Calliope articles from February 2008

Calliope archives from February 2008

5 monstrous animal facts.
February 1, 2008... 1 The LOUDEST land animal known to humans is the howler monkey. Its howl can be heard three miles away. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 2 The DEADLIEST animal is the female mosquito of the genus Anopheles. It carries the disease malaria and...

A shipwrecked sailor.(Short story)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] More than 3,500 years ago, during Egypt's Middle Kingdom (c. 2040-1640 B.C.) Amen-aa, son of Ameny, recorded this story: The ship had reached its port, but an Official had locked himself in his cabin and refused...

The snaky Medusa.(Folktale)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Long, long ago, according to Greek mythology, the gods on Mount Olympus roamed the earth freely, interacting with the mortal men and women whom they met. Some of the humans were superhumans, performing incredible...

Poison arrows.
February 1, 2008... Biological warfare seems like a modern invention. But the idea of turning poisonous plants or creatures into weapons has a very long history. One clue that biological warfare is an old idea comes from ancient languages. The English word "toxic"...

Theseus and the Minotaur.(Play)
February 1, 2008... CHARACTERS THESEUS son and heir of King Aegeus of Athens KING AEGEUS king of Athens KING MINOS king of Crete PRINCESS ARIADNE daughter of King Minos and chief priestess of Crete MINOTAUR the renowned monster of Crete that...

Perils of the Mediterranean.(ACTIVITY)
February 1, 2008... ACTIVITY If you were an ancient Greek or Roman trader sailing around the Mediterranean Sea, you might have found the journey hazardous, if you believed the legends handed down from your ancestors. See if you can chart a safe...

Fun with words.
February 1, 2008... WORD ORIGINS Monsters Got the shivers? Sometimes, that is exactly what hearing the word does to people. So, its origin is appropriate--the Latin noun monstrum, which means "omen" and derives from the Latin verb monere ("to warn"). The...

Fatal enchantment: sailors traveling through dangerous waters heard a song so irresistible that they turned off course to seek its origin. Without warning, their vessels soon crashed into the rocks of the flowered, corpse-strewn island of Anthemoessa near Greece.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] So said the tales of the ancient Greeks. But, there was more to the tale. Once on the island, the shipwrecked sailors were attacked by the sweet-voiced creatures that they had heard and soon learned that there was...

Making up monstrous myths.
February 1, 2008... When Earth was new, gigantic lizards lurked in the waters that covered its surface. The Hero Twins, children of the Sun, wanted to dry Earth, so humans could take over. With lightning arrows, they set off fires. The ground dried and hardened,...

Gold-digging ants.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The sun was high in the midday sky when the men arrived at the gold-bearing sands of the Indian desert. At the time, the ferocious ant-lions had burrowed underground to take refuge from the heat. Determined to get...

Two Japanese monsters.(Folktale)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A Kappa With a Request Many Japanese tales revolve around kappas. About the size of young boy, the kappa was said to live in or near the water. In appearance, the kappa was quite ugly--with greenish-yellow skin,...

Hagrid's wee beasties.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Read J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books and, more often than not, you will meet peculiar beasts rather than the common fantasy-book stock of unicorns and dragons. For example, in two different novels, Harry flies on...

Beaties maze.(ACTIVITY)
February 1, 2008... Can you find the 25 "beasties-related" words in the maze below. Look horizontally, vertically, diagonally, backwards, and forwards. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Aragog, beasts, Buckbeak, Cerberus, children, dog, fantastic, Fluffy, giant,...

The Zambezi river spirit.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For centuries, the River Tonga people lived along the Zambezi River in south-central Africa, very isolated from the rest of the world. They believed that their river had a spirit god named Nyaminyami who watched over...

Meet Nessie.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There was a great sense of anticipation as we paddled out into Loch Ness. We carefully scanned the murky waters, hoping to glimpse the water's best-known inhabitant--Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. But, unlike 10,000...

Meet champ!
February 1, 2008... Three thousand people sat in the stands, cheering a blue-eyed, green-skinned monster. The scene was the Vermont Lake Monsters' baseball field in Burlington. The monster was Champ, the team's mascot. Why Champ? Burlington lies just a short...

On the net.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Here's a site that has the answer to almost every question about Greek and Roman mythology, with lots of links to related sites: www.timelessmyths.com/classical/beasts.html You might want to try this site...

The Fish Prince and Other Stories: Mermen Folktales.(BOOKS)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Fish Prince and Other Stories: Mermen Folktales by Jane Yolen (Interlink Publishing Group, 2001, www.global-alliance.com/html/interlink_publishing.html) examines the mermaid's male counterpart in this collection...

Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings.(BOOKS)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2008... Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings by John Michael Greer (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2001, www.llewellyn.com) reveals the mysteries of monsters through a careful examination of magical folklore and philosophy, and is a great resource...

Myths and Legends.(BOOKS)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Myths and Legends by Anthony Horowitz (Kingfisher, 1985/2007, www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com) offers readers 35 great retellings of such tales as the Greek sphinx, a monkey who would be king, Glaucus and Scylla,...

Wonder Beasts: Tales and Lore of the Phoenix, the Griffin, the Unicorn, and the Dragon.(BOOKS)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2008... Wonder Beasts: Tales and Lore of the Phoenix, the Griffin, the Unicorn, and the Dragon by Joseph Nigg (Libraries Unlimited, 1995, http://lu.com/index.cfm) explains the origins and various forms each of these legendary beasts takes throughout...

Cobblestone resources.(OFF THE SHELF)(Bibliography)
February 1, 2008... Materials that complement this issue's theme, "Mythical Monsters," and are available from Cobblestone Publishing include: The 'Who's Who' of Epic Heroes (DIG0705) Fact vs. Fiction (DIG0610) Homer's World (DIG0401) The Norse...

Ask Calliope.
February 1, 2008... [?] Did the ancients get cavities in their teeth? --Jeff, Web post [!] Yes! In fact, archaeologists have found cavities in human teeth that date back more than 500,000 years. The fact that ancient teeth have cavities is not surprising,...

Congratulations to the two two winners of Calliope's Epic Simile Contest!
February 1, 2008... Like most epic heroes, Achilles needed something to eat after a difficult struggle. He had just vanquished Hector. As he strutted into the Greek camp, he commanded a bystanding servant, "An apple! I'm famished!" The servant brought him a basket...

Rooting for monsters.(FROM PAST TO PRESENT)
February 1, 2008... Gods are good and monsters are evil, right? Some recent novels are making that distinction more complicated or just plain wrong. SYMPATHY FOR MEDUSA For example, consider serpent-haired Medusa. She is so ugly that whoever looks at her...

Tonga trivia.(ACTIVITY)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Test your knowledge of the River Tonga (don't worry--all the answers are in the story on pages 38-39!) to learn more about the name of the lake that was created in order to increase electricity production for the...

Then and now.
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In Greek mythology, Typhon was a monstrous creature. His head touched the stars, and his outstretched arms reached across the earth. One hundred snake-heads hung from his shoulders, and huge coils of loudly hissing...