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Snow Day
Scholastic Canada Ltd.
ISBN 0-439-94938-6 PBK
200 pages
Ages 10 and up
5” x 7 ¼”

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Snow Day
by Terry Deary
illustrations by Michael Tickner

Is there really a curse on the play “Macbeth”? How many
words did Shakespeare first use? Ten of Shakespeare’s best-known stories are retold . . . with a twist! Learn the stories behind Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and more.



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Spread from TWISTED TALES: SHAKESPEARE STORIES
by Terry Deary
illustrations by Michael Tickner

Vicious verbals

In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare probably discovered how much audiences enjoyed
good fights. But there are more ways to fight than one. You can fight with words as well as weapons. In Romeo and Juliet cross words lead to crossed swords and death. A fight starts in the opening act simply because a servant of the Capulet family bites his thumb as he looks at a Montague servant. Did you know that was a great insult in Tudor times?

In every Shakespeare play you can find wonderful insults that people still enjoy watching or even saying today. You may not understand what a ‘prating mountebank’* means, but it sounds wonderful if you can remember it and call your worst enemy that!

In fact Shakespeare mixed his words so well that you can make up new insults from his. Here are some of Shakespeare’s insults. See if you can match the correct word on the left with its partner on the right. It doesn’t matter if you get the answers wrong, you may discover some wonderful new insults as you try. ‘Bloodsucker of caterpillars’ looks a rather pleasant thing to call someone who has upset you!



Answers:
Shakespeare wrote these insults as:
taffeta punk
scurvy lord
red-tailed bumble-bee
threadbare juggler
mad-headed ape
fat chuff
false caterpillars
bloodsucker of sleeping men
scolding crookbank
deformed lump


From Twisted Tales: Shakespeare Stories. Text copyright © 1998 by Terry Deary. Illustrations © copyright 1998 Michael Tickner.

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