ICSE

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

All Summer in a Day Summary by Ray Bradbury

All Summer in a Day Summary About the Author

Ray Bradbury (22 August 1920 – 5 June 2012), was an American science fiction writer who works were translated in more than 4L languages. His works created a world of new technical and intellectual ideas. He is best known for his dystopian novel ‘Fahrenheit 451’ (1953) and short story collections ‘The Martian Chronicles’, and ‘The Illustrated Man’. ‘All Summer in a Da/ a short story, was first published in 1954 in the magazine of fantasy and science fiction.

All Summer in a Day Summary

The concept of the story ‘All Summer in a Day’, is built on Venus – a planet where it rains continuously, all the time. The people live in underground tunnels to escape the cold hard rain. The story begins with school children crowding around a window in their classroom, waiting for the heavy rain to stop and for a rare occurrence i.e., the sun, to come out for an hour after seven years of non-stop rain, as per prediction. They had seen the sun only when they were two years old.

Margot is a nine year old girl whose family moved from Earth to Venus when she was four. Only she remembers the warmth of the sun and how beautiful the sunshine can be. She explains to other children that sun is round like a penny and hot like fire but they consider her a liar, despise her and mock at her. She has been in a state of depression ever since she arrived on Venus and her parents were planning to take her back on Earth.

As Margot stands alone waiting for the rain to subside and the long awaited sun to appear, the other children plan a terrible trick on her. They forcefully carry her to the closet and lock her inside. Wickedly pleased with themselves, they return and move along with the teacher to experience the event they were waiting for.

When the Venus rain finally stops and sun comes out, a bronze flame spreads throughout the forests of Venus. The children exit the tunnels and run around excitedly. But soon the rain clouds move in. The sun hides and heavy showers replace it. All the children reflect on the wonderful experience they had with the sun and then re-enter the tunnels. Suddenly, one of the children remembers that they had locked Margot inside the closet. Slowly she is taken out, but its too late for her, she will have to wait yet another seven years to see the sun which she had been so earnestly waiting for.

All Summer in a Day Summary Word Meanings :

1. Intermixed : Mixed together
2. Peering : Looking narrowly or curiously
3. Compounded : Combined
4. Concussions : Impact, agitation
5. Stunned : Shocked, surprised
6. Slackening : Becoming slower or lesser
7. Feverish : Agitated, heated
8. Frail : Weak
9. Shove : A strong, forceful push
10. Drenched : Completely wet
11. Clutched : Held onto tightly
12. Savagely : Fiercely, rudely
13. Muffled : Suppressed
14. Repercussions : Reverberations
15. Tumultuously : Loudly & excitedly
16. Squeak : Short, high-pitched cry
17. Resilient : Flexible, bouncy
18. Squinted : Looked with eyes partly closed
19. Savoured : Tasted and smelled
20. Avalanche : A great amount
21. Stakes : Pointed sticks or posts
22. Solemn : Sad and serious

All Summer in a Day Summary Questions and Answer

Question 1.
Who seems to be the antagonist in the story ‘All Summer In a Day’, and Why?
Answer:
William, one of Margot’s classmates, is the antagonist in the story, because he often bullies her. Perhaps, due to a sense of jealously and the inability to understand Margot, he speaks harshly to her and shoves her. This encourages other children too to trap Margot in a hostile manner. As Margot was in a depressed state for being away from the feel of sun, she does not mix up with other children.

She does not play with them and it was heard that she would leave for earth soon. So the other children disliked her and treated her differently. They are unable to comprehend her feeling. William leads the others. On the day when the sun was predicted to rise on Venus, William, with the support of other children, grabs Margot and locks her in a closet and deprives her from the greatest joy she had been waiting for so anxiously, so William is the main bully.

Question 2.
What effect does the absence and presence of sun have on the children on planet Venus?
Answer:
In Ray Bradbury’s story ‘All summer in summer’, Children living on planet Venus, eagerly await the cessation of rain and appearance of the sun, an event that only occurs once every seven years. The overwhelming rain on Venus has created a harsh, inhospitable environment, suggesting a sense of displacement from the natural world on Earth. They are all the victims of depression created on Venus due to lack of sunlight for continuous seven years. They have been traumatized by the constant rain. When there is no sun, they seem dull and lethargic. Their anxiety to see the sun leads to a chaos. The children’s teasing of Margot quickly escalates to violent bullying. They grab Margot and push her into the closet.

Finally, the sun comes out in the sudden roaring silence and stillness, flooding the sky and jungle with radiant light. The children rush outside and throw off their jackets, reveling in the warmth of the sun. It is far better than they even imagined it would be. They run, laugh and yell, staring at the sun, and try to capture every joyful moment. The idyllic hour passes all too quickly, the clouds sweep in, and the rain starts pelting.

In a dull and sad mood, the children return back to the underground classroom as the sky darkness and the torrential rain recommences. It seems somehow louder and more painful to the children. Somber feelings take over them. They glance at each other, with guilt and shame as they suddenly remember Margot. Slowly and shamefully they move to the closet to free her. The experience of nature brings a sudden sense of peace. The sun has an extremely pleasurable effect, and it seems to physically and mentally revive the children. Absence of sunlight had turned Venus into a tangled and inhospitable wasteland. Similarly, the children too had become cruel and unruly, when outside in the sun, they felt joyful and energied, highlighting the power of sun.

All Summer in a Day Summary Extract Based Questions

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
“He gave her a shove. But she did not move, rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else. They edged away from her; they would not look at her. She felt them go away.”

(i) Who is ‘she’? Describe her.
(ii) Where is this story set? Mention any two ways in which the way of life on their planet differs from life on earth.
(iii) To what does Margot compare the sun? What does this tell us about her?
(iv) Why did the other children not come to Margot’s aid when William shoved her?
(v) How does Margot’s behaviour set her apart from the others? Why do you suppose the other children treat her the way they do?
Answer:
(i) ‘She’ is Margot. She is a weak lifeless girl who had lost the lustre from her eyes, the blush from her face, and the yellow from her hair. She looked like an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away. Margot is nine years old and resides on planet Venus. She lived on Earth, in ‘Ohio’ until she was four. Now she studies together with the children of those who have come to civilize the planet, Venus.

(ii) The story is set on planet Venus, where the sun shines for only two hours once every seven years. The two ways in which the life on their planet differs from life on earth are :

• Firstly, unlike Earth, the rain fell incessantly with storms on planet Venus. Thousands of forests had been crushed under if and regrounded to be crushed again.
• Secondly, the lack of sunlight had washed away the colour of the skin of the people living on Venus. The people there lived in underground colonies.

(iii) Margot tells the others that sun is round like a ‘penny’ and not like a ‘fire in the store’. Her description of the sun tells that she is able to accurately recall the sun and the way it looked and felt as it shone on her when she was back in Ohio, on the planet earth, five years ago.

(iv) Margot struggles to fit into her life on Venus, but in vain. She does not get along with the other children there. They resent her for her past experiences on Earth with the sun, and they are also angry and jealous that she has the opportunity to travel back to Earth, regardless of the financial costs. They do not help her when William, one of her classmates, shoves her, as they supported him in his dislike for Margot.

(v) Margot has many memories of the sun and she misses it a lot. She refuses to participate in any classroom activity that doesn’t include the sun. She hated the Venusian rain so much that she detests the running showers in the schools shower rooms. The children treat her this way as they despise her and are painfully jealous because Margot has seen the sun and they have not.

They never remember a time when there wasn’t a rain. They especially hate her when they learn that her parents, fearful of the strong distress that Venusians life is causing their daughter, are planning to take her back to Earth.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could ever remember a time when there wasn ‘t rain and rain and rain.”
(i) Who is Margot? Where is she? Who are ‘these children’?
(ii) What are the children getting ‘ready’ for? What is unique about the life on Venus?
(iii) What did the children dream of?
(iv) Why is Margot different from other children?
(v) Why do they dislike her?
Answer:
(i) Margot is a thin pale, nine years old girl. She is on the planet Venus. She lived on Earth earlier. These children are the children of the rocket men and women who had come to planet Venus to set up their civilization. They had established underground settlements full of long tunnels.

(ii) The children are getting ‘ready’ to witness the momentous occasion when the sun will come out for an hour after seven years.
Unfortunately, it rains constantly on Venus. It falls without a break, day in and day out, in massive showers. However, for one day, once every seven years, the rain does cease and the sun is briefly visible.

(iii) Sometimes during the night, Margot heard the children stir, as if recollecting a memory and she understood that they were dreaming of gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with. They remembered a warmth, like a blushing in the face, in the body, arms legs and trembling hands.

(iv) Margot lived on Earth, in Ohio, until she was four years old. She has many memories of the sun unlike others, because they were far too young when the sun shone last. When Margot tells them that the sun is round like a penny and hot like fire, they accuse her of lying. She distances herself from others.

(v) She does not participate in their games and activities except those that included the sun and the summer. She misses the sun immensely. She remembers the beauty and warmth of the sun. Ever since she came on Venus she had been in depression. She had become pale. She refused to shower in the school shower room as the water reminded her of the Venusians rain. There is a talk circulating that her parents are considering to take her back to Earth, though it would mean a loss of thousands of dollars. Thus, the other school children despise her and are jealous of her. They bully her constantly.

Question 3.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“They all blinked at him and then, understanding laughed and shook their heads.”
(i) Whom do ‘they’ blink at? Why? What preparation had the children done before witnessing the special occurrence of the sun?
(ii) How do the children take revenge on Margot?
(iii) What is the significance of two hours? What do the children do during these two hours?
(iv) How did they react when the rain drops came back again?
(v) Why do the children unlock the closet door silently? What was their silence behind the closet?
Answer:
(i) Margot looks out of the window, waiting silently for the rain to stop and the sun to come out. One of the boys, jokes with her and tells that nothing such was going to happen and to confirm it, he asks from others to join him in teasing and fooling Margot. They blink at him signifying their support to the boy’s lie. They tell her . that the scientists were wrong in their predictions about the sun. The children had constantly read and discussed about the sun. They had completed their classroom activities and written poems about the sun.

(ii) When Margot begins to panic on hearing that the sun is not going to appear, the boy who seemed to be particularly hostile towards her, conceives of the idea to lock Margot in the cupboard while the teacher is gone. Margot tries to resist but they overpower her and lock her in the faraway closet. The children are darkly pleased with themselves after punishing Margot, who is left crying and beating against the closet.

(iii) As per the prediction of the scientists, the sun would appear only for two hours, so the children had the opportunity to enjoy the sunlight for only this time. And when the sun appears, the rain stops, the children rush out into the sunshine. They run through the rapidly growing foliage and enjoy the warmth of the sun on their skin.

They play hide and seek, and they push and slip. They looked squintingly at the sun till tears ran down their eyes, they breathed fresh air and listened to the silence. They ran around like wild animals. They completely drenched themselves in the beauty and warmth of the sun.

(iv) The children lose track of time in their enjoyment when the sporadic rain drops begin to fall again. As the first drop fell on the hands of a girl she trembled with fear and disappointment and began to cry. The others also stopped playing immediately and they sadly begin returning to their school. The last rays of sunlight are replaced by thunder and rain.

(v) The children realize that they had played a very mean prank on Margot. They had deprived her of the glimpse of the sun for another seven years. She had been so keenly waiting for this experience. They were enjoying the bright sunlight while Margot was locked inside. The realization of the gravity of their guilt made them slow and silent.

Margot had given up the efforts to free herself from the closet. She had lost the opportunity to witness the sun, after such a long wait. This made her completely distressed and gloomy and she stops banging against the closet realizing it is of no use now.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

Daffodils Summary by William Wordsworth

Daffodils Summary About the Poet

William Wordsworth (7 April, 1770 – 23 April, 1850) was a British poet who was associated with the Romantic movement of the 19th Century along with Robert Southey and Samuel Coleridge, the group referred as the ‘Lakeland Poets’. Wordsworth was a keen observer of nature and had an excellent skill to pen down the beauty of nature artistically, yet in a simple and straight forward manner. He began publishing at the age of 23 with a collection of poetries like ‘Descriptive Sketches’. In 1798, he published ‘Lyrical Ballads’ along with Coleridge, followed by ‘Elegiac Stanzas’ and ‘Poems, in Two Volumes’ in 1803 and 1805 respectively. He was considered as ‘Britain’s Poet Laureate’. For Wordsworth, poetry was “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

Daffodils Summary

Wordsworth considered nature, a place representing the ultimate source of joy and knowledge. The poem ‘Daffodils’ appreciates the beauty of nature. The poet states that the recollection of the wonderful sight of thousands of daffodils, dancing joyfully, cleans the soul and uplifts the spirit of the speaker when he later finds himself feeling empty and gloomy.

Daffodils Explanation of the Poem

Stanza 1. “I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

Explanation: In the first stanza we find the poet roaming aimlessly like a cloud over valleys and hills. Here, we find a touch of melancholy in his tone. Suddenly, he happens to come across a large number of daffodils growing under the trees near the lake. By comparing himself to a cloud, the poet signifies his closeness with nature that surrounds him. The daffodils were dancing and inviting the poet to join and enjoy the breeze flowing in the fields.

Word Meanings :

1. Vales — Valleys
2. Host — Group, a large number
3. Fluttering — Moving in quick succession, flapping rapidly

Stanza 2. “Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw lata glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”

Explanation: Here, the poet compares the daffodils along the bay with the stars stretched in a continuous line in the galaxy, like the Milky Way. Their shine is contrasted to the twinkling of the stars. The poet seems to be profoundly charmed by the swaying movement of the flowers due to the breeze and he remarks that the flowers seem to dance in exuberance.

Word Meanings:

1. Never-ending — Unlimited, continuous
2. Glance — Look
3. Tossing — Moving back and forth or sideways
4. Sprightly — Lively, cheerful

Stanza 3. “The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.”

Explanation: The poet personifies the waves in the bay and says that they too were happily dancing along with the daffodils, but the daffodils outshone the waves by showing joy and cheerfulness. The poet cannot prevent himself from being elated in such a happy company. The sight of the dazzling daffodils seems to enrich the life of the poet with joy and tranquility, so he could not take his eyes off them.

Word Meanings :

1. Out-did — Defeated
2. Sparkling — Glittering
3. Jocund — Merry
4. Gazed — Stared

Stanza 4. “For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.”

Explanation: The last stanza clarifies why the poet was so enthralled by the daffodils. The sight of the dancing daffodils remains dormant in the poet’s sub-conscious mind and, whenever he was in a vacant or lonely mood, lying on his couch, the memory of the daffodils raised his low spirits, filling his mind with immense pleasure and thus, he feels elated. Daffodils have left an everlasting precious memory in the poet’s mind. They become a ‘bliss of solitude’ i.e., ‘the blessing of being alone’, for him.

Word Meanings :

1. Vacant – Unoccupied
2. Pensive – Quietly sad or thoughtful
3. Bliss – Complete happiness
4. Solitude – Loneliness; seclusion

Daffodils Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

” I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

(i) Whom has the poet compared himself with? Name the figure of speech used here.
(ii) What does the poet come across on his way? Which movements are associated with what he finds?
(iii) What transition of mood does the speaker undergo?
(iv) Give the meaning of-
(a) wondered (b) fluttering
(v) Describe the beauty of the daffodils as illustrated by the poet in the first stanza. Name the figure of speech is used here.
Answer:
(i) The poet compares himself with the cloud that floats all alone, atop many hills and valleys.
The figure of speech used here is ‘Simile’.

