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The English-speaking world
If only Papa hadn’t danced
1 Before you read
by Patricia McCormick
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Look at the picture. Think about where the people are, who they could be, what their relationship is and
what will happen next. Make some notes. Then discuss your ideas in a group.
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© Silke Bachmann
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Now read the story. Some important new words are explained at the bottom of the page.
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But who could blame him? When the results
of the presidential election were tacked up on
the polling station1 doors, a lot of people
danced and sang in the streets – none of them
more joyfully than Papa. Finally the Old Man
had lost. The Old Man, who’d ruled2 the coun­
try since Papa was a baby, had been beaten fair
and square. The man who robbed3 from the
poor to make himself rich was finished.
But not everyone in the village danced that
night. The rich men, the ones made fat by the
Old Man, stood in the shadows and watched.
The next day, when Papa and his friends
gathered around the radio, they heard that the
election results had been a mistake. There
would have to be a recount4. Papa spat in the
dust and said it was a lie. A week passed, then
another – while the Old Man stayed in his
grand house in the capital. While his men
were supposedly counting the ballots5 again.
Papa and his friends grumbled among them­
selves, but not loud enough for anyone else to
hear.
Then one night we awoke to the hot breath6
of fire. The corn patch7 just outside our hut
was ablaze8. We jumped from our beds and
ran to the field to beat down the flames with
branches. But it was no good. Our entire crop9
was gone.
At dawn Papa sought out10 the police. They
came to our home, looked at our field with
eyes of stone and told us to empty the house of
all we owned.
‘Take what you can,’ one of the policemen
said. ‘They will be back tonight. This time they
will torch11 your house.’
‘They?’ I asked Papa when the policemen
had left. ‘Who are they?’
Papa sighed and shook his head. ‘Our neigh­
bours and tribesmen,’ he said. ‘People we have
known our whole lives. People whose bellies
have been filled by the Old Man.’
Mama clucked her tongue at Papa. ‘Everyone
saw you celebrating,’ she said. ‘They know you
voted against the Old Man and now we will
pay for it.’ She looked out and saw the smoul­
dering12 remains13 of our neighbours’ fields.
The crops of those who’d danced with Papa
were in ashes. The others were as lush and
green as they’d been the day before.
And so we packed our things – the few we
had, the fewer we could carry – into a few
bundles and an old cardboard suitcase. I put
my bundle on my head, took one last look at
1 polling station [1p48l9N ste9Sn] Wahllokal 2 (to) rule (be)herrschen 3 (to) rob (-bb-) [rqb] rauben 4 recount [1ri.ka8nt] Nachzählung
5 ballot [1bäl4t] Stimme, Stimmzettel 6 breath [breT] Atem 7 patch [pätS] (kleines) Feld, Beet 8 ablaze [41ble9z] in Flammen 9 crop [krqp]
Ernte 10 (to) seek sb. out, sought, sought [si.k, s0.t] an jn. herantreten 11 (to) torch [t0.tS] anzünden 12 smouldering [1sm48ld4r9N]
schwelend 13 remains [r91me9nz] Überreste
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our home, then turned to face our future.
‘Where will we go?’ I asked Papa.
‘We will walk until we find a friendly place
where we can stay,’ he said. ‘When it is safe,
when the recount is finished, when the right­
ful president takes office1, then we will return
home.’
As we came to the centre of the village, we
met up with other families like ours. The
fathers hung their heads, the mothers looked
only at the dirt beneath their feet and the
children tugged2 listlessly at their parents’
hands. ‘Why?’ they asked. ‘Why must we leave
home?’ The parents did not dare3 to answer
– in case4 ‘they’ were listening.
The world beyond the village was new and
strange – a vast plain5 of parched6 grass and
shimmering heat. We walked by night,
through bushes alive with the sounds of
frenzied insects, and slept by day under the
scanty shade of the acacia tree. We walked and
walked and walked.
At last we came upon a settlement. From a
distance it bloomed up from the earth like a
flower. We saw, shimmering on the horizon,
what we thought was our safe place, the place
where we would rest until we could go home.
But as we drew near, we saw that the village
looked just like ours. One house was nothing
but a smouldering heap7, the one next door
untouched.
And so we walked on and on, each village
the same.
We gathered news as we walked. ‘The Old
Man is still in power,’ said people who joined
our dusty procession. ‘He won’t give up with­
out a fight,’ they added.
