Literature

Book: Oxford Reading Circle

Topic: The River Bank

Word meanings:
1.spring cleaning- the thorough cleaning of a house, usually carried out at the end of winter
2. penetra<ng- strong enough to enter or spread through something
3. bolted-moved suddenly and quickly
4. privilege-an advantage, right or benefit that is not available to all.
5. jeeringly – laughing at somebody, mockingly
6. meandered-wandered , in an indirect manner
7. rapture- great pleasure
8. ecstasy - feeling of great delight

Ques<on & Answers:

Q.1. How did the rabbits react when the Mole passed by the private road?
Answer: When the Mole passed by the private road, an elderly rabbit told him to stop and
pay six pence for using the road. The Mole did not stop,rather he mockingly teased the other
rabbits. ARer that he leR the road before the rabbits could even think of a thoroughly
sa<sfactory answer.
Then all the rabbits started blaming each other saying. ‘How stupid you are!’ ‘‘Why didn’t
you tell him?’’, ‘‘Well, why didn’t you say?’, ‘‘You might have reminded him,” and so on, in
the usual way. But of course, it was then much too late, as is always the case.

Q.2. When did the happiness of the Mole become complete?

Answer: The Mole was wandering aimlessly along. Suddenly, he found himself by the edge
of a full fed river. He had never seen a river before in his life. All about the river seemed to
him as shining, sparkling, rustling, whirling, chaZering and bubbling. The Mole was very
much fascinated and charmed. By the side of the river, he started tro[ng as one trots. When
he became <red at last, he sat on the river bank. He felt his happiness became complete.

Comprehension (Ex-B) pg-17

1. ‘As he sat on the grass and looked across the river, a dark hole in the bank opposite, just
above the water’s edge, caught his eye.’

a. Who is si[ng on the grass and what was the ‘dark hole’ about?
Answer: The Mole is si[ng on the grass. The dark hole that he saw on the opposite side of
the river was the home of a water rat.
b. What does he see in the hole at first?
Answer: In the hole at first, he sees something bright and small that seems to twinkle down
like a star in the middle of the hole.
c. Then what does he see?
Answer: Then he sees that a small face begins to grow up gradually round the hole like a
frame round a picture. At last, it emerges as a brown water rat with whiskers.
2. ‘Is it so nice as all that? asked the Mole shyly.’

a. What is the Mole talking about?

Answer: The Mole is talking about the boat of the water rat.
b. Why does he ask the ques<on?
Answer: As he has never been on a boat earlier, so everything regarding the boat seems
fascina<ng to him. And he asks the ques<on.
c. What does the Mole think was special about ‘it’?
Answer: The cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, all the fi[ngs and as the boat swayed lightly
under him- seems fascina<ng and special to him.

Q. Explain the expression:

a. “ Hang spring cleaning!’’

Explana<on: The Mole has been working very hard all the morning for spring cleaning his
liZle house. As he feels very bothered by the spring air, he throws his brush on the floor. He
gets himself forcefully out of his house uZering these words.

b. ‘Six pence for the privilege of passing by the private road.’

Explana<on: The Mole became bored with whitewashing his home, so he came above the
earth. In the joy of living, he jumped off and ran through the meadow <ll he reached the
hedge on the further side. There an elderly rabbit stopped him and told the words above.

Topic: The Months (poem by Sara Coleridge)

Word-meaning:
1. shrill: high-pitched and piercing sound
2. dams: female parent of an animal
3. posies: small bunches of flowers
4. gillyflowers: fragrant flowers
5. borne: carried
6. pheasant: a type of bird that is shot for sports and eaten
7. thaws: the process where heat changes something from solid to liquid
8. fleece: the wool of a sheep or similar animal
9. sheaves: bundle
10. sleet: par<ally melted snow

Ques<on & Answers

Q.1. What is the weather like in March? Which types of flowers are men<oned in the poem?
Answer: The weather in March is pleasant. It brings cool breezes. Some<mes it becomes
windy and loud that s<rs everything.
Sara Coleridge men<oned many types of flowers in her poem. During March, we can see
daffodils on the field. April brings sweet primroses and daisies all around. The month June is
filled with tulips, lilies and roses. July brings gillyflowers.
Q.2. How does the poet describe about the months in the poem?
Answer: Sara Coleridge gives a vivid descrip<on of all the months in her poem. Each month
is featured with its unique quali<es, flowers, fruits, fes<vals and celebra<ons. The weather
of some of the months are cold, some are soothing.
Everything seems to be no<ced by the poet. She even helps us to get the smell and sights of
each of the months in a year. We get a detailed picture of each of the months in the poem.
She successfully brings the picture before us.