(ii) The poet suddenly comes across a crowd of golden daffodils growing under the trees beside the lake.
The daffodils were ‘fluttering’ and ‘dancing’ in the breeze.

(iii) The first two lines of the poem describe that the poet was ‘lonely’, but the sight of the beautiful daffodils drew the speaker towards a positive progression of mood. He no longer feels lonely.

(iv) (a) walk leisurely (b) flapping rapidly

(v) The poet sees a huge number of daffodils which looked like golden in colour, due to the sunlight falling on them. They were in a joyous mood as they seemed to be waving and dancing.

The figure of speech used here is ‘Personification’.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

“Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw lata glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”

(i) What are the daffodils compared to in the second stanza? Which quality do both share?
(ii) How are they stretched?
(iii) Describe in your words the poet’s feeling when he sees a host of golden daffodils.
(iv) Give the meaning of-
(a) Milky Way (b) bay
(v) How many of them does the poet see and what are they busy doing?
Answer:
(i) The daffodils resemble the stars that shine in the Galaxy like the Milky Way. The daffodils seem to be as unlimited as the stars in the Galaxy.
(ii) They are stretched in an infinite line along the edge of the bay.
(iii) The poet felt ecstatic to see a host of golden daffodils by the side of the lake under the trees, shaking their head in a joyful dance. On seeing them, the poet’s imagination travelled to another world to find a comparison. He was reminded of the stars twinkling in the Milky Way at night.
(iv) (a) the Galaxy which the sun and the solar system are a part of, and which contain the myriads of stars that create the light of the Milky Way.
(b) a small body of water set off from the main body.
(v) The poet sees a large flower bed of daffodils; around ten thousand of them rejoicing and dancing out of alacrity, in the breeze.

Question 3.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
“The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.”

(i) Who was competing with, the daffodils in dancing? What was the competition and who won?
(ii) Give the meaning of ‘Jocund’. How will any poet be effected in such a company?
(iii) Why does the poet say ‘I gazed had brought’?
(iv) Give the meaning of
(a) glee (b) sparkling
(v) Which ‘show’ does the poet refqf to? What question arises in his mind?
Answer:
(i) The waves of the river flowing beside the daffodils were accompanied with dancing and competing with them. But the daffodils defeated the waves in the show of happiness through dancing.

(ii) Jocund means ‘lively and happy’. In such a cheerful and joyous company, i.e., in the presence of such beautiful and gay flowers, the poet cannot prevent himself from being ecstatic.

(iii) The poet was moving about aimlessly over the high valleys and hills watching the beautiful nature when he comes across a great number of golden daffodils expressing their joy by flattering. The poet feels delighted at this sight and stops to gaze at them. He is surprised as he is unable to decide what treasure the present moment has brought him.

(iv) (a) a strong feeling of happiness (b) shining bright and lively

(v) The ‘show’ of ‘beautiful dancing golden daffodils’ keeps the poet mesmerized.
The poet fails to understand what happiness did this continuous gazing bring to him and what enormous treasure he was accumulating in his mind.

Question 4.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

“For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.”

(i) How does the memory of the daffodils make the poet happy when his mind is devoid of happiness?
(ii) What does the poet mean by ‘bliss of solitude’?
(iii) What impact do the daffodils leave on the poet?
(iv) Give the meaning of
(a) couch (b) pensive
(v) What happens to the poet’s mind when he recalls the memory of the daffodils?
Answer:
(i) The vista of the daffodils has soaked the mind of the poet. Later, when the poet laid on his couch either in a lonely or sad mood, the entire panorama that he saw in the woods appeared before his eyes and he experienced an ecstatic pleasure, which he had actually enjoyed in the past.

(ii) ‘Bliss of solitude’ means the blessing of loneliness. The poet explains that, whenever he is away from the hustle-bustle of the real world and in a lonely mood, the spiritual vision of daffodils flashes in his mind and fills his heart with extreme happiness.

(iii) William Wordsworth, who is popularly known as a nature poet, is left overjoyed by the daffodils. He is so moved that he personifies them, by exaggerating their presence. Throughout the poem, we find him talking about his happiness in the company of the flowers. He is extremely charmed by their beauty and the memory remained with him always as, ‘The bliss of Solitude’.

(iv) (a) A long piece of furniture to sit or lie down (b) Quielty sad or thoughtful

(v) When the poet’s mind is unrestrained by the disturbing elements of the real world, he revives the pleasant and soothing memory of the daffodils which become of a source of joy and inspiration for him, and he feels his heart elated and dancing with the daffodils. Thus, the daffodils become an eternal memory of extraordinary delight for Wordsworth.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

Television Summary by Roald Dahl

Television Summary About the Poet

Born in Wales, to Norwegian immigrant parents, Roald Dahl (13 September, 1916 – 23 Nov., 1990) was a novelist, short story writer, poet and screen writer. He also served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, as a fighter pilot. His works for both, children and adults, rose to prominence and became popular as one of the greatest story tellers. His first children’s book, ‘The Gremlins’, was published in 1943. The other famous stories being, ‘Charlie & the Chocolate Factory’, ‘Matilda’, ‘The Witches’ etc.

Television Summary

Television is one of the best known poems of Roald Dahl. It highlights the adverse effects of television on the children’s mind, and instead inspires them to develop passion for reading. In a very humorous manner, the poet brings to light the vitality of books and makes an appeal to the parents to replace the idiot box with good books to enhance the growth of their children’s brain, so that they can come up with creative and imaginative skills.

Television Explanation of the Poem

“The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, Never, Never let
Them near your television set-
Or better still, just don’t install The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in women one’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.).”

Explanation: The poet begins the poem by requesting the parents to keep their children away from the monster called ‘Television’, and he also suggests that it will be far better an option to be completely away from this idiotic thing in the first place.

Sharing his personal experience, the poet says that, almost every house that he has visited, he has found children sitting hypnotized in front of the television sets. They incessantly stare at it and lie lazily without indulging into any productive task. He adds a funny exaggeration saying that, sometimes they stare so hard that their eyeballs pop out of their eyes, and once he saw a dozen eyeballs rolling on the floor in a house he visited.

Word Meanings :

1. Gaping – (Here) watching with wide open eyes
2. Loll – To lie or sit in a relaxed or lazy manner
3. Slop – To eat or drink greedily or noisily
4. Lounge – To spend time resting or relaxing

“They sit and stare and stare and side
Until they’re hypnotized by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window still,
They never figh tor kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink.”

Explanation: The poet further says that, it is observed that the children get deeply enthralled by the horrible and senseless programmes that are displayed on the television. They seem to forget about everything in the world. They forget to play or have fun. This hampers their physical ability and growth.

For the parents it may be a bliss, as the television keeps the naughty children im. They neither climb the windows nor fight with each other. The mother too can cook or wash peaceh ilv Television can be the most convenient way of keeping the children occupied.

Word Meanings :

1. Hypnotized — Enthralled, bedazzled
2. Ghastly — Very shocking or horrible
3. Junk — Trash

“But did you ever stop to think,
‘ To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
It rots the sense in the head!
It kills imagination dead!
It clogs and clutters up the mind!
It makes a child so dull and blind
He can no longer understand
A fantasy, A fairyland!
His Brain becomes as soft as cheese!
His powers of thinking rust and freeze!
He cannot think-he only sees!.”

Explanation: But then the poet raises an important question for the parents, whether they have ever tried to consider what effect is this idiot box is casting on the soft minds of their beloved ones. Then he moves on to answer it in a clear cut manner, which he writes in capital letters, so as to lay stress on it. The poet says that watching too much television destroys the senses of the children. They are not able to imagine or visualize things because their minds get choked with unnecessary facts. They lose their power of judgement and imagination. They stop thinking innovatively. They only depend on the television for learning things. ‘ The childhood fantasies and fairyland stories lose their beauty. The thought process seems to get jammed or rusted.

Word Meanings :

1. Clogs – Block, hinder .
2. Clutters – To fill or cover with many things

“All right!” you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain?
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘ ‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?”

Explanation: Now the poet discusses the dilemma the parents would face. They will question the kind of substitute of entertainment they should provide to their dear children if they take the TV sets away from them. The poet answers the parents with a reverse question, about what they used to do before the invention of the television, and how did they keep themselves occupied and entertained.

Word Meaning :

1. Contended – Satisfied, occupied

“We’ll say it very loud and slow:
They… USED… TO… READ! They’d READ and READ.
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Cadzooks!
One half their lives were reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More boos were waiting to be read!”

Explanation: Very calmly the poet recommends the parents to install a lovely bookshelf in place of the modem monster i.e., the television, ignoring all objections. He recollects the times when the children were fond of reading. They indulged in incessant reading. Their life was surrounded with books. The nursery shelves and floors were full of books scattered here and there. There were books waiting to be read in the bedroom. The children too, took keen interest in reading them.

Word Meaning :

1. Galore – In large numbers or amounts

“Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasures isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(it smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How the Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost his Rump,
And Mr. Toad and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!”

Explanation: Here, the poet talks about the popular adventurous books and their interesting characters that the children admired in those days. They enjoyed the story of dragons, gypsies, queens, whales, treasure islands, smugglers, elephants, cannibals etc. The poet gets nostalgic speaking about the fantasy characters like, Beatrix Potter, Mr. Tod, Squirrel Nutkin, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle, Mr. Camel, Mr. Rat, etc.

Word Meanings:

1. Tales – Stories
2. Gypsies – Wanderers
3. Isles – Islands
4. Muffled – Quietened sound
5. Crouchin – Bending or bowing with servility

“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear hot, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.”

Explanation: The poet ardently pleads to the parents to discard their television sets; replacing them with book shelves. Initially, the children will protest. They will frown, shout and kick in frustration – but the parents need to be patient and soon they will observe that, when the children will have nothing else to busy themselves with they will gradually get closer to books.

Word Meaning :

1. Yells – Screams

“And once they start-oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
” Will love you more for what you did. ”

Explanation: The poet gets fills with ecstasy to think about the result. He says that once the children begin to read, they will get so accustomed to the habit that they will take pleasure in reading. They would feel aroused when they will realise that there was nothing fun coming out of the filthy and disgusting television. And when they will grow up, they will appreciate and will be grateful for saving them from the clutches of the idiotic box and introducing them to the world of books. They will discover the real joy of reading books.

Word Meaning :

1. Ridiculous – Absurd

Television Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say
‘But if we take the set away
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
(Television, Roald Dahl)

(i) What important lesson does the poet say he has learnt at the start of the poem ?
(ii) Describe some of the scenes that the poet says he has seen in houses which have televisions.
(iii) List the ways in which television viewing affects the mind of a ‘beloved tot’.
(iv) What other activity does the poet recommend to entertain? Mention two ways in which this activity would benefit them.
(v) What does the poet advise readers to do at the end of the poem? What does he assure them will happen if they followed his suggestion? What would you say is the central idea in this poem ?
Answer:
(i) The most important lesson the poet says he has learnt is that, while raising children, we should strictly keep ‘ them away from television sets, or better still, the idiotic thing; i.e. the television should not be installed in the house at all.

(ii) The poet, Roald Dahl, seems to have undertaken a long research on the bad effects of television by visiting a large number of households. He says that in most of the houses that he visited, he found the children lazying about all day and staring at the television screen without doing any productive work. He exaggerates amusingly when he says that he has seen the children stare so hard that their eyeballs fall off and a dozen such eyeballs seem to be rolling about on the floor in one house that he visited recently.

(iii) The poet conveys strongly the ill-effects of watching television on the minds of our beloved tots. He says that watching too much television fills up the mind of the children with useless facts, while at the same time, destroying their ability to create or understand the world of fantasy and imagination. It takes away their ability to think. Their brain becomes as soft as cheese. Television logs and clutters up the organised thought process of a growing child. Gradually their thinking and analyzing power freezes and gets rusty.

(iv) The poet recommends ‘Reading as the other activity to entertain children.
Firstly, reading will keep the children busy and they will also stop watching ‘the idiotic box’ and the junk it offers.
Secondly, reading would open a world of knowledge and fantasies for the children which would provide them ultimate joy and entertainment.

(v) The poet advises the readers to remove their television set and replace it with a book shelf and fill it with lots of books. The poet, Roald Dahl, now assures the readers that once the children will start reading books, they will grow so keen for reading that they will discover the real joy, and will wonder what they had found in that silly machine. They will love and thank their parents for ushering them into the wonderful world of books.

The central idea conveyed by the poet is his concern over how excessive watching of television can harm the children, their thinking power, their imaginative faculty and their realization of real joy. They get deprived of outdoor sports and also of reading.

He suggests replacing television with books which would initially arise hostility in children for this act.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, Never, Never let
Them near your television set-
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in women one’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and side
Until they’re hypnotized by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window still,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink-
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?

(i) What is the most important things that the poet has learnt? What is the common view in almost every household?
(ii) What amusing exaggeration does the poet make here?
(iii) The poet has used two words to indicate the children’s addiction to T.V. What are they? What is referred to as ‘ghastly junk’?
(iv) How does television keep the children calm?
(v) How do the parents benefit when the children are occupied with the television set? What important question does the poet pose for the parents?
Answer:
(i) The most important thing that the poet has learnt in that the children should be kept away from the television set or not to install the television set at all. The poet says that in most houses he has visited, he has found the children lazing about all day starting at the television with undisturbed concentration.
(ii) The poet humorously remarks that sometimes the children store at the television so hard that their eyeballs fall off and he saw at someone’s place, dozen such eyeballs lying on the floor.
(iii) The two words the poet has used to indicate their addiction to the TV are ‘hypnotized’ and ‘drunk’. The “ghastly junk’ refers to the irrelevant stuff that the children watch, which are mostly unreal and inappropriate for their age.
(iv) The poet understands that the television keeps the naughty children calm. They do not do nasty things like climbing a window or jumping over it, which could accidentally hurt them. Television diverts them from getting into a fight and thus, hitting or kicking each other.
(v) Children’s occupancy with the television set allows the parents to do household chores like, cooking and washing dishes without any disturbance. The poet now questions the parents whether they ever realise exactly what harm this idiotic box does to their dear child.

Q. 3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

“IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THING- HE ONLY SEES!

All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do ?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten ? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow :
They… USED… TO… READ! They’d READ and READ.
AND READ and READ, and then proceed To READ some more. Great Scott! Cadzooks!
One half their lives were reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More boos were waiting to be read!’

(i) What effect does the television cast on a child’s innocent mind?
(ii) Explain the line- HE CANNOT THINK – HE ONLY SEES!”
(iii) As per the poet’s anticipation, what could be the parents response if they are threatened against the dangers of television?
(iv) What question does the poet raise to the parents?
(v) Does he provide any solution to the problem? If yes, what is it? Which all places were filled with bool ?
Answer:
(i) According to the poet, watching television all the time is harmful in numerous ways. It rots the senses of the child and kills his imaginative power. It causes a confusion in his mind. He becomes dull and inactive. He no longer understands a fairy tale or able to think innovatively. It also effects his eyesight and numbs the brain.

(ii) Excessive watching of television makes the child’s brain as soft as cheese. He believes blind-v whatever he watches or hears in it. He does not use his own logic to analyse and interpret things. Television destroys a child’s ability to think, he keeps staring at the television screen.

(iii) The poet, Roald Dahl, expects that the parents might agree to take away the television from their children but will surely ask, how are they supposed to keep their children occupied and entertained in the absence of television.

(iv) In response to the parent’s question as to how they should entertain their dear children if remove the T.V. sets, the poet raises a counter question asking them what they used to do to keep themselves entertained when television sets was not invented.

