The Listening Grove · Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Chapter 41: The Barmecide Feast
A Charlotte Mason read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 41, The Barmecide Feast, about?Parent review
Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 41, The Barmecide Feast, is a story about a rich man's playful test of a poor man's good humor. A wealthy old man called the Barmecide lives in a grand palace, while a poor but cheerful beggar named Schacabac has gone two days without food. When Schacabac comes asking for help, the Barmecide welcomes him warmly and orders a feast, but then only pretends to wash his hands and carve a roast, naming imaginary dish after imaginary dish while Schacabac plays along and pretends to eat. When the Barmecide offers pretend wine, Schacabac politely declines because it is forbidden to him, and the old man, delighted by his patience and wit, finally orders a real feast to be brought out. Schacabac eats a true meal at last and is invited to stay and manage the Barmecide's house, never going hungry again, a story about keeping good humor even when treated strangely.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last chapter.
What happened in Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 40, The Kingdoms?Have a look
In the last chapter, The Kingdoms, we learned that King Frederick William of Prussia met a group of children playing in a meadow and asked them riddles about which kingdom, mineral, vegetable, or animal, an orange and a gold piece belonged to. Bright boys answered correctly and won the prizes, but when the king asked which kingdom he himself belonged to, a small blue-eyed girl answered simply that he belonged to the kingdom of heaven, and her humble answer moved the king to tears.
Read the previous lesson: The Kingdoms →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 41, The Barmecide Feast?custom, pretense, sweetmeats, carvingHave a look
- custom: a practice common to a place or people
- pretense: a false show, pretending something is real
- sweetmeats: candies and other sweets
- carving: cutting cooked meat into slices
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 41, The Barmecide Feast?
- Find Baghdad (Iraq): Baldwin never says where the Barmecide's palace stands, but the real Barmecide family served the Abbasid caliphs at their court in Baghdad, so that is where the map places this story of the imaginary feast.
See it on the mapHave a look
This matches the map in your Lesson Guide.
The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to Chapter 41 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 41 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.
- "called the Barmecide"Barmecide comes from a real family, the Barmakids of Balkh, who served the caliphs in Baghdad and were famous for giving away money on a grand scale. The joke in this story only works because of that reputation.
- "as was the custom in that country"The country is never named, but the story belongs to Baghdad and Persia under the caliphs. Bowing low, or kissing the ground, was the real custom for anyone entering a great man's presence there.
- "I will drink no wine"This moment is not in the older tellings. There the guest plays along, and it is his good humor that wins the old man over.
- closing line, "never again knew what it was to be hungry"The older versions of this tale do not end here, and they do not end happily. This is a kinder stopping place.
- Parents may wish to preview this chapter. A starving man is teased with a long imaginary meal before he is finally fed. It is played for laughs and ends warmly, with him invited to stay.
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 41 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?The Barmecide, Schacabac, The palaceHave a look
- The Barmecide: A rich old man.
- Schacabac: A poor man.
- The palace: The Barmecide's house and gardens.
Chapter 41 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.
Were the Barmecides real people?
Yes. The Barmakids of Balkh were a real family who served the Abbasid caliphs and were famous for giving away money on a grand scale. Baldwin's comic tale about an imaginary feast only makes sense because everyone once knew that reputation.
Why does the map pin Baghdad even though the story never names a place?
Baldwin leaves the setting blank, but the real Barmecide family served the caliph's court, which sat in Baghdad. An older English version of this tale sets it in Persia instead, but since Baldwin doesn't use that wording, the map follows the documented history of the family rather than the older story's setting.
Did this particular feast, imaginary and real, actually happen?
No. This comic anecdote is a much-retold folk tale rather than a historical record, even though it grew up around a genuinely wealthy and generous family. The bowing custom described is real for the region and period, but the story of Schacabac himself is legend.
Is the detail about Schacabac refusing the pretend wine part of the older story?
No, that moment isn't in the older tellings. There, the guest simply plays along the whole time, and it's his good humor alone that wins the old man over.