I asked Papa about the man who had won
the election. ‘He won’t give up without a fight
either,’ Papa told me. The next day on the
radio we heard that he had fled the country.
That night, there was just one tiny strip8 of
dried meat left. Mama cut it three ways and
handed each of us a piece. Papa shook his
head.
‘Give mine to the child,’ he said. ‘I’m a
tough old bird. I can make do.’
The next morning, when we awoke, we
found corn to eat. Corn and biscuits and a bit
of fruit. But Papa wouldn’t touch a thing. He
turned away and whispered to Mama, ‘I was a
fool to hope for change. And now I am a thief.
Now I’m no better than the Old Man.’
In the afternoon we came upon a great river.
Wide and sluggish9, it looked as hot and
steamy as we were. I knew from my studies
that we had come to the edge of our country.
On the other side of the river was a free coun­
try, a land of cities and farms, a nation where
the people had voted for a president who had
spent years in jail fighting for justice.
Mama knelt in the shallows and splashed
water on her face. But as I knelt down next to
her, I saw that she was trying to cover her
tears.
‘This is our homeland,’ she said. ‘No one
wants us over there.’ She gestured to the
tawny hills across the river.
It was then that I saw the long metal fence
which uncoiled, like a snake, all along the
riverbank10 on the other side. The fence was
tall and crowned with rings of wire11: wire
with teeth that could slice12 the clothes from
your back, the skin from your bones. In the
distance I saw a man in an orange jumpsuit
patching13 a hole at the bottom of the fence – a
spot where some lucky person must have
slipped through the night before. His tools
were at his feet, a pistol in his belt14.
Papa came over and said I was needed.
There was a sign, he said, that he needed me
to read. He brought me to a spot where
someone had hand-painted a warning:
beware15 of crocodiles.
That night, we hid in the bushes until the
sky was black. We would wade across at mid­
night, when the man in the orange jumpsuit
had gone home and when the crocodiles, we
hoped, would be sound asleep.
When it was time to go, I walked straight
towards the river, knowing my nerve would fail
if I faltered16 for even a moment. But Papa
stopped me at the water’s edge.
1 (to) take office sein Amt antreten 2 (to) tug (-gg-) [tcg] ziehen 3 (to) dare (es) wagen, sich trauen 4 in case für den Fall, dass 5 plain [ple9n]
Ebene 6 parched [p2.tSt] ausgetrocknet, verdorrt 7 heap [hi.p] Haufen 8 a tiny strip [1ta9ni] ein winziger Streifen 9 sluggish [1slcg9S] träge
10 riverbank Flussufer 11 wire [1wa94] Draht 12 (to) slice [sla9s] schneiden 13 (to) patch [pätS] flicken 14 belt [belt] Gürtel 15 beware of …
[b91we4] Vorsicht vor … 16 (to) falter [1f0.lt4] zögern, zaudern
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‘Wait here,’ he said. And then he scooped
Mama up into his arms and waded silently
into the darkness.
It seemed a lifetime until he returned. He
didn’t say a word, just lifted me up onto his
shoulders and strode into the water. Every stick
I saw was a crocodile. Under every rock, every
ripple17 in the water, was a pair of ferocious
jaws18. When we reached the other side, I leapt
from his shoulders and kissed the sand.
Once more Papa stepped into the river – this
time to fetch our suitcase. Surely our luck
wouldn’t hold again … I watched his back
disappear into the dark and thought how
much I loved that broad back; how it shoul­
dered all our woes19, and now all our hopes.
Finally Papa emerged20 from the darkness
with all our worldly possessions balanced on
his head.
Then we got down on our hands and knees
and crawled along the base of the fence, like
scorpions looking for a place to dig21. But the
sand was unyielding and the fence invin­
cible22. Everywhere our fingers scrabbled23 for
a weakness, someone – the man in the orange
jumpsuit, most likely – had mended it with
links of chain held tight with wire.
The sky overhead had begun to brighten and
the horizon was edged with pink. Soon it
would be light24 and we’d be trapped between
the waking crocodiles and the man with the
gun in his belt.
We came to a spot in the fence where a thorn
bush grew on the other side. Papa said we
would have to dig here: no time to keep look­
ing. Perhaps the roots of the bush had loos­
ened the sand, he said. If not, at least we could
hide behind the bush, if only for a while.
