ADVAITH INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY

UNIT- 5 The Legend of the Northland -Question bank

THINKING ABOUT THE POEM I.

1. Which country or countries do you think “the Northland refers to?
Ans: Northland is described as a land somewhere in the north of the earth. It is a cold country
where people move on sledges drawn by reindeers. People wear heavy fur clothes to keep
themselves warm.
2. What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the lady’s reaction?
Ans: Saint Peter asked for a piece of cake to satiate his hunger as it had been a long day preaching
the gospels to humanity. The little woman did not refuse, but each time she baked a cake for him,
she found it was too small to eat but too big to give away for free. She could not make herself give
him even a wafer thin cake.
3. How did he punish her?
Ans: He punished her by transforming her into a woodpecker. Like a woodpecker, she would have
to make her own house and go in search of the scanty food she needed by boring in the hard wood
of trees.
4. How does a woodpecker get her food?
Ans: A woodpecker gets her food by boring/pecking in the hard barks of the trees.
5. Do you think that the old lady would have been so ungenerous if she had known who Saint
Peter really was? What would she have done?
Ans: Definitely not, she would not have behaved in such a selfish and greedy way. Instead, she
would have pleased him and served him most generously with as many cakes as he wanted. Her
behaviour was inhuman because of her ignorance.
6. Is this a true story? Which part of this poem do you feel is the most important?
Ans: It is a legend as humans cannot be changed to birds or vise versa. The main purpose of the
story is to teach and ingrain in the minds of the young, the value of generosity and charity without
any discrimination.
7. What is a legend? Why is this poem called a legend?
Ans: A legend is an old traditional story, usually with a moral teaching. The story is a narration for
children. The poet in the very onset says that she doesn’t believe this tale to be true. This poem is
called a legend because it teaches the purpose and value of generosity and charity to all fellow
beings.

Long Answer Questions (100–150 words: 8 Marks each)

1. Greed is a quality which God does not like. Discuss it in context of the poem.
Ans: Man is one creation of God who never reaches a state of contentment. He keeps wanting
more and more. His limit for satiation is unmeasurable. Our hands are always with the palm
facing upwards to receive more and more, and never downwards to give more and more. This is
the quality of man that has been described in ‘The Legend of Northland’.
The baker woman is hesitant to part with the goodies she is baking, and accepts herself, the
difficulty she faces while giving. The cake that appears small on her plate, seems very big on the
plate meant for serving to another. Unconsciously, she does accept her flaw, but does not make
attempts to correct this flaw. We get transformed into inhuman characters in our madness to
satisfy each and every greed/desire of ours. Eventually, just as the baker woman was cursed, we
too will have to suffer for our misdeeds.
Additional questions and answers.
1. ‘And surely such a woman was enough to provoke a Saint.’ Who was the woman and how did
she provoke the Saint?
Ans: The little woman who was baking cakes in her cottage was selfish and greedy. She had
plenty of cakes in the shelf and was baking more on the hearth. The saint was tired and hungry
after a long day of preaching and travelling. Her hesitation to part with one single piece of cake,
provoked him to anger.

When I eat of them myself Are yet too large to give away.
So she put them on the shelf.
Then good Saint Peter grew angry,
For he was hungry and faint;
And surely such a woman
Was enough to provoke a saint.
(a) Why did the woman not give the cake to the man?
Ans: She reasoned that the cake seemed small for her to eat but too big to give away for free, so
she kept the cake in the shelf.
(b) How did the Saint react to the woman’s attitude?
Ans: He was very angry because she was selfish and uncharitable.
(c) “My cakes that seem too small. What does this mean?
Ans: My cakes that seem too small means that when it was for herself, the cakes however big,
seemed small.
(d) “Such a woman. What kind of a woman is she?
Ans: The woman was not empathising with the man’s condition. Alternately, she was trying to be
a stingy person.

UNIT-5 THE HAPPY PRINCE – QUESTION BANK

Think about it
Question 1. Why do the courtiers call the prince ‘the Happy Prince’? Is he really happy? What
does he see all around him?

Answer: The courtiers used to call the prince ‘the Happy Prince’ because when he was alive, he
did not know what tears were, for he lived in the Palace, where sorrow was not allowed to enter.

