Text Leveling System

A Medieval Feast

RDQ:	938	Max Word/Sent	26	Total Words	585		Diff Words	286
Lex	730	Ave Word/.Sent	12	Hi Freq occurs	319	54.5%	Hi freq	73	25.5%
AR	3.5	Long Sentences	12.8	Low Freq occurs	67	11.5%	Low freq	57	19.9%

It was announced from the palace that the King would soon make a long journey.
On the way to his destination, the King and his party would spend a few nights in Camdenton Manor. The lord of the manor knew what this meant. The King traveled with his Queen, his knights, squires, and other members of his court. There could be a hundred mouths to feed.
Preparations for the visit began at once. The lord and lady of the manor had their serfs to help them. The serfs lived in huts provided for them on the lord's estate, each with its own plot of land. In return, they were bound to serve the lord. They farmed his land, managed the manor house, and if there was a war, they had to go to battle with the lord and the King. But now they prepared.
The manor house had to be cleaned, the rooms readied, tents set up for the horsemen, fields fenced for the horses. And above all, provisions had to be gathered for the great feast.
The lord and his party went hunting and hawking for fresh meat.
They trapped rabbits and birds of all kinds, and fished for salmon and eels and trout.
There were fruits and vegetables growing in the garden, herbs and flowers for sauces and salads, and bees made honey for sweetening.
Grains were ground into flour at the lord's mill, and baked into trenchers and other breads. 
Butter was churned, cheese was made, and ale and wines were ready in the brew house. The King was almost there.
The food was prepared in the great kitchen. There were many cooks, and scullion boys to help them.
Pigs and deer and wild boar turned on spits. Great pots of salted meat were boiled into stews, seasoned with spices only the rich lords could afford.
Swans and geese, heron and quail were roasted. So was a rare beast called the Cockentrice. It was really a capon and a suckling pig that were cut in half, stuffed, and sewn together again, each to the other's half.
A peacock was cooked then reassembled with its feathers. And four and twenty blackbirds were baked in a pie.
By the time the King and his party arrived, everything was ready.
The guests swarmed into the Great Hall at half past ten in the morning. Trumpets announced the King, who sat at the High Table with his hosts and other honored guests. They washed their hands in scented water, and wiped them dry on a clean towel. The Bishop chanted grace. Then they ate and ate and ate.
They ate some of their food with spoons. The rest they ate with their fingers. They cut pieces from the meat the carver put on their trenchers with knives they had brought with them.
Drums beat and trumpets sounded, as one surprise followed another. They ate meat pies and fish tarts, and thick soups called Egerdouce and Bukkenade. They ate boar's head and cow's tongue and Pudding de Swan Neck.
They ate a whole castle molded out of pastry, stuffed with meat, eggs, fruits, and nuts - and wondered how they managed. Sweet and spicy sauces dripped into their trenchers as jesters, jugglers, and minstrels entertained them. Course followed course, each ending with a fancy marzipan sculpture called Subtletey. After guests admired them, they ate those, too.
They ate and ate until dark. It was a feast fit for a king, and there would be more tomorrow.
The End.

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Vocabulary: Some difficult words

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Some Long/Complex

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Several Implications

Complexity: Several ideas - closely related

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Prior Knowledge: Familiarity

Features

Integral Setting - Historical

Difficult names

Foreign words

Unusual use of vocabulary

Topic

Preparation

Eating

*Life Styles

Kings/Queens

*Home Arts & Food

Low Frequency Words

announced	bishop	boar	boar's	brew
capon	churned	cockentrice	destination	egerdouce
estate	fenced	hawking	herbs	heron
honored	horsemen	hosts	jesters	jugglers
knights	knives	lord's	lords	manor
marzipan	minstrels	molded	pastry	peacock
preparations	provided	provisions	readied	reassembled
salads	salmon	sauces	scented	scullion
sculpture	seasoned	serfs	sewn	soups
spices	spicy	squires	stews	subtletey
suckling	swan	swans	swarmed	sweetening
trenchers	trout