacies, new learning. Pedagogies: An
International Journal, 4, 164–195.
Department of Education and the Arts. (2006). Literacy: Key to learning. Framework for action
2006–2008. Brisbane: Author.
Department of Education, Queensland, (1994), Social investigators: An Approach to active and
informed citizenship for Years 8–10, Brisbane.

xx How to use this book

456 Literacy in Australia
Additional resources
For students
• iStudy Literacy is a digital study guide containing a wide range of interactive
modules, narration for oral language learning awareness and local videos to
enhance the understanding and application of key concepts.
• The Wiley Word Widget is a simple, online tool to enable pre-service teachers
to generate adaptive, individual word lists to plan assessment tasks.
• Wiley E-Text is a full electronic version of the text, available as a cheaper
alternative to the printed text. The E-Text runs on a wide range of devices,
including iPads, tablets and computers.

For instructors
Literacy in Australia: Pedagogies for Engagement is supported by a comprehensive
resource package that helps instructors to create a contemporary, dynamic and
­flexible learning environment, including:
• an instructor’s resource guide, offering suggested answers to all chapter
questions and boxed features, as well as interpretations/guidelines for the
practical class exercises and activities
• a comprehensive test bank, consisting of multiple-choice and essay questions
• a PowerPoint presentation outlining key concepts from each chapter and
containing media, art and colourful figures from the text. This presentation can
be customised or modified to suit the particular requirements of any instructor
• videos and accompanying cases and activities to highlight management theory
in practice
• learning management system resources for platforms such as BlackBoard and
Moodle, including an extensive range of media to facilitate online learning and
teaching. Instructors have the option of uploading additional material and/or
customising existing content to meet their needs.

Additional resources xxi

Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
 VI INTRODUCTION, mass of fictitious statements of every
degree of wildness, is only what was to be expected. Egypt the
Though the conquered nations of Western Asia, peeve Persia, and
India might view his warlike successes soy With wonder, and might
even bless the magnanimous warrior, it is hardly likely that their
writers and scribes would hasten to record his history, whereby they
would also incidentally describe their own national defeat; to these
countries, then, we must not look for the original Alexander story.
Similarly, we must not look to the states of Greece for it, because at
the death of Alexander the memory of their subjugation and the
victorious deeds which he wrought for the glory of Macedon would
be too fresh in the minds of their peoples. One country only could be
the birthplace of the Alexander story, and that country was Egypt.
Some hundreds of years before Alexander came to Egypt the
influence, and civilization, and language of the Greeks had found
their way there, and on his arrival in the country Alexander found
the people, at least those living in the Delta, unwilling to meet him
in battle; more than this, they welcomed him as one who could help
them against their bitter foes the Persians, for, according to Pseudo-
Callisthenes (Bk. 1. 26) he had under his command a force of about
150,000 men. Further, when after Alexander's death the Egyptians
considered that he had founded the city of Alexandria, which had
already become a source of wealth for their country, that he had
acknowledged the god
 ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. VII Amen-Ra as his
father and had shewn reverence unto the ancient gods of Egypt, and
that he had utterly beaten the Persians, the popular feeling of
something like sorrow mingled with gratitude would straightway
express itself in laudatory biographies of their deliverer adorned with
Oriental metaphor unique and hyperbole. Alexander was a conqueror
unlike {insu any other known to the Egyptians and the nations
around. When their own victorious kings set out on their military
expeditions they left the countries through which they passed filled
with devastation and death; cities were burnt to the ground, and
their inhabitants were carried away into slavery, and a successful
war in the conqueror’s eyes meant in many cases utter ruin for the
conquered. And the Egyptian was as ruthless as his less cultured
neighbour, for as far back as the VIth dynasty Una, the officer who
led several expeditions in Methods of the remote countries to the
south of Egypt, inwtme describing the deeds of his soldiers said,
“The “soldiers marched in peace and ploughed up the ‘land of those
who live upon the sand (5. 2, the “dwellers in the desert); the
soldiers marched in “peace and laid it waste; the soldiers marched
“in peace and overthrew the fenced cities thereof; “the soldiers
marched in peace and cut down the “fig trees and vines; the soldiers
marched in peace “and cast fire among the tribes; the soldiers
“marched in peace and slaughtered the people “by myriads and
myriads; the soldiers marched “in peace and carried away countless
multitudes
 Savage cruelty of Cambyses. VIII INTRODUCTION. “of
living captives.“ The terrible state of a country through which such
soldiers had marched “in peace” may be readily imagined. The
accounts of the wars carried on in Western Asia by the kings of the
XVI[[th and XIXth dynasties are full of deeds of mutilation and
cruelty, and of records of ruined cities and wasted lands. It was not,
however, until the invasion of Egypt by the Persians under Cambyses
that the Egyptians suffered the worst calamities of war, for never
before had the ancient shrines of Thebes and Memphis been
plundered, and the gods therein turned into ridicule, and their cities
burnt, and their nobles slain, and their women sold into slavery. The
burning of the Serapeum, too, and the wounding, or slaughter, of
the Apis bull would add the keenest anguish to their miseries. With
such events in their minds the Egyptians could not help comparing
the results of the invasions of their country by Cambyses and
Progress of Alexander. Where the Persian monarch had passed
Alexander and Cam Ay Gestruction anc misery, but in the train of
byses com Alexander there followed peace and Greek civipared.
lization. Obstinate opposition, such as that shewn by the inhabitants
of Tyre and Gaza, Alexander punished with the greatest severity,
but, considering his wars and battles as a whole, he was a
magnanimous conqueror. The account of his treatment of the high-
priest Jaddua and of his behaviour in the Sanctuary in Jerusalem, if
only partly true, + Inscription of Una, lines 22 to 27.
 ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. Ix displays his
religious toleration; similarly, if the Retigious narrative of the way in
which Cambyses shewed Siege his hatred for the gods of Egypt and
for all that the Egyptians held in reverence be only true in a very
small degree, he must appear as an intolerant fanatic. The first
fabulous history of the life and travels tne Egypand exploits of
Alexander the Great was, I believe, or he atx composed and written
in Egypt soon after hissy death by an Egyptian, or by one whose
interests were wholly Egyptian; if it was written by a Greek he made
use of materials which had been invented by the Egyptians. The
chief aim of the writer of the story was to prove that Alexander was
an Egyptian and the son of the last native king of Egypt, Nectanebus
ll. That, in proving his point, he ruined the reputation of Olympias,
the wife of Philip of Macedon, was nothing to him; on the contrary,
in shewing that she was held to be worthy of continuing the race of
the gods by the person of Nectanebus, he probably imagined that he
was doing her honour. It is possible, of course, that the story of a
fugitive king becoming the father of a future king of the country
from which he had fled, by the queen of a foreign land, is borrowed
from a still older story—for nothing in the way of legends and stories
seems to have The chief a beginning in the East—and one day we
ays even find it. In any case, if the writer of the Alexander story
succeeded in making his readers believe that the mighty warrior was
both an b
 x INTRODUCTION. Egyptian and the son of Nectanebus ll.
who, in common with all Egyptian kings, was God's vicar upon earth,
the national spirit would be flattered, and the Egyptians would sit
more easily under the yoke of a Greek king. From these
considerations it seems clear that the Alexander story is of Egyptian
origin. But, besides these, there is a mass of internal evidence in the
work which shews that the author was more versed in Egyptian
matters than any foreigner could well be, and these must be briefly
noticed. According to the oldest versions of the story Nectanebus
Nectanebus, the putative father of Alexander, was cae very expert
magician; by his magical powers he had kept his enemies at bay and
had succeeded in keeping fast hold upon his own kingdom for many
years. How he gained his reputation as a magician cannot be said,
and there is no historical documents which would account for it; the
hieroglyphic texts prove that he repaired and added to many
Egyptian temples, and the text on one of his statues shews that he
reigned seventeen years at least. The versions of the story go on to
say that he wrought his magic by means of a bowl of water, some
waxen figures, and an ebony rod. The Magic waxen figures were
made in the forms of the wroveht oy soldiers of the enemy who
were coming against we him by sea or by land, and were placed
upon the water in the basin by him. Nectanebus then t Wiedemann,
Acgyptische Geschichte, p. 717.
 ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. XI arrayed himself in
suitable apparel, and, having taken the rod in his hand, began to
recite certain formulae and the names of divine powers known unto
him, whereupon the waxen figures became animated and
straightway sank to the bottom of the bowl; at the same moment
the hosts of the enemy were destroyed. If the foe was coming by
sea he placed the waxen soldiers in waxen ships, and at the sound
of the words of power both ships and men sank into the waves as
the waxen models sank to the bottom of the basin. This he was in
the habit of doing for some time, but there came a day when he
appealed to the supernatural powers in vain, and the waxen figures
moved not; then he knew that the gods had decreed the end of his
reign, and having shaved his head and beard and disguised himself,
he fled from Egypt. Now we know that the Egyptians employed The
antiquiwaxen figures in working deeds of magic from 3 ess the
earliest times, and it is clear that certains undefined properties were
attributed to the material of which they were made. It is well known
that the Egyptians believed that the qualities, and much else, of a
living original could be transferred to an image thereof by means of
the repetition over it of certain formulae, and it seems as if, when
the object was to do harm, wax was the material most commonly
used for making the image. It is true that figures of the gods of the
four cardinal points, which were buried with the b2
 XII INTRODUCTION. dead to protect the intestines, were
sometimes made of wax,’ but the cases known are rare and are not
sufficiently numerous to outweigh the evidence waxen f-on the other
side. Thus in the Westcar Papyrus” fra dyaas. We have the story of
the wife of a high Egyptian ‘y. official called Aba-aner who fell in love
with one of the king’s followers, and she sent to him and told him of
her desire; subsequently the pair met in the womans garden, and
they passed the day in drinking and in pleasure. On the morrow the
husband was told of his wife’s conduct, and he determined to punish
both with death. Sending for his ebony box bound with fine metal he
made a waxen crocodile a few inches long, and having recited
magical formulae over it, he gave it to his chief servant and told him
to throw it into the water when he saw his wife’s paramour going to
bathe in the evening. When the guilty pair had passed another day
together and the young man went down to the river in the evening,
the chief servant cast the waxen crocodile into the water; and as it
was falling it turned into a huge living crocodile about twelve feet
long, and swallowed the young man. Seven days later Abaaner and
the king Neb-ka went to the water where the crocodile was, and
Aba-aner ordered it to give up the young man, and it came out of
the * See Nos. 15,563, 15,564, 15,573, 15,578 in the British
Museum. ? Ed. Erman, pp. 7 and 8,
 ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. XIII water and
straightway brought up the young man. When the king had made
some remark, Aba-aner picked up the crocodile, which at once
turned into the small waxen crocodile which it was originally, and
again when he ordered it to devour the young man, it once more
became a living reptile, and, seizing the young man, made its way to
the water, and disappeared with him. The faithless wife was burnt.
