Text Leveling System

The Empress and the Silkworm

RDQ:	850	Max Word/Sent	30	Total Words	1089		Diff Words	446
Lex	710	Ave Word/.Sent	10	Hi Freq occurs	643	59%	Hi freq	159	35.7%
AR	3.4	Long Sentences	6.6	Low Freq occurs	126	11.6%	Low freq	81	18.2%

Nearly five thousand years ago Huang-Ti known as the
Yellow Emperor ruled the ancient land of China. He and his
young wife Si Ling-Chi lived in an enormous palace with a]]
golden roof. Its pillars were carved with the image of the
mighty dragon symbol of the emperor's strength. Around the
palace were gardens and a vast grove of mulberry trees.]]
The empress loved to 
stroll through the gardens
each morning. From time to
time she caught a glimpse
of the phoenix resting upon 
the palace roof. Everyone
knew that to see this bird 
was a blessing a sign of
good fortune.
On one such lucky 
morning Si Ling-Chi was
enjoying the shade of the
mulberry trees when her
maidservant arrived
carrying a try of delicious
mooncakes and hot tea.
"Tea time!" she sang as she
placed the tray at Si Ling-
Chi's feet.]]
"Oh they smell so sweet"
said the empress. "I can't
wait to taste one." She
picked up a cake but as she
reached for her teacup -
plop! Something splashed 
right into it.
"Ai-ya!" screamed the
maidservant wrinkling her
nose in disgust.
"What is it?" asked Si
Ling-Chi.
"I don't know" said the
maidservant shuddering. "I
will bring you a fresh cup."
"No wait" the empress
said. She leaned forward to 
examine the tea. Her eyes 
grew large with excitement
as she saw what was floating
on top. It was small and
round a white. It was a 
cocoon! She had seen the
tiny worms in the mulberry
trees spin these tight
blankets around themselves.]]
In the hot tea the
cocoon was beginning to
unwind. She took it out and
pulled the loose end gently.
The cocoon seemed to be
made of a fine shiny thread.
"Please Your HIghness"
the maidservant begged.
"Leave that wormy thing
alone!"
The empress did not
reply but began to uncoil
the strand.
"Look!" she said. "This 
thread is so light it's almost
invisible. It is like a thread
fallen from heaven! Come
help me unravel it."
From morning to 
evening the two unwound 
the cocoon. They were
careful not to break the 
thread or make a hopeless 
tangle.
At last they reached 
the end.]]
Si Ling-Chi held the silvery thread up in the moonlight.
"See how it glistens!" she exclaimed. "But it is so delicate. If we
had more strands we could twist them together to make one
thick thread. Go! Bring other servants to help us!"]]
So through the night Si Ling-Chi and her servants worked
plucking cocoons from the mulberry trees, soaking them in hot
tea and unwinding them. Then they joined all the strands into
a single fiber.]]
The moon hung low in
the sky when Si Ling-Chi
exhausted lay down to rest.
While she slept she had a
wonderful dream. She saw 
the fiery dragon and the
proud phoenix rising like
the sun. She saw her
husband standing among
the clouds. He was dressed
in a simmering yellow robe
that flowed the the rivers of
heaven. The cloth was so 
beautiful that she knew it
could only have been woven
from the shining thread of
the mulberry cocoons.
When she woke she
knew exactly what she was
going to do.]]
At noon there was great excitement at the palace. The 
ladies of the court had formed a procession a mile long. Each
gently held part of the miraculous thread. It took a thousand 
women to keep it from touching the ground.]]
A gong struck. One by one the ladies of the court
entered the room where the emperor sat surrounded by his
advisers. The women paraded the empress's treasure before
the throne.]]
Then Si Ling-Chi approached holding a tray. Upon it 
were a caterpillar a mulberry leaf a cocoon and a cup 
of hot tea.
"What are these things?" asked the emperor. "And 
what are your servants carrying?"
"I will show you most honorable husband" she 
replied.
As the emperor and his advisers watched she dipped 
the cocoon into the hot tea.
The advisers began to laugh.
"And this makes the tea taste better Your Highness?" 
observed the one with the round belly.
Another joked "Perhaps it makes the caterpillar 
taste better!"
Slowly the empress began to draw the lustrous 
strand from the cocoon. A hush fell over the court as the 
strand grew longer. Then Si Ling-Chi told the story of 
her discovery.]] 
An adviser with a long 
beard inspected the tiny
 worm. "Who could imagine" 
he said "that something so great could come from 
something so small!"
"Ah look how the thread 
shimmers in the light!" exclaimed another.
"It is as fine as smoke 
yet strong as bronze!" cried 
a third.
Then the round-bellied 
one said "Yes this is truly 
wonderful but why should 
we concern ourselves 
with it?"]]
 The empress told her 
dream-how she had seen 
the Yellow Emperor clothed 
in a robe woven from the 
heavenly thread.
For a moment there was 
silence. Then Huang-Ti 
smiled at his wife and said 
"What a splendid idea! We 
shall weave a cloth more 
beautiful than the world 
has ever seen! Because of 
this treasure our kingdom 
shall be as heaven on earth. 
I command that none 
outside this land be told the 
secret of this noble worm 
and its precious gift."]]
With the rising sun Si Ling-Chi went to work overseeing
the production of the cloth. Imperial gardeners planted more 
groves of mulberry trees. Young worms were placed in trays.]]
Each day fresh leaves were picked and cut to feed them. Royal
craftsmen made reels to unwind the cocoons and combine the
strands. They built looms to weave the thread into fabric.]]
Many moons passed before the]]
young empress saw the fruits of her labor.]]
At last on the morning 
of the Autumn Moon
Festival a crowd gathered
in front of the palace. The
great gong sounded and
the red lacquer doors burst
open. The people gasped
as Huang-Ti stepped out
into the light. Wrapped in
a billowing robe of brilliant
yellow he shone like the
sun. It was just as the
empress had dreamed.]]
From that day the
fabric was called silk. Soon
Si Ling-Chi was know
throughout the kingdom as
the Lady of the Silkworm.
The origin of the
heavenly cloth became one
of the greatest secrets of all
time. For almost three
thousand years only the
Chinese knew about the
little worm that fed on
mulberry leaves and spun
the beautiful magical
threads of silk.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Vocabulary: Some difficult words

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Some implications

Features

Integral Setting - Historical

Integral Setting - Cultural/Regional

Difficult names

Topic

*History

Sewing

Worms

Discovery

Kings/Queens

Low Frequency Words

adviser	advisers	approached	bellied	billowing
chi	cocoon	cocoons	concern	craftsmen
delicate	delicious	emperor	empress	empress's
exhausted	fabric	fiery	fortune	gardeners
glimpse	glistens	grove	groves	highness
honorable	huang	image	imperial	inspected
invisible	kingdom	labor	lacquer	ladies
looms	lustrous	magical	maidservant	miraculous
mooncakes	moonlight	mulberry	noble	observed
origin	ourselves	overseeing	paraded	phoenix
pillars	plucking	precious	procession	production
reels	royal	servants	shimmers	shone
shuddering	silkworm	silvery	splendid	strand
strands	stroll	surrounded	symbol	tangle
thread	threads	throughout	truly	uncoil
unravel	unwinding	unwound	wormy	woven
wrinkling