The Listening Grove · Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Chapter 31: Damon and Pythias
A Charlotte Mason read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 31, Damon and Pythias, about?Parent review
Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 31, Damon and Pythias, is a well-loved tale of loyal friendship. In the days of the tyrant Dionysius, a young man named Pythias was condemned to die. He asked leave to go home first to say farewell to his family, and his friend Damon took his place in prison, ready to die himself if Pythias failed to return. Storms and a shipwreck delayed Pythias, and the fatal day drew near, yet Damon kept faith. At the last moment Pythias arrived to save his friend. The tyrant, amazed at such friendship, set them both free. It is a story that treasures loyalty and keeping faith.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last chapter.
What happened in Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 30, The Sword of Damocles?Have a look
In the last chapter, The Sword of Damocles, Dionysius, the harsh ruler of Syracuse, grew tired of his friend Damocles, who kept saying no man could be happier than a king. So the ruler let Damocles sit in the royal seat for a day, with rich food and every comfort around him. But above the seat hung a sharp sword, held up by a single hair from a horse's tail. Damocles could take no pleasure in anything while the blade dangled over him, and soon he begged to leave. He had learned that the great and powerful carry hidden fears and are not as happy as they seem.
Read the previous lesson: The Sword of Damocles →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 31, Damon and Pythias?stead, hinder, shipwreck, jailerHave a look
- stead: the place someone else would have filled
- hinder: to hold back or prevent
- shipwreck: the destruction or loss of a ship
- jailer: a person who keeps a jail
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 31, Damon and Pythias?
- Find Sicily (Italy).
See it on the mapHave a look
This matches the map in your Lesson Guide.
The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to Chapter 31 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 31 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 chapterDamon and Pythias is a well-loved Greek legend, set in the days of the real ruler Dionysius of Syracuse and best known from the Roman writer Cicero. It is treasured as a story of loyal friendship rather than as history.
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 31 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?Pythias, Damon, Dionysius, The jailerHave a look
- Pythias: A young man condemned by the tyrant, called Phintias in some older tellings.
- Damon: Pythias's friend, who offers to take his place in prison.
- Dionysius: The tyrant of Syracuse, the same ruler as in the story of Damocles.
- The jailer: The man set to keep close watch on Damon.
Chapter 31 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 Damon and Pythias true history or a legend?
Damon and Pythias is a well-loved Greek legend, set in the days of the real ruler Dionysius of Syracuse and best known from the Roman writer Cicero. It is treasured as a story of loyal friendship rather than as history. So the ruler is real, while the tale of the two faithful friends is a cherished legend.
Who was the tyrant in the story?
The tyrant is Dionysius of Syracuse, the same harsh ruler who appears in the story of the sword of Damocles. He truly ruled the Greek city of Syracuse on Sicily. In this legend he condemns Pythias to death, then is so amazed by the loyalty between the two friends that he sets both of them free.
Where does the story come from?
The tale is best known from the Roman writer Cicero, who told it as an example of true friendship. It is a Greek legend rather than recorded history. In some older tellings the young man is called Phintias instead of Pythias, but the heart of the story, two friends who trust each other to the death, stays the same.
What lesson does the story teach?
It teaches loyalty and keeping faith with a friend. Damon risks his own life by taking Pythias's place in prison, sure that his friend will return, and Pythias hurries back through storm and shipwreck rather than let Damon die. The story holds up faithful friendship and trust as things so beautiful that even a hard tyrant is moved by them.