(v) Yes, the poet himself provides the answer. He reminds us that children, in earlier times, used to ‘Read’ a lot of books. Amazingly, the people then spent half of their lives in reading books.

The books then filled the Nursery shelves. They were scattered on the Nursery floor. In the bedroom too, the books waited bedside, to be read.

Question 4.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasures isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(it smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and –
Just How the Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost his Rump,
And Mr. Toad and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.

(i) What books did the children read in earlier times?
(ii) Who were cannibals? What were they seen doing?
(iii) Who was the famous author of children’s books? Who were the well known characters and the animals?
(iv) What was the content of the stories of the camel and the monkey ?
(v) What earnest appeal does the poet make and to whom? What should they do instead?
Answer:
(i) In earlier times, the children read wonderful stories of dragons, gypsies, queens, whales, smugglers, etc. They also reaid about treasure islands and far off lands where the sea-pirates hid their loot/treasure and themselves.
(ii) Cannibals were man-eating humans. They danced around a pot stirring and cooking their prey.
(iii) Roald Dahl, here, makes a reference to another author of children’s books- Beatrix Potter. Her books are famous for featuring animals and colourful illustrations. Mr. Tod— the rotter, Nutkin, the squirrel Bland the piglet, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle, the monkey, the camel, Mr. Toad, Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole, decorated the stories of Beatrix.
(iv) The stories tell about how the camel got his hump and how the monkey lost his lump.
(v) The poet begs and prays to the parents to remove their television sets and replace them with a nice bookshelf on the wall.

Question 5.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :

And once they start-oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

(i) What according to the poet, will be the reaction of the children?
(ii) How does the poet suggest the parents to face the repulsive behaviour of their children? What promise does he make?
(iii) What thought makes the poet excited? Name the poet
(iv) How will the thoughts of the children change about the television?
(v) What reward will the parents get finally?
Answer:
(i) When the parents will remove their dear television sets, the children will get repulsive, they will object giving harsh looks to their parents, and will shout and scream, bite and kick and hit with sticks.
(ii) The poet tells the parents to be patient and not to fear. He assures them that within a week or two when the children will not find anything else to do, they will finally turn to the books for reading.
(iii) The poet is elated to imagine the pleasure the children will find once they begin reading books. The poet is Roald Dahl.
(iv) Once the children start seeking joy in the books, they will reach a stage when they will wonder what they had found in that silly machine called television. It will seem to them disgusting, dirty and irritating.
(v) Finally, when the children will discover the real joy of reading books, they will love and respect their parents for providing them an opportunity to discover the world of wonderful books and saving them from the hypnotism of the ridiculous television. They will realize that books give them knowledge, wisdom, imagination and more pleasure rather than what television could offer.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary by Jesse Owens

My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary About the Author

Jesse Owens also known by name of James Cleveland Owens, (12 September 1913 – 31 March 1980), was an American track and field athlete who set a world record in the running broad jump which stood for 25 years and who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. It is the four Olympic victories that were a blow to Adolf Hitler’s intention to use the games to demonstrate Aryan superiority. Hitler refused to shake hands with Owens because he was an African American.

My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary

‘My Greatest Olympic Prize’ is a famous memoir by the well-known American Athlete, Jesse Owens. He was a member of the American team that went to Berlin for the 1936 Olympic Games. In this story, he shares his unforgettable experience during the games. Adolf Hitler was then the ruler of Germany. He was an ardent racist. He believed in the supremacy of the ‘Aryan race’. He thought that his German athletes belonged to a master race and they would perform better than the others.

Jesse Owens was a Negro. He nurtured a belief to disapprove Hitler’s theory and with this determination he went to Berlin. He trained himself for six years for these Olympics. The previous year he had already made a record in long jump. So he was pretty confident to win the medal.

An angry athlete commits mistakes. So did Jesse. He put a very bad performance during the trials. But the German athlete Luz Long, performed well and qualified for the finals. This made Jesse all the more upset. Though Luz is his opponent player but surprisingly he helps Jesse to qualify for the finals. He suggests to draw a line behind the take off board and then to jump.

In the finals, though Luz managed to break his own record but it was Jesse who won the gold medal by jumping 26 feet 5-5/16 inches. Despite Hitler’s glaring at them, Luz shook hands with Jesse and congratulated him.

Jesse recollects what Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of Olympic Games, said that the true spirit of Olympic is not winning but taking part and fighting well. Luz did not win but set up a good Olympic spirit. Thus, for Jesse Owens, the greatest Olympic prize is not the gold medal but his true and noble friendship with Luz Long.

My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary Word Meanings :

1. Sophomore : A student in the second year of high school or college
2. Startled : Surprised
3. Leaped : Jumped
4. Disgustedly : Distastefully
5. Slang : Language peculiar to a particular group of people
6. Chiseled : Having an attractive well formed shape
7. Ebb out : Decline
8. Glared : To look angrily at someone
9. Epitome : A perfect example

My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
How does Luz Long’s behaviour prime the words of ‘Coubertin’?
Answer:
Pierre de Coubertin was the Frenchman whose efforts were responsible for the revival of the Modern Olympic Games in 1896. He believed that the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well. And Luz Long seems to be the epitome of the very principles of Olympics and true sportsmanship.

He saw a fellow sportsman, Owens in trouble and worried, he extendedhis hand to help him.Instead of considering him his staunch opponent and without paying heed to Hitler’s anger, he became friendly with Owens. He not only guided Owens to qualify for the trials, but also was the first to congratulate him heartily on his success.

Question 2.
Why does Jesse Owens call his Olympic Prize as the’greatest’?
Answer:
Jesse Owens was a famous American athlete. He was a member of the American team that went to Berlin for the 1936 Olympic Games. Adolf Hittler was then the ruler of Germany. He was a staunch racist. He claimed the supremacy of the ‘Aryan race’, which he considered as the ‘master race’. While all other belonged to the ‘slave race’. Jesse was a Negro.

He wanted to disprove the foolish theory of Aryan Superiority with this determination, he went to Berlin. His mind is filled with winning the Olympic Gold. Nothing could shake his spirits. He had successfully trained, sweated and disciplined himself for six years, focusing on the games. He had already set the world record of 26 feet 8-1/4 inches.

But when Jesse went to the trials of the Long Jump event of the Olympic Games, Luz Long, the tall German athlete, whom Hitler had secretly kept for the final event, unnerved Jesse. He became under confident and fouled in the first two attempts of the trial. Luz Long, noticing a world record holder pathetically fouling, understood the reason behind it. Without the hesitation, despite being an opponent, he extends an arm of friendship to Owens.

He gave him a genuinely friendly advice to draw a line a few inches from the take off board to avoid over¬stepping and fouling. Owens took his advice and was able to qualify with a clear mind. In the finals, Luz long broke his past record in long jump. However, it is Jesse Owens who won the gold medal by jumping 26-feet 5, 5/16 inches.

Luz Long was the first person to congratulate Jesse, though Hitler glared at both of them. At the moment, Jesse Owens felt that the friend that he has found in Luz Long is more significant than the gold medal he won. The new and noble friendship with Luz seemed more precious to him than the ‘Greatest’ medal he received in the Olympics.

My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary Extract Based Questions

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Everyone kind of expected me to win that Olympic event hands down.”
(i) Who is ‘me’ in the above extract? Why does everyone expect him to win?
(ii) Why were nationalistic feelings running high during the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games?
(iii) What surprise confronts Jesse when he reaches there? Who had maintained this surprise and why?
(iv) What is the reason behind such bitter thoughts that arise in Jesse’s mind? Who offers Jesse a firm hand shake? What friendly advice does this person offer?
(v) What character traits of Luz Long are described here which truly need admiration?
Answer:
(i) ‘Me’ refers to the athlete ‘Jesse Owens’, who was participating in the Broad Jump competition in the Olympic Games of 1936.
Everyone expected him to win because an year ago, as a sophomore at Ohio State University, he had set the world record of 26 feet 8-1/4 inches. He had also trained and disciplined himself for 6 years.

(ii) At that time Adolf Hitler stuck to Aryan Superiority theory. He believed that his German athletes belonged to a ‘master race’ and they would perform better than other participants in the 1936 Olympics, Berlin. So, the nationalistic feeling ran high then.

(iii) As Jessie walks to the broad jump pit, he is surprised to see a tall German practising in the 26 foot range. He was not expecting such a strong competitor.It was Hitler who had secretly nurtured a very strong German athlete and kept him hidden until the final days to petrify other athletes. Hitler would have been fully aware that an angry athlete makes mistakes so that the other athletes would get nervous and make mistakes, providing more chance to his German athlete to win and prove the ‘Aryan Superiority Theory’ true.

(iv) The presence of Luz Long, the tall German athlete unnerved Jesse’s confidence. He was filled with anger and frustration and fouled badly in the first two attempts of the trial. This makes him bitter. The tall blue-eyed German broad jumper Luz Long approached Jesse and offered a firm hand shake. Luz gave him a genuinely friendly advice to draw a line a few inches from the take off board to avoid over stepping and consequently fouling.

(v) As described by Jesse, Luz Long had a lean, muscular built, clear blue eyes, blond hair and extremely handsome and crafted face. His offering good counsel to Jesse, proved that he was a true sportsman and an amazing human being. He was a strong and competent athlete too.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“I realized then, too, that Luz was the epitome of what Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, must have in mind”
(i) Does Owen feel obliged with Luz’s help and behaviour?
(ii) What is the value of Luz’s friendship in his eyes?
(iii) What does Hitler glare at and Why?
(iv) What had Pierre de Coubertin said? Quote the lines.
(v) How does Luz prove himself to be an epitome of Pierre’s words?
Answer:
(i) Yes, Owen felt obliged to Luz as he went to thank Luz for the crucial tips he had given to Owen which helped him to qualify for the finals. They spent some time together, paving a way for a new and sincere friendship.

(ii) Owen’s dearly values his friendship with Luz as he says that one could melt down all the gold medals and cups he had but it could not equal the plating on the 24-carat friendship he felt for Luz Long.

(iii) Hitler glared at Luz Long shaking hands with Jesse to congratulate him on his victory. He was angry, firstly, due to the defeat of his athlete and secondly, his defeated athlete was congratulating his opponent and thus, breaking Hitler’s over-confidence.

(iv) Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games said, “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”

(v) When Luz Long noticed a world record holder pathetically fouling, he understood the reason behind it. In spite of Owens being his opponent, Luz approached him and advised him genuinely. Though this could have angered his leader, yet he showed true sportsmanship. Luz even congratulated Owens openly on his victory, unbothered by Hitler’s glares, and without a tinge of jealousy.Thus, Long was the epitome of the message of Coubertin that, not winning but taking part in Olympics is more important.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

The Blue Bead Summary by Norah Burke

The Blue Bead Summary About the Author

Norah Aileen Burke (2nd August, 1907-1976), was a celebrated English novelist and non-fiction writer famous for her descriptions of life in India during the early 20th century. Her father was a forest officer in India during her early childhood. Thus, she got an ample chance to interact with the wildlife in India, which inspired her to include them in her works, the famous among them being ‘Jungle Child’ (1956), ‘Eleven Leopards’ (1965) and ‘Midnight Forests’ (1966).

The Blue Bead Summary

This story starts with a mugger crocodile lying motionless waiting for food. Beside him lay a small blue bead. In the village above the river lived a little girl, Sibia. Being poor she never owned anything but a rag. Her family could not even afford her a new needle or a handful of beads to make a necklace. She worked with her mother and other women collecting paper grass from above the river.

After a good collection was made, they would take it down to the bullock cart and sell it to the agent who would arrange for it to be sent to the paper mills. On the way lived some Gujar people, the nomadic graziers, who stayed there till their animals finished grazing at that spot. One day when the women returned back after toiling for the entire dav, Sibia decided to rest on the way. While she was resting, a Gujar woman came down to fill two pots and when she was filling them a huge crocodile attacked her, biting down on the woman’s leg, blood spreading everywhere. Quickly Sibia, who was watching .

This attack, ran over and stabbed the crocodile in the eves, the only vulnerable area, with her havfork. The crocodile swam away convulsively in pain. After having being rescued Sibia she brought her to the shore, applied sand on her wound, tied it with a rag and helped her home. When she came back to pick her things, she saw the blue bead laying in the river. She picked it up and brought it home happily and told her mom about the bead that she had found for her necklace.

The Blue Bead Summary Word Meanings :

1. Whirlpool : An area of water in a river, stream, etc. that moves very fast in a circle
2. Dislodge : To forcefully remove
3. Jostle : To push against while moving forward in a crowd
4. Rippled : Moved in small waves
5. Trilling : Twirl, revolve
6. Mugger : A freshwater crocodile found in India
7. Antediluvian : Very old or old-fashioned
8. Formidable : Very powerful or strong
9. Fend : Defend, guard
10. Putrid : Rotten, very ugly or unpleasant
11. Tepid : Not hot and not cold; lukewarm
12. Armoured hide : Thick skin which acts as a armour
13. Gharials : Crocodiles
14. Ford : A shallow part of a river etc. that may be crossed by walking
15. Perforated : Having holes
16. Starveling : Very thin due to lack of food; malnourished
17. Rancid : Having strong and unpleasant smell
18. Goosey-cold : Extreme cold that causes goosebumps
19. One anna : 1/16th of a rupee
20. Gaunt : Plain and unpleasant in appearance
21. Forebears : Forefathers
22. Swooping : To fly down through the air suddenly
23. Dawdle : To spend time idly
24. Hayfork : A long handed fork used for moving hay
25. Boulder : A very large and rounded rock
26. Lunge : A sudden forward movement
27. Darkling : In the dark
28. Heaved : Lifted or pulled with effort
29. Threshing : Striking repeatedly
30. Flail : To strike or hit in a wild and uncontrolled way
31. Prong : A long point of a fork
32. Convulsion : An uncontrolled fit
33. Wobbling : Moving unsteadily from side to side
34. Smudged : Made unclear
35. Morose : Very sad or unhappy
36. Makna elephant : Tuskless, dangerous elephant’

The Blue Bead Summary Question and Answer

Question 1.
Describe ‘Poverty’ as one of the themes of the story ‘The Blue Bead’.
Answer:
Sibia, the protagonist of the story, is a young girl of twelve years who lived in poverty. We see her as a child in rags, thin and starving. She didn’t possess even one anna, a piece or a pit to buy a handful of glass beads or one of the thin glass bangles from the bazaar. She lost her childhood in doing household work, she husked corn, gathered sticks, put dung to dry, cooked, fetched water, cut grass for fodder and accompanied her mother and other ladies to get paper grass from the cliffs above the river. Thus, we see that Sibia characterises the other poor girls and women of her group who worked hard to arrange the necessities’ of their life.

Sibia divided her chappati to make it seem more, she stood expectantly infront of sweet stalls, but couldn’t have them, her desire to wear silver threaded satin clothes was replaced with earth coloured rags and she has to wait to buy a small needle to make her necklace as hers is broken and they don’t have money to buy a mere small needle.

Question 2.
How does Sibia, a simple, young poor girl become the heroine of the story ‘The Blue Bead’? What reward does she get for her
brave act?
Answer:
In Narah Burke’s story ‘The Blue Bead’, Sibia is a poor child who has never owned much in her entire life. She was marked for work from life to death. She is very hard working. She helped her mother to make money by picking paper grass for hours, up the hill. She doesn’t have a single penny to buy a glass bead nor a needle to make her necklace.

