Mark Twain (1886) — a famous hero, and an old man who knows the truth about him
Original version available: read this lesson at B2/C1 level →
This is a famous short story, told here in simple English. Read each part, then stop and talk about the questions. The end is a surprise — read slowly and do not jump ahead.
There was a big dinner in London. It was for a famous soldier. He was a national hero. Everybody at the dinner looked at him. People loved him. They thought he was a great man.
I sat at the table and looked at him too. Next to me sat an old man. He was a clergyman — a teacher in a church. He was a good friend of mine. Long ago, he was a teacher at the military school where the hero was a young student.
The old man looked at the famous soldier. Then he said something quietly, very close to my ear:
"This famous man is not clever. He is a fool."
I was very surprised. How could this be true? The old man drank his coffee and said, "Keep it a secret, and I will tell you the whole truth. I know it, because I was his teacher."
The old man told his story. "Many years ago, I was a teacher at the military school. This man was my student. He was very kind, and everybody liked him. But he was not clever. He could not pass his exams."
"I felt sorry for him. So I helped him in secret. I gave him all the answers before the exams. With my help, he passed. But I was sure of one thing: in a real war, he would make a big mistake and fail."
The old man drank some more coffee. "Then a war came," he said. "I waited for his big mistake. I waited for everyone to see the truth. But the mistake never came. Something very strange happened instead."
"In his first battle, he made a silly mistake. He sent his men the wrong way. But by luck, the wrong way went straight to the enemy — and his side won! Everybody said, 'What a clever plan!' They gave him a medal."
"And it happened again and again. Every time he did something silly, by luck it looked like a clever plan. His side always won. People thought he was brilliant. So he went higher and higher. Now he is a great hero, and the whole country loves him."
The old man looked at the famous soldier one more time. Then he said quietly:
"He is a fool — but he is the luckiest man in the world."
Ten useful words. Tap each card to see what it means and an example sentence.
1. He could not pass his ______. 2. He won every battle by ______, not by skill. 3. The old man was once his ______ at the military school.
The whole story is one man telling us what another man said. So we use a lot of reported speech. We use it to tell people what someone said before.
When we report words from the past, the verb usually goes one step back:
Direct words: "I am a fool." → Reported: He said that he was a fool.
Direct words: "I help him." → Reported: He said that he helped him.
Easy rule: am / is → was · are → were · present verb → past verb · I / me → he / him.
1. "I am a fool." → He said that he a fool.
2. "I am his teacher." → He said that he his teacher.
3. "I help the boy." → He said that he the boy.
4. "He is kind." → He said that the man kind.
1. was 2. was 3. helped 4. was
We can also report with told me. Change these the same way.
1. "I like the boy." → He told me that he the boy.
2. "The man wins every battle." → He told me that the man every battle.
3. "I am sure he will fail." → He told me that he sure he would fail.
1. liked 2. won 3. was
This is an easy rule. We use tell with a person after it. We use say with no person after it.
tell + person: He told me… She told him… (always a person: me, him, us)
say (no person): He said that… She said hello.
So we say: "He told me the truth." But: "He said the truth." (not "He told the truth" to a person, and not "He said me".)
A good short story is more than just words. The writer uses tricks to make you feel something. Here are some simple ones from this story.
Everybody thinks the soldier is a clever hero. But the old man tells us the truth: the hero is really a fool. This surprise is called a twist. It makes us see the famous man in a new way.
The soldier did not win because he was clever. He won because he was lucky. The story asks a big question: when someone is famous and important, is it because of skill — or sometimes just luck?
The writer does not tell us "the hero is a fool." Instead, the old man tells the narrator, and the narrator tells us. So there is a small story (the old man's words) inside the big story. This is called a frame. It makes the secret feel more true, because a real teacher is telling us.
Do all three. Use the timer and try to keep talking. The sentence starters can help you begin.
Now tell the story again in your own words. Use short, simple sentences. Try to use four or five words from the Words tab, and tell the events in order.
These steps will help you: everyone admires a famous war hero · an old teacher says the hero is really a fool · long ago the teacher helped him pass his exams · in the war his mistakes looked like clever plans, by luck · he became famous — the teacher says he is just very lucky.
Talk about a time when you were lucky. What happened? How did you feel? Was it luck or skill?
The soldier is famous and important, but he is not clever. Is this fair? Say what you think.