Crafting the Tale of the Magical Pen, Literature Grade 6

Crafting the Tale of the Magical Pen, Literature Grade 6, Short Version 1

Crafting the Tale of the Magic Pen, Literature Grade 6, Short Version 2

Read the story multiple times, summarize the work, and practice retelling it to different audiences (imagine there is
someone listening, or a friend, a teacher, parents, siblings...)

Introduction to an Example of Summary:

1. Mã Lương, born into poverty and orphaned, worked hard for a living but had a strong passion for drawing. While earning a living, wherever he was, Mã Lương found ways to practice drawing. His skills improved rapidly, and he dreamed of owning a magic pen.

2. One day, he dreamt of an old man with silver hair giving him a magical pen. Upon waking up, he received a sparkling golden pen. Mã Lương drew birds and fish to satisfy his soul, and drew trees, hoes, lanterns, and barrels for impoverished families.

3. A landlord heard of his talent and sent his men to capture Mã Lương, demanding him to draw. Mã Lương refused and was imprisoned in a cold, lonely horse stable to be killed. In the chilly stable, he used the magic pen to draw bread for survival. The landlord ordered his release, but Mã Lương drew a horse to escape. The landlord and his men chased him, but Mã Lương drew an archer to shoot the landlord down.

4. Mã Lương fled far from his hometown, sketching incomplete paintings to avoid recognition. One day, a drop of ink fell precisely on the eye of a bird in his painting. The bird opened its eyes and flew away. Rumors reached the king's ears, and he ordered Mã Lương to the palace, demanding drawings of dragons, frogs, phoenixes, and featherless chickens. The animals soiled the royal courtyard. The king attempted to use the magic pen but almost crushed his foot with a mountain when drawing gold, and was attacked by a python when drawing a golden ingot. The king then commanded him to draw a calm sea for his pleasure. Mã Lương drew a serene sea to let the king depart, then drew a stormy sea to sink the greedy king's vessel.

5. Later, Mã Lương's whereabouts became unknown. Some say he returned to his village, continuing to draw for the poor.
Review: Does the summary cover all events and introduce all characters of the story? Read the footnotes and add verbs after the footnotes (freely or based on the text) Example:
• Implicate / to those who sheltered oneself.
• Accuse / the king.
• Devote oneself / to assigned tasks.

Reading Comprehension: Answering Questions (Page 85 of the Textbook)
1. What common character type in fairy tales does Mã Lương belong to? Name some similar characters in fairy tales?
Mã Lương belongs to the type of smart, talented, poor, orphaned, peasant, exploited by landlords and officials, but all have a rightful way of revenge.

2. Mã Lương's drawing talent comes from:
• Dreaming of a talent
• Perseverance in training despite not having the opportunity to learn drawing.
• Being helped by the deity to fulfill the dream of having a magic pen that can produce anything.
• His drawing talent developed because Mã Lương used that talent to serve the poor and fight against the exploitative class enemies.
The factors that create and develop Mã Lương's drawing talent are closely related: Having a dream without training, the dream will not become a reality; having a dream and training will certainly become a talent (having a magic pen). The story of the old man giving the magic pen is not a talent given by heaven but is the result of the strong dream and training of the child Mã Lương.

3.Mã Lương drew for the poor from the moment he had a pen until his entire life. Mã Lương drew for all the poor people in the village. Mã Lương drew for the poor with all his time and strength. Mã Lương drew voluntarily, without asking for anything in return. Mã Lương only drew for them hoes, plows, lanterns, and barrels for them to work and live in the family. Being poor, Mã Lương was very sympathetic to the poor about that deprivation. That shows: the magic pen only creates conditions for living through honest labor, it does not bring ready-made wealth to the poor.
Mã Lương drew for the greedy, the cruel ugly animals (featherless chickens, frogs), drew the rough sea to kill the wicked. When the wicked, greedy people used the magic pen to draw, the magic pen also only drew for them things contrary to greed: mountains instead of gold mountains, pythons instead of gold ingots). That shows Mã Lương's class struggle attitude, that is, the relentless struggle of the poor laborers in feudal society. It also says that only people with kindness, morality in the people can effectively use the magic pen, understand more deeply - those who know how to bring art to serve life and class struggle.

4. The story is based on the rich imagination of the people. Imagination relies on the foundation of the creative capacity of art serving life, based on meanings such as: art in the hands of the cruel not only cannot create anything for themselves but also punishes them (the king himself draws gold but it turns into stone, into a biting snake). The people's imagination creates many interesting details, such as: drawing for the landowner turns into featherless chickens, dragons turn into ugly creatures, the king's drawing turns gold into stone, into snakes. Mã Lương draws birds, fish, cakes, the sea, wind, waves to destroy the wicked greedy. There may be two or three interesting details, depending on the student's choice, but if it's interesting details, it must be explained, for example, if you like the detail of drawing the sea, you have to say it's interesting because the king killed himself out of greed, not Mã Lương, second is Mã Lương makes the king die in progressive greed (wanting a beautiful sea, wanting the sea to have fish, wanting to see fish, wanting the boat to go fast...). The image of the king hugging a sail with one hand, signaling with the other hand but in vain is even more interesting.

5. The significance of the story: students can derive many themes but must be based on the story.
Suggestions:
• The story praises the power of art serving the people.
• People have dreams, determination, training, all will become talented.
• Art in the hands of the people is creative, whereas in the hands of exploiters, cruel, greedy people, it only creates evil, wickedness, and cruelty.
• Social justice is enlightenment: the greedy and wicked are punished, the righteous and talented, even though they may suffer, will live forever.
• Working people not only have creativity in labor but also are the source of artistic talents.

Practice: (Page 85 of the Textbook)
1. Based on the above summary, retell empathetically, paying attention to the character's words to suit the character's psychology.
2. Translate fairy tales (according to the footnotes of the Coconut Skull story on page 53 of the Textbook, the stories learned: Coconut Skull, Thạch Sanh, Smart Child, Magic Pen.

Continue reading more lessons to study Vietnamese literature in grade 6

- Prepare lesson on Nouns
- Prepare lesson on Point of View in Autobiographical Writing