The weekly column

Article 100, June 2002

The Bald-Headed Man

By Michael Berman

Level: Intermediate

Target Audience: Adults

Language / Skills Focus: Listening & Speaking

Materials: Photocopies of the worksheets. Photocopies of the story (optional) to hand out at the end of the session.

IN CLASS

1. Pre-listening: If you believed you were possessed by evil spirits, who would you turn to for help? Now read / listen to the story to find out what the man in the story did.
2. While-listening: Pause after the words 'The god says if a man is bald-headed .....' and ask the listeners to predict what follows.
3. Post-listening: Put the ten parts of the story in the correct order. ANSWERS: 1-b 2-d 3-a 4-g 5-h 6-I 7-j 8-e 9-f 10-c
4. Match the numbers on the left with the letters on the right to find explanations for the new vocabulary. ANSWERS: 1-j 2-i 3-b 4-g 5-e 6-a 7-k 8-f 9-h 10-d 11-c
5. Post-listening: Working in small groups, discuss the following questions. Elect a spokesperson to take notes and to present your views to the rest of the class:

a. If you found you were losing your hair, what would you do about it?
b. How would you feel about having a hair transplant?
c. What else would you like to change about your appearance, and why?
d. Do you know anyone who has had cosmetic surgery? Tell me about it
e. Would you ever consider having cosmetic surgery? Why or why not?

COMMENTS

The Bald-Headed Man has been adapted from a story in "Tibetan Folk Tales" translated by A. L. Shelton, M.D., edited by Flora Beal Shelton (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1925) If we can laugh at out shortcomings then the people we work with are more likely to be able to do the same. In view of the fact that my own nickname is Baldy, the story that follows suits me down to the ground and is ideal for this purpose.

THE BALD-HEADED MAN

A long time ago, when the world was young and men and women were ill because an evil spirit possessed them, there lived a man and his wife who were very poor. A devil came and took possession of each of them and made them both sick. As they were not rich they couldn't invite a holy man to read prayers for them, so they invited someone else instead, a friend of a friend who was said to know a lot about such things.

After a while this man who was reading began to get very hungry. It was the custom to give the priests the best of food, but this man and his wife had no no fine things to eat. They had no horses, no yak and only one goat. So the reader began to think to himself that if they would kill this goat he'd have plenty to eat, as it was really pretty fat.

The man who owned the house was bald-headed and now he came up and sat on the roof near where the man was reading. He sat down in front of him and heard the man mumbling his prayers, "Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum," he was reading, and read right on in the same tone, "The god says if a man is bald-headed and will take the skin of a goat and put it on his head he will have hair."

The old man sat and heard him read this over several times and finally decided it was there in the book of prayers; so he killed the goat.

They all had some good eating for a while, and the old man put the skin on his head, wore it and wore it for days and days and kept feeling his head, but not a single hair would come. He finally concluded that the man had lied to him out of the book, and besides, he thought, "If I wear this too long, I fear all the skin will be worn off my head and there will be nothing but bone."

So he asked the man about it, whether he hadn't lied to him, and he said, "O, no, but if a man would have what the gods say come true, he must pray a great deal himself." And that's how he managed to get away with his lies and had goat to eat as well.

WORKSHEET ONE: THE BALD-HEADED MAN

Place the ten parts of the story in the correct order:

a. After a while this man who was reading began to get very hungry. It was the custom to give the priests the best of food, but this man and his wife had no no fine things to eat. They had no horses, no yak and only one goat.

b. A long time ago, when the world was young and men and women were ill because an evil spirit possessed them, there lived a man and his wife who were very poor. A devil came and took possession of each of them and made them both sick.

c. And that's how he managed to get away with his lies and had goat to eat as well.

d. As they were not rich they couldn't invite a holy man to read prayers for them, so they invited someone else instead, a friend of a friend who was said to know a lot about such things.

e. He finally concluded that the man had lied to him out of the book, and besides, he thought, "If I wear this too long, I fear all the skin will be worn off my head and there will be nothing but bone."

f. So he asked the man about it, whether he hadn't lied to him, and he said, "O, no, but if a man would have what the gods say come true, he must pray a great deal himself."

g. So the reader began to think to himself that if they would kill this goat he'd have plenty to eat, as it was really pretty fat.

h. The man who owned the house was bald-headed and now he came up and sat on the roof near where the man was reading. He sat down in front of him and heard the man mumbling his prayers, "Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum," he was reading, and read right on in the same tone, "The god says if a man is bald-headed and will take the skin of a goat and put it on his head he will have hair."

i. The old man sat and heard him read this over several times and finally decided it was there in the book of prayers; so he killed the goat.

j. They all had some good eating for a while, and the old man put the skin on his head, wore it and wore it for days and days and kept feeling his head, but not a single hair would come.

ANSWERS: 1 _____ 2 _____ 3 _____ 4 _____ 5 _____ 6 _____ 7 _____ 8 _____ 9 _____ 10_____

WORKSHEET TWO: THE BALD-HEADED MAN

Match the numbers on the left with the letters on the right to find explanations for the new vocabulary:

Working in small groups, discuss the following questions. Elect a spokesperson to take notes and to present your views to the rest of the class:

a. If you found you were losing your hair, what would you do about it?

b. How would you feel about having a hair transplant?

c. What else would you like to change about your appearance, and why?

d. Do you know anyone who has had cosmetic surgery? Tell me about it.

e. Would you ever consider having cosmetic surgery? Why or why not?

Questions or comments about this week's article? Why not post them on our Discussion Forum