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Lesson 2: A Very Gallant Gentleman: PigeonA carrier pigeon flies through torrential weather, just in time to save lives at sea

Background ContextPigeons in the First World War100,000 pigeons were used during the war as messengers. Pigeons make excellent messengers because they have the unique innate gift of being able to find their way back home1.

During the First World War, ‘homing pigeons’ were born and raised in wooden huts, known as ‘bird lofts.’ Because of this, they would always think of the hut as their home, and would always return there. Troops made sure the pigeons’ ‘homes’ were in places they needed to send messages to, such as base camp. Whenever soldiers needed to send messages to base, they would attach a message to the pigeon’s leg and launch it into the air. Records attest that, during the First World War, pigeons delivered 95% of their messages correctly.

Gunmen from the opposing side would try to shoot the pigeons so as to prevent them from delivering their messages. The

pigeons were good dodgers of bullets, though. The gunmen soon realised that sending up birds of prey, such as hawks, would do a better job.

A Very Gallant GentlemanIn 1917, Pigeon No. NURP/17/F.16331 saved the lives of six men off the coast of England.

On 5th September, an anti-Zeppelin patrol had a terrible crisis: their engine seized and the aircraft crashed into the North Sea. A nearby flying boat came to their aid and got the men out of the water, but the men were too heavy to take off in the flying boat. They were stranded! So, they launched four pigeons into the air, carrying messages of their situation.

By 8th September, the situation was desperate and boat was nearly sinking. At the same time, some local soldiers found

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Key Questions:• How important were carrier

pigeons to the war effort?

• How does the pigeon convey the variety of settings through sensory description and emotive language?

• How does Pigeon No. NURP/17/F.16631 feel about the way war is conducted, and the way humans behave?

Pigeon No. NURP/17/F.16331 dead with exhaustion on the beach, with a message still attached to his leg. The message got through – all six men were rescued in the nick of time. The pigeon had flown

through torrential weather, his powerful homing instinct saving lives. He was nicknamed ‘A Very Gallant Gentleman’ and was stuffed and displayed in a case.2

Key Words:Story Words• Bravery• Courage• Loyalty• Messages

Storytelling Words• Repetition• Rule of 3• Rhetorical questions• Empathy• Sensory description• Atmosphere• Setting• Emotive language• Onomatopoeia

Story Frame:In this story, the narrator uses first person narrative to recount his experience as a carrier pigeon in the First World War, from his confusion over the training process (‘WHY put a bird on an aeroplane?! They can fly already!’) to his heroic moment earning him the title of ‘A Very Gallant Gentleman.’ The story uses the classic storytelling technique of the Rule of Three to structure the piece, shown in the repetition of ‘I’m a homing pigeon!’ so that the audience may start to anticipate, and hence join in with, the repeating lines.

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Attention

Discuss It!• Describe the pigeon’s character in 3 words.

• Invent an attention-grabbing headline for a newspaper article of this story.

Map It!• Trace the pigeon’s journey over the sea from England to the North Sea and back

again.

Draw It!• As a group, recount the pigeon’s story.

• In groups, divide a large piece of paper into six sections. In each section, write or draw a setting that is mentioned in the story (for example, the bird loft, the aeroplane, the flying ship, the air, the sea, the beach).

• Within each setting, write or draw the key images, senses and emotions the pigeon attaches to each place. Some images, senses and emotions will be clearer than others because of the way they have been described through the story; for others, students will need to use intuition. Different colours could be used for a) things that are mentioned (explicit); b) things that are not mentioned (implicit).

• Share work with the rest of the class.

Prepare to Advance

Illustrations by Sheena DempseyText © The Story Museum42 Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1 1BPwww.storymuseum.org.uk

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Make It!• You are going to send the pigeon’s story across the world, as if by carrier

pigeon. Make a Story Museum Messenger Box to send by messenger pigeon.

• Find a box – a shoebox, matchbox, cereal box: any box. Fill it with objects representing elements of the story you feel are important – the key images, senses, settings and emotions. You could include a feather for flight, a map to represent the pigeon’s brain, or an example message for the pigeon to send. How will you create the wind, the rain, the flying ship, the beach? How will you convey the emotions contained within the story – confusion, panic, relief, self-confidence?

• When you have made your Story Museum Messenger Box, share the contents with the rest of the class. Ask the other students to guess what each object represents, and give a presentation explaining your choices.

1 Animals at War, Isabel George and Rob Lloyd Jones, Usborne 20062 Animals in the First World War, Neil Storey, Shire Library 2014

Forward MarchDesign It!• Design a medal for the pigeon. What images, words and phrases would you use to

summarise the pigeon’s story? Share your thoughts with the rest of the class.

Discuss It!• What does the pigeon make of the world at war? Use evidence from the story to

support your answers.

• Find examples of the storytelling devices in the story, particularly repetition, Rule of 3, rhetorical questions and onomatopoeia. What are the effects of these devices? How do these devices make the audience interested in the pigeon’s story?