Question

Read the passage from “Cruel Tribute.”

On the third day all the youths and maidens of the city were brought together in the market place, so that lots might be cast for those who were to be taken. Then two vessels of brass were brought and set before King Aegeus and the herald who had come from Crete. Into one vessel they placed as many balls as there were noble youths in the city, and into the other as many as there were maidens; and all the balls were white save only seven in each vessel, and those were black as ebony.

Then every maiden, without looking, reached her hand into one of the vessels and drew forth a ball, and those who took the black balls were borne away to the black ship, which lay in waiting by the shore. The young men also drew lots in like manner, but when six black balls had been drawn Theseus came quickly forward and said:

"Hold! Let no more balls be drawn. I will be the seventh youth to pay this tribute. Now let us go aboard the black ship and be off."

What effect does the author create with the sequence of events in this passage?

Answer 1

The author builds events slowly to create tension.

The cruel tribute is a collection of ancient Greek stories by Baldwin.

Sequencing of events in a story is the narration of the plot step by step. In this excerpt from cruel tribute, the author builds step by step the happenings at the market place.

As the reader reads line by line, the story creates a gradual tension in the reader as to what is going to happen next.

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