One day, after finishing the day’s work of cutting paper grass, she stays back while all other women, along with Sibia’s mother, come back to their village. She walked down the ghats of the river, and walked across the stepping stones, but shortly after another woman came to fill her ‘gurrahs’. Suddenly, an armored mugger lunged at her leg dropping the brass ‘gurrahs’ in the river! Sibia knew she had to do something. She needed to help her! Immediately came into action. She flew towards the woman, jumping from boulder to boulder, which are normally difficult to cross, due to the big gap at some places.

She quickly jumped in the boiling bloody water, faced the strong Saurian right in the eye, and with her hayfork aimed at the crocodile’s eyes, which is the most vulnerable spot in its body.The crocodile crashed exploded the water. The convulsion made it swim away in pain. Sibia then dragged the Gujar woman out of the water, stops her wounds with sand and bound them with a rag and helped her to reach her encampment.When she came back to get her grass, sickle and fork, she saw a ‘Blue Bead’ laying in the stream and fetches it. She is overjoyed and carries it home ecstatically. Now she would be able to complete her necklace!

The Blue Bead Summary Extract Based Questions

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Now, nothing could pierce the inch-thick armoured hide. Not even rifle bullets, which would bounce off.”
(i) Who is being spoken of in the above lines? Describe him.
(ii) From whom did the baby crocodile face danger to its life? How does the crocodile store its food?
(iii) In what words has the author highlighted the power and magnificence of the crocodile?
(iv) Which are the vulnerable parts in the body of a crocodile?
(v) What is the author’s intention of mentioning a blue bead while describing the crocodile?
Answer:
(i) The creature mentioned here is the mugger crocodile. It is twice the length of a tall man. It is blackish brown above and yellowish white below. His mouth is almost the whole length of his head and tinged green, and its tail is quite huge and strong.

(ii) The baby crocodile had danger from the birds of prey and the great carnivorous fish.
The crocodile caught the food it needed and stored it till it decayed, in holes in the bank.

(iii) The author has used the following words to highlight the strength and grandeur of the crocodile
“This ante diluvian saurian – this prehistoric juggernaut, ferocious and formidable, a vast force in the water, propelled by the unimaginable and irresistible power of the huge tail.”

(iv) Nothing can pierce the inch-thick armored hide of the crocodile, not even rifle bullets. The only places that are vulnerable are the eyes and the soft underarms.

(v) The story’s title is ‘The Blue Bead’. The protagonist of the story, about whom we get to know later, is earnestly in search of a bead to make a necklace for herself, and she finds this bead near the crocodile. But what all that she goes through to get it is adventurous. Thus, the Blue Bead carried great significance and is mentioned in the beginning itself.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“She was going with her mother and some other women now to get paper grass from the cliffs above the river.”
(i) Who is ‘She’? Describe the girl, her food and lifestyle.
(ii) Where and what kind of ‘finery’ had poor Sibia seen? What kind of work had Sibia done?
(iii) Where had the Gujar males gone? How does the author describe the buffaloes?
(iv) What similarity exists between the Gujars and Sibica?
(v) Who were the Gujars? Describe the Gujar women.
Answer:
(i) ‘She’ is referred to the protagonist of the story ‘Sibia’. She is a twelve year, earthy colour, thin girl with ebony hair. She had never owned anything except a rag which she had torn in two to make a skirt and a sari. She lived in such poverty that she divides her chapatti into several pieces to make it seem more and she has to wait to buy another needle when one breaks while piercing the beads. She remains bare foot and goosey-cold even in winters. She was born to labour

(ii) Sibia had seen the finery in the bazaar in the little town at the rail head which she had visited with her family after passing through the jungles. In the bazaar, she had gazed amazingly at the wonderful green and magenta coloured honey confections surrounded with dust and flies.Then she came across the cloth stall with big rolls of new cotton cloth smelling of the mills. She also saw satin sewn with real silver thread, tin trays from Birmingham, and a sari embroidered with chips looking like glass at the borders.

In the bazaar was a Kashmiri travelling merchant showing dawn-coloured silks, he also had a little locked chest with turquoises and opals in it. Amongst all of these, she loved the box which when pressed, a bell tinkled and a yellow woollen chicken jumped out.Throughout her life, Sibia seemed to be born to do various kinds of work like, husking corn, gathering sticks, putting dung to dry, cooking and weeding, fetching water and cutting grass for fodder.

(iii) The Gujar men and boys were out of camp with the herd or had gone to the bazaar to sell produce. The author describes the buffaloes as creatures of great wet noses and moving jaws and gaunt black bones.

(iv) Both, Sibia and Gujars, were junglis, as they were born and bred in the forest. For many centuries, their forefathers had lived in a similar manner, living on animals, grass and trees. They searched their food together and stored their substance in large heads and silver jewellery. They were neither Stone Age Hunters nor Modern Cultivators, but were ‘Man in the Wandering Pastoral Age’.

(v) Gujars was a tribe of nomadic graziers who temporarily camped at a place till their animals finished all the easy grazing within their reach or till they were unable to sell enough of their white butter or milk in the district, or they couldn’t find a customer for the young male buffaloes for tiger bait.The Gujar women wore trousers, tight and wrinkled at the ankles. In their ears they wore large silver rings made out of melted rupees.

Question 3.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Sibia sprang from boulder to boulder she came leaping like a rock goat.”
(i) Why were the women going to the cliff above the river ?
(ii) Why was Sibia left alone? Why was she there? What made her spring into action
(iii) Why didn’t the mugger move when the women crossed the river?
(iv) Describe the crocodile’s attack and how Sibia defeated him.
(v) What was it that made Sibia overjoyed? What does this reflect about her?
Answer:
(i) Sibia, along with her mother and other women of the village went to get paper grass from above the river,which they sold in bulk to the agent who would arrange it to be sent to the paper mills.

(ii) This day when their task was done, the women went back home while Sibia dawdled around to see if the little clay cups were still there in the cave and was last to go back. In the middle of the way, she decided to take a break as she was tired and loaded. At that same moment, a Gujar woman went down to the river to fetch water in her ‘gurrahs’. Suddenly the crocodile attacks her unaware. Sibia instead of getting terrified runs to save the woman. Thus, she springs into action.

(iii) The mugger didn’t move as the noise frightens crocodiles. While crossing the river the women laughed and bickered in plenty. They girded up their skirts and jumped from stone to stone. The sickles and forks which they held over their shoulders, clanked. They quarreled with each other noisy. This scared the crocodiles which lay docile while they moved across.

(iv) As the Gujar woman comes near the water to fill her vessels, the crocodile lunges at her. His jaws closed in on the woman’s leg, spreading blood everywhere. She grabs onto the rock but the strong crocodile pulls the woman and she loses the grip. She is able to grab a log caught between two rocks. Brave Sibia jumps into action on seeing this. The crocodile splashed the water forcefully with its tail but Sibia did not hesitate. She drove her hayfork into the crocodile’s eye as fiercefully as she could. He was retreated painfully. He let go his prey and disappeared.

(v) When Sibia returns to pick her sickle and bundle of paper grass after helping the Gujar woman, she notices a blue bead in water and picks it up. She is ecstatic to get it. Her aspiration of life to make a necklace for herself is fulfilled. She feels boundless joy when she tells her mother about the bead.

But she does not even mention the fatal combat she had experienced in which she had emerged victorious. This shows that she was extremely brave and adventurous. This also highlights the fact that for poor people like Sibia, the fulfilment of little dreams is much more important and significant than saving a life.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

The Little Match Girl Summary by Hans Christian Andersen

The Little Match Girl Summary About the Author

Hans Christian Anderson (2nd April, 1805 – 4th August, 1875), was a Danish writer, who enjoyed fame as a novelist, dramatist and poet, but fairy tales are his greatest contribution to world literature. Many of his stories include, ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and ‘The Princess and the Pea’, remain classics of the genre. His stories have been adapted for stage and screen, including a popular animated version of ‘The Little Mermaid’. He suffered a serious injury after falling from bed. His last publication, a collection of stories, appeased the same year. Signs of Liver Cancer started showing up and finally he died in Copenhagen.

The Little Match Girl Summary

‘The Little Match Girl’ is a sad story about a miserable young girl. The story begins on a rough cold winter evening, the wind was swirling, the sky was darkening and the snow was coming down. It was the last evening before New Year and it seems that the people were preparing to spend a nice evening in their homes with a lavish celebratiori. In this chill and darkness, a poor little girl strolled, who was bareheaded and bare feet. She was wearing her mother’s slippers but they were bigger than her size, so while crossing the road in a hurry, she lost one of them and the other one was stolen by a boy. Her feet were red and frozen due to the cold.

This little girl is out in the streets to sell matches as ordered by her strict father. She could not manage to sell any since morning but could not return home, firstly, because her father would beat her and secondly, her poor home could not provide her any shelter from the cold winds. She was lured by the appetizing smells of food, spreading from a house.

The low temperature made it impossible for her to carry on further so she curled herself up in a corner between two buildings and tucked her feet underneath herself. To keep herself warm she decided to light up one match. The lightning of the match carries her into a world of imagination. She imagines a large iron stove and tries to feel the warmth coming from it. But suddenly it disappears with the match.

The little girl’s next vision, which she sees on lighting the next match, is of a beautiful stuffed goose dinner. Suddenly, the goose hopped out from the dish with the knife and fork still in its breast and reached upto the little girl. But again the match goes out and the scene disappears.

In the next vision she finds herself sitting under the most beautifully decorated Christmas tree. Then the girl sees the falling star and thinks to herself that someone is dying because once her grandmother had told that a falling star meant that someone was going to heaven. She finally visualizes her beloved grandmother and continues to light matches, one after the other, to keep her in sight. The next day, she was found dead and frozen with a smiling face. Everyone talked about her attempts to keep herself warm but no one knew that she died a peaceful death while having happy visions and about her joining her beloved grandmother in heaven.

The Little Match Girl Summary Word Meanings:

1. Hitherto : Until now
2. Scuffled away : Moved quickly with short steps
3. Dreadfully : Very bad or unpleasant
4. Urchin : A usually poor and dirty child
5. Farthing : A former British coin with a value equal to one quarter of a penny
6. Gleaming : Shining
7. Cowered : Moved back or crouched especially for shelter
8. Venture : To risk
9. Numbed : Without sensation
10. Burnished : Polished
11. Porcelain : A hard, white substance made by baking clay, used for making utensils
12. Reeled : Whirled, moved round and round
13. Trail : A path through a forest, field
14. Lustre : Gleam, shine

The Little Match Girl Summary Question and Answer

Question 1.
How is the setting in the story, the cold and darkness, symbolic of the girl’s isolation and sadness?
Answer:
The weather was extremely cold and it was completely dark. It was the last evening of the year, the snow was falling heavily and everything seemed to be freezing. The sly was covered with dark clouds. It was a chilling environment, and it seemed that the people preferred to stay indoors due to shivering cold. The atmosphere was ‘ gloomy and somewhat scary.

‘The little match girl, as the author calls her, is barefoot and bear headed. She is out in the chilling cold selling matches. She belonged to a very poor family. She couldn’t go back to her house because her father would scold her for being unsuccessful in selling the matches. Her house too could not protect her against the cold for they had nothing but the roof above them with holes stuffed with straws and rags. She chose to freeze in the cold rather than return back home. This shows that the cold gloomy weather truly symbolised her sad, miserable life.

Question 2.
Throw a light on the visions of the little girl in the story’, ‘A Little Match Girl.’
Answer:
‘The Little Match Girl’ by Hans Christian Anderson, is a story about a small girl no older than eleven, sent out to sell matches, which was earlier considered as a form of begging. It is the dead of winter and she has little to keep herself warm. Her ill-fitting shoes had been taken from her and with the fear of going home only to be beaten for her unsuccessful sales, she curls up in the cold. As she is struggling to keep warm all she can contemplate is the thought of lighting one small match. As she does so, she is filled with feelings of warmth and safety. She sees a vision of a large iron stove. Hallucinations are one of the symptoms of severe hypothermia, which indicates that the girl is slowly drifting away. But as the match stick burns off, the stove disappears and comes into consciousness.

The second vision describes a magical New Years Eve feast. A goose dancing with knife and fork in its breast. This vision shows how hungry the small girl truly is, and if she doesn’t freeze she will surely starve. The third vision of the night, is a magnificent Christmas tree. It is brightly lit and beautifully decorated. The story describes bright coloured pictures looking down on her. As the colours and lights rise, and the tree disappears, the stars become visible, and it seems as though the lights from the tree have become the stars. The little girl then sees a star fall and claims that someone was dying, as her old grandmother had told.

The small girl drew another match and there her loving grandmother stood before her in the dark of the night with kind looks. The girl knew that if the match were to run out her grandmother would disappear just like all her other wonderful visions, so she struck the rest of the match sticks on the wall. The little girl pleads with her grandmother to take her back to heaven.

This shows that how truly close the little match girl is freezing to death and so the grandmother carries her in her arms with brightness and joy away from cold and hunger.The next morning the people found her frozen to death, matches in hand and a smile on her face. None is aware of the beautiful visions of the little girl and the splendor she has entered in.

The Little Match Girl Summary Extract Based Questions

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
(i) Who is ‘she’? Describe her condition? Why were the slippers not good for her?
(ii) How was the weather? What day was it? Identify the author of the story.
(iii) Why was the girl ‘the picture of misery’?
(iv) Why does the author say ’she did not think of her appearance now?
(v) Why didn’t the little girl go home? What did she do instead?
Answer:
(i) ‘She’ is the poor little girl.
She was in a miserable state because she was out in the cold selling matches bareheaded and barefoot.
The slippers were not good for her because they had been her mother’s, so obviously they were much bigger in size. Also she had lost them while running across the street in order to escape from the carriages. One was lost and the other was stolen by a boy.

(ii) It was an extremely cold day and the snow was falling. It was getting dark.
It was New Year7s Eve. The author of the story is Hans Christian Anderson.

(iii) The poor girl lost her slippers, the only warmth she had. Her feet were red and frozen because the temperature was very low. In her old apron she carried many matches to sell but couldn’t manage to sell any. The hunger and cold increased minute by minute making her shiver.

(iv) The little girl was in a miserable state. She was moving around the streets in extreme weather, without any footwear or anything to cover her head. She was shivering. The snowflakes fell on her long golden hair which curled beautifully about her neck but she little cared for her looks and appearance. Her only concern was to sell the matchboxes somehow.

(v) The poor little girl did not dare to go home, firstly, because her father would surely beat her for being unable to sell any matches and earn a single penny. Secondly, at home too there was no respite from cold as they had nothing but the roof above them and the wind easily passed through the cracks. Instead, she huddled down in a heap in a corner between two houses and tucked her little legs up under her.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“If only she dared pull just one small match from the packet, strike it on the wall and warm her fingers.”
(i) Why did she think to pull one small match from the packet? How did it feel when it was lighted? Why was it a strange light?
(ii) What vision does she see the second time she lit the match?
(iii) To whom does the little girl say ‘oh, take me with you’? What kind of relation does she share with the
listener? What had this person told the little girl?
(iv) When did she see a star falling? What truth came to her on seeing it?
(v) Did the grandmother too vanish like the other visions, leaving her alone? What good luck did the New Year bring for the little girl?
Answer:
(i) Though the girl huddled herself in a corner still she felt colder and colder. Her hands were almost numb with cold so she thought to pull one small match and light it. The match burnt with a splutter, giving out warmth. Its bright flame seemed like a tiny candle.

