1a. What does the young man ask of his older brother? How does his brother respond?
2a. What unusual encounter does the younger brother have on his way home? What does he bring home to his wife, and what is special about this object? What do they do the next day?
3a. What plans does the older brother make when he discovers his brother's secret? Do his plans succeed or fail? Explain. What natural phenomenon does this myth explain?
1b. What does the older brother's response reveal about his character?
2b. Why were the dwarfs willing to trade their prize possession? How does the possession change the lives of the young brother and his wife?
3b. Why does the older brother's plan have the results it has?
4a. Compare the way the younger brother treats his older brother on New Year's Day with the way his older brother treated him the day before. What do their different actions reveal about the two brothers? How does the older brother's response to his brother's new situation differ from the response of the young man's friends?
4b. What qualities do you think the creator of this tale valued? What qualities did he or she dislike?
5a. Do you think the punishment of the older brother fits the crime in this instance? Why, or why not? If you could rewrite this folk tale, how would you have the older brother punished?
5b. How might this story be different if the older brother had acted differently at the beginning? at the end? Explain. For example, how do you think the story would have continued if the older brother had asked to borrow the mortar?
Moral. What lessons or morals do you think this story teaches? Why are these lessons important? What do these morals reveal about Japanese culture and Japanese values?
Point of View. How would this story be different if it were told from a different point of view?
1. Write a brief character sketch of each brother, imagining you need to provide this sketch to a company planning an animated movie about "The Magic Mortar."
2. Imagine you are the director of a play adapted from "The Magic Mortar." Write stage directions that describe the setting of this story.
3. In the selection you have just read, instructions play an important role. Imagine that you are the old farmer in the story and are going to give the younger brother written instructions for how to get the magic mortar from the dwarfs. Write step-by-step instructions for him.
Synonyms. A synonym is a word that means the same or nearly the same as another word. For example, run and sprint are synonyms. For each of the two Words for Everyday Use in "The Magic Mortar," write a short list of synonyms.
commotion:
nestle:
Common Spelling Errors. Some words have irregular plural forms. For example, in the selection you just read, the word dwarf was written in the plural form dwarfs. However, the plural can also be spelled dwarves. Other words that have this irregular plural are knife and life.
Read the Language Arts Survey 3.91 and 3.92, "Using Spelling Rules." Then find the misspelled words in the following sentences. Spell them correctly in the space provided.
1. The younger brother is hopeing that his usualy selfish brother will lend him some rice.
2. The older brother has many richs, but he is the greedyest man in Japan.
3. As the younger brother gos home, he looks up at the skys and starts cryeing.
4. His luck changs when he finds some dwarfs stumbleing around and is able to decieve them and get the magic mortar.
5. The old farmer tells him how to succede in takeing the mortar.
6. The young man and his wife recieve many valueable gifts from the mortar.
7. They need a biger house and invite all their friendes for a big feast.
8. The older brother spys on the younger brother.
9. He is a theif and procedes to steal the mortar.
10. However, the older brother eventualy meets his fatful end, dieing at the bottom of the sea.
Examining the Oceans: "The Magic Mortar" gives an explanation for why the sea is salty. What explanation do you think modern scientists would give? Use the Internet or library to find out. Why are oceans and seas salty? What percentage of salt is in most bodies of salt water? Name five examples of aquatic life that can only live in salt water. As an alternative, you may be interested in researching the Dead Sea, which is located between Israel and Jordan in the Middle East. If you were to swim there, you could not sink because the water is so thick with salt. What makes the Dead Sea so salty? Why is it called "Dead"? Research Log. Use this log to keep track of the sources you use, the information you find, and your reactions to what you learn.
Internet sources:
Books and other print sources:
Answers to textbook questions:
