Unit 22, Lesson 3
Answer It!
1. Describe how the judge found the thief in “The Sticks
of Truth.”
3.A.3.e
Relationship between
Characters and Events
2. Plan a modern day solution to the problem presented
in “The Cleverest Son.”
1.E.4.f
Connections to Personal
Experience
3. Summarize the problem in “The Cleverest Son.”
3.A.3.b
Analyze conflict and events of
the plot
Office of Language Arts Pre-K-12
DRAFT – February 2007
Unit 22, Lesson 3
4. Explain how a bee helped King Solomon pass the test
in “Which Flower?”
3.A.3.b
Analyze conflict and events of
the plot
5. Compose a different title for the folktale “Love and
Pumpkins.”
1.E.4.a
Main Idea
Office of Language Arts Pre-K-12
DRAFT – February 2007
Unit 22, Lesson 3
6. In the introduction, the author states that these
puzzling stories are folktales that “usually have a
message.” Explain the lesson someone could learn from
reading these puzzling tales. Use details from the story
in your explanation.
What Do You Think?
Why Do You Think That?
3.A.6.a
Analyze main ideas and
messages
Answer Cues:
 Someone reading “The Sticks of Truth” could learn that trying to hide your
crimes or mistakes will only end up getting you caught. If the woman had
not been trying to hide her guilt by cutting off two inches from her stick,
hers would have still been the same as the others in the morning.
 In both “The Cleverest Son” and “Which Flower?” the winner is determined
because they were clever and used their brains to solve a problem rather
than trying to buy their way out or giving up. Someone reading this could
learn the value of being thoughtful and clever and thinking through a
problem before trying to solve it.
 A reader could also learn the importance of taking one’s time to think
carefully and approach a problem from a clever point of view – the youngest
son, the judge and the king were all patient and careful in their approach to
solving the problems they faced and proved that being “clever” can triumph
over being strong.
Office of Language Arts Pre-K-12
DRAFT – February 2007