THE old princess Sisygambis beheld two simply-dressed and armed Greek gentlemen enter her tent side by side, looking much as any soldiers hired into the Persian force had looked in her eyes. Yet one of these must be the terrible warrior who had twice overthrown the hosts of the Eastern Empire, and at whose mercy they all lay. How would he treat her — an aged woman, who had known little gentleness or courtesy even from those who were nearest and closest to her? She could only drop on her face at the feet of the tallest.
But the tallest drew back, and her attendants hastily pointed to the lesser man, whose fair young face, so full of gentleness and pity, had seemed to her no visage for king or conqueror; and he, stepping forward to raise her from the ground, said gently, “Be not dismayed, mother; for Hephaestion is Alexander’s other self.” Never had the poor old lady experienced the generous courtesy she met with from the stranger, and a relation almost of mother and son sprang up between them.*
* Hephaestion (?356 BC - 324 BC), son of Amyntor, a Macedonian nobleman and a general in Alexander’s army, who was also one of his closest friends.
* Sisygambis’s granddaughter Stateira II married Alexander in 324 BC.
Précis
When Alexander and his friend Hephaestion presented themselves before Sisygambis, she made a desperate guess that the sterner and taller of the two must be the mighty King of Macedon. Hephaestion at once corrected her mistake, and such was Alexander’s gentle courtesy then and in the days that followed that she came to regard him as a son. (58 / 60 words)
When Alexander and his friend Hephaestion presented themselves before Sisygambis, she made a desperate guess that the sterner and taller of the two must be the mighty King of Macedon. Hephaestion at once corrected her mistake, and such was Alexander’s gentle courtesy then and in the days that followed that she came to regard him as a son.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, may, since, unless, until, whereas, whether.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Mourn. Terrible. Which.
2 Fear. Know. Look.
3 Full. Hire. No.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
brd (16+3)
aboard. abroad. bard. bared. beard. bird. board. bored. braid. bread. bred. breed. bride. broad. brood. buried.
abrade. birdie. brad.
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