Potato People: More Notes and Exercises

Chapter 3 - Army of Ghosts

Chapter Overview
This chapter is about:
-The arrival of Mr Graystone and the British soldiers to the village.

Patrick quickly ran to inform the villagers that the soldiers were on their way. He forgot all about being hungry and became very frightened at the sight of these men. The men came out from their cottages when they heard Patrick’s screams. These men were once healthy but are now very, very thin and dressed in rags.

Sean, one of the villagers told the others he would not let them chase him out of his home and village as they did to the people in Dunlow. Sean’s family was once rich and powerful. They used to own all the land that now belongs to Lord Egham. Now he owned nothing except for the clothes on hic hark

When Sean heard about the British soldiers, he was worried as he and the others were not trained soldiers. Sean walked up to his cottage and picked up an old, rusty axe. The other men in the village followed Sean to the end of the village. The villagers of Skullgoragh blocked the road to the village and waited for the soldiers. The British soldiers arrived with Mr Graystofle and Big Finn McDonald, his worker.

The soldiers took their rifles off their shoulders and fixed bayonets. Then they marched towards the villagers. The sergeant rode up to Sean and spoke to him. Patrick and the others could not hear what he said but Sean moved away and put his axe down. The rest of the villagers followed. They watched helplessly as the soldiers marched into the village

Chapter 4 - Stone Hearts

Chapter Overview
This chapter is about:
- How Mr Graystone and the soldiers destroyed the village.

Mr Graystone’s men threw everything out of the cottages. They threw these things in the middle of the village. When they had finished, they destroyed the cottages so that no one could live in them again. The villagers — men, women and children were crying and wailing. The men continued with the work as though they did not hear the cries. Patrick thought these men must have hearts of stone. The destruction of the houses went on the whole day.

Old Mother O’Daugherty took handfuls of straw and tried to repair her straw-roof. Big Finn laughed and tried to drag the old woman away. The soldiers warned him to stay away from the old people and children. The sergeant helped her to a chair. Mr Graystone ordered the remaining cottages to be burnt. A soldier puts some money in his helmet and passed it around. The money collected was given to Old Mother O’Daugherty. One of the soldiers gave her a piece of bread and a lump of cheese which she gave to the hungry children. Patrick fell asleep and woke to find Mr Graystone and his men ready to leave the village. Mr Graystone told the villagers they had two days to leave Lord Egham’s land. Patrick walked back to the oak tree and stayed there until the next morning.

ENRICHMENT EXERCISES

Rearrange the following sentences according to the sequence of events in the story.

1 Patrick runs back to inform the villagers that the soldiers were on their way.
2 Sean told the villagers he would not let Mr Graystone’s men chase him out of the village.
3 The villagers came out from their cottages when they heard Patrick.
4 Sean took an axe and waited at the road into their village.
5 Sean’s family was once rich and powerful.
6 The soldiers arrived with Mr Graystone and Big Finn McDonald.
7 After the sergeant spoke to Sean, he moved away from the road and put his axe down.
8 Mr Graystone smiled broadly when he told the villagers that they have two days to leave the land.
9 One by one, they started burning the cottages until they were all burnt.
10 One of the soldiers took off his helmet and put some money in it for old mother O’Daugherty.
11 Old mother O’Daugherty divided the bread and cheese given by one of the soldiers among the hungry children.
12 The sergeant gently helped the old woman onto a chair.

Read the following statements. Write T next to the statement that is True and F to the statement that is False.

1 Patrick was very frightened when he saw the soldiers walking towards the village.
2 Sean was very angry when he heard about the news and was willing to fight them.
3 All the land that Lord Egham owns used to belong to Sean’s family.
4 The men of Skullgoragh were trained soldiers.
5 Lord Egham, Mr Graystone and Big Finn McDonald came to Skullgoragh with the soldiers to drive the villagers away.
6 The officer on a brown horse gave orders to the soldiers to attack the men.
7 The soldiers emptied all the home and pull down the doors and the straw roofs as well.
8 The soldiers looked like they enjoyed the work they were doing.
9 They allowed old mother O’Daugherty to keep her house.
10 The soldiers gave some of their money and food to the old lady.
11 Mr Graystone gave the villagers two days to leave Lord Egham’s land.
12 The heavy rain managed to put out the flames and save the village.