And so all three of us dug – Mama in the
middle and Papa and I on either side – our
hands clawing furiously at the earth. I’d only
made a few inches of progress when the sky
turned red. It would be dawn in less than an
hour. I redoubled my effort25, working the
outer edge of the bush where the soil was a bit
looser. Soon I’d dug a hole barely big enough
for a man’s foot. I lifted my head to call out to
Papa to come and see my work – and saw the
man in the orange jumpsuit striding towards
us.
Mama wailed26 piteously, then plucked at her
hem where she’d hidden the tiny bit of money
we had. She knelt in the sand, her arms out­
stretched, our few coins in her upturned
palms27.
But the man shook his head. He placed his
hand on the belt that held his gun.
‘Take me,’ Papa begged him. ‘Spare28 the
woman and the girl.’
Again the man shook his head. Then he
reached into his pocket and took out a giant
cutting tool. With one mighty snap he
severed29 the links where the fence had been
patched. He yanked30 on the fence so hard it
cried out in protest, and peeled it back as if it
were made of cloth.
‘Hurry,’ he said. ‘Once the light comes, I will
have to go back to patrolling.’
We didn’t fully comprehend31 what he was
saying, but we didn’t wait.
‘You go first,’ Papa said to me. ‘I want you to
be the first in our family to taste freedom.’
I scrambled through the fence, stood next to
the man in the orange jumpsuit and looked
back at our homeland as the sun began to turn
its fields to gold.
‘You will miss it for a long time,’ the man
said to me. ‘I still do.’
I stared up at him.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I outran32 the Old Man long
ago.’
Mama crawled through and kissed the man’s
boots. He simply helped her to her feet.
‘Quickly now,’ he said, once Papa had made
it through. ‘Walk, as fast as you can, until you
see a house with white flowers out front. Go
round to the back and tell them Robert sent
you. They will feed you and hide you until
night. Then they will send you to the next safe
house, which will send you to the next, and the
next – until finally you are in the city and can
be swallowed up33 by all the people there.’
17 ripple [1r9pl] Kräuseln, kleine Welle 18 ferocious jaws [f4!r48S4s 1d70.z] furchteinflößende Kiefer 19 woes (pl) [w48z] Sorgen 20 (to) emerge
[i1m3.d7] auftauchen aus 21 (to) dig, dug, dug [d9g, dcg] graben 22 invincible [9n1v9ns4bl] unbesiegbar 23 (to) scrabble hier: wühlen 24 light
hell 25 effort [1ef4t] Bemühungen 26 (to) wail [we9l] jammern, heulen 27 palm [p2.m] Handfläche 28 (to) spare [spe4] verschonen
29 (to) sever [1sev4] durchtrennen 30 (to) yank [jäNk] reißen, ziehen 31 (to) comprehend [!kqmpr91hend] verstehen 32 (to) outrun sb. jm.
davonlaufen/entkommen 33 (to) swallow up [1swql48 cp] verschlingen
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The English-speaking world
‘How do we know we can trust these
people?’ Mama asked.
‘They are our countrymen,’ he said. ‘You will
find many of us here. Now go!’
We did as he instructed, and found the
house with the white flowers just as the morn­
ing sun broke through the clouds. A woman
there brought us inside, gave us water and
meat and led us to mats where we could rest.
It had been so long since I’d slept on anything
other than bare, open ground that I fell asleep
at once.
I awoke sometime later and saw that Papa’s
mat was empty. I stood and wandered outside.
The sun was setting, so all I could see was his
silhouette against the deepening sky. He raised
his arms to the heavens and started to hum34.
And then I saw Papa dance.
34 (to) hum (-mm-) [hcm] summen
© 2009 by Patricia McCormick, published in: Free? Stories Celebrating Human
Rights, Amnesty International, Walker Books, London, 2009
Working with the text
1 Your impressions
Think back to your discussion on the picture on
page 1. How close were your ideas to what
happened in the story?
2 The plot
220
Use the key words in the boxes to write the plot of
“If only Papa hadn’t danced”.
