## Exercises for The Head and the Tea-seller

Back to the story

A. How much did you understand?

These sentences are from Part One of the story. Put them in the right order.

1. "Help! Take me out! Help!" the head began to shout.
2. So the head stayed with the tea-seller, and the tea-seller looked after him.
3. The baby had no arms and no legs.
4. The man and his new wife waited for a long time, but they didn't have a child.
5. So the travellers picked up the head and carried it to the town.

These sentences are from Part Two of the story. Put them in the right order.

1. So the tea-seller took the camel to the king's palace.
2. They looked at many camels, and at last the head chose one.
3. So the tea-seller went to see the king.
4. All the young men in the town wanted to marry the king's daughter.
5. The tea-seller was even more surprised than the king, but he was very happy for his friend.

These sentences are from Part Three of the story. Put them in the right order.

1. So the next day, the tea-seller took the head to the palace in a bag.
2. But the new king's old father was not happy.
3. At once, the head became a handsome young man!
4. Early the next morning, the king and queen went to the bedroom door.
5. "I made a promise," he said, "and I will keep my promise."

B. What were they feeling?

These sentences retell the story. Fill the gaps with words from the list below to show what the people in the story were feeling. You will need to use some words more than once.

1. A man's wife had no children, so he divorced her and married another. Now his first wife was ……
2. When the man's new wife became pregnant, her husband was ……
3. Some travellers found a sack in the road. When they opened it and found the head, they were ……
4. The travellers gave the head to the tea-seller. He was very ……
5. When the camel spoke, the tea-seller was even more …… than the king.
6. When the king saw the head, he was …… and ……
7. The morning after the wedding, the princess was ……
8. The princess and her husband wanted to eat breakfast because they were ……
9. When everyone saw the handsome young man, they were very ……

frightened, angry, happy, sad, surprised, unhappy, hungry

C. Who said these sentences?

1. "What is inside this sack?"
2. "Take me to the town."
3. "Here's something for you."
4. "Soon, I promise you, you will be rich."
5. "Buy your tea in this place today."
6. "Who is this young man? What kind of man is he?"
7. "We will go to the palace, of course and I will marry the princess."
8. "I made a promise, and I will keep my promise."
9. "Oh, my poor daughter. Husband, what have you done?"
10. "Please give us some breakfast."

D. Make faces

This is a funny story, and here's a game to make you and your friends laugh.

Think of a word for a feeling (for example, happy, sad, frightened, worried, surprised, hungry, cold, hot).

Take turns to act the words with your face, and see if your friends can guess what you are feeling.

Check the answers