Text Leveling System

The Mud Pony

RDQ:	1036	Max Word/Sent	29	Total Words	1051		Diff Words	318
Lex	750	Ave Word/.Sent	10	Hi Freq occurs	721	68.6%	Hi freq	134	42.1%
AR	3.7	Long Sentences	5.2	Low Freq occurs	35	3.3%	Low freq	23	7.2%

There was once a poor boy in an Indian camp
 who would watch by the creek as the other boys watered their ponies. More than anything he longed for a pony of his own. 
So at last the boy crossed the creek dug the wet earth and shaped a pony out of mud. He gave it a white clay face. He loved his mud pony. 
Every day he went to it and took care of it as if it were real. One day while the boy was with his mud pony scouts rode into camp. "We've sighted buffalo several day's journey west" they said. 
The people broke camp for they would starve in the months ahead if they didn't hunt the buffalo. The boy's parents looked everywhere but they couldn't find him. Finally they had to leave without him. 
When the boy got back to camp he saw that everyone was gone. 
"My people!" he cried out. "I will never find you! I am all alone!" 
He wandered heartsick and hungry around the empty camp picking up scraps of dried meat and a tattered old blanket someone and thrown away. He ate then huddled up in the blanket and cried himself to sleep. 
As he slept he dreamt his mud pony was alive and spoke to him:"My son you are not alone. Mother Earth has given me to you. I am part of her." 
When the boy woke at daybreak in the empty camp he cried for his people. Then he went to his mud pony and could hardly believe his eyes! The white-faced pony was alive tossing her mane and pawing the ground. She spoke like the pony in his dream: "My son you are not alone. Mother Earth has given me to you. I am part of her. You must do as I say and someday you will be a chief among your people. They are far away. Get on my back and I will take you to them. But do not try to guide me for I know where to go." For three days they journeyed over the plains. The boy was worn and hungry but he would not give up; he let the pony guide him. Then at the third nightfall the boy saw smoke curling up from tepees in a camp. They had reached his people. "Go and find your parents" said the pony. "But leave them before dawn; it is not time yet for the others to see you. I will be waiting in the hills. Now cover me with the blanket to protect me from the rain for I am part of Mother Earth." The boy went into camp. He wandered among the tepees until he found the smallest one. He went in and threw dried grass into the fire so a blaze went up. In the fire's light he saw his mother and woke her. "Here I am" he said. She touched him and tears came into her eyes. Then his father woke and marveled at how the boy had found them when they had gone far away. Before dawn the boy told his parents "I must go now. On my own." He left them but from the hills he turned and watched as the people broke camp to continue on their way to the buffalo. At last they disappeared. For three more days the boy and the pony journeyed over the plains. The boy was weary and had no food at all but he kept on going. Finally at the third nightfall he saw a camp in the distance. "It is time that you join them. Ride me into camp." The boy did. And all the people came out of their tepees astonished to see him. A war chief invited him into a big tepee. There was soup and dried meat and two buffalo horn spoons in a wooden bowl. They ate together. "Nawa tiki!" the war chief saluted him. "You journeyed over strange land starving and alone and yet you found us! You have a gift a great power. And now you must help our people. An enemy has attacked us on our way west killing men keeping us from reaching the buffalo. At daybreak you must join us in battle." When the boy left the big tepee he trembled. But the pony spoke to him "My son do not be afraid. For I am part of Mother Earth. And the enemy's arrows can never pierce the earth. Put earth all over your body and you will not be hurt." At daybreak he covered his body with earth and rode the pony straight into the fight. There was a fierce battle but he led his people to victory. At last the people were free for the hunt and the boy on the white-faced pony showed the way capturing more buffalo than any of the grown men.  Years passed and always the boy let his pony guide him. Always he was a powerful leader. Finally he was made a chief. As a chief he had a corral full of fine horses but the white-faced pony was his great gift. He tied many eagle feathers into her mane and tail. And every nightfall he carefully covered her with a blanket to protect her from rain. Then one night while he slept the pony came to him in a dream: "My son now you are a Chief among you people. a chief with the power of Mother Earth. It is Mother Earth who gives you the power and not I. I am part of her and it is time that I go back to her. You must let me go." The chief got up in the dark and went to his pony. She pawed the ground and tossed her mane in the wind. "Take my blanket" she said. He did. Then he went to his tepee. Just before daybreak he woke to shrill winds and rushing rain. He ran to his corral and looked everywhere for his white-faced pony. He couldn't find her. Then as the morning light broke over the wet earth the chief saw a patch of white clay. And through the wind he heard a voice: "I am here your Mother Earth. You are not alone!"]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Some Long/Complex

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Several Implications

Complexity: Several unrelated ideas

Concept: Fanciful

Mature concepts: With common experiences or clear fantasy

Features

Integral Setting - Historical

Symbolism

Topic

Dreams

Horses

Legends

*Feelings, Behaviors

Native Americans

Low Frequency Words

astonished	curling	dreamt	guide	heartsick
journeyed	longed	marveled	nawa	nightfall
pawed	pawing	pierce	plains	saluted
shrill	tattered	tepee	tepees	tiki
wandered	watered	weary