Figureheads
Of Speech

By Cara Bafile

Grade Level: 3-6

Story Preview: King Pun, the leader of the land of Literal, discovers that his laws perplex his people. With the help of an insightful servant, he decides to keep his punning ways out of his decrees, for the benefit of all.

Roles: Narrator, King Pun, Queen Simile, Princess Personification, Prince Paradox, Servant, Duke of Alliteration, Duchess of Onomatopoeia, His Highness Hyperbole, Marquis of Metaphor, and Earl of Idiom

Setting: Once upon a time in a castle

Theme: A grammatical fairy tale

Vocabulary:

• figurehead: chief or person in a high position who actually has little power
• literal: using the primary meaning of a term
• pun: use of a word that suggests more than one meaning or the meaning of a word with a similar sound (for humor)
• simile: comparing two unlike things, often with like or as
• personification: giving human qualities to things
• paradox: phrase that is the opposite of common sense, such as pretty ugly
• alliteration: repetition of initial consonant sounds
• onomatopoeia: using words that mimic sounds
• decree: order or law
• precepts: commands or rules
• hyperbole: extreme exaggeration
• metaphor: using one word for another to show similarity
• idiom: an expression that is peculiar to a language
• tumult: state of noisy commotion; uproar

Props: none required

Follow-Up Questions:

• Explain King Pun's puns:
  • I cannot write with this broken quill. It is pointless!
  • My subjects say I have no good cents.
  • You should be sky as a height!
  • "Lower the bridge," I say remoatly!
  • Are your soldiers up in arms?
  • When your clock is hungry, go back four seconds.
  • Seven days without food makes one weak.
  • Let them eat stake.
• What is unusual about the statements of Princess Personification?
• Name the paradoxes (contradictory words) used by Prince Paradox.
• What is the problem faced by the Duke of Alliteration and Duchess of Onomatopoeia?
• What examples of words used to represent sounds are spoken by the duchess?
• What is meant by "a tempest in a teapot"?
• Why does the Earl of Idiom tell the Marquis of Metaphor, "You took the words right out of my mouth?"
• What phrases of exaggeration are made by His Highness Hyperbole?
• What good advice is given to the king, and who offers it?

Follow-Up Activity:
Working in pairs or small groups, have students write three or more edicts from King Pun in his initial style, using puns, and then rewrite them in plain terms. Some sample decrees are "Have children to raise hairs" and "If a bird flies away with the baseball, call a fowl." Written simply and correctly, they read "Have children to raise heirs" and "If a bird flies away with the baseball, call a foul."

Click here for a printable script.

Article by Cara Bafile
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