E - Klasse 9 - Arbeit Nr. 7 - GreenButterSolutions

The hungry King of Munster - An Irish legend

Cathal, the king of the old Irish province of Munster, was lying in bed one night when a strange wild animal came to his castle. When it found the

king sleeping with his mouth open, the animal decided to creep into the king's body and to live there.

The next morning everybody realized that something terrible had happened to the king: Cathal, who had always been a brave, generous and

friendly man, did not smile any more and started to be unfriendly towards his people.

The worst thing, however, was that now he was always unbelievably hungry: for breakfast he had at least one pig, a whole cow, lots of fish, and

36 cakes, but he still felt hungry afterwards. The people of Munster found it almost impossible to feed such a hungry king, and after only nine

months there was hardly any food left in the whole province.

One day the king stopped at a farmer's house for a meal. When the farmer saw that all the cakes he had and hundreds of apples were not

enough for the king, he seemed very worried. But Anier MacConglinney, a student from Armagh, who was staying at the same farm, offered his

help. Before the king could defend himself Anier had tied him to a chair with a strong rope. Anier then started to cook a large piece of meat over a

fire and at the same time he told the king a story about a country where everything was made of food: the lakes were full of milk, the islands were

cheese, the houses were made of meat, sausages and sweets. When the wild animal inside the king's body heard these stories and smelt the

meat, it put its head out of the king's mouth. But this was the moment Anier had waited for: he pulled the animal out and threw it into the fire.

Without the animal in his body Cathal became the good king he had once been. And Anier, the student from Armagh, became a rich man. As a

reward he was given a cow from every farm and a sheep from every house in Munster.

 
(365 words)

(source unknown)

 
1.1. How does the text describe King Cathal? (40 words)

 

  
1.2. Describe the character of Anier MacConglinney.

 

  
1.3. Why are the farmers worried when their king eats so much?

 

  
1.4. Why do the farmers thank Anier after he has "saved" their king?

 

2.1. I like my job. The work is so interesting.

 

  
2.2. We enjoyed the time we spent with you, Sara.

 

  
2.3. Let's celebrate Christmas together. It would be so nice to see you again.

 

3.1. The Quirks live in Southampton. They want to come to Germany.

 

  
3.2. Most foreigners cannot read place names in Wales. The Welsh write their place names in their own language.

 

  
3.3. When the boys ran out of the classroom, they were shouting.

 

  
3.4. Something is burning. I can smell curry.

 

  
3.5. "If temperatures are below zero, water freezes."

 

- "No, not if you keep .

4.1. She replied: "I won't come before eight."

 

  
4.2. Dad asked him: "Can you help me with the washing-up, Sarah ?"

 

  
4.3. Agatha said: "We saw them at the zoo yesterday."