Comprehension:
‘Warm September brings the fruit,
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.’

a.What is the weather like in September?

Answer: The weather is warm and cozy in the month of September.

b. What is meant by ‘brings the fruit’?

Answer: September is the month of mellow fruiiulness. All types of fruits become matured
and ripe in this <me. In this season, people get abundance of fruits and eat it any<me they
feel like.
c.What will the sportsmen shoot?
Answer: At the end of September, the weather becomes excessively good. People love to go
out of their houses and go for hun<ng. Hun<ng is a kind of a sports where the hunters shoot
at the pheasants.

Topic: The Boy Who Served His Tribe

Word meaning:
a. tribe- a society whose members have customs, beliefs and so on, in common
b. fast- not taking food as a part of religious custom
c. lack- shortage or absence of something
d. wigwam- a North American hut made of a framework of poles covered with woven rush
mats or sheets of bark
e. plumes- feathers
f. moccasins- heelless shoes made of soft leather
g. utterly- completely
h. grieve- to feel sadness
i. tassels- bunches of loose threads hanging together

Comprehension-1 (Ex-B) pg-31:

1. “I have come to test your courage. Stand up.”

a. Who says these words and to whom?
Answer: A young warrior in green plumes, moccasins and cloak says these words to the boy
of the Chippewa tribe.

b. When are these words said?

Answer: As a custom of the Chippewa tribe, when a boy reached at the age of 14, he was sent
to some lonely place without food to pray to the great spirit. On the third day of his
starvation, these words were said.

c. How is his courage tested?

Answer: The young warrior came for consecutive five days and wrestled with the starving
boy to test his courage.
Comprehension-2 (Ex-B) pg-31:

Q.2. “I will break through the earth and return to the sunshine.”

a. Who says these words and to whom?

Answer: On the seventh day of starvation, the boy throws the young warrior to the ground
and the dying warrior says these words to the boy.

b. What is said by the same speaker just before this?

Answer: Just before this, the warrior said to the boy to bury him and to keep his grave
covered with fresh damp earth.

c. What happens after this?

Answer: After this the young warrior in green plume, moccasin and cloak died.

Question & Answers:

Q.1. In what ways was the Chippewa tribe contented? Why were they cold and hungry
sometimes?

Answer: The people of the Chippewa tribe were very happy and contented as they loved the
good things of the earth like the sunshine, the forests and the cool water of the springs. But
sometimes they were very hungry and cold as they did not know anything about growing
corns. They had to live only by hunting.

Q.2. What was the custom of the Chippewa tribe? Who do you think the young warrior was?
Ans: As a custom of the Chippewa tribe when a boy reached at the age of fourteen, he was
sent to a lonely place for several days without food. All he could think about is the life which
lay ahead of him. He went there to pray to the Great spirit or God.
As the boy prayed to the Great spirit, he sent the young warrior as a messenger to teach the
people of Chippewa tribe how to grow corn and make their life a little less hard.

Q. 3.What was the gift sent by the great spirit to the Chippewa tribe?
Answer: The great spirit has sent a new kind of food, corn to the Chippewa tribe. It will
grow wherever they plant in the earth.
By his death , the warrior had taught the Chippewas how to grow corn. In time, they
harvested it and made bread for themselves. And so, their lives were made a little less hard,
just as the boy prayed to the great spirit. From that time the Chippewas need not to spend all
their time and strength on hunting anymore.

Explain the expression:

A.‘You will be here for seven days without food.’

Explanation: When the boy reached the age of fourteen his father took him to the woods,
made a little wigwam for him and told him to stay there for seven days without food. It was
the custom of the Chippewa tribe. So, his father told him the above-mentioned sentence.

B.‘‘I have come to test your courage.’’

Explanation: On the third day of his starvation, the boy was lying inside the wigwam in a
kind of dream. Suddenly the curtains of the wigwam parted and a young warrior wearing
green plumes, moccasins and cloak entered and told him the above-mentioned sentence.

