Reading Passage (overview)The following day (after the slight hickup with the stone falling on Dikaiopolis' foot I suppose and all that hard work of driving oxen and carrying stones) Dikaiopolis feels lazy and wants to sleep a little longer, but his wife, Myrtle (that's what μυρρίνη means), nags and nags till he gets up and goes to work.Myrtle and their daughter Bee (ἡ μέλιττα is a hardworking, busy little bee making honey while the sun shines) also have work to do. No running water in their house, so off to the spring they trundle, water jars on their heads. Small wonder they can't hurry. At the spring they meet other women (wives and daughters of other smallholders like Dikaiopolis) and get chatting. Great excitement reigns, a messenger has come from Athens to tell them about the forthcoming festival: dances and contests. Great!
Now that you know what the lesson is all about, what words will you need to understand the text? Look at page 30 and listen to them read out in the audio section. |