Dragon Mythology: East versus West EXTENDED CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE

This is a story about a dragon. It happened a long time ago. There were a lot of dragons. They do some bad things, so people don’t like them. They fight. The people who fought them are very brave because the dragons breath fire.

A dragon lives in a far away village in West Asia. People here mostly like dragons. They think dragons are powerful, but they don’t trust them very much. The dragon tried to make friends by teaching everyone how to read and write. No one wants to learn. They only want to sit around or play games all day. People sometimes even forget about the dragon, but he ends up becoming the best teacher in the land.

In this story, a dragon comes to a small village in Sumeria. A young boy makes friends with the dragon, even though everyone else is afraid of it. The boy and the dragon spend many days together, playing, fishing, and watching the clouds. The boy tries to teach the dragon to read and write, and the dragon tries to teach the boy to fly. They don’t have much success, but they have fun together. The other people in the village decide they don’t want a dragon nearby. They make it leave, and the boy loses his best friend.

Travel back in time 7,000 years to the beginning of the Sumerian empire. People were beginning to write, as well as study the stars and raise crops. Argo, a dragon, who only appears to be ferocious, lives in a cave in the Sumerian village, and he enjoys reading and writing. Within the village, goats have been disappearing and crops are being destroyed. The villagers blame thieves first and then the wolves, but soon, they turn to Argo. Manseif, a misfit village boy, is the only person brave enough to approach Argo in order to discover the truth. To everyone’s surprise, Manseif clears Argo’s name, but only because he wanted something in return. Manseif achieves his biggest desire – being able to read and write, and Argo continues to live peacefully in his cave.

Travel back in time 7,000 years to the beginning of the Sumerian empire. People were beginning to write, as well as study the stars and raise crops. Argo, a dragon, who only appears to be ferocious lives in a dark, damp cave in the Sumerian village, and he enjoys reading and writing. Within the village, goats have been disappearing and crops are being destroyed. The villagers blame thieves first and then the wolves, but soon, then they turn to Argo. Manseif, a misfit village boy, is the only person brave enough to approach Argo in order to discover the truth. To everyone’s surprise, Manseif clears Argo’s name, but only because he wanted something in return. Manseif achieves his biggest desire – being able to read and write, and Argo becomes a teacher within the village.

Check-list - A Situation - Point of view - characters - smooth progression of events - details, sensory language, vivid pictures/events - include ideas and details from source – NO EXTRAS - dialogue