The principal actors in this story are said to have flourished during
the rule of the lllrd dynasty of Egypt, nearly four thousand years
before Christ, and it is a noteworthy fact that the narrative mentions
the ebony and metal box and the making of a waxen crocodile in a
way which seems to shew that their owner was in the habit of using
the box and the wax frequently. The custom of trying to do harm to
people by waxen s. means of waxen images is proved to have
existed in ES later days by a papyrus, first described by Chabas,??**
which records that a man was prosecuted in an Egyptian court of
law for having made figures of men and women in wax, by which he
caused sundry and divers pains and sicknesses to the living beings
whom they represented. An example of the use of waxen figures for
causing dreams is given in Pseudo-Callisthenes z Here we are
forcibly reminded of Jonah’s miraculous escape from the whale. = Le
Papyrus Magigue Harris, p. 170.
 Waxen gure Olympias. XIV INTRODUCTION. Bk. 1. chap. 5,
and although I have not been able to find any similar example in
Egyptian papyri, there are certain things mentioned which shew that
the Egyptians held the same views. When Nectanebus wished
Olympias to believe that the god Ammon had visited her during the
night, he decided to send her a dream in which she should s-have
this vision. To effect this he went out from f her presence and
gathered a number of herbs which had the power of causing
dreams, and pressed out the juice from them. He then fashioned a
female figure in the form of Olympias, and inscribed upon it the
name of Olympias, and having made the model of a bed he laid the
figure thereon. Nectanebus next lit a lamp and, pouring out the juice
of the herbs over the waxen figure, he recited the words of power
which would compel the demons to send Olympias a dream; and at
the moment of the performance of these acts Olympias dreamed
that she was in the arms of the god Ammon. The idea of inscribing
the figure with a name finds its parallel in a rubric to a papyrus
which orders that the waxen figure of Apepi, the demon of mist and
rain, which had been burnt in a grass fire was to have “his accursed
name cut and inscribed upon it in green colour. 222 * Eique nomen
reginae adscribens lectulum ei fabricatur, cui illa ge supra ponitur;
see Miiller, Preudo- Callisthenes, p. 6. a i 2 es ag i eee Ko i soe ;
INR) (col. xxiii. 1. 6).
 ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. XV The two following
examples of the use of waxen waxen ¢figures will shew what means
were provided iy eee the magician to secure for a lover the favours
of ma Pr the beloved one. In the one case he is directed to make a
figure of a dog in wax mixed with pitch, gum, &c. and the model is
to be eight fingers long; certain magical words are to be written on
the dog’s ribs. Next a tablet is taken, and on it certain magical words
or names also are to be written; the dog is then to be placed on the
tablet, and the tablet on a tripod. The lover must recite the words
written on the dog waxen aog. and on the tablet, and the creature
will either snarl and shew his teeth or bark; if he snarls the beloved
one will not come to him that loves her, and if he barks she will. In
the other case the lover is told to make two waxen figures: the one
is to be in the form of Ares, and the other in the form of a woman.
The female figure is to be in the posture of kneeling on her knees
with her hands tied behind her, and the male figure is to stand over
her with his sword at her throat. On the limbs of the female figure a
large number of names of fiends are to be written, and when this
has been done the lover must take thirteen bronze needles and stick
them in her limbs, saying as he does so, “I pierce [here he mentions
the name of the limb] waxen man “that she may think of me.” The
lover must then ”°"”” write certain words of power on a leaden
plate, which must be tied to the waxen figures with a string
containing three hundred and sixty-five knots,
 XVI INTRODUCTION. and both figures and plate are to be
buried in the grave of some one who has died young or who has
been slain by violence. He must then recite a long incantation to the
infernal gods, and if all these things be done in a proper manner the
lover will obtain the woman’s affection.* Passing on to later times,
we have a tradition cae that iste eave to Alexander a number of
waxen waxen gures. ” foures nailed down in a box, which was
fastened by a chain, and which he ordered him never to let go out of
his own hand, or at least out of that of one of his confidential
servants. The box was to go wherever Alexander went, and Aristotle
taught him to recite certain formulae over it whenever he took it up
or put it down. The figures in the box were intended to represent
the various kinds of armed forces that Alexander was likely to find
opposed to him. Some of the models held in their hands leaden
swords which were curved backwards, and some had spears in their
hands pointed head downwards, and some had bows with cut
strings; all these were laid face downwards in the box. Viewed by
what we * I owe the information in this paragraph to my colleague
Mr. F. G. Kenyon, of the Department of MSS; British Museum. The
Greek texts are published from two papyri in the Bi: bliothique
Nationale; see Wessely, Gricchische Zauberpapyrus, Wien, 1888, 1.
296 ff., and lines 1877—1908 (p. 67). For lists of magical words used
for purposes of incantation see Kenyon, Greek Papyri in the British
Museum, London 1893, pp. 255— 207.
