The Ungrateful Guest

From Fifty Famous Stories Retold, by James Baldwin

This story comes from James Baldwin's 1896 collection Fifty Famous Stories Retold. King Philip II of Macedon, who lived over two thousand years ago, was known for rewarding loyalty and punishing betrayal. This tale, like many in Baldwin's book, teaches a moral lesson: gratitude matters, and those who repay kindness with cruelty will face shame. A few period terms have been modernised. The story shows young readers that honesty and keeping promises are worth more than land or riches.

Band

Yellow · Emerging readers, about 6 to 8

Length

medium · about 537 words in 6 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Fifty Famous Stories Retold, James Baldwin · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (8 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.