The light seemed strange and wonderful because the bright warm flame made the little maiden feel that she was sitting before a large iron stove with burnished brass knobs and brass ornaments. The fire burnt blissfully and warmed the girl comfortably which made her stretch out her legs to warm them too.

(ii) When she lit the second match the wall on which the light fell, became transparent like a veil, so that she could see inside the room. A snow-white table cloth was spread on the table, upon it lay splendid porcelain containing steaming roasted goose stuffed with prunes and apples. It was more captivating to watch the goose hop down from the dish, and waddle across the floor towards the girl, with knife and fork in its breast. Suddenly the match went off and the vision cleared. Only the thick, cold, damp wall was left behind.

(iii) The little girl says these words to her Grandmother whom she sees in the luster of the glowing match. Her grandmother was the only person who had loved her and was no more. She looked very gentle, kind and affectionate. She had told the little girl that when a star falls, a soul ascends to God.

(iv) When the girl struck the match for the third time, she found herself sitting under the most magnificent Christmas tree. It was much larger and more beautiful than the one which she had seen through the glass door in the rich merchant’s house. Numerous lights illuminated the green branches of the tree along with the gaily coloured balls.

As soon as she reached out for them, the match went out and the numerous candles on the Christmas tree ascended towards the sky turning into bright stars. One of them fell down leaving behind a trail of light. This made the girl believe that someone was dying. Her grandmother had told her that ‘whenever a star falls, a soul goes up to God.’

(v) The girl struck all the rest of the matches to keep her grandmother with her. The old lady took the little girl in her arms and carried her up towards heaven, away from cold, hunger or fear. The next morning, i.e., the New Year morning, the people found the little girl frozen to death. Though they sympathized with her but they were unaware of the beautiful things she had seen and the spender in which, she had entered with her grandmother. Thus, the New Year had brought heavenly joy and gladness for her.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

An Angel in Disguise Summary by T.S. Arthur

An Angel in Disguise Summary About the Author

T.S. Arthur (6 June 1809-6 March 1885), was a popular 19th century American author. He had a distinguished writing career during which he wrote more than 150 novels. His work was basically moralistic in nature. His most famous work is his essay, ‘The Nights in a Bar-Room and What I Saw There’ (1854). He was a strong proponent of temperance.

An Angel in Disguise Summary

‘An Angel in disguise’ is an emotional story which highlights the theme of love and kindness. It takes place in a small village. A pauper woman dies at the threshold of her house due to excessive alcoholism. Her three children are left orphaned. The lady was despised by the villagers and so had no family or friend. But after her death, pity replaced anger. The villagers take up a collection and put together a modest funeral. As for the children, farmer Jones adopts John, a stout 12 year old boy, because he would help him in fieldwork.

The second born child, 10 year old Kate, a bright and active girl, was taken by Mrs. Ellis, who has looking for a bound girl. Then there was Maggie, the youngest and paralyzed one. She had fallen from the window and seriously injured her spine. She was bedridden so no one wanted to take her. They think of sending her to the poorhouse.

Mr. Joe Thompson, who worked as a wheelwright, takes pity on her. He likes children, though he is childless. His heart melts when the helpless child pleads with him. He knew his strict wife will be angry still he carries her home. He tells her that he would take her to the poorhouse the next day, somehow he manages to keep her despite of her hard hearted attitude.

Mr. Thompson requests his wife to think of Maggie’s dead mother, her loneliness, helplessness and sufferings in her life. Mrs. Thompson tried to hide her hostility while communicating with Maggie. But gradually the feeling of love and compassion emerged in her heart. She became kinder with the sweet sick girl. Maggie becomes a speck of happiness in the life of childless Thompson couple. She is a little girl with a pure, clear and light soul. They never discuss to take her to the poorhouse again. She turns out to be an angel in disguise for them.

An Angel in Disguise Summary Word Meanings:

1 Intemperance : Excessive drinking
2. Wretched : Very unhappy
3. Threshold : Door
4. Despised : Disliked
5. Scoffed at : Scorned, shown contempt
6. Denounced : Criticized harshly and publicly
7. Tumble-down : Collapsed
8. Interment : Burial
9. Stout : Brave and strong
10. Wan : Looking sick or pale
11. Soiled : Unclean, dirty
12. Hovel : A small, poorly built and often dirty house
13. Pauper : Poor
14. Ere : Before
15. Wheelwright : A maker and repairer of wheels
16. Vague : Unclear
17. Penetrated : To pass into or through
18. Brat An ill-mannered annoying child
19. Countenance : A person’s expression
20. Indignation : Anger
21. Irrepressible : Uncontrolled
22. Unwonted : Unwanted

An Angel in Disguise Summary Question and Answer

Question 1.
How did the fate of the three children change in the story, ‘An Angel in Disguise’?
Answer:
A poor woman, who is hated throughout her life by all the village people, dies in a drunken state on the threshold of her own house. Her three miserable children witness the death of their mother. The villagers take pity on her sudden death and the orphaned children, she has left behind. Suddenly, their world has changed. The villagers collect to decide on their fate.

12 years old John, is old enough to work. Farmer Jones adopts him because John would be helpful in field work. Mrs. Ellis begrudgingly adopts Kate, who is still a few years too young to go to work in a factory. Mrs. Ellis complains about the burden involved in taking responsibility of an undisciplined orphan. But no one comes up to adopt Maggie, the youngest child, as she is bedridden due to an injury which she suffered by falling down from the window and hurting her back. The villagers talk about taking her to the poorhouse.

Question 2.
How does Maggie prove to be an Angel in Disguise and for whom? 8
Answer:
Maggie, is the youngest child of a woman who died of intoxication, leaving her three young children in a wretched and miserable condition, on the mercy of others. Maggie is crippled and bed ridden after she fell and hurt her spine severely, two years back. Her other two siblings, John and Kate, are adopted by the former Jones and Mrs. Ellis respectively. But none is ready to take the liability of helpless Maggie. Some villagers assume that she will have to be taken to the poorhouse as she has no one to look after and care for her.

Mr. Joe Thompson, who is a wheelwright, takes pity on Maggie and takes her to his home. She is an embodiment of innocence, and purity. But he knows it would be very difficult to convince is wife. He draws on the Bible in order to appeal to Jane’s compassion. Seen as a burden at the first glance, Maggie turns out to be a blessing in the Thompson-home. Initially, he states the fact that he plans on taking her to the poor house possibly the next day, she agrees somehow but after spending a day and night with the small child, Mrs. Thompson’s heart grew with every moment tending to the small orphan girl. Not having a child of her own or any interests or things to take care of, lead her to become less compassionate.

Caring for the child gives her a sense of purpose and meaning in her otherwise dull housewife’s life. Thus, the little girl not only changed her attitude towards them but also brought light and joy into their home. She becomes extra careful for Maggie and gives up the idea of sending her to poorhouse. She accepts her as her child and carries her in her heart as well as arms. From a rude, ill-tempered and selfish lady, Mrs. Thompson becomes a living and compassionate person. Thompson household is filled with boundless joy which they had never experienced before. Thus Maggie, becomes an Angel in disguise’ for the Thompsons.

An Angel in Disguise Summary Extract Based Questions

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“What is to be done with the children?”
That was the chief question now.
(i) Who are these ‘children’? Why is something to be done with them?
(ii) Whaf effect does Maggie’s condition have on the villagers?
(iii) Describe the three children? Who among them was the most wretched? Why? What decision is taken for
the children?
(iv) According to the villagers, what type of place was the poorhouse? How will it be for Maggie?
(v) What melted Farmer Joe’s heart and what did he do?
Answer:
(i) The children are the innocent orphaned children of a pauper woman who died due to intoxication. The three children are left with no guardian and they cannot fend for themselves. In spite of the hatred they had for the woman, they gather at her cottage, arrange for her funeral and now discuss about the fate of the children.

(ii) The villagers looked at Maggie with pitying glances and troubled thought. Mother brought her old dirty clothes and dressed her in clean attire. They were touched by the gloomy eyes and calm face of the little girl but none was ready to take a sick bedridden girl to their home.

(iii) The eldest boy John, is 12 years and old enough to work. Farmer Jones adopts the boy because he will be of good use in fieldwork.
Kate is a bright and active girl who is begrudgingly adopted by Mrs. Ellis as she is too young to work. The most wretched among them was Maggie, the youngest child who is crippled for life due to a spine injury that happened two years back. She is bedridden. Unable to decide what to do about Maggie, the villagers assume she will have to be taken to the poorhouse.

(iv) As per the villagers, the poor house was a sad place for a sick and helpless child but as far as Maggie was concerned, it would be a blessing because there she would be kept clean, have healthy food, and be doctored, something which she lacked in the past.

(v) After John and Kate were taken away, Maggie was left all alone. Joe sympathies with her and the blacksmith’s wife suggests him to take her to the poorhouse. After thinking for a while Joe entered the hovel, where Maggie was sitting upright after some painful effort, but terrorized due to her loneliness. She urged Mr. Thomson not to leave her there all alone.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“A bond had already corded itself around them both, and love was springing into life.”
(i) Who are the ‘both’ referred in the above lines? What type of a bond corded between them and when?
(ii) Does he expect to be warmly welcomed by his wife? What happens when he reaches home?
(iii) What explanation does Joe give to his wife for his action?
(iv) What instructions were given to the speaker by the listener? How does Mrs. Joe behave in Joe’s absence and presence?
(v) How does Maggie emerge as an ‘Angel in Disguise’ for the Thompson couple?
Answer:
(i) One of them is the poor crippled orphan girl Maggie and the other is Mr. Joe Thompson, a wheelwright. After Maggie’s mother’s funeral, the villagers return to their daily work. Maggie’s siblings are taken away and she is left alone in her bed in the hovel. Joe, who still lingers there, feels pity when the child pleads with him in fear. He decides to take her home. As he wraps the child in bedclothes and carries her in his arms some tender feeling of affection enters deep into his heart.

(ii) Joe’s wife Jane Thompson is a stern lady with ‘vinegar’ temperament. She is irritated and displeased at the arrival of the girl. She calms down only when Joe tactfully convinces her that he would carry the girl to the poorhouse the next day.

(iii) Joe told his wife that women’s heart are sometimes so hard that every woman at the funeral turned away from the sick helpless child and walked off, discarding her in the old hut, presuming to be sent to a poorhouse. And as she could not go there on her own, Joe carried her to his house till the formalities at the poorhouse were completed.

(iv) Earlier Joe had instructed his wife to be kind to Maggie while looking to her, keeping in mind the death of her mother, her grief, pain and lonliness, that will always be a part of her life. Joe observes secretly that Jane had developed a soft comer for the little girl. In his absence she spent time with her, tending her softly and compassionately. But when Joe came, she portrayed a veil of coldness and indifference. This gives, Joe a sort of relaxation and thinks not to interfere in the bond that was developing between the two.

(v) Being childless and not having any interests or things to take care of, had made Mrs. Jane less compassionate. Caring for the orphaned girl gave a sense of purpose and meaning to her otherwise dull housewife life. Thus, her attitude towards life and the little girl changed. Her heart melts. This little girl brings light and joy in the life of the Thompson’s. Maggie becomes honey to Jane’s soul whom she carries in her arms like a precious burden.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

A Face in the Dark Summary by Ruskin Bond

A Face in the Dark Summary About the Author

Ruskin Bond (19 May 1934 – Present), is a famous Indian author of British descent. He is an icon among Indian writers. His wide array of short stories, novels, essays, poems, travelogues and articles in newspapers and magazines have inspired many aspiring writers. He has presented a variety in his writing, ranging from ‘ghost stories’ to ‘odes to nature’ to ‘love stories’. He wrote his first novel, ‘The Room on the Roof’, at the age of seventeen. His other very famous novel being ‘The Blue Umbrella’. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for his short stories collection, ‘Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra’. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for his contributions to Children’s Literature and Padma Bhushan in 2014. He now lives with his adopted family, near Mussoorie.

A Face in the Dark Summary

In the story, Mr. Oliver, the protagonist, is an Anglo Indian teacher in the English Public School at Shimla, which is three miles distance from the Shimla Bazaar. The school is often referred as ‘Eton of the East’, because its name is synonymous with quality elite education. Mr. Oliver is a rational and mentally strong person. He does not easily give away to nervousness and imagination. He usually goes out after school to the Shimla market and returns back in the evening.

One day while, Mr. Oliver was returning from Shimla, it got quite late and he decides to take a short cut through the pine forests. Carrying his torch he moves on briskly. Suddenly he comes across a weeping boy who was sitting with his hands covering his face. As per his duty as a teacher, he asked the child the reason for crying. Getting closer, he repeats the question. The boy lifted his face and the teacher fills with horror to find that the boy had no features, no eyes, no mouth. Terror-stricken, Mr. Oliver runs towards his school. On the way he encounters a watchman swinging a lantern.

On seeing him running, the watchman asks him what the reason was. Mr. Oliver tells him that he saw a boy with no face. The watchman then asks him if the boy looked like his and he raises his lantern to his face. To Mr. Oliver’s horror, the watchman too had no face, no eyes, no ears and no features. That moment the wind blew and the lamp went out. The story ends with a sense of ambiguity, leaving the readers to think whether it were actually ghosts or some prank played upon the teacher by his students.

A Face in the Dark Summary Word Meanings :

1. Outskirts : Border of a city or town
2. Eerie : Strange and mysterious
3. Strolled : To walk slowly and relaxingly
4. Imaginative : Having the ability to think of new and interesting ideas
5. Fitfully : Not regular or steady
6. Flickering : To burn or glow unsteadily
7. Miscreant : A person who does something illegal or morally wrong
8. Convulsively : . Fitfully; causing the entire body to shake
9. Distinctly : Noticeably
10. Scrambled : Moved with urgency or panic
11. Stumbled : To trip in walking or running
12. Gasping : Breathing with difficulty

A Face in the Dark Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What according to you would have happened to Mr. Oliver after his encounter with the faceless boy and the Watchman?
Answer:
The writer leaves the readers in an ambiguity as to what might have happened to Mr. Oliver after he encounters with the faceless watchman and the lamp blows out. One assumption could be that he must have fainted after the horrible scenes he had seen. In the morning, he would have reached back to his school and told everyone about his experience. There are chances that many would have considered it his imagination. On the second- thought, Mr. Oliver, being a daring man with a strong heart, may have not fainted and would have started running towards his school and reached there somehow.

Question 2.
Describe the encounter of Mr. Oliver with the ‘Faces in the Dark’. What is your opinion?
Answer:
Mr. Oliver, the protagonist of the story the ‘Face in the Dark’, is a teacher in a public school in Shimla. He seems to be a daring and adventurous person who is not scared to pass through the pine forest in the dark of the night while returning from Shimla Bazaar. That particular night, as usual, he takes the path across the pine forests. Though it grew quite dark he had his torch and he made his way to his school.

When he saw a boy sitting and crying, he thought that he was one of the students of his school and reminded him about the rule that the boys were not supposed to come out at this time. Then he saw that the boy was sobbing and his anger changed into concern. He wanted to know the reason for his crying. But as soon as the boy lifted his face, Mr. Oliver was aghast ‘ looking at his face. He had no eyes, no ears, no mouth, and no features at all. The torch fell from his trembling ‘ hands.

Furthering his way to his residence, he saw a watchman with a lantern and he shares his experience with him. Listening about the boy’s face, the watchman lifts his lantern up to his face and asks if the boy’s face was like his, revealing his face in the light which was exactly the same, no eyes, no mouth, nothing. Suddenly, with a gush of wind, the lantern blew off and Mr. Oliver rushed towards his apartment. As per my opinion/the existence of supernatural cannot be denied from the face of the earth. There are instances present around us for which there is no logical explanation. So, what happened with Mr. Oliver could have been real and not merely his imagination.