 THE MAGIC OF THE EGYPTIANS. XVII know of the ideas
which underlay the use of waxen figures by the Egyptians and
Greeks, it is clear that, in providing Alexander with these models and
the formulae to use with them, Aristotle believed that he was giving
him the means of making his enemies to become powerless to
attack him. But the power of the magic of Nectanebus Wasa hawk
benot exhausted when he had sent to Olympias fliegen dream which
has been described above. When the queen discovered that she was
with child she was greatly afraid, and to quiet her fears Nectanebus
sent a dream to Philip also, in which he made known to him what
had happened to his wife. To do this he took a sea-hawk and having
bewitched it, he made it to fly through the night to the place where
Philip was, and that which Nectanebus had told it to say to Philip in
a dream the hawk said. In his dream Philip saw his wife united to
the god Ammon, and when he had left her Philip saw him tie her up
with a papyrus string and seal her with a gold ring having a bezel
inscribed with the sun, and below it were the head of a lion and a
spear. That Nectanebus could bewitch the hawk is only what we
should expect, and the story of the hawk being able to talk is not to
be wondered at as the product of a country where a cow warned a
younger brother that his elder brother was standing behind the door
of the stable with his dagger in his hand, waiting to slay him. In
another Egyptian story a crocodile makes t J Orbiney Papyrus, p. v.
1. 8. Cc
 Beasts and reptiles with powers of speech, The travels of
the Alexander story. XVIII INTRODUCTION. a speech to a prince
whom he intends to make his victim,’ and in yet another story a
certain island contained a serpent nearly fifty feet long which held
converse with an unfortunate mariner who was wrecked there;? for
birds and beasts to talk was to the Egyptian no uncommon event.
The string of papyrus and the seal proclaim at once the origin of this
part of the story, and the gold ring with a bezel inscribed in
hieroglyphics was a common sight in Egypt. The arrangement of the
signs almost suggests that the inscription was the prenomen or
nomen of aking. In passing we may note that the name “T'wo-
horned”, by which Alexander was known in later days, is the literal
translation of the two Egyptian words sept aud “provided with two
horns”, which formed one of the titles of Amen-Ra, whose son he
was said to be. The above considerations will probably be thought
sufficient to prove the Egyptian origin of the Alexander story, and it
is now necessary to indicate briefly how the story travelled and
grew. Within a very short time after the appearance of the historical
biographies of Alexander in Egypt, whether written in Egyptian or
Greek, a number of apocryphal stories about him and fabulous *
Goodwin, Translation of a Fabulous Tale (Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol.
iii. p. 356). = Golénischeff, Ermitage Impérial. Inventaire de la
Collection Egyptienne, p. 178.
 THE TRAVELS OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. XIX legends of
his deeds and travels sprang up; it is most natural to assume that
these were written down for popular use in Greek. During the rule of
the Ptolemies in Egypt literature flourished in an extraordinary
manner, and the pursuit of knowledge of all kinds was carried on
with an almost feverish haste. Professional scribes could have had
no lack of occupation, and the works of every author or “compiler,
who was. a master in his profession, and had anything new to say,
found ready purchasers. The oldest version of the Alexander Greek
ver: story known to us was written in Greek and it professes to have
been the work of Callisthenes: this, however, is impossible, and the
version is now called that of Pseudo-Callisthenes. Of the date at
which it was written nothing is known, but it was probably not later
than A. D. 200, Several MSS. of the version are known, and they
may be roughly divided into three groups: 1. One MS. which
represents the oldest form of the Alexander story; 2. MSS. wherein
an attempt has been made to harmonize the true and the fabulous
accounts of the life of Alexander, and wherein the work is attributed
to Alexander; 3. those wherein the historical facts have been well
nigh buried in legends. None of these MSS. represents the oldest
form of all of the Alexander story. * For the Greek text see Miiller,
Pseudo- Callisthenes, Paris, 1846; Meusel, Pseudo-Callisthenes nach
der Leidener Handschrift herausgegeben, Leipzig 1871. c2
 XX INTRODUCTION. Latin ver- From Greek the story
passed into Latin, and = the oldest version in this language is that of
Julerius Valerius,’ who lived in the third or fourth century of our era;
another important Latin version is that of Leo the Archpresbyter,
which appeared in the XIth century. The Armen. Next in point of age
is the Armenian version, sn which is thought to have been made by
Moses of Khorene;? it represents the oldest form of the Alexander
story, and is believed to have been made in the Vth century of our
era. Prof. Noeldeke believes that the Armenian version has little
importance for the Oriental forms of the story, but that it is of the
highest importance for the Greek text, because the translator
rendered what he had before him with great accuracy. The Syriac An
important ancient version of the Alexander EE story is the Syriac,’
which was probably made about the Vllth or VIlIth century. I thought
originally that the Syriac translation was made from the Arabic, but
Prof. Noeldeke has proved conclusively that the source of this
version was Persian, * It accompanies the Greek text in Miller, of. cit.
* Historia Alexandri Magni regis Macedoniae, de proeliis. 2 The text
was published by the Mechitarist Fathers, at Venice in 1842. +
Beitrage sur Geschichte des Alexanderromans, Vienna, 1890, p. 2. 5
The text, with an English translation, was published by me under the
title, Zhe History of Alexander the Great, Cambridge, 1889.
