The Tempest

Here is Prospero, the Duke of Milan, with his wife, and daughter Miranda.

When his wife dies, Prospero sees nobody. Some women look after Miranda.

"I'm learning magic", Prospero tells his brother, Antonio. "Look after Milan for me".

Antonio soon feels angry. "I'm doing Prospero's work", he thinks. "I want to be the Duke".

One day Antonio goes to visit Alonso, the King of Naples. Alonso says to him, "I don't like Prospero. Open the gates of Milan to me, and I can attack him. Then you can be the Duke of Milan".

"Go on, do it, Antonio", says Sebastian, the King's brother.

Gonzalo, Prospero's old friend in Naples, walks past, and listens.

So Antonio opens the gates of Milan to King Alonso.

They put Prospero and Miranda in a little boat... and leave them far out at sea.

In the boat Prospero finds a letter from Gonzalo:

Dear Prospero! Here are some things for you. Gonzalo

And Prospero finds things to eat, drink, and wear, and his magic book, too.

"Good old Gonzalo! What a true friend!", he thinks.

The little boat moves across the sea to a magic island.

The monster Caliban is king of the island. His mother is dead, and he has no friends.

Different magic spirits live on the island, too. They don't like Caliban.

One of these spirits is Ariel. He helps Prospero and Miranda.

At first Prospero is friendly to Caliban. "Come and live with my daughter and me", he says.

Prospero teaches Caliban to speak and Caliban shows Prospero everything on the island.

But one night Caliban attacks Miranda. "Get out of here!", says Prospero angrily. "You must work for me now".

Now Miranda is nearly sixteen, and Prospero is king of the island.

One day Prospero sees a ship near his island.

By magic he can see King Alonso and Antonio, his brother, on the ship.

When Prospero sees them, he is very angry. He calls Ariel to him.

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duke the most important man in a big old town

wife a woman living with a man

look after to do things for someone or something that needs help

magic something that makes things happen in a way that you don't understand

king the most important man in a country, or an old town

gate the big door into a town

attack to start hitting someone suddenly

boat you go across the water in this

letter you write this to tell something to someone

island a country in the sea

monster a person or animal that is very bad to look at

spirit a magic person without a body

show to help someone to see something

ship a big boat