The narrator’s father dances when he hears that
the Old Man has lost the election. …
election •
father • dance
Old Man • rule •
long time
election results •
mistake • recount
one night • family’s
fields • burn
walk across country •
night • sleep • day
family • pack up
things • leave home
same thing • happen
• many people
police come • house
will burn • next night
river • edge of coun­
try • other side • free
metal fence •
crocodiles • river
cross • night • father •
wife/daughter
dig hole • fence •
before light
narrator • see father •
dance again
man from same
country • safe house
man • stop them? •
but • cut fence
man in jumpsuit •
repair fence • pistol
225
230
235
3
The atmosphere
a) Without checking the text, finish this sentence:
The atmosphere in the story is …
240
b) Find examples of how the author creates
atmosphere. Collect them in a table like this:
How
Example
Source
metaphor
adjective
the hot breath of fire.
smouldering …
lines 24-25
…
c)
Compare and explain your charts.
– ‘Hot breath’ makes you feel the fire is alive.
– ‘Smouldering remains’ gives you the feeling
the family has lost everything.
–…
Would you change your sentence from a)? Why?
3 SF Reading literature (pp.141–143)
255
260
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The English-speaking world
4 The characters
a) Make a network like the one on the right.
Add notes to show the links between the
characters.
b) Choose a character from your network.
Find parts of the text that tell you what kind of
person he/she is. Collect information in a table
like the one below.
Name
Papa
Characterization
Source
Papa spat in the dust and lines 16-17
said it was a lie.
…
c)
What conclusions can you draw from your
table? Say how you see the character you chose.
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The English-speaking world
1
daughter of
Narrator
Papa
March
bit.ly/edMZeO Al Jazeera (Qatar)
25
Mugabe is ____________ years old and hopes to
2008
____________ ____________ as president for the sixth time. He says he
will not rig the ____________ but will win them through majority voting.
Mugabe says his friends in the east will help the country, such as
Mama
Man in jumpsuit
esc
____________, ____________, Indonesia and Iran. He says the West never
gives investment to ____________ ____________ but just little charitable
ap
ed
fro
amounts. ____________ people are arrested when the government knows
m
Old Man
the facts. Mugabe is ____________ about winning this election.
2
March
Tsvangirai says everyone is ____________ and ____________ . He thinks
that he will ____________ the election. But perhaps Mugabe will say that
STUDY SKILLS
he is the ____________ . Tsvangirai says he will not become a new dictator
Characterization in fiction
The author of a story can describe or portray a character directly or explicitly by giving informa­
tion through the narrator or other characters. Characterization is indirect or implicit when we
learn about the character by what they say or do or through the setting they are put in.
3 SF Reading literature (pp. 141–143)
5
Write either lines 140–158 through the eyes of Papa
or lines 187–210 through the eyes of the man in the
jumpsuit.
step would be to limit the time that the president can stay in office to two
____________-____________ periods. If Mugabe admits that he has lost,
Tsvangirai feels ____________ about the future of the country.
6
Researching Zimbabwe on the internet
K
The inspiration for Patricia McCormick’s story comes from Zimbabwe, where the election for presi­
dent took place on Saturday, 29 March 2008. The main candidates for the presidency were Robert
Mugabe (of the ruling ZANU-PF party) and Morgan Tsvangirai* (the leader of the opposition party,
* [1tSäNg9ra9]
MDC).
(to) rig manipulieren
corrupt korrupt
(to) arrest verhaften
dicey [1da9si]
heikel (to) defy [d91fa9] trotzen
polls Umfragen
accountable [41ka8nt4bl] rechenschaftspflichtig
(to) let bygones be bygones die Vergangenheit ruhen lassen
vindictive rachsüchtig
because the people must make the leader ____________ . One important
Tsvangirai will not punish him for ____________ against his people.
Different points of view
a) Before you watch the interviews with Mugabe
and Tsvangirai from Sources 1 and 2 on page 6,
make sure you understand the following words:
29
2008
Tip
To watch the films,
type the shortened
URLs (bit.ly/…)
into your browser.
b) Use the information you find on the
internet to complete the texts below
and on pages 7–8.
Tip
Sources 3 to 12 are taken from websites
around the English-speaking world.
You don't need to read the whole article:
just scan it for the information you need.
