Aoidos Assignment
You will take your turn as the Aoidos, or storyteller, for one chapter in The Odyssey. You may work in
partners for this assignment. Make Odysseus proud with your storytelling! Make all of the Aegeans
proud! Make Western Culture proud!
Directions:
Choose an interesting scene from the Fagles translation of The Odyssey.
An interesting scene: a scene or passage during which something happens that affects the plot and/or
characters or a scene that teaches the audience a lesson.
Length: ½ to 1 full page.
1. Each partner must read and speak for the same amount of time.
2. Perform MSQCV (details on the back of this sheet and follow the model included). This will help
you figure out what you’re teaching us and what to ask us.
3. You will stand on the spot when telling your story.
To tell your story, you need to act out the passage at least with your voice; hand movements, a prop or
two, perhaps an instrument are welcome. You are allowed to move from the spot only if the
movement accentuates the moment, otherwise let your voice tell the story—stand firm and tall on the
spot.
1. Dress code: no baseball caps or hoods.
2. Recitation code: no gum, candy, throat lozenge, etc. Your mouth should be clear.
3. Make eye contact.
4. Speak audibly, intelligibly, and with a good tempo. It’s no use if your audience has difficulty
following you.
To tell your story you may:
 Read the passage with the skill of a storyteller. Make it interesting. Use proper
inflections. Use proper pauses. Make it sound like you actually enjoy the
passage—don’t sound like an automaton.
 Rewrite the passage in your own voice to help your own way of telling the story.
The story must be the same as the book’s (you’re not allowed to change characters,
settings, plots, etc.). You may change character names to shortened versions of
their names or some sort of nicknames we all understand. You will need to find a
clever way to introduce these new names to your audience (you’re not allowed to
just tell us you’ve changed the names, it has to be part of the story).
 Find another translation of The Odyssey you like and read that passage with the
skill of a storyteller.
5. Then, you will ask us questions about what you’ve read to see that we understood and can
extrapolate (we see that you are going somewhere with what you read to us). Make certain to
answer your questions on the copy you hand in.
Teacher’s Demonstration
Ch 1 Lines 25-53
25 But now
26 Poseidon had gone to visit the Ethiopians worlds away,
27 Ethiopians off at the farthest limits of mankind,
28 A people split in two, one part where the Sungod sets
29 And part where the Sungod rises. There Poseidon went
30 To receive an offering, bulls and rams by the hundred—
31 Far away at the east the Sea-lord sat and took his pleasure.
32 But the other gods, at home in Olympian Zeus’s halls,
33 Met for full assembly there, and among them now
34 The father of men and gods was first to speak,
35 Sorely troubled, remembering handsome Aegisthus,
36 The man Agamemnon’s son, renowned Orestes, killed.
37 Recalling Aegisthus, Zeus harangued the immortal powers:
38 “Ah how shameless—the way these mortals blame the gods.
39 From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes,
40 But they themselves, with their own reckless ways,
41 Compound their pains beyond their proper share.
42 Look at Aegisthus now…
43 Above and beyond his share he stole Atrides’ wife,
44 He murdered the warlord coming home from Troy
45 Though he knew it meant his own total ruin.
46 Far in advance we told him so ourselves,
47 Dispatching the guide, the giant-killer Hermes.
48 “Don’t murder the man,” he said, “don’t court his wife.
49 Beware, revenge will come from Orestes, Agamemnon’s son,
50 That day he comes of age and longs for his native land.”
51 So Hermes warned, with all the good will in the world,
52 But would Aegisthus’ hardened heart give way?
53 Now he pays the price—all at a single stroke.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Where is Poseidon? Why is this in the story at all?
What happened to Aegisthus?
Did this have to happen to Aegisthus? (in other words, could he have avoided it—how or how not)
What is Zeus talking about (really)? Look particularly in lines 38-41.
Why is Zeus talking about this?
Why Aegisthus?
MSQCV
M – This is the main idea of the piece. Label the spot in your story where you find the main idea and
then write 1-3 sentences stating your main idea. These should be written at the beginning of the piece.
Remember, the main idea is the take away for the reader and/or what the idea/concept the writer is getting
across to the reader. It is not a summary of the piece.
S – These are the supporting ideas/details to the main idea. Underline the key words and phrases that
present support for your main idea and then write how these key words and phrases support your main
idea. Do not choose entire lines—find the keys words/phrases in those lines to highlight—show your
thinking, don’t make it look like a guess.
Q – These are questions raised in your mind that is not answered in the piece. These must show
thought and reflection. Write complete sentences. You should have at least two of these per person (if
you have more then that means you’re thinking more and that’s always good).
C–
This is a connection with something you already know. (“This is like,” “that reminds me of”) This must be a connection, not a comment or summary statement. Write complete sentences of your
connection and how you made that connection. You should have at least two of these per person.
Connections can be widely varied. A line or a word may trigger all kinds of connections for the
reader. Anything from The Preamble to the Constitution to a commercial to a song to an item in a grocery
store…please, however, make it school-appropriate. Connections can be valid as long as you explain how
you made that connection.
VWrite the definitions of vocabulary you do not know. Write the key words of the definition that
fit as the word is used in the piece. You are responsible for knowing the meaning of all the words in the
piece and in the context of the piece. I should be able to quiz you on these words.
Vocabulary is extremely useful-many words have multiple meanings-these other meanings can
completely change the way you look at a piece. Storytelling is all about using words to create the most
tantalizing picture possible.