No, he was not happy anymore. When he died, he was made into a statue and placed at a height
from where he could see the ugliness and poverty in the city.

Question 2. Why does the Happy Prince send a ruby for the seamstress? What does the swallow
do in the seamstress’ house?

Answer: The Happy Prince sends a ruby for the seamstress because she was poor and her son was
ill with fever. Her son asks her to give him oranges but all she has is river water.

The swallow was requested by the Happy Prince to visit and give the ruby to the seamstress.
When the swallow reached her house, she was asleep and the little boy was tossing feverishly. The
swallow kept the ruby on the table beside her thimble. He then gently went around the boy’s bed,
fanning the boy’s forehead with his wings. The boy felt better and went into a deep sleep.
Question 3. For whom does the prince send the sapphires and why?

Answer: The prince sends the two sapphires of his eyes for a young writer and a matchgirl each.

The young writer was trying to finish a play for the Director of the Theatre, but he was too cold to
write any more. There was no fire in the grate, and hunger had made him faint.

The Happy Prince sent one of the sapphires of his eyes to him so that he could sell it to the
jeweler, buy firewood and finish his play.

The matchgirl’s matches fell in the gutter and got spoiled. She was crying as her father would beat
her for this mistake.

The Happy Prince sent the other sapphire to her so that she would not get beaten up when her
father sees the gem she has got.

Question 4. What does the swallow see when it flies over the city?

Answer: When the swallow flies over the city, it sees the sharp difference between the lives of the
rich and the poor. He sees the rich making merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were
sitting at the gates. He flies into dark lanes and sees the white faces of starving children looking
out listlessly at the black streets.

Question 5. Why did the swallow not leave the prince and go to Egypt?

Answer: The swallow did not leave the prince and go to Egypt. The prince had become blind
after giving away his sapphires to the needy. The swallow decided to stay with the prince as he
was so touched by his kindness.

Question 6. What are the precious things mentioned in the story? Why are they precious?

Answer: The precious things mentioned in the story are: the leaden heart of the Happy Prince and
the dead bird.

They are precious because they are generous and kind. The Happy Prince sacrificed the ruby of
his sword so that the poor seamstress could get her son’s fever treated. He even went on to
sacrifice his sapphire eyes and became blind. He kept giving away the gold leaves of his statue to
be helpful to the poor and needy.

The bird sacrificed his wish of going to Egypt with his friends and stayed with the Happy Prince
instead. He ultimately sacrificed his life to stay with the prince and help people.

Thus, when God asked one of his angels to bring two most precious things, the angel brought the
leaden heart of the Happy Prince and the dead bird.

The God said that the angel had rightly chosen them, as in his garden of Paradise, the little bird
shall sing for ever and in his city of gold, the Happy Prince shall praise him.

