Trumpet of
the Swan

“Well,” said the cob, “I guess it’s no use. I guess you are dumb.” When he heard the word “dumb,” Louis felt like crying. The cob saw that he had hurt Louis’s feelings. “You misunderstand me, my son,” he said in a comforting voice. “You failed to understand my use of the word ‘dumb,’ which has two meanings. If I had called you a dumb cluck or a dumb bunny, that would have meant that I had a poor opinion of your intelligence. Actually, I think you are perhaps the brightest, smartest , most intelligent of all my cygnets. Words sometimes have two meanings; the word ‘dumb’ is such a word. A person who can’t speak is called dumb. That simply means he can’t say anything. Do you understand?”

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. Text © 1970 by E.B. White. Selection reprinted by permission of Harper Collins Publishers.

1. a. Listen as your teacher reads the literature passage. Read the passage silently. Ask your teacher to help you with difficult words. When you are ready, read the passage out loud to your teacher.

b. As your teacher reads the lines in bold print out loud, write them down. Compare your copy to the literature passage and make corrections.

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c. List four to six words that you should study for spelling this week, or use the following list of suggested words: heard, misunderstand, comforting, voice.

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Spelling Tip
Words with a soft g sound preceded by a short vowel are often spelled with dge.