A Face in the Dark Summary Extract Based Questions

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Life magazine, in a feature on India, had once called it the ‘Eton of the East’.”
(i) What is referred as ‘it’ in the above lines? Why has it been called as the ‘Eton of the East’?
(ii) Where was the school located? Who was the protagonist? Name the author.
(iii) What was Mr. Oliver’s usual evening routine?
(iv) Give the meaning of-
(a) Eerie
(b) Strolled
(c) Fitfully
(v) What type of man was Mr. Oliver? Give reason for your answer.
Answer:
(i) The school in Shimla in which the protagonist taught is referred as ‘it’. Eton College is one of the most esteemed, expensive and reputable English boarding school in Eton, Berkshire in U.K. This school has been called as the ‘Eton of the East’ because it had been run on English Public School lines and the boys of the school belonged to wealthy Indian families. They wore blazers, caps and ties.

(ii) The school was located on the outskirts of the hill station of Shimla. The protagonist, Mr. Oliver, was an Anglo – Indian teacher in the same school. The author is Ruskin Bond.

(iii) Mr. Oliver usually walked down to the Shimla Bazaar which had cinemas and restaurants in the evening and returned after dark taking a short cut through the pine forest.

(iv) (a) Strange and mysterious.
(b) To walk slowly and relaxingly
(c) Unsteadily

(v) Mr. Oliver was a bold man, he was not imaginative. This is proved from the fact that he dared to take the forest path in the dark where the pine trees made sad eerie sounds during strong winds while most of the people preferred the main grad.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“What are you doing out here, boy? asked Mr. Oliver.”
(i) Who is the boy Mr. Oliver is talking to? What was the boy doing?
(ii) How was the boy crying? Why did Mr. Oliver talk to him sharply?
(iii) Why does the author say “if you could call it a face”?
(iv) What was the reaction of Mr. Oliver when he saw the boy’s face?
(v) Describe the uncanny climax of the story.
Answer:
(i) One night when Mr. Oliver was returning back to school, he saw a boy sitting alone on a rock in the forest. When Mr, Oliver came closer to the boy, it appeared to him that the boy was crying.

(ii) The boy’s head was down and he held his face in his hands. His body was shaking due to his strange, soundless weeping.
Mr. Oliver thought he was a miscreant i.e., a person who has done some mischief, and boys were not supposed to be out after dark. As a teacher he had the right to scold the boy.

(iii) The author says, ‘if you could call it a face’ because, when the boy looked up at the teacher, his face had no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It was a round smooth head with a school cap on top of it.

(iv) As soon as Mr. Oliver saw the boy’s face, he got horrified. His hands started trembling and his torch fell down. He immediately turned around and with full of panic he started running blindly towards the school, calling for help.

(v) On seeing the faceless boys, Mr. Oliver darted towards the school fearfully. On the way he met a watchman carrying a lantern. When the watchman enquired about his condition, Mr. Oliver narrated him the encounter with the faceless boy weeping in the forest. To this the watchman lifted the lamp close to his face. Mr. Oliver finds out that the watchman too does not have any eyes, ears, nose or mouth. The story ends when the wind blows the lamp out leaving the readers keen to know what happened with Mr. Oliver.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

Hearts and Hands Summary by O. Henry

Hearts and Hands Summary About the Author

O. Henry (11 September 1862 – 5 June 1910), was born under the name of, William Sydney Porter. During his early age he was imprisoned with a charge of embezzlement of bank funds. There he started writing to support his daughter and when he emerged from the prison, W. S. Porter had become O. Henry. This American short story writer has a good collection of stories which are well-known throughout the world for their clever word play and surprise endings. His first book was, ‘Cabbages and Kings’ (1904). His other famous works being, ‘The Four Million’ (1906), ‘The Trimmed Lamp’ (1907), ‘Heart of the West’ (1907), ‘Voice of the City’ and ‘Whirligigs’ (1910) etc.

Hearts and Hands Summary

‘Hearts and Hands’, like many of O. Henry’s short stories, have an unexpected twist. It is a story about two acquaintances who coincidentally, meet on a train. A woman, Miss Fairchild, spots an old friend Mr. Easton on a train B. & M. Express in Denver.

Miss Fairchild, an elegantly dressed woman, was travelling with all rich comforts. When Mr. Easton, a handsome young man with a bold look, entered the coach with a grumpy, strong and roughly dressed man. They sat down on the seat facing the lady. Miss Fairchild blushed on seeing Mr. Easton, she started talking about their old friendship but is suddenly surprised to discover that her friend was handcuffed to the other man seated beside him.

The other man, comprehending the situation, comes up with an explanation. He tells that Easton is a Marshal and is taking him to the prison at Leavenworth as he had been charged with seven years of imprisonment for counterfeiting. As the conversation advances, the lady feels amazed to know that Mr. Easton has discarded his life in Washington to become a Marshal in the West. Though she continues to chat but is little uneasy with the handcuffs. Sensing her discomfort, the other man again interrupts and tells her that she need not worry, smart Marshal like Easton, handcuffed themselves to their prisoners to stop them from escaping.

Suddenly making an excuse of smoking, the man requests Mr. Easton to take him to the smoking room. Then we get to know the special twist of the story from the two passengers who were eves dropping to their chats. One of them remarks on Mr. Easton’s appearance, saying he is too young to be a marshal, while the other corrects him saying that, it’s Easton who is the counterfeiter while the other one is the Marshal because Marshal’s never handcuff a man with their right hand.

Hearts and Hands Word Meantngs:

1. influx : The arrival of a large number of people
2. Elegant : Graceful and attractive
3. Countenance : A person’s expression
4. Ruffled : irritated
5. Glum-faced : Sad or depressed
6. Aisle : A passage between sections of seats
7. Tingeing : Giving small amount of colour to
8. Bewildered : Confused
9. Forestalled : Stopped, prevented
10. Counterfeiting : Forgery
11. Irrelevantly : Unimportantly

Hearts and Hands Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Comment on the character of Miss Fairchild in the story, ‘Hearts and Hands’.
Answer:
Miss Fairchild is one of the central characters in the short story, ‘Hearts and Hands’, written by O. Henry. She is an elegant woman with a glass of style and manner. She has a fascination for travelling which is marked by all the luxurious comforts she is surrounded by. She is wearing gloves.She has a full, sweet and deliberate voice which is highlighted when she converses with Mr. Easton. She has a bright countenance with a tender pink colour on her cheeks, especially when she smiles.

She becomes interested in talking to Mr. Easton and she gets too blinded by her feelings that she couldn’t see past them and allowed herself to be lied to. So she discusses of her happy past with Mr. Easton, in Washington, but gets horrified to see the handcuffs. Thus, Miss Fairchild is described as a beautiful, amicable lady, with certain shortcomings, like any other normal human being.

Question 2.
Justify the appropriateness of the little ‘Hearts & Hands’.
Answer:
In O. Henry’s story Hearts and Hands’, the title speaks about the compassionate heart of the Marshal, who saved Mr. Easton from the humiliation of being identified as a convict in front of an old friend. The story is set on a train to Denver. An elegantly attired woman named Miss Fairchild is seated on the train when two men arrive and take their seats facing her. It quickly becomes apparent that the woman knows one of them. She speaks to this man, Mr. Easton, and then she is rather surprised to discover that he is handcuffed to the man seated beside him.

Evidently, the man with Easton senses the embarrassment of both of them and tells that heaven worth Mr. Easton is a Marshal and he himself is a convict who is being convicted to seven years of imprisonment in heaven worth prison for counterfeiting. The young woman continues to chat with her acquaintance, but also continues to stare at the handcuffs. To make her comfortable, the other man tells her not to worry because all Marshals handcuff themselves to their prisoners to keep them from getting away.

He then requests that he should be taken to the smoker car as he badly needs to smoke. The two other passengers, who were sitting nearby, listening to the conversation between Miss Fairchild and Mr. Easton, finally makes it clear to the readers that Mr. Easton is not the Marshal, but the other is, as no Marshal would handcuff any convict to his own right hand.

Thus, we see that the glum – faced man handled the situation very appropriately. He referred Mr. Easton, the prisoner, as the Marshal while himself as the prisoner, not caring about his reputation in front of the people in the coach. Miss Fairchild believed Easton to be a ‘Dashing Western Hero’. Thus, Marshal had a big and generous ‘Heart’. The word ‘Hands’ in the little most ? probably refers to the handcuffs tied to the hands of both the men, which led to the Marshal speaking the lie and then the placement of the handcuff on their ‘Hands’, reveals the truth about their identity.

Hearts and Hands Extract Based Questions

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Well, Mr. Easton, if you will make me speak first, l suppose I must.”
(i) Who is the speaker? How is the speaker described just before the extract?
(ii) Which train is Miss Fairchild travelling in? Who is Mr. Easton whom she is talking to ?
(iii) How does Mr. Easton look? Describe his companion.
(iv) Who are referred as the ‘linked couple’? Where do they get seated? What is the reaction of the co-passenger?
(v) Why did the colour of Miss Fairchild fade away and what made it come back?
Answer:
(i) The speaker is a young woman named Miss Fairchild. She has been described as an attractive, young lady, elegantly dressed, travelling with all the luxuries and seemed to be an experienced traveller.

(ii) Miss Fairchild was travelling on the eastbound B. & M. Express.Mr. Easton, whom she is talking to, was a new passenger on the train and they two were old acquaintances.

(iii) Mr. Easton was a young handsome man with bold appearance and mannerism. The man accompanying him was a young, upset looking, grim faced, roughly dressed strong-built man.

(iv) The ‘linked couple’ is referred to the two young men who boarded the train at Denver. They are linked because they are handcuffed to each other. They got seated on the seat facing the young lady.At first the lady glanced them indifferently but as soon as she recognized one of them as her old friend, a lovely smile glowed on her face and made her cheeks blush.

(v) When Miss Fairchild held out her hand towards Mr. Easton, he shook it with his left hand and told that his right hand was busy. She was bewildered to see his hand bound at the wrist with a handcuff tied to the left hand of his companion. This faded the glow from her cheeks. But when the ‘glum faced’ man told her that Mr. Easton was a Marshal and was taking him to the prison, she relaxed, and the colour brightened her cheeks again.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“I can’t deny a petition for tobacco,” he said lightly. “It’s the one friend of the unfortunate.”
(i) What does the girl tell about her experience with the West?
(ii) What favour does the other man ask from Miss Fairchild?
(iii) What explanation does Easton give when Miss Fairchild exclaims to know that he had shifted to the West on the post of a Marshal?
(iv) Who makes a petition for tobacco? Why?
(v) How do the handcuffs reveal the true identity of Mr. Easton?
Answer:
(i) The girl said that she loved the West. She spent the summers, with her mother, in Denver. Her mother returned back due to her father’s ill-health. But she could live happily in the West as the air here was comfortable to her.

(ii) The other man-requests Miss Fairchild to ask her friend Mr. Easton, who was suppose to be the Marshal, to speak a word in his favour so that he may get a relaxation in his punishment, otherwise it was seven years prison for counterfeiting.

(iii) Mr. Easton tells her that he had to make money because money has power which makes one feel respected and can make one fly and soar high. He also says that he had to compete with the crowd and settle himself among the high class society in Washington.

(iv) The ‘glum-faced’ man who was the actual Marshal, makes a petition for tobacco. Though Miss Fairchild carries on flirting with Mr. Easton but seemed to be uneasy with the handcuffs, the man senses it and to save Mr. Easton from embarrassment, requests him for tobacco and they leave for the smoker car.

(v) After Mr. Easton and the other man leave, two eavesdropping fellow passengers converse, in which the first passenger told as being a Marshal at such a young age, was amazing. Then the other man corrected him that the man, ‘Mr. Easton’, was not the Marshal but the other man was, because a Marshal never handcuffed a convict with his right hand, it is always the left hand. Thus, the handcuffs revealed the truth about Mr. Easton.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

A Horse and Two Goats Summary by RK Narayan

A Horse and Two Goats Summary About the Author

R.K. Narayan (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001), holds his place among the best known and most widely read Indian novelists who wrote in English. Most of his stories are set in the fictional territory of Malgudi. His first novel ‘Swami and Friends’, was published in 1935. Besides novels, he wrote short stories, travelogues, condensed versions of Indian epics in English, and his memoir. He received numerous awards and adulations during his life time. These include the ‘Sahitya Akademi Award’ in 1958, the Padma Bhushan in 1964, and Padma Vibhushan in 2000. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1989. His other important works include ‘Malgudi Days’, ‘The English Teacher’, etc.

A Horse and Two Goats Summary

In, ‘A Horse & Two Goats’, Muni is a poor resident of Kritam, one of the thousands of unobtrusive villages situated in India. There are around thirty houses in the village but only one, the Big House, is built of bricks. The others are made of mud with bamboo thatch. The village has neither running water nor electricity. Muni was once a proud owner of a large flock of sheep and goats, but with time he lost most of the things and now he is the owner of just two scrawny goats. He and his wife have grown quite old now, without any offspring to depend on. They are forced to live in poverty and with insensitive remarks from fellow villagers.

Muni has to run through his credit at all shops in the village. So when he asks his wife to cook drumsticks in a sauce, she asks him to get the ingredients from the shop failing to which she sends him away telling him to fast till the evening. He hopes that she will earn enough money somewhere for an evening meal. Muni then takes his goats to their usual place, a grass spot near the highway. Here Muni sits all day in the shade of the life-sized statue – a horse, rearing next to a fierce warrior – and Muni watches his goats and occasional passing vehicles.

As Muni waits for the time to return home, a yellow station wagon comes down the road and pulls over. A well dressed American in Khaki steps out and asks Muni about the nearest gas station. He looks at the statue and instantly gets attracted to it. Muni takes him for a policeman or soldier. The two begin to converse – two people talking to each other in separate languages, neither understanding the other.

The American is a New York based businessman. He lights a cigarette and offers one to Muni also, then presents his business card which Muni thinks is a warrant and gives a long explanation to prove himself innocent. The American thinks that Muni is the owner of the statue and being highly fascinated with it, shows his desire to buy it. Muni understands that something is being discussed about the statue, so he carries on to explain the myths behind it.

Finally, the American shoves one hundred rupees into Muni’s hand confirming the deal, leaving Muni to wrongly think that he has purchased the goats. He rushes home to give the money to his wife while the American stops a truck, with some help, removes the horse from the pedestal and drives away with his purchase. On the other hand, Muni’s wife does not believe in Muni’s story about how he got such a big amount and her doubts grew even more when the goats return home following Muni.

