The Snow Leopard

By Jackie Morris

High in the tallest mountains of the world lies the Mergich

Realm, a sacred place of magic and mystery where pure and

powerful beings, Mergichans dwell, Guardian spirits, they tend

their flocks of mountain sheep and ibex and care for the sacred

land.

People enter the Mergich Realm only with their permission.

They take the shape of an animal and this is the story of one

such Mergichan.

From the beginning of time, out of the

silence, snow leopard sang the starts to

life, the sun to rise and the moon to wax

and wane.

High above the hidden valley, her song

clothed the world in white and built a

crackling fortress of snow, buttressed with

ice, to keep all things secret and safe.

High in the mountains the sacred cat

walked alone, cloaked in her shadow-

dappled fur. Crisp snow sparkled in

icy stars beneath her huge paws and

all the while she sang.

Down in the valley, the child slept. In

her dreams, she heard the ghost cat’s

secret music and saw the shadow of

her dappled coat.

Snow leopard wove words of hiding and a magic spell to keep the hidden valley secret from the world.

But time was passing, season upon season- and age creeps over all in time. So snow leopard changed her song to a spell of finding. She searched in her heart and called to find the next singer, the one who would come after her.

But while she searched the world crept into the hidden valley. Down in the valley, the child slept on and felt the change in the snow leopard’s song.

From the beginning of time, out of the silence, snow leopard sang the

stars to life, the sun to rise and the moon to wax and wane.

High above the hidden valley, her song clothed the world in white and

built a crackling fortress of snow, buttressed with ice, to keep all things

secret and safe.

High in the mountains the sacred cat walked alone, cloaked in her

shadow-dappled fur. Crisp snow sparkled in icy stars beneath her huge

paws and all the while she sang.

Down in the valley, the child slept. In her dreams, she heard the ghost

cat’s secret music and saw the shadow of her dappled coat.

High in the tallest mountains of the world lies the Mergich Realm, a

sacred place of magic and mystery where pure and powerful beings,

Mergichans dwell. Guardian spirits, they tend their flocks of mountain

sheep and ibex and care for the sacred land.

People enter the Mergich Realm only with their permission. They take

the shape of an animal and this is the story of one such Mergichan.

1. FIND and COPY one word from paragraph 1 which suggests that the place has religious importance. (1 mark)

2. What do the Mergichans do? (1 mark)3. How do people enter the Mergich Realm? (1 mark)4. What was the significance of the snow leopard’s song?

Explain using evidence from the text (3 marks)5. FIND and COPY three words which suggest that the snow

leopard didn’t want anyone to find her kingdom.6. What impression do you get of the snow leopard. Explain

with evidence from the text.

Impression Evidence

Snow leopard wove words of hiding and a magic spell to keep the hidden valley secret from the world.

But time was passing, season upon season- and age creeps over all in time. So snow leopard changed her song to a spell of finding. She searched in her heart and called to find the next singer, the one who would come after her.

But while she searched the world crept into the hidden valley. Down in the valley, the child slept on and felt the change in the snow leopard’s song.

Writing Task: Fronted Adverbials

Look at the way the sentences are opened with fronted adverbials.

High in the mountains, the sacred cat walked alone.Down in the valley, the child slept.High above the valley, the snow leopards song rang out.

Can you use some fronted adverbials to create four alternative sentences to describe the mountain landscape?

Sentence Work: ClausesAt the heart of every clause is a verb

Go through the text again. Can you identify the VERB in each of the clauses. Make a list of the verbs.

PredictWhat do you think will happen next?What will the story be about?

Down in the valley, the

soldiers came in search

of gold and slaves. They

came with fire and fear

and so the villagers fled.

In the chaos, the sleeping

girls was forgotten. Still

she slept, entranced,

hearing only the song of

the great ghost cat.

Through the village, the snow leopard prowled, veiled in the

magic of her song. When she found the sleeping child, she

wrapped her warmly in her thick, dappled fur. Curled around

the child, snow leopard remembered, centuries before, being

human.

Time passed….

Create four pictures:

1. Before the soldiers come: the village is secret, tranquil and hidden.

2. The Raid: the soldiers arrive at the village in search of slaves and gold

3. The magic of the Snow Leopards: the soldiers flee

4. Peace returns: the fortress is rebuilt and the village hidden once again

Add a powerful caption, with a fronted adverbial, to each of the pictures.

WAGOLL

Late in the night, a powerful magic began to build in the moonlit sky. Silently

at first, but then with increasing power and fury, a snowstorm of leopards

emerged. They howled with rage.

LO: To retell the story of the raid from the perspective of one of the villagers.

You are going to use a variety of sentence openers and your favourite ideas from the book

to write the story of the raid on the village from the perspective of one of the villagers.

What did you see?

What did you hear?

How did it feel?

Here is an opening line if you need it, or you might want to use your own idea.

High in the mountains, the snow began to fall. As it began to drift, I sensed something in the

air. Something evil and wicked was coming our way. Fear gripped my soul.

Sentence Structure Checklist

I have used fronted adverbials to vary my sentence openers

I have used “as” and “although” with a comma I have used parenthesis

I have used an “if” conditional sentence

I have used commas in a list of adjectives or ideas

How to Draw a Snow Leopard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53oDCNvUsOc&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phDmp7qLBVs&feature=youtu.be

Why not make your story into

a book and illustrate it?

LO: To draw a snow leopard and create a mountain landscape.Use line, tone and shade to represent the imagined scene.Experiment with line, tone and shade to create perspective.Explores the effect of light and colour, texture and tone.Blend primary colours to create depth and the effect of the light.