Epic Hero Cycle - Gregorio Cortez

After crossing the San Antonio River, what did Gregorio yell to the Rangers on the other side?

"I am Gregorio Cortez!"

What was the phrase the men lived by?

"I will break before I bend"

Give two examples of Gregorio Cortez's skill with tracking.

1. He could find trails no one else could find 2. He could hide his tracks better than most men

Give two examples of Gregorio Cortez's skill with horses.

1. He could talk to them so they understood 2. They would follow him around and obey him

Give two examples of Gregorio Cortez's skill as a farmer.

1. He knew everything about cotton, beans, and corn 2. He could tell if land was good enough for growing crops.

Name three things that the Rangers did that finally made Gregorio Cortez surrender.

1. They beat his brother to death 2. They arrested his family 3. They tortured anyone that had helped him

When Gregorio looked back, how many men were coming?

300

How long was Gregorio's sentence?

99 years and a day

Twenty to twenty-five American men formed a posse to capture Gregorio Cortez. When do they engage him?

After he stayed overnight at his mother's house with Román.

Many people would tell Gregorio to go north. Why? Is eh interested in going?

Because he could make a lot of money up north. He isn't interested.

"Gregorio Cortez was a ______ man.

Border

After working various jobs, they finally came to a place called __ ______, and there they settled down and farmed.

El Carmen

Name the song that makes "hackles" (i.e. small hairs on the back of one's neck) rise?

El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez

Name the man of whom they were singing.

Gregorio Cortez

What happened when that man tried to spend his reward?

He couldn't spend it anywhere.

Why did Gregorio refuse to marry President Lincoln's daughter?

He didn't think they would be a good match because she was white.

What was Gregorio's defense when they tried to convict him of killing a man?

He killed the man defending his right of self-defense, because the sheriff had killed his brother and tried to kill him.

When the rangers corralled (surrounded) Cortez in an oak grove, how did Cortez trick them into leaving?

He made them think that he had many men on his side.

Román did not like that an American kept trying to trade for one of his horses. How did he trick that American?

He secretly traded the American the lame horse.

Describe Román.

He was a prankster, and immature

How was Gregorio able to lose them?

He was fast, and he hid his tracks.

Epic Heroes can't possibly die from normal problems like old age, illness or from being exhausted by a journey or prison, so what did the narrator say killed Cortez?

He was poisoned

In the paragraphs surrounding the above quotation, the narrator repeatedly refers to Cortez as "a man". What does that imply?

He was someone that people could relate to.

In a show of respect to his elders, what did Gregorio do with his hat when he spoke to them?

He would take his hat off and hold it over his heart.

Though Gregorio knew what was happening, who turned him in to the Sheriffs?

His "friend", El Teco

The next morning, Gregorio felt that "something will happen to them today". What gave him this premonition?

His wife was acting funny.

How asked to marry Gregorio?

President Lincoln's daughter

How did Gregorio get released from jail?

President Lincoln's daughter told the Governor that she wanted Gregorio released from jail for Christmas.

"'So many mounted _______,' said Gregorio Cortez, 'to catch just one _______.'"

Rangers, Mexican

Why did Gregorio eventually give in and go north?

Román really wanted to move

Why did Gregorio have to leave his horse?

She had cut her leg and was now lame.

Gregorio is sometimes chased by small, scared groups of men, who only shoot at him once he is out of range. Why does he shoot back?

So the men can say that they met up with him and exchanged shots.

Who came up to the gate when Román was telling Gregorio the story of the horse trade?

The American and the Major Sheriff

Who tells Cortez, "I did not come to kill you. I am your friend."? Why did he say that?

The Major Sheriff of los Fresnos says that to trick Cortez.

Who offered a one thousand dollar reward for Gregorio Cortez? What was the response?

The President of the United States. Many men went out to capture him.

The American insulted Román during the trick by making two racially insensitive comments. Why does the narrator include that dialogue?

To show us that the American may not be the kindest person, and it may foreshadow a future event.

Why is there so much disagreement about Gregorio's appearance and why does the narrator say that Gregorio "looked just a bit like me"?

You're supposed to see yourself in the hero.

How many of those 300 men and horses was Cortez's little mare able to outrun?

all of them

Gregorio had a _______ named Román.

brother

"He could put five _______ into a piece of _____ and not make but one ____ and quicker than you could draw a good deep ______."

bullets, board, hole, breath

Gregorio pretended to be a cattle farmer so he can hide amongst the two hundred ______ while he and his mare drank.

cattle

What do the old men do after the song is sung? a) dance b) sing some more c) eat d) tell their stories

d

Román owned two identical looking what?

horses

They took Gregorio all over the State, from town to town, and in each town he was tried before the court for the killing of a man and every time he was found ________.

innocent

"Gregorio was not a noisy hell-raising type...He always spoke ___, and he was always ______..."

low, polite

Was Gregorio a gunman, one who looked for fights?

no

"He was a ________ man, a ____________ ___ like you and me."

peaceful, hard-working man

"...Gregorio Cortez was the _______ son of a _______ son." What does that mean?

seventh, seventh It means that his father was the seventh son of his parents, and when he got married, Gregorio was his seventh son. Extraordinary birth that makes Gregorio different in this Epic Hero's journey.

Another man said "You have killed many ________, Gregorio Cortez. The _______ cannot catch you, so they take ot out on other ______ like you."

sheriffs, Rangers, people

"They still ____ of him, in the ________ and the country stores, in the _______ when men gather at night..."

sing, cantinas, ranches

What was forbidden; men "sometime got killed or lost their jobs"?

singing "El Corrdio de Gregorio Cortez".

Hackles

small hairs on the back of one's neck

One last time, Gregorio's enemies took him to court. AT this time, Gregorio was sentenced not for killing the Sheriffs, but for what?

stealing the little sorrel mare

Who shot Román?

the Major Sheriff

Machismo

the feeling of being "manly"

Gregorio knew he needed to go back to the Border, not because he broke the law--because he knew that he was allowed to kill the Major Sheriff in self-defense--but because if he stayed...

the rangers would come, and the law didn't matter to them.

Who/what comes to assist Gregorio in his escape?

the sorrel mare

Gregorio shot the Major Sheriff _____ times, killing him.

three

Where did Gregorio take his brother Román?

to his mother's house

Corrall

to surround

"There was not a _____ that did not like Gregorio Cortez."

woman