A Horse and Two Goats Summary Word Meanings:

1. Flourish : Thrive, to grow well
2. Revenue : Tax
3. Sprawled : To spread unevenly
4. Hooped : Bound in a circular manner
5. Grandiose : Impressive
6. Gargoyles : Strangely carved animal
7. Balustrade : Railing
8. Sallied : Set out1 depart
9. Snapped : Broken
10. Miller : One who works in a mill
11. Tethered : Fastened, tied
12. Craving : Longing
13. Imp : A small devil
14. Eloped : Ran away secretly
15. Itinerant : Travelling from place to place
16. Impelled : Urged, forced
17. Mumbled : Muttered
18. Sneered : Smile with dislike
19. Parapet : Alow wall
20. Unobtrusively : Discreetly, unnoticeably
21. Scoundrel : A disreputable person
22. Recoup : To get back
23. Accosted : To approach and speak angrily
24. Cronies : Close friends
25. Lounging : Relaxing
26. Lorded over : Showed power or authority
27. Gawky : Awkward and clumsy
28. Shearing : Cutting hair or wool
29. Elated : Very happy and excited
30. Pestilence : A contagious epidemic disease
31. Scraggy : Being lean and long
32. Progeny : Children, offspring
33. Spurn : To refuse to accept
34. Downcast : Sad and unconfident
35. Meandered : Curved
36. Pedestal : The base of a column or other tall object
37. Reared : Nourished, raised

A Horse and Two Goats Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Compare the relationship between Muni and his wife and relationship between the American and the wife.
Answer:
We can comprehend a lot of outstanding differences in the two relationships. When Muni was rich, he had enough right to decide and control most of the things in his family. He also lorded over his wife. He had even thrashed her a few times. However, when he loses everything and becomes a poor man, he also loses his rights in the family. He has to obey what his wife orders him. They love each other but poverty makes them emotionless. The relationship of the American and his wife seems to be better than Muni’s relationship, because their financial condition is better than that of Muni.

Ruth, the wife of the American, seems to be a good and understanding wife. As the man expresses, he desire to visit India, the very next day his wife calls the travel agent and tells him to fix the tour. Ruth knows how to make her husband comfortable and free in making most of the decisions. The American is confident of his ability to convince her and also agrees to let his wife have freedom to take her own decisions. Thus, in comparison, these differenced appear because of their financial condition and tradition in marriage.

Question 2.
Examine how cross cultural differences bring out humour in the story, ‘A Horse and Two Goats’.
Answer:
R.K. Narayan in this story has wonderfully depicted how cultural and linguistic difference between two men can create a humorous situation. Muni is a common Tamil villager in India, who only knows two words in English, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. He accidently encounters a ‘red-faced’ American whose station wagon stops near Muni, due to lack of gas.

As he was wearing khaki dress, Muni mistakes the man for a policeman who he thinks has come to arrest him for a murder committed recently. Muni wants to escape but is afraid that the man may shoot him. Muni went on to give his introduction in Tamil language which obviously the man did not understand. When the man offered him a cigarette, he was surprised and blows off the lighter the man lighted for him.

When the man gave his card, he shrank away considering it as an arrest warrant. He tries to tell the American that he had no knowledge about the murder and would definitely hand over the culprit if he happens to catch him. He assured him that he must be from the other village. The foreigner understands nothing but just nods his head.

The fun comes as the readers get to know the characters’ concerns while they, themselves utterly fail to understand anything about each other. This makes the conversation humorous and interesting? Again when Muni talks about punishing the thieves, the foreigner thought that Muni was talking about chopping woods with an axe.

The man then pointed to the clay horse and wished to know about it. He found it a masterpiece and showed interest in buying it and carrying it home. He guessed that Muni was the owner as he was sitting under it. Muni, due to misunderstanding, started his story of how the horse would come to life and carry away the good people after the Kali Yuga ends and the world gets destroyed.

When the man offered Muni a hundred rupee note for the horse, Muni feels amused to think that he was asking . for the change. Muni patting the goats makes him feel that he wanted to buy his goats which comes to him as a long awaited offer. Muni took the money and went away and the man went off with the horse by taking help from a passerby.

The fun continues when Muni’s wife accuses him of theft. Muni’s explanation that he had sold the goats to the red-faced man goes in vain as the goats return back, making his wife all the more suspicious.

A Horse and Two Goats Summary Extract Based Questions

Question 1.
Answer the following questions with reference to R.K. Narayan’s short story entitled ‘A Horse and Two Goats’:
The foreigner followed his flock and decided that it would be a sound policy to show an interest in the old man’s pets. He went up casually to them and stroked their backs with every show of courteous attention. Now the truth dawned on Muni. His dream of a lifetime was about to be realised.
(i) What did Muni often dream of ?
(ii) How was the foreigner dressed? Why did Muni feel the urge to run when he first laid eyes on him? What stopped him from doing so?
(iii) Muni assumed that a recent incident had brought this visitor to his village. Give details of this incident
(iv) What was the visitor actually interested in? What did he offer Muni soon after they met? Why did the offer surprise Muni?
(v) Which part of the story do you find most amusing? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer:
(i) Muni had often dreamt of selling his goats some day and with that money, he wanted to open a small shop with a thatched roof, spreading a gunny sack on the ground with fried nuts, coloured sweets and green coconut displayed on it. Sitting there he would watch towards the hills and quench the thirst of famished highway wayfarers.

(ii) The red-faced foreigner wore khaki clothes making him look like a policeman or a soldier.Muni felt the urge to run away when he first laid eyes on him because he thought that the man was a police officer but could not understand why he was after Muni. He does not run firstly, because he was unable to put his limbs into action readily due to old age, and secondly, for the fear of being chased and shot on running.

(iii) Few weeks ago, a body had been found mutilated and thrown away under a tamarind tree at the border between the villages of Kritan and Kuppam. This caused a lot of talks. So Muni assumed that the man was a policeman who had come to enquire about the murder or may be to arrest him.

(iv) The visitor was actually interested in the stone horse statue. He offered hundred rupees for the horse as he thought that the statue belonged to Muni as he was sitting with it.When the man offered a hundred rupee note, the old man got confused and thought maybe he is asking for change and laughed at the idea of someone asking ‘him’ for a change of a thousand or ten thousand rupee note.

(v) According to me, the most amusing part of the story ‘A Horse and Two Goats’ is towards the end where Muni mistakenly thinks that the foreigner is offering him money for his two goats, though it is actually for the clay horse statue on the pedestal. As the language problem between the two men persists, they never really understand each other. But most wonderfully, Muni convinces himself that he was finally able to understand the matter. In addition to this, the foreigner misleads Muni by showing interest in his pet goats as an act of courtesy.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
‘‘But its size did not prevent its giving itself the grandiose name Kritam.”
(i) What is ‘Kritam’? What is the meaning of this name? What is the irony about it?
(ii) Describe the village’Kritam’.
(iii) What was Muni’s daily routine?
(iv) What did Muni eat for breakfast and lunch?
(v) What is known about the drumstick tree?
Answer:
(i) Kritam was one of the numerous villages in India where the protagonist of the story lived. The word ‘Kritam’ in tamil means ‘coronet’ or ‘crown’.The irony about it is that, the name of the village is contrary to it. Though it meant a crown but in reality it was one of the insignificant villages dotting the map of India, may be the tiniest of all.

(ii) Kritam is one of the smallest of India’s seven hundred thousand villages. There are only thirty houses in the village, most of them with simple thatched huts. The only sophisticated residence in the village is the ‘Big House’, a brick arid cement building from whose well the local villagers get their water. It was painted bright yellow and blue with beautiful carvings of Gods and Gargoyles on its boundary. The other houses were distributed in four streets and Muni the protagonist’s house, was the last house in the fourth street.

(iii) Every morning, Muni use to drive his goats to the highway on the outskirts of the village and let them graze as he sat on the pedestal of a clay statue of a horse. He collected faggots and dry sticks and carried them home for fuel at sunset.

(iv) In the morning, Muni’s wife cooked him millet flour cooked in boiling water with salt. For lunch his wife packed some millet cooked into a little ball to be eaten with raw onion.

(v) The drumstick tree grew in front of his hut from which he sometimes shook down drumsticks to eat. There was no particular owner of the tree but he considered it his as he lived in its shadow. He also tied his goats to the trunk of the tree.

Question 3.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“More likely you are seventy,” he said to Muni. “You also forget that you mentioned a birthday five weeks ago when you wanted castor oil for your holy bath.”
(i) Who is the person talking to Muni? Why does he have to discuss Muni’s age?
(ii) Is Muni finally able to enjoy a meal of drumstick in sauce? What is the reaction of his wife?
(iii) What shows that Muni knew his wife well ?
(iv) Why did Muni prefer to take his goats to the Highway?
(v) Describe the horse statue. What was the legend behind it?
Answer:
(i) The shopkeeper to whom Muni has gone to buy certain ingredients for the drumstick sauce on credit is talking to Muni. Muni has no money to pay for the items, but tries to convince the shopkeeper to give him on credit by engaging him in conversation and laughing at his jokes. Muni tells him that he will return back the money when his daughter sends him money on his fiftieth birthday. But the shop owner does not believe him as firstly, he has no daughter and secondly, he looked at least seventy while he said he was fifty and he had already mentioned his birthday five weeks ago.

(ii) No, Muni is unable to secure the ingredients for the sauce and tells his wife to sell the drumsticks.His wife told him that there is nothing to eat so he will have to fast till the evening. She ordered him to take his flock of goats for grazing and not to return before sunset.

(iii) Muni’s wife was furious when he came back empty handed. She ordered him to go out empty stomach and not to return before sun set. But Muni knew that if he obeyed her she would somehow manage to get some food for him in the evening, provided that he does not argue with her and anger her further. According to him, her moods always became better by the evening.

(iv) Muni preferred to take his goats to the highway so that he could watch the highway and see the lorries and ‘ buses pass through to the hills, which gave him a sense of belonging to the larger world. He could sit on a pedestal at the base of a clay statue of the horse and also crouch under its belly for shade.

(v) It was a purely white, life-size horse made of baked and burnt clay. There was a pure brocade of red and black lace on its back. Its head was raised in the pose of forelegs prancing in the air with its tail in a loop shape. Beside the horse stood a majestic warrior with scythe like mustachios, bulging eyes and curved nose. The warrior wore a multicoloured sash made of same brocade around his waist. Muni’s grandfather had told him that the horse in the statue was a reference to the mythical horse Kalki, who according-to a tamil legend, will come to life when the world ends and trample all bad men.

Question 4.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Muni felt he should get up and run away, and cursed his age. He could not readily put his limbs into action.”
(i) Why does Muni wish to run away and from whom?
(ii) Why does he give up the idea of running away?
(iii) What does the foreigner tell about himself?
(iv) What makes the foreigner think that he was keeping Muni from his chopping work? What does he say
about his own chopping skills?
(v) Why does Muni shrink away from the card presented by the foreigner ? What explanation does he offer?
Answer:
(i) While Muni is sitting on the pedestal, a yellow station wagon coming down the highway, runs out of gas and comes to a stop on the road in front of the statue and a red faced foreigner approaches Muni, enquiring him about a nearby gas station. Muni, unable to understand his language, mistakes him for a police officer because he is dressed in khaki. He believes that the man had come to investigate about a dead body that was found near Kritam few weeks before. So to avoid any sort of trouble, he wishes to run away.

(ii) Firstly, because he was old enough and could not manage to run. Secondly, he thought that if he ran the man could chase or shoot him easily. And more importantly because the man offered him a cigarette to smoke, something he had always wanted to do but couldn’t afford one.

(iii) The foreigner tells Muni that he was a businessman dealing with coffee and how he and his wife Ruth, decided to travel to India on vacation after a power failure in the Empire State Building forced him to work four hours without air conditioning on a hot summer day. This incident makes him take a break from his work and travel to India to know how people live here. His wife had stayed in Srinagar and he is travelling alone.

(iv) In his own language Muni was telling the foreigner how the villagers lost their cattle, either they are killed by jackals or cheetahs or stolen by someone from the other village. And once the thief is caught after when the priest at the temple sees his face in the camphor flame, he is minced like meat. The foreigner takes his gesture for chopping and believes he his delaying him in his work and he offers to chop for him as he enjoyed it, and on Sundays he did nothing but chopped wood for fireplace.

(v) Muni shrunk away from the card because he thought that the foreigners in khaki was a policeman and he was presenting a warrant to arrest him. A dead body was discovered under a tamarind tree at the border between Kritam and Kuppam, a few weeks before, which had to lot of gossip and suspicions. Thus, Muni explains, swearing on God, that he had no idea of the case and the murderer will not escape, as God is watching everything. He says that the people of the other village could go to any extent.

Question 5.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Tell me, will you accepta hundred rupees or not for the horse? I’d love to take the whiskered soldier also but no space
for him thisyear.”
(1) What made the foreigner believe that Muni was the owner of the horse?
(ii) How does the ‘state of mutual mystification’ complete?
(iii) How was Munis dream of a lifetime about to be realized?
(iv) How does the foreigner manage to carry away the statue?
(v) How did Muni’s wife react to “the fortune for the day”? How did Muni treat the goats who came back home?
Ans.
(i) The foreigner believed that Muni was the owner of the horse by the way he sat on its pedestal in a similar manner as the other souvenir sellers in India.

(ii) Finally, when the foreigner hands over a hundred rupee note to Muni, he first thinks he is asking for a change and suggests that he should go to the village money lender. But when the foreigner stoops down to pet his goats, he mistakenly believes that the man is inclined to buy his goats. Elated, Muni accepts the money and leaves the goats behind for himThe American too is happy that he has been successful in buying the horse. This ends their mutual mystification.

(iii) When Muni understoods that the foreigner wanted to buy his goats, he felt extremely happy because he had reared them up in the hope of selling them someday and with the money he wished to open a small shop beside the highway and sell fried nuts, coloured sweets, and green coconut for the thirsty passerby. This was his ‘dream of a lifetime’ which he could see getting realised soon.

(iv) After Muni is gone with the money, the foreigner believes that he is gone to fetch some help and begins to wait. When a truck came downhill, he took help of a couple of men to detach the horse from its pedestal and place it in his station wagon. He paid them five rupees each and also purchased some gas for his truck and drove away.

(v) Muni’s wife suspects him of stealing the money, and says she will go to her parent’s home because she does not want to be there when the police apprehends him. At the moment, the two goats return making his wife more suspicious about Muni. When Muni saw the goats that had followed him home without his knowledge, he cursed them and shouted at them asking where their new owner was and that they should know that they belonged to him and why did they come back.

Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers

After Blenheim Summary by Robert Southey

After Blenheim Summary About the Poet

Robert Southey (12 August, 1774 – 21 March, 1843) was a prolific writer of verse and histories and an accomplished ; biographer. After meeting Samuel Taylor Coleridge, he published his first collection of poems in 1794.

Though contemporary with Coleridge and Wordsworth, he is one of the less celebrated poets, and he wrote one i of the first anti-war poems, ‘After Blenheim’. His other famous work being ‘The Inchcape Rock.’

After Blenheim Summary

Robert Southey’s poem ‘After Blenheim’ illustrates the theme that war, though being pointless and brutal, affects everyone. The poem is set at the site of the ‘Battle of Blenheim (1704)’. It is narrated in the form of questions of small children and about a skull one of them has found. An old man tells his grandchildren about the burnt homes, civil causalities and rotting corpses, while repeatedly referring to the poem as a ‘famous victory.’

After Blenheim Explanation of the Poem

Stanza 1 & 2

“It was a summer evening,
Old Kaspar’s work was done,
And he before is cottage door
Was sitting in the sun,
And by him sported on the green
His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
She saw her brother Peterkin
Roll something large and round,
Which he beside the rivulet In playing there had found;
He came to ask what he had found,
That was so large, and smooth, and round.”

Explanation: Old Kaspar has finished his work and was sitting in the sun in front of the cottage, watching his little Y granddaughter play. Peterkin, his grandson, has been rolling a large round object he found near the stream. Out of curiosity he brings it to the old man.

Word Meanings :
1. Sported – Played
2. Rivulet – A small stream

Stanza 3 & 4
“Old Kaspar took it from the boy,
Who stood expectant by?
And then the old man shook his head,
And, with a natural sigh,
“T is some poor fellow’s skull,’ said he,
‘Who fell in the great victory?
‘I find them in the garden,
For there’s many here about;
And often when I go to plough,
The ploughshare turns them out!
For many thousand men,’ said he
‘Were slain in that great victory.”