 THE TRAVELS OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. XXI and that
the story passed into Syriac through the Pehlevi. The Pehlevi text he
would place not later than the VIIth century, and the Syriac version
cannot be very much later, for it is most unlikely that a knowledge of
Pehlevi sufficient to translate such a work would long survive the
downfall of the Sasanides among the Syrians. Prof. Noeldeke would
go a step further and say that the translator was an Eastern Syrian
and a Nestorian, and that he was not necessarily a priest. The Syriac
version was much read by the Nestorians, and it was used by later
historians in their works; there is, moreover, little doubt that several
portions of it found their way into Ethiopic through the Arabic. For a
discussion on the value of the x “Gelehrte Perser haben im VIII.
Jahrhundert verschiedene “Werke aus dem Pehlewi ins Arabische
iibersetzt: es lag ‘cihnen viel daran, die siegreichen Araber mit ihrer
nationalen “Litteratur bekannt zu machen. Aber fiir syrische Christen,
“die unter den Grosskénigen, wie unter den Chalifen eine “gleich
bescheidene Stellung einnahmen, in ihnlicher Weise “zu arbeiten,
konnte einem Perser nicht in den Sinn kommen. “Nestorianische
Geistliche persischer Nationalitit mussten “wohl etwas syrisch lernen,
aber eine litterarische Thatigkeit, “wie die Ubersetzung eines solchen
profanen oder vielmehr “heidnischen Buchs ist bei ihnen nicht
vorauszusetzen. Also “haben wir anzunehmen, dass der Ubersetzer
ein Syrer war. “Und zwar ein Ostsyrer, denn nur auf dem Gebiete, wo
die “Sasaniden herrschten oder vor kurzem geherrscht hatten, “kann
man bei einem Syrer die Kenntniss des Persischen “annehmen,
welche zu einem solchen Werke notwendig war.” Noeldeke, Besse, D.
17. These remarks are fully confirmed by the “Historia Monastica’ of
Thomas of Marga, from
 XXII INTRODUCTION. Syriac “Christian Legend”, and the
“Brief Life of “Alexander”, and the metrical homily on Alexander
attributed to Jacob of Serigh (died A. D. 521), see Noeldeke, Beside,
p. 24 ff. its In Hebrew literature many stories are extant legends
concerning Alexander the Great and his travels, but it is quite certain
that they have nothing whatever to do with the early forms of the
Alexander story as given by Pseudo-Callisthenes, and that the Jews
influenced the development of the legends therein in no way
whatever arabic ver- In Arabic the earliest mention of Alexander is
sens: found in the Kyran; here we find the Arabic form of his title
“Two-horned”, and the account of the brass and iron rampart which
he made to shut in the nations of Gog and Magog, and the story of
the dried fish which came to life in the fountain of the water of life,
although the principal actors in this last story are made to be Moses
and Joshua, the son of Nun (see Stra XVIII, and Sale’s transPersian
ver-lation, pp. 222-—226).’? A knowledge of the legends scale of
Alexander is shewn by several Arabic writers of later dates, and at a
tolerably early period the Persian historians “knew somewhat or all
of his history”; as the best description of the general whose work it
is quite clear how much the Nestorians were indebted to the Persian
nobility; several of the most distinguished men whose lives are
recorded by him had Persian blood in their veins. * See Noeldeke, of.
cit, pp. 25—27. ? Noeldeke, of. cit., p. 32.
 THE VERSIONS OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. XXIII contents
of the most important narratives by Arabs and Persians is given by
Noeldeke in his Betrage, so often quoted here, to this the reader is
referred. Before passing on, however, it must be noted that the
Persians made Alexander to be the son of a Persian king! The
Alexander story having found its way into siamese snd Arabic and
Persian, it is only natural that it should = be translated into the
languages of still more remote Eastern countries, and according to
the late Col. Yule* versions in Malay and Siamese were made.
Returning once again to the land of Egypt We The coptic now know
that the Egyptian Christians, or Copts, who lived in Upper Egypt,
possessed a Coptic version of the Alexander story, and fragments of
this version have been found and published.’ Of the translator
nothing is known, and of the period when the translation was made
all that can be said is that it was probably before the Xth century.
Towards the end of the XIVth century a Turkish the Turkish poetical
version of the Alexander story was written “""" by Taj al-Din Ahmed
ibn Ibrahim el-Ahmedi, who based his work on the Iskender Nameh
of Nizamis t Ser Marco Polo, snd. edit., vol. i. Dp. ui. 2 See Bouriant,
Fragments d'un Roman ad’ Alexandre en dialecte Thébain (see /. S.
A., Sér. 8. tom. ix. 1887; and Crum, Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. vol. xiv. p.
473 ff.). 3 See Rieu, Catalogue of Turkish MSS., p. 1626.
 XXIV INTRODUCTION. other Eure- But if Eastern nations
were delighted to read pean sions. v the legends of Alexander, no
less readiness to do so was shewn by the Western nations of
Europe, and as a result we have a version in German by Lamprecht,
versions in French by Alberic de Besancon, Lambert li Tors,
Alexandre de Bernay, Thomas of Kent, and many others, besides
translations into Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish,
Slavonian, Scotch and English* Thus we see that the history and
legends of Alexander became known from Malay on the East to the
British Isles on the West, and from Sweden on the north to Abyssinia
on the south; few books have travelled so far and still fewer have
been so thoroughly welcomed and adopted into the literature of the
various nations of the world. Bthiopichis- The Ethiopic histories of
Alexander published tories O Alexander. in this book fall naturally
into four groups: — i. The Version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes. ii. The
Extracts from larger historical works, 2. é., from Al-Makin, Abu
Shaker, and Joseph benGorion. ii. A brief Life by an anonymous
author. iv. A Christian Romance. The Ethie 1, Of all these the most
interesting and most pic PseudoCaltisthen. Valuable historically is the
Version of the Pseudoes. Callisthenes. When and by whom this
translation or version was made we know nothing, but that it was
made from the Arabic there is little doubt, * For the editions see my
Alexander, pp. cx, cxl.
