The Listening Grove · Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Chapter 12: The Miller of the Dee
A Charlotte Mason read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 12, The Miller of the Dee, about?Parent review
Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 12, The Miller of the Dee, is a gentle old tale about contentment. A king, weighed down with cares, rides out and hears a miller singing merrily beside the River Dee. Puzzled that a poor man can be so cheerful, he stops to ask how it can be. The miller answers that he loves his wife and children, earns his own bread, owes nothing to anyone, and asks for no more than his mill provides. The king, who has a crown and riches yet cannot buy such peace, goes away envying the miller’s simple happiness. It is a lesson in being glad for what one has.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last chapter.
What happened in Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 11, Other Wise Men of Gotham?Have a look
In the last chapter, Other Wise Men of Gotham, the townspeople hear that a cruel king means to pass through Gotham. To keep him out, they block every road with felled trees, and when the angry king threatens to cut off their noses, the wisest man advises them all to act like fools. So when the king’s sheriff arrives, he finds men rolling stones uphill to make the sun rise, walling in a cuckoo to keep it from flying away, and carrying a door to guard against thieves. Deciding the people are simple fools not worth harming, the sheriff rides back to London, and the men of Gotham keep both their town and their noses.
Read the previous lesson: Other Wise Men of Gotham →Show what you know!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Fill in the vocabulary you know, then click to check your work and learn some new words today.
What are the difficult or advanced vocabulary words in Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 12, The Miller of the Dee?envy, merrily, lark, grindHave a look
- envy: to want what someone else has
- merrily: in a happy, cheerful way
- lark: a small brown songbird known for singing
- grind: to crush grain into flour
Locate it on the map!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Use an atlas and fill in the blank map if you can find the geographic location, then click to check your work.
What important geographic location connects with Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 12, The Miller of the Dee?
- Find the River Dee (Cheshire, England).
See it on the mapHave a look
This matches the map in your Lesson Guide.
The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to Chapter 12 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold, the Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition, read by Laura Caldwell.
Read by Laura Caldwell for LibriVox (public domain), professionally adjusted and trimmed by Kindred Thicket.
What do the Teacher’s Notes tell us about Chapter 12 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?Parent review
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. Baldwin’s 1896 words are read exactly as he wrote them, and we add Teacher’s Notes with historical and literary context.
- About the whole bookFifty Famous Stories Retold gathers real history together with well-loved legends and traditions. These notes tell you, story by story, which is which.
- This chapterThe Miller of the Dee is an old English song and moral tale about a contented miller. It names no real king or date, though the River Dee, on the border of England and Wales, is a real river long known for its watermills.
Memory becomes Action!
Use the Response Resource* to remember and spell tricky names. Choose one way to narrate.
*Materials in the Lesson Guide.
What is the list of names, people, characters, and places that are important in Chapter 12 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?The Miller, The King, The River Dee, EnglandHave a look
- The Miller: A humble mill-worker on the River Dee, said to be the happiest man in England.
- The King: A troubled ruler who envies the miller’s contentment.
- The River Dee: A real river in England and Wales, which turns the miller’s mill.
- England: The land where the miller lives.
Chapter 12 Q & A
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. Baldwin’s stories mingle real history with beloved legend, and here is what to know about this one.
Is the story of The Miller of the Dee true?
The Miller of the Dee is not history but an old English song and moral tale about a contented miller. It names no real king or date. The River Dee, on the border of England and Wales, is a real river long known for its watermills, but the miller and the king belong to the story. Baldwin retells it for its lesson about contentment.
Why does the king envy the miller?
The king envies the miller because the miller is happy and he is not. The miller loves his family, earns his own living, owes nothing to anyone, and is content with what he has, while the king, for all his crown and riches, carries cares that money cannot cure. The story sets simple contentment above wealth.
Where is the River Dee?
The River Dee is a real river on the border of England and Wales. It has turned watermills for centuries, which is why a miller grinding grain beside it fits the setting so naturally. The mill and the miller in the story are imagined, but the river itself is real.
What is the lesson of The Miller of the Dee?
The lesson is contentment: being glad for what you have rather than envying others. The miller, though poor, is the happiest man in England because he owes nothing and needs little, while the king is troubled despite his wealth. The story invites children to notice where true happiness comes from.