3 SF Skimming and scanning (p.139)
bit.ly/g1Mdm7Independent Online (South Africa)
April
It seems that Morgan Tsvangirai, ____________ years old, has won the
2008
3
presidential election in Zimbabwe. He is said to have over
50 _____ _______ of the votes, an absolute majority. This makes a second
round of voting unnecessary. The figures reported are: Tsvangirai
____________ %, Mugabe ____________ %.
2
© 2011 Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin · Alle Rechte vorbehalten
d) Use your table to write a characterization.
bit.ly/fDi6cO GuardianFilms (UK)
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The English-speaking world
4
bit.ly/dY4pxV
April
CBC (Canada)
Although the results of the presidential election are not yet official, the
ZANU-PF party calls for a ____________. Tsvangirai calls this
The English-speaking world
9
thetim.es/dJI6fD
June
The Times (UK)
The second ____________ takes place. Voters’ fingers are coloured
____________ to show that they have voted. Nyasha from Epworth says
‘____________’ and ‘ridiculous’. The MDC is worried that violence might
that people recorded his personal details to check how he ____________.
be used against members of the ____________.
He says your house will be ____________ if you vote for Tsvangirai, or if
5
bit.ly/glAIUU
Daily Mail (UK)
The results are published: Tsvangirai has ____________ % of the votes,
Mugabe ____________ %. This means that there will be a ____________
May
your finger isn’t red (because then they will see that you _______________).
2008
10
2
ind.pn/dHGPds
The Independent (UK)
Mugabe wins the second election with ____________ per cent of the vote.
round of voting for the president.
He start a new ________-________ term as president. The USA and other
Tsvangirai is out of the country, trying to get international support for his
countries protest but they have no support from ____________,
opposition MDC party (M ____________ for D ____________
____________ and ____________.
C ____________) and against the dictator Mugabe. The MDC says that
11
____________ of its members have been ____________ since the election.
6
bit.ly/eoz4Kc
The Standard (Zimbabwe)
____________ starts a camp for Zimbabwean
refugees1
May
escaping from
the ____________ in their country and asking for political
asylum2
and
3
2008
____________ protection.
7
bbc.in/glJFwe
bit.ly/eCXZrn
The Observer (UK)
Many refugees try to cross the Limpopo River between Zimbabwe and
South Africa – despite ____________ and wire fences. In South Africa
BBC News (UK)
K
‘I intend to ____________ to Zimbabwe within the ____________ period
July
6
2008
____________ attacks. Refugees are treated as illegal immigrants: the
May
3
2008
12
bit.ly/9AbNAA
Christian Science Monitor (USA)
Two years later, ____________ and asylum seekers from Zimbabwe are
still getting very little ____________ from the South African government.
Instead they are given ____________, drink, ____________ and sleeping
MDC supporters have been killed since the first election and there are
bags from volunteer organizations. The ____________ Musati Project was
____________ people without homes.
founded by Zimbabweans living in South Africa, and helps refugees from
Al Jazeera (Qatar)
Tsvangirai decides not to take part in the second election because of the
violence. He says ____________ supporters have been killed and
____________ people are without homes. If it is a one-____________
election, it will not be a real ____________ for Mugabe.
June
Zimbabwe and ____________ ____________.
2008
7 Refugees in South Africa
25
Watch the slideshow and write a description of one of the people in the photos.
Use what you have learned during the webquest to explain the problems facing
the refugees.
13
1 refugee [!refju1d7i.] Flüchtling
29
2008
there are new dangers: in May, ____________ people died because of
of time’. He will take part in the second round although ____________
bit.ly/eFxBg0
June
number sent home from South Africa is ____________ per month.
Morgan Tsvangirai makes a speech in ____________, announcing,
8
28
2008
2 asylum [41sa9l4m] Asyl
mefeedia.com/watch/31160455
Médecins sans Frontières
April
12
2010
May
12
2010
© 2011 Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin · Alle Rechte vorbehalten
© 2011 Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin · Alle Rechte vorbehalten
6
2008
8
The English-speaking world
Teacher's Solutions to 6 A Zimbabwean webquest
1
a) 84
b) take office
c) elections
d) China
e) India
f) developing countries
g) Corrupt
h) confident
2
a) angry
b) hungry
c) win
d) winner
e) accountable
f) five-year
g) crimes
h) optimistic
3
56 – per cent– 50.3 – 42.9
4
recount – absurd – party
5
47.9 – 43.2 – second – Movement – Democratic – Change – 20 – killed
6
Botswana – violence – international
7
South Africa – return – shortest – 25 – 40,000
8
80 – 200,000 – candidate – victory
9
election – red – voted – destroyed – didn’t vote
10
85.51 – five-year – China – Russia – South Africa
11
crocodiles – 62 – xenophobic – 17,000
12
refugees – help – food – clothes – Adonis – other countries
9