 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER OF THE NARRATIVE. XXV and the
similarity of its contents with those of the Syriac version is striking.
Between it, however, and the Syriac, there is one remarkable
difference. In the Syriac version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes there are
a few passages which seemed to me to indicate the hand of the
Christian priest, but it is not until we come to the “Christian Legend”
that the whole narrative becomes imbued with Christian ideas and
traditions, and has comparatively little connexion with the work of
the PseudoCallisthenes.? In the Ethiopic version, however, atexander
Alexander has become a Christian king, and hice. words and acts are
represented as those of a convert to the Christian religion. It is not
easy to decide whether the Ethiopian translator invented these
things, or whether he found them in the Arabic work from which he
translated, or whether he found this idea suggested therein and
enlarged upon it; many statements certainly seem to be additions by
the Christian translator, for they cannot possibly be of Muslim origin.
In matters t Prof. Noeldeke thinks not. “Dass. der Uebersetzer
gerade ein Geistlicher war, wie Budge meint, ist nicht notwendig; die
sehr wenigen biblischen Anklinge, die sich im Syr. zeigen, wiirden
auch bei einem Laien nicht auffallen.” Beitriige, p. 17. 2 “Diese
Erzihlung wire zwar ohne Pseudocallisthenes kaum denkbar, denn
erst aus der Umbildung des geschichtlichen Helden in den des
Romans konnte der KGnig der Legende werden, aber im Einzelnen
hangt sie nur durch wenige Ziige mit ihm zusammen.” Beifrdige, p.
30. d
 XXVI INTRODUCTION. of traditions concerning the
Patriarchs of the Old Testament, or of Bible history, he may have
borrowed freely, but when Alexander is made to Alexander aSay, “Jt
is meet that we should not serve any te Trinity, “Od besides Himself,
and that we should worship “Him in His Word and in His mercy, by
which “every thing existeth, His Persons being three, and “His
Godhead one,” no doubt can be held as to the origin of this addition.
Already in the account of Alexander’s expedition into Palestine, as
given in Miller’s Greek codex C’, the king is made to ask one of the
priests, “What god do you “worship?” and the wily priest answers,
“We serve “the one God Who made heaven and earth, and “all that
therein is, and Whom no man hath been Alexander a (able to find
out.” To this Alexander replies, POE Si worshippers of the true God,
go in peace, “for your God shall be my God. And let there “be peace
between me and you, and I will not “pass through your land as I
have through the “countries of other peoples, because ye are the
“servants of the living God.” Again, in the same Codex, when
Alexander has finished the building of his city Alexandria, he is made
to go up to the tower and to declare all the gods of the earth vanity,
and to acknowledge only one God to be the true, and invisible, and
inscrutable God, Who rideth upon the wings of the Seraphim, and
Who is praised by cries of “Holy, Holy, Holy.”? If the * See Miiller, p.
83, col. 1 (Bk. ii. chap. 24). * See Miiller, p. 85, col. 1. dveigty
"AdéEavdpog ev tH
 ALEXANDER’S CHARACTER. XXVII Greek version made
Alexander accept the God of the’ Hebrews there is little wonder that
the Ethiopian made him a servant of Jesus Christ; but there is,
perhaps, another explanation of the matter. Serious historians of
Alexander testify to the Alexanders habits of moderation which he
practised in hig early life. Quintus Curtius speaks of his simple dress,
his affability to his attendants, his avoidance of intoxication, and
adds that “he appeared to “have extinguished voluptuous wishes
rather than “to have regulated them; and from his indifference “to
the charming half of society, it was apprehended “that the house of
Macedonia would be left without “an heir.”* He cared little about his
lodging and food, and joined in the gymnastic exercises with his
soldiers with such spirit that he endeared himself to them all* He
was brave even to recklessness and as magnanimous as he was
brave;His contin. death he despised. Among all the good qualities“
which Arrians attributes to him are those of continence and
moderation in the use of wine, which he enjoyed more for the
pleasure of the conversation which accompanied it than for the
desire to drink. According to Plutarch* his continence TUDTW Kai
TayTaG €Z0U8EvNOE Tous Oeové The YAS kai LOVOV Eva Bedv
GXMOUVOV Giyexknpuzrey ggewpnToy, Gyegtxviaotov, Tov €i TY
Zepagiu €ToXOUueYOV kai TpigaTiyy pu bogaroueyoy. » * Bagster’s
translation, Bk. i. 4. = See BK. iii. 17. 3 iv. 19; vii. 29. 4 Life of
Alexander, iv. dz
 XXVIII INTRODUCTION. shewed itself at an early period,
for, though he was vigorous, or rather, violent in his other pursuits,
he was not easily moved by the pleasures of the He tookbody; and if
he tasted them it was with great nay. moderation. He was very
temperate in eating, and not so much addicted to the use of wine as
he was thought to be;* when business called he was not to be
detained by wine, or sleep, or pleasure, or honourable love, or the
most entertaining spectacle. Soon after rising he sacrificed to the
gods and then took a meal sitting down; the rest of the day he read
and wrote and passed in hunting or in athletic exercises, and he took
His tem-his last meal late in the evening. As concerning cca the
virtue of his continence there seems to have oe been some doubt
among ancient writers, and there are not wanting those who accuse
him of abominable practices. Some say that he was, in regard * Life
of Alexander, xxii, 2 Compare ‘lepwvupdg te, év Taig Emotodaic,
OcdqpaoTév nor héyetv, dtr "ANEEavdpog otk ei d1éKEITO TIPOS
appodiow. “Oduptiadog yobv Kai Tmapakdivdong Utd) KaddiEeivav
tiv BeTTakNV €raipay, TepikaእAegTéTny o5gay, Guveldotog ToUTo
Kai Tod Midinmov, (evXaBoUyTo Yap uN yUvvig ein) TOAAGKIC iret
ay TOV "AXEEavdpov cuyyevéoOa.
