CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR, in which Widow Douglas hosts a party

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR on Project Gutenberg

Table manners have a long history, dating back to the Greek and Roman societies.  Each culture has its own rules regulating not only how a meal is served, but also how one behaves and one speaks at the table, including superstitions concerning dropping utensils! 

Your mission for this chapter:

Using the website below, answer the following question. In medieval Europe, not only were there rituals for eating a meal, there were also rituals for what two things?

Website: http://www.brownielocks.com/tablemannerstrivia.html 

OR, for a double dog dare:

Emily Post, famed for her knowledge of manners during the early half of the 20^th century, answered many questions about proper dining etiquette in American society.  And while some rules have changed for modern times, many are the same or similar to what Aunt Polly or the Widow Douglas might expect of Tom and Sid. 

For this mission, answer this question:

According to Emily Post, how should you react to realizing something you ate tastes terrible?

Website: http://www.emilypost.com/table-manners

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE, in which Tom and Huck hunt for buried treasure

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE on Project Gutenberg

The blue light Tom and Huck expect to see in the “ha’nted house” would have, in their eyes, indicated the presence of a spirit or otherworldly creature.  European folklore tells of a similar sensation, an ignis fatuus (Latin for foolish fire), also called a Will-o’-the-wisp. 

Your mission for this chapter:

Using this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will-o'-the-wisp, answer the following question: What is the Americanized version of the Will-o'-the-wisp folk story?

Feel like that that's no challenge? Here's another double dog dare bonus question:

The word “hieroglyph” comes from the Greek and means “sacred carving.”  In Egypt, thoughts were first written with hieroglyphics, rather than an alphabet like English or Russian or Greek.  Egyptian hieroglyphs were nearly impossible to decipher as each image could represent an object, a sound, or a concept. 

Use this website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/hieroglyph/ to answer the following question:

 What discovery finally allowed archeologists to understand this ancient writing?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN, in which the pirates enjoy their own funeral

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN on Project Gutenberg

Throughout centuries, bells have rung as a part of daily life—calls to order, announcing the time of day or a celebration or a funeral.  In some times, bells were thought to have divine power or the ability to ward off evil spirits. 

Your mission for this chapter:

What city in 1502 and 1514 used bells to try and quell a tempest?

Use this website: http://www.handbells.org.au/history/genhist.htm

BONUS!

Feel like a double dog dare challenge?  Then go for this mission, too!

Made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, in 1624 John Donne wrote a meditation on the tolling of the bells which announced a death. 

The mission:

To what does Donne compare “any man’s death?”

Use this website: http://www.skrause.org/reading/donne.shtml