Scorpions are not insects. Scorpions are eight-legged arachnids with two pincers and a barbed tail. There are two thousand different types of species. Scorpions live on every continent except for Antarctica. There are thirty different types of deadly scorpions. They will sting and paralyze their yummy prey. They can survive on very little air, water, and food. Scorpions are very tough and can withstand the cold of being in a freezer overnight. After the mother gives birth, baby scorpions climb up and ride on her back. In China they grill or fry scorpions to sell them to customers for tasty eating.

Scorpions are not insects. They are arachnids and have eight legs, two pincers, and a barbed tail. There are more than two thousand types of scorpions in the world. Scorpions thrive on every continent except Antarctica. There are thirty types of scorpions that will execute you if you are not careful. After they sting their prey, their prey becomes paralyzed, making it easier to gobble them up. Scorpions can go with little food and air. They can amazingly survive in a freezer overnight if you put them in it. Baby scorpions climb onto their mother’s back, and the mother carries them around until they grow up. China sells scorpions in food shops because they are considered a delicacy.

1. [circled J], observed, envy
2. emulate, strength, skill
3. flew, ram, carry, [up arrow]
4. claws, entangled, x free
5. shepherd, run, catch
6. clipped, wings, gift
7. “what, kind, bird?”
8. “crow, like, eagle”

Wheeling overhead, a sharp-eyed eagle spied a lamb and sweeping down upon it, carried it off. A brooding jackdaw observed with envy. He wished to prove himself as skilled as the eagle.  With a raucous cry he took off and settled on the largest ram in the herd, which took no notice of him and continued placidly munching grass. Frantically flapping his wings, the weak and puny jackdaw attempted to rise into the air with the immense ram, but alas! His claws were utterly entangled in the ram’s thick wool. The shepherd, who had been watching from afar and was angered by the loss of the best lamb in his herd, raced over, caught the jackdaw between his hands, clipped the forlorn fowl’s feathers, and took the bedraggled bird back home as a gift to his children. They were naturally curious and begged their father to tell them what breed of bird it was. “Well, my children,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye, “it is a crow, but this imaginative fluff ball is sure that he is an eagle.”

Generally, most of us do not venture into the extraordinary but rather remain with prevalent foods such as chicken, beef, cheese, vegetables, and fruit. However, exotic Japanese-style crude seafood is readily accessible at North American malls and airports. Yet even still some wonderfully outlandish nations provide more breathtaking dishes! In Cambodia grotesque tarantula is exquisitely fried in garlic oil. Chinese vendors incredibly present grilled black scorpion. The South Koreans serve actual squirming live octopus! In the land of Mexico, we journey back to the insect domain with the peculiar “escamoles,’’ which is fried ant larvae.  Lastly, we mix sweet and savory with Thai chocolate-covered silkworms. So whenever you are faced with the choice of eggplant or sashimi, fall to your knees with gratitude, for it is not fried dung beetle or grilled seahorse!

      Margaret More Roper was born in 1505 to Englishman Sir Thomas More. Thomas was Lord High Chancellor and councillor to Henry VII. He believed in education for everyone, even women, which was a radical idea at the time. He eagerly taught Margaret many languages and sciences in her early years. She pursued her studies with zeal, becoming Thomas’s favorite child. In 1521 at the age of sixteen, she was married to William Roper. Margaret was an active writer and translator for many years, although much of her work was lost to sands of time. Her translation of Precatio Dominica, which was written in 1524, was the first English translation published by a non-royal woman.
      In 1534 Thomas More was imprisoned because he refused to comply with the Act of Supremacy. Margaret constantly visited her father in his place of confinement; she was his only communication with the outside world. Her privilege to visit her father was suddenly denied by the government, and Thomas was sentenced to death. Margaret was allowed to visit her father one more time. Thomas More, who was decapitated two months after his final visit with Margaret, died with a lasting impression on his daughter’s life.
      Thomas Stapleton, a biographer of Thomas More, stated that Mr. More’s head was displayed on the London Bridge. It allegedly remained there until Margaret bribed the executioner and took the head with her. Margaret, who still held dear to her father’s memory, supposedly kept and preserved the head with spices until her death in 1544 at age thirty-nine. Scholars now believe Thomas’s head is buried with Margaret in Canterbury.

      Margaret More Roper was born in London in 1505 as the eldest of five children. Thomas More, who was her father, became the Lord High Chancellor to Henry VIII. Being ahead of his time, More believed education was important for all, including women. More rigorously taught subjects such as language, logic, math, and philosophy. In 1521 Margaret turned sixteen and married William Roper. Margaret’s writing and translating was magnificent, but unfortunately most of her work did not survive. Remarkably, Margaret became the first non-royal woman to have a book translated in English.
      When Thomas More refused to accept the Act of Supremacy in 1534, he was devastatingly arrested. More, who was quite close with his daughter, received numerous visits from her informing him of happenings of the outside world. The privilege of visitation was revoked when More was sentenced to death. Margaret visited him a final time on May 4, 1535. He was grotesquely decapitated on July 6.
      Thomas More’s head was disgustingly displayed on a stake in London until it was taken down after a month, which helped make room to display more decapitated heads. Margaret patiently waited for her father’s head to be removed from the stake. While the executioner was removing the head, Margaret bribed the executioner to bequeath the head to her so she could preserve it with pickling spices. Margaret kept her father’s head until her death in 1544. Scholars believe that the preserved and decapitated head, which was an odd form of expressing love and adornment, was buried along with Margaret and not interred.