 ALEXANDER’S CHARACTER. XXIX to women, cold by
temperament, the opposite of his father Philip, and others that he
was far too much absorbed in ambition and engaged in bodily
labours to find the necessary time to dally in an Oriental harem. The
former view is supported by the passage in Plutarch’ where he is
made to say that sleep and the commerce with the sex were the
things that made him most sensible of his mortality, and that he
considered both weariness and pleasure as the natural effects of our
weakness; but the latter view is probably the more correct. That
Alexander could be fascinated by female beauty is evident from his
affection for Barsimé, The prin. the widow of his rival Memnon and
daughter of sm, Artabazus, who is said to have been not only a most
beautiful woman, but one who was educated after the manner of
the Greeks“ The incident which has most laid hold of the Oriental
imagination, and caused Oriental peoples to proclaim Alexander's
chastity is that which happened in connexion with the mother, wife
and daughter of Darius. When Parmenion suggested to him that the
Persian royal women should share the usual fate Alexander's 5 . ‘
treatment of of female captives, he replied that it would be a the
Persian Queen. nant remark of Alexander to his friends (Plutarch,
xxii.), when Theodore the Tarentine wrote and told Alexander that
he had two beautiful boys to sell. Mr. Grote (Aistory of Greece, vol.
iv. p. 100), relying on the passage in Athenaeus quoted in the
preceding note, believes that his development was tardy. t Life of
Alexander, § xxii. 2 Plutarch, § xxi.
 XXX INTRODUCTION. disgraceful thing for the Greeks
having fought and overcome men to allow themselves to be
vanquished by women.’ Elsewhere Alexander says that he has
neither seen nor does he desire to see the wife of Darius, who was
said to be a most beautiful woman, and that he has not allowed any
man to speak of her beauty in his presence. These facts, in whole or
in part, must have found their way all over the East, and they no
doubt, greatly impressed the Oriental imagination; with only the
historical account of Alexander’s youthful virtues before him the
Christian translator would have no difficulty whatsoever in
transforming the hero into a Christian king. Having become a
Christian king in the hands of his Ethiopian biographer, Alexander
must necessarily issue proclamations full of Christian ideas and
sentiments, and he must improve every occasion of imparting
Christian doctrine, otherwise his history would become a means of
amusement only and not of edification; and this is what has
happened. When Alexander has taken his army and set out for the
east, his first act is to found Alexandria, and having made due
acknowledgements to “God, the Most ‘ UAV aioxpov é€otiv Nuéc
Tove dvdpag viKjioavtas UO YUVaIKWY NTTnOfvat; see Miiller, p. 78
(Bk. ii. chap. 17). This incident forms one of the “amusing” stories of
BarHebraeus, who gives it thus:—Teardhe wat: ANY AS ama se ar oa
rain his Lm oo aaa እ pana TAX pw ans paz = Plutarch, Life of
Alexander, xxii.
 ALEXANDER AND THE BRAHMANS. XXXI High” (see p. 38),
he appoints Aristotle to be his master and counsellor. This Aristotle is
described aristote as belonging to the philosophers who say, ee
“Heavens declare the glory of the Creator, Who “killeth and Who
maketh alive, Who promoteth “to honour and Who bringeth down
into the dust;” here then we have almost word for word quotations
from books of the Bible (see p. 39). When Alexander becomes king
he makes five proclamations: two to his household, one to his
governors, one to his soldiers, and one to the kings and governors of
the world in general (see pp. 4o— 59). The subject matter in each is
practically the same, that is, exhortations to forsake idolatry and to
Alexanders worship God Almighty; in places they remind fine. the
reader of passages in the ir an, but the general tone of the
compositions is against their being of Arabic origin. In his epistles to
Darius and others Alexander always calls himself the “Servant of God
Almighty” (see p. 67), and when he is in Jerusalem he reads the
Book of Daniel, —that Alexander knew neither Hebrew nor Chaldee
troubled not the translator—and prays towards the east, and does
homage unto the Holy Scriptures and to the words of the prophets
(see pp. 73—75). When Alexander joined battle with Darius he cries
out in true Muhammadan fashion, “There is no The Bran. “strength
for us save in God Almighty” (see p. 79). ee The Brahmans are
described as “fearers of God’, mg t These numbers refer to the
English translation.