Explanation: Kaspar took the object from the boy – who waited anxiously. The old man examines it and tells that he has found many such objects while ploughing the fields or in their garden, and it is the skull of a soldier who died in the Battle of Blenheim, which was a ‘great victory/ as many men were killed in that battle and were not given a decent burial.

Word Meanings :
1. Expectant – Curious
2. Slain – Killed

Stanza 5 & 6
“Now tell us what ’twas all about,’
Young peterkin, he cries;
And little wilhelmine looks up
With wonder-waiting eyes;
‘Now tell us about the war,
And what they fought each other for.’
‘It was the English,’ Kaspar cried,
‘Who put the French to rout?
. But what they fought each other for,
I could not well make out;
But everybody said,’ guoth he,
‘That ’twas a famous victory.”

Explanation: Peterkin and Wilhenmine are interested to know more about it and urge their grandfather to tell them about the war and why it was fought. They anticipated a thrilling and exciting story which they waited to hear with a gleam in their eyes.

Old Kaspar recollects that, in this ‘famous battle’, as what people called it, the English defeated the French. But he himself had no clue of the reason behind the war. It shows a common man’s ignorance about the cause and purpose of war.

Word Meanings :
1. Wonder-waiting – Anxious
2. To rout – Defeat
3. Quoth – Said

Stanza 7, 8 & 9
“My father lived at Blenheim then,
Yon little steam hard by;
They burnt his dwelling to the ground,
And he was forced to fly;
So with his wife and child he fled,
Nor had he where to rest his head.
‘With fire and sword the country round Was wasted far and wide,
And many a chiding mother then,
And new-born baby died;
But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory.”

Explanation: The old grandfather tells the children that, during the war his father lived by a stream at Blenheim. As a consequence of the war, his father’s house was burnt down and he was forced to flee with his wife and child, Kaspar. They were, thus, rendered homeless.

In this stanza, the poet highlights the fact that, wars and battles are a massive source of misery and pain. It shows the destruction caused by them. Kaspar tells that, when the war was over, it was a shocking sight to see. Houses were burnt, innocent people were killed, many pregnant women-and new-born babies lost their lives. There was death and horror everywhere. Thousands of dead bodies of soldiers lay rotting in the field. But Kaspar talks about those killings casually and thinks that such terrible consequences are part of such a famous war.

Word Meanings :
1. Dwelling – House
2. Childing – Expecting, pregnant

Stanza 10 & 11
“Great praise the Duke of Marlbro’s won
And our good Prince Eugene.’
‘Why, ’twas a very wicked thing!’
Said little Wilhelmine.
‘Nay …. nay my little girl,’ quoth he,
‘It was a famous victory.
‘And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win.’
‘But what good came of it at last?’
Quoth little Peterkin.
‘Why that I cannot tell,’ said he,
‘But’t was a famous victory”

Explanation: An English General, Duke of Marlborough along with Prince Eugene, an Austrian General, led the war against the French and defeated them in the famous ‘Battle of Blenheim’ and thus, brought glory to their country.

Little Wilhenmine was confused and asks her grandfather, how could he praise such a bloody affair. She terms the killing of innocent people as wicked. But he contradicts her. According to him, it was a great victory. Peterkin raises an important question about what good came out of the fighting. To this Kaspar replies that, he had no reply but he just knows that it was a famous victory.

Thus, the poet ironically states the fact that, the wars are seen as a glorifying act and the war-heroes are held in high esteem, without understanding what good they have brought to mankind and why such victory becomes great or famous.

Word Meaning :
1. Duke – A man of very high rank in the British nobility

After Blenheim Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
And then the old man shook his head,
And with a natural sigh-
“T is some poor fellow’s skull,” said he,
“Who fell in the great victory.”
(After Blenheim, Robert Southey)

(i) Who is the old man? What causes him to sigh?
(ii) What incident prompted the old man to give an account of the Battle of Blenheim?
(iii) How did the battle affect the old’s man family?
(iv) Name the two countries that fought each other in the battle. Which army won? What reason does the old man give for the victory?
(v) Point out the refrain in the poem. What effect does the refrain have on the reader? What do you think is the poet’s attitude to war?
Answer:
(i) The old man in the poem is ‘Old Kaspar’. His grandson Peterkin had brought a round large and smooth object to him for inspection, which he had found while playing near the small river. The child was curious to see the strange thing. Old Kaspar looks at it and sighs, explaining to Peterkin that it was the skull of one of the soldiers who was slain in the ‘famous and great War of Blenheim, and the corpses lie deep scattered in the field, which was a common sight for him as many a times he had come across them while plowing.

(ii) The mention of the war as a !great war1 and ‘a famous victory’, excites the curiosity of Kaspar’s little grand children. They get anxious to know more about it, expecting some thrilling stories behind it. So they prompt him to narrate them whatever he knew about the Battle of Blenhein, and what was it fought for.

(iii) Old Kaspar recollects that, at the time of the battle his father lived in a small village of Blenheim, near a river. During the battle, the homes of several innocent people, including his father’s were burnt to the ground and they were forced to migrate in search of shelter. The young Kaspar along with his parents, fled to a different place, but could not find a home because of the impending war. They had to roam from place to place seeking for shelter.

(iv) The two countries that fought each other were Austria and France. England and Netherlands formed a coalition with Austria whereas , France was aided by the Bravaria. The English alliance defeated the Franco- Bravarian army. The old man gives credit of the victory to the brave English Duke of Malbro and Prince Eugene, who led the war and brought glory to the nation.

(v) The refrain in the poem is-
‘But t’was a famous victory’

This line is the epitomy of irony. The refrain questions the readers about the validity and the purposes of war. The poet successfully conveys his message that it is futile and should be avoided. The wars which are fought over a trivial dispute cause the loss of thousands and thousands of soldiers. They lead to devastation of life and property on a large scale. Thus, this poem, by Robert Southey, is an anti-war poem highlighting the casualties caused by wars and their after affects.

Kaspar was a farmer. This is understood when he says- “And often when I go to plough”. The poet is ‘Robert Southey’.

Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
‘ It was a summer evening,
Old Kaspar’s work was done,
And he before is cottage door
Was sitting in the sun,
And by him sported on the green
His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
She saw her brother Peterkin
Roll something large and round,
Which he beside the rivulet
In playing there had found;
He came to ask what he had found,
That was so large, and smooth, and round.

(i) What time was it and what was ‘Old Kaspar’ doing?
(ii) Who was beside him and what was she doing? What did she see her brother doing?
(iii) What was her brother’s name? Where did he find the object? Why did he bring it along?
(iv) What did Wilhelmina refer as ‘wicked’? Was she justified in her perception? Give reason?
(v) Who were responsible for the victory of Blenheim which in portrait question is noised by Peter kin? What is the moral of the poem?
Answer:
(i) It was an evening in summer. ‘Old Kaspar’, an elderly farmer, after finishing his work was sitting in the sun, watching his grandchildren play in the lush green field outside the cottage.

(ii) His granddaughter, Wilhelmine, was beside him and playing in the greenery outside the cottage. She saw her brother rolling a large and round object.

(iii) His name was Peterkin. Peterkin found the object while playing near the river. Out of curiosity, he brings the object to his grandfather, wanting to know about it.

(iv) Though quite young, Wilhenmine could not reconcile herself to the idea of praising the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, for the battle they had won because, several lives were lost and a lot of destruction was done to achieve it. It was surely a ‘wicked thing.’

Yes, she is completely justified in her perception because, it is a fact that, the Kings and Princes take away the praise and prizes, while the common man suffers the complete brunt leading to grief and devastation.

(v) The Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, who represented Britain, fought bravely and defeated the French, bringing laurels to their nation.

When Kaspar says that everyone praised the Duke for having won the war, Peterkin questions the relevance of the war. He targeted on the purpose and utility of the ‘famous victory’, to which Old Kaspar gives up saying that he had no clue to that except that it was a ‘famous victory’.

Question 3.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Old Kaspar took it from the boy,
Who stood expectant by?
And then the old man shook his head,
And, with a natural sigh,
“T is some poor fellow’s skull,’ said he,
‘Who fell in the great victory ?
‘I find them in the garden,
For there’s many here about;
And often when I go to plough,
The ploughshare turns them out!
For many thousand men,’ said he
‘Were slain in that great victory.’

(i) Why did the boy stand in anticipation?
(ii) What response and information does he get from Old Kaspar?
(iii) Where does the old man find similar things and why?
(iv) Give the meaning of (a) expectant (b) ploughshare
(v) What was probably the profession of Kaspar? Which lines show this? Name the poet
Answer:
(i) Being a child, Peterkin was quite curious about the strange object he had found, so he was expecting some thrilling revelation from his grandfather regarding it.

(ii) Kaspar shook his head with a sigh and explained to Peterkin that it was the skull of a poor fellow which refers to an unfortunate soldier, who had died in the war, namely, the Battle of Blenheim.

(iii) The old man found many such objects in the garden as well as in his field where he went ploughing. During the Battle of Blenheim, thousands of soldiers died whose carcasses lay scattered in the field. According to Kaspar, they were the soldiers who sacrificed themselves to win victory for their people.

(iv) (a) expectant-to know (b) ploughshare-the main cutting of a plough, behind the coulter.

(v) Kaspar was a farmer. This is understood from when he says— “And often when I go to plough, The ploughshare, turns then out\” The poet is ‘Rober Southey’.

Question 4.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
‘Now tell us what ’twas all about,’
Young peterkin, he cries; .
And little wilhelmine looks up
With wonder-waiting eyes;
‘Now tell us about the war,
And what they fought each other for.’
‘It was the English,’ Kaspar cried,
‘Who put the French to rout? .
But what they fought each other for,
I could not well make out;
But everybody said,’guoth he,
‘That ‘twos a famous victory.

(i) What demand is put up by the little boy? What is the subject of discussion?
(ii) What is meant by ‘wonder-waiting’ eyes? Name the Figure of Speech.
(iii) What answer does Kaspar give to satisfy the expectation of the grandchildren? Was the information complete?
(iv) Why does he call it a ‘famous victory’? What does it reflect about him?
(v) Give the background on which the poem ‘After Blenheim’ is set.
Answer:
(i) The little children get anxious to know more about the war. The war which was referred as a ‘Great Victory’ by old Kaspar, creates thrill and excitement in their minds. So, young Peterkin demands to know what the war was about. The subject of discussion is, the cause of the war in which many people were killed.

(ii) ‘Wonder-Waiting’ eyes mean, eyes gleaming in anticipation. Little Wilhelmine was listening to the conversation between her brother and grandfather and so, she too was enthralled to know more about it like Peterkin, which made her watch them with curious eyes. The figure of speech is ‘alliteration.’

(iii) On the basis of his knowledge, Kaspar tells the kids that it was the ‘British who defeated the French army.’ But he is unable to satisfy Peterkin because he did not know the cause of the war.

(iv) Old Kaspar had no idea for the reason behind the war. He just believed What the others said – that it was a ‘famous victory’. It shows that he was one of the common men who are completely ignorant of the cause and purpose of the war, and simply follow the conventional myth that victory in war is always something td be proud of.

(v) The poem refers to the 1704 war of Spanish succession, in which a coalition of forces including, The English, defeated the Franco-Bavarian army on the land of Blenheim, a small village in southern Germany.

Question 5.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
My father lived at Blenheim then,
Yon little steam hard by;
They burnt his dwelling to the ground,
And he was forced to fly;
So with his wife and child he fled,
Nor had he where to rest his head.

‘With fire and sword the country round
Was wasted far and wide,
And many a chiding mother then,
And new-born baby died;
But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory.
Answer:
(i) Kaspar’s father lived in the German village of Blenheim, situated on the left bank of the Danube River in Bavaria in Germany.
The enemy burnt his house and he was forced to escape with his family with no place to take shelter.

(ii) ‘Wasted far and widef refers to the destruction and havoc caused by the war of Blenheim. Thousands of people were killed or rendered homeless. Houses were burnt down.

(iii) ‘A childing mother’ is referred to ‘pregnant ladies’. Many expecting mothers died with babies in their wombs, which signifies the cruelty of war which does not differentiate between guilty or innocent. Wars are, thus, a catastrophe for both, the present and the future generations.

(iv) No, it was a part of a great and famous war. This is evident from Kaspar’s words – “But things like that, you know, must be, At every famous victory.’

(v) The people, in the poem, had to pay a heavy price for the ‘great victory’. The whole countryside was wasted with fire and sword. The houses were burned down and people became homeless. Many pregnant ladies and new-born babies were killed. Many soldiers were killed whose bodies lay rotting in the sun. There was death and destruction everywhere.

Question 6.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
‘They say it was a shocking sight
After the field was won;
For many thousand bodies here lay rotting in the sun;
But things like that, you know, must be
After a famous victory.
‘Great praise the Duke of Marlbro’s won
And our good Prince Eugene.’
‘Why, ‘twos a very wicked thing!’
Said little Wilhelmine.
‘Nay……… nay ……… my little girl,’ quoth he,
‘It was a famous victory.
‘And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win. ’
‘But what good came of it at last?’
Quoth little Peterkin.
‘Why that I cannot tell,’said he, ‘
‘But’t was a famous victory.’

(i) Who are ‘They’ mentioned here? Why was it ‘a shocking sight’, though the war was won?
(ii) Who was praised and why?
(iii) What objection is raised by Wilhelmine? Is her objection justified?
(iv) Why does Old Kaspar repeat that it was a famous victory? What does it highlight about his character?
(v) What message does the poet, Robert Southey, convey through his poem?
Answer:
(i) ‘The/ refers to the people who witnessed the war or narrated the events to Kaspar.

Though the war was won, the sight was shocking as thousands of dead bodies of soldiers Lay rotting in the field, which shows the undignified aspects of war. The poem has a universal appeal. It is an anti-war poem. It disapproves the destruction to the life and property caused by war. Common man and innocent children suffer while the aristocrats win the acclaim. Trivial disputes lead to the death of thousands of people. Thus, the poem highlights that wars are futile and should be strictly avoided.

(ii) Duke of Marlborough and Prince Evgene were praised for being great War heroes who brought victory to their country.

(iii) When Kaspar says that the Duke and Prince were praised for bringing victory to their country, little Wilhelmine is shocked and objects.

‘Why, ‘twus a very wicked thing? She is unable to reconcile with the fact that they could be appreciated for being the leaders of a war which brought immense destruction and took away so many lives.

Her objection is truly justified as people participating in a war and killing others for no solid reason, commit a heinous crime towards humanity.

(iv) In the poem, Kaspar stands for the old school of people who believed undoubtedly, whatever was told to them by their elders. He had heard people referring to the war as a ‘famous’ or ‘great’ victory. He too has come to believe it and rejects the doubts of his grand children who question him about how could such a destructive war be a ‘great victor/. Thus, the poet wishes to emphasize through repetition of the line that it was a great victory. This tells that Kaspar belongs to the group of those people who have positive notions about war and who feel proud at the victory achieved during war, ignoring the harm caused by it.

(v) The message conveyed by Robert Southey in this poem is that, ordinary people, like Kaspar themselves, fall victim to the havoc caused by war and glorify war instead of poising its validity. But through the grand children, the poet presents new ideas which are based on analytical thinking and questioning. The poet has conveyed an anti-war message. It is a protest against the heroic ideals of war.