UNIT-6 MY CHILDHOOD
THINKING ABOUT THE TEXT
1. Where was Abdul Kalam’s house?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s house was on the Mosque Street in Rameswaram.
2. What do you think Dinamani is the name of? Give a reason for your answer.
Ans: Kalam refers to his brother-in-law Jallaluddin who was a newspaper distributor. He used to
tell him stories about the world war headlines of which Kalam says he used to search in
Dinamani. Dinamani is the name of a daily newspaper in the Tamil language.
3. Who were Abdul Kalam’s school friends? What did they become later?
Ans: Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindam and Sivaprakashan were Abdul Kalam’s school friends.
Ramanandha became the priest of the Rameswaram Temple, Aravindam took to transporting of
piligrims, and Sivaprakashan became a catering contractor for Southern Railway.
4. How did Abdul earn his first wages?
Ans: Kalam helped his brother-in-law with his paper distribution when the train’s halt at
Rameswaram was suspended. He had to catch the bundles as they were thrown out of the running
train. This was how, he earned his first wages.
5. Had he earned money before that? In what way?
Ans: When he was around eight years of age, there was a sudden demand for tamarind seeds. He
would collect the seeds and sell them to a provision store at Mosque Street. This was his initial
attempt at earning money that fetched him about one anna.
1. How does the author describe: (i) his father (ii) his mother (iii) himself?
Ans: Kalam says that his father Jainulabdeen, who ferried pilgrims in his boat, was not exposed to
formal education, neither was he wealthy, but he possessed innate wisdom and a true generosity of
spirit.
ii) ans:His mother was good and kind-hearted, and loved feeding people.
Iii) ans: As for himself, Kalam says that he was a very short undistinguished son, born to tall and
handsome parents.
2. What characteristics does he say he has inherited from his parents?
Ans: Kalam says that every child inherits certain qualities from their parents. He claims to have
inherited honesty and self-discipline from his father, and faith in goodness and deep kindness
from his mother.
Extra based questions and answers.
1. ‘The image of him weeping when I shifted to the last row left a lasting impression on me’.
(a) Who is ‘him’ being referred to here?
b) Who shifted whom?
(c) Why was he shifted?
(d) Why was he weeping?
Answers:
(a) ‘Him’ refers to Ramanadha Sastry, a brahmin boy who was Kalam’s friend.
(b) The teacher shifted Kalam to the last row.
(c) Kalam was shifted because the last row was his official seat as per the social ranking of that
time.
(d) Ramanadha was weeping because his close friend was insulted and was made to sit away from
him.
5. ‘Does the seagull not fly across the sun, alone and without a nest?’
(a) Who says these words?
(b) Why does he say them?
(c) What do these lines mean?
(d) What impression do you get of the speaker?
Ans: (a) These words are spoken by Kalam’s father.
(b) He says these lines to Kalam when he sought permission to leave Rameswaram to pursue his
further studies.
(c) These words mean, just as the seagull also flies away from its parents to fend for itself,
everyone has to go away into the world to grow.
(d) Kalam’s father seems to be a very wise and practical person, without any personal prejudices,
ego or selfishness.
UNIT-6 NO MEN ARE FOREIGN

Question 1. (i) “Beneath all uniforms...” What uniforms do you think the poet is speaking about?
Answer: The poet is speaking about the various kinds of dresses and outfits people wear.
(ii) How does the poet suggest that all people on earth are the same?
Answer: The poet says that the uniforms (outfits) must be different but there is a human body
beneath those uniforms and all of us will lie in the same earth when we die.
Question 2. In stanza 1, find five ways in which we all are alike. Pick out the words.
Answer: The poet points out five ways in which we are all alike. Here are the words from the
poem: - no men are strange
- no countries foreign
- a single body breathes
- the land our brothers walk upon (the same planet)
- (the same earth) in which we all shall lie
Question 3. How many common features can you find in stanza 2? Pick out the words.
Answer: Following are the common features which we can find in stanza 2: - aware of sun and air
and water - which means all humans have the need and awareness of the sun, water and air) - fed
by peaceful harvests – all humans are fed by peacefully harvested food and grains - Their hands
are like ours, - in their lines we read a labour not different from our own.
Question 4. “...whenever we are told to hate our brothers...” When do you think this happens?
Why? Who ‘tells’ us? Should we do as we are told at such times? What does the poet say?
Answer: We are told to hate other humans from different country, religion or social group during
wars and fights. These are told by selfish people who want wars and revenge instead of peace.
They instill bad thoughts and feelings for other humans for their own benefit and cause riots. No,
we should not do as told at such times. We should try to make the world more peaceful. The poet
says that we should always remember that the people we are told to fight against are also human
beings like us. We are all the same. There is no foreign land and there are no ‘foreign’ men.
Extract based questions and answers.
1. Remember they have eyes like ours that wake
Or sleep, and strength that can be won by love.
In every land is common Life That all can recognise and understand.
a. What do we have to remember?
Ans: We have to remember that they too have eyes that wake and sleep.
b. What is common in their and our eyes?
Ans: Thry too sleep and wake up by closing and opening their eyes that wake and sleep.
[Link] can be won?
Ans: Strength can be won.
d. How can we become strong?
Ans: The one thing that universally strengthens all human beings is love.
2. Explain the expression: ‘Their hands are ours’.
Answer: Their hands are ours’ means that they too work hard like us with their hands to earn their
livelihood.
Explain the line: ‘A labour not different from our own’.
Answer: This expression means that the hard work done by the people who live in other countries
is not different in any way from the one that we do. All of us have to toil and work hard in a
similar way for survival.