 XXXII INTRODUCTION. and are boldly identified with the
Israelites who lived in the time of Elijah, and who had not bowed the
knee to Baal; still more remarkable is it that 1 Kings xix. 10 is quoted
(p. 127). In the letter which the Brahmans write to him they
describe themselves as “the children” of Seth, the son of Adam,
whom God covered over in the hidden place of His treasures (the
famous “Cave of Treasures”?) when He sent “the Flood upon “the
earth” (p. 129); a similar view is given in the “Book of Adam and
Eve. When Alexander is in India he visits a certain temple, and sees
therein a number of curious and beautiful things, and among others
a figure of a god reclining on Dionysos a couch; in the Greek text we
are told that the be, aed was Dionysos, but in the Ethiopic text he is
said to be Enoch (p. 159). In the account of Alexanders visit to
China disguised as one of his own generals, we are told that the king
of China gave him “one thousand loads of the finest gold “and silver,
for in this country are situated the “mountains wherefrom they dig
gold” (p. 170). This statement set the mind of the translator thinking
about Ophir, and he adds, “and from this “place Solomon the son of
David brought the “gold wherewith he built the sanctuary, and he
“made the vessels and the shields of the gold of China iden. ‘the
land of China’. In the city of Samarkand tified with opnir. (Pp. 185)
Alexander built “a place for prayer,” but * Ed. Malan, p. 118
 GOG AND MAGOG. NXXIIT the equivalent passage in the
Syriac version’ states that he built a “temple to Rhea, whom they call
“Nani.” The boats of the bridge which he built to cross the “crystal”
river were made in the shape of Noah’s ark (p. 186), and Alexander
is made to say, “Now I saw the ark of Noah on the island “where it
lay”! Once, however, the Ethiopian translator condones an
irregularity in the life of his hero, I mean in the matter of the love-
passages between Alexander and Candace (p. 201), and he is so
much carried away by the story of the beauty of the Ethiopian
queen, the praise of whose Alexander beauty, he says, “no living
man could sing suffi- dace, os “ciently,” that he adds, “Glory be to
God Almighty, “the King, the Maker, the Mighty One, the Great, “the
Creator of such a race of women who have “brought forth children
to the mighty.” Whatever else the translator might be, he was
certainly a patriot. After the episode of the Amazons and the account
of the letter which Aristotle sent to him, advising him to return
thanks to God for all that He had done for him, we find inserted in
the text a version of the “Christian Legend °, which purports to
describe the events which happened in his seventh year (pp. 216—
242). Herein we have the resend a curious account of the origin of
the Dead Sea, iy A which is said to “stink horribly” because of the +
See p. 115. 2 See the Syriac version, p. 144 ff.
 XXXIV INTRODUCTION. dead bodies of men and women
and the carcases of beasts and birds which lie in the depths thereof,
whither they were brought by the waters of the Flood. In the prayer
which Alexander makes before he sets out he speaks of the “God
Who dwelleth above the Cherubim and Seraphim, and Whose throne
is surrounded by “ten thousand times ten thousand angels” (p. 221),
and the famous gate which he builds to shut in the wicked nations of
Gog and Magog is set up by him with Gods Paradise consent. The
four rivers flow from Paradise “like ance. the form of the Cross,
towards the East, West, South, and North” (p. 236), and in the
prophecy which he makes after the building of the Iron Gate he
refers to the prophet Jeremiah; similarly, with reference to the
mountain which surrounds the world, the Book of Job is quoted (p.
242). In the Land of Darkness Alexander meets the angel who holds
the earth in its proper place, and who refers to the expulsion of
Adam from Paradise (p. 246), and describes heaven according to
ideas which are expressed in the Old Testament. The river of the
Water of Life floweth from beneath God’s throne, which is supported
by four angels, one of whom has an ox’s face, another a lion’s face,
another an eagle’s face, and another a man’s face The Throne(p.
247); and the angels sing hymns by day and oo by night. Next
comes an account of the creation of man and of his dwelling in
Paradise (p. 250), and when Alexander returns to his troops and
they eat of the bunch of grapes which the Angel
 ALEXANDER’S COMMENTS ON THE PATRIARCHS. XXXV of
the Mountain had given him, he says to them, “Behold, ye have
eaten of the bread of “angels, even as the prophet David saith in the
“EXXVilth Psalm, ‘Man did eat the bread of His “angels” (p. 263).
The. idea of the Macedonian king possessing such an intimate
acquaintance with the Scriptures is quaint, and shews how little
regard the translator had either for probability or fact; on the other
hand we find that when Alexander comes to Babylon he wilfully
destroys a number The eight wonders of of wonderful things which
were supposed to have gabyton de. been the property of Solomon,
the son of Davidse (p. 291). After the banquet which Olympias
makes by Alexander's wish, when she has realized that sorrow
comes to all alike, she makes a speech wherein she says, “It is good
for a man to say, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts’” (p. 307), an
evident reflection of a Christian conception. We have seen that the
translator has inserted into his version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes a
series of addresses by Alexander and a Christian Legend, for which
there is but scanty authority in the Greek, and now we come to a
long interpolated passage which records his address to his scribe
Rahaman, The scribe and his “Precepts” for his disciples (pp.
293331). In the address to his scribe Alexander makes a series of
remarks which any believer in our own times might have made, and
his description of the throne of the Deity (p. 300) reflects the visions
of Ezekiel the prophet. In his “Precepts” for his disciples he reviews
at some length Gods dealings C2
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