Topic: The Sea

Word meanings:
1. clashing- crashing together loudly
2. shaggy- having long, thick, messy hair
3. gnaws- bites and nibbles at something persistently
4. bounds- leaps
5. reedy- (of a sound) high and thin in tone
6. scarcely- only just ; almost not

Comprehension:

Q.1. ‘He rolls on the beach all day.’

a) What is really being described here?
Answer: The poet compares the sea to a giant and grey hungry dog who rolls onthe beach all
day long.

b) Who rolls on the beach?

Answer: The thrashing waves of the sea roll on the beach like a dog roll on the
sand.

c) Why does he roll on the beach? What is he doing?

Answer: He rolls on the beach because he is hungry. He sits on the beach and
gnaws at the bones while making a moaning sound. The hungry dog’s chewing of bones is
compared to the seas churning of the stones on the beach.

Q.2. “the rumbling tumbling stones…”

a.What really makes the stones move?
Answer: The sea is rough, powerful and dangerous. The waves make the stones move.
b. What are the stones compared to?
Ans: The sea is compared to a large stray dog. The stones are compared to the bones.
c.What is being done to the stones in the comparison?
Ans: The sea gnaws at the stones that tumble in on the water . The seas churning of the stones
on the shore is like a hungry dog chewing on bones.

Question & Answers:

Q.1. When is the sea calm and quiet? What is the calm, quiet sea compared to?
 Answer: During the month of May or June, the sea remains calm and quiet. A day is so
tranquil that the grasses do not even stir. The sea is like a dog who sits down on the beach
with his head on its paws and sleeps.
A quiet sea is compared to a dog sleeping so peacefully that he does not even snore.

Q.2. What is the sea being compared to?

Answer: The poem “The Sea,” by James Reeves, presents to the reader a whole new and
imaginative view of the sea. We know that the sea and a dog are two completely unrelated
things. But while reading this poem, we come to realize that they are very much alike and
share many similarities. Reeves also makes the reader agree that poetry gives us a special,
imaginative view of the world around us.

Topic: The Toad’s Warts

Word meaning:
a. annoyed: irritated
b. irate: feeling great anger
c. hurtled: went very soRly
d. medicinal: having proper<es that can be used to treat illness
e. mortar: a hard heavy bowl in which substances are crushed
f. wart: a small rough lump that grows on the skin

Explain the expressions:

a. It’s very dark and hairy in here!’

Ans: When the boar got biZen by the snake, it hurried off in the other direc<on and took its
fury on young plantain tree. The boar lowered its head and dug furiously, <ll the poor plant
collapsed. A bat, living up in the tree, just managed to get away before the tree hit the
ground. It was not used to fly around in broad daylight, and it blundered straight into an
elephant’s ear. Then the bat thought the above words.

Ques<on and Answers:

1. How did the toad get its warts?

Answer: The prawn was the cause of all these incidents. So, all the animals decided to
capture it. They seized the prawn and gave it to a fat toad to make it into soup. They all
relaxed beside the river and waited for the toad to make the soup.
When the soup was ready, they all gathered round to eat, but much to their astonishment,
the soup did not taste like prawn. The craRy toad had eaten the prawn. The others were so
angry that they pinched him all over his back. This was how the toad got its warts.

Comprehension:

1. “What on earth did you do that for?”

a.Who said this and to whom?
Answer: The angry boar asked this to the snake.
b.Where did the snake go ?
Answer: The snake hurtled off to find some medicinal plant to ease its pain.
c.Why was the boar angry?
Answer: The boar was angry because it got biZen by a snake unnecessarily as it was on its
way.

Topic: Nurse’s Song By William Blake

Word Meaning
1. nurse- a woman who is the custodian of children (nanny/nurse/maid)
2. dew- water condensed on a cool surface
3. leap- a light springing movement upward or forward
4. fades – becomes dimmer or fainter
5. echo – repeat the sound
6. leave off- stop

Q. Who is the speaker in the poem? To whom is the person talking in the poem?
Answer: The Nurse is speaking in the poem. She is speaking to the children who are playing
on the green hills.
This nurse is someone who is with, but not in charge of, her children. Her care does not
repress or restrict them; she responds to their needs for freedom and enjoys their capacity for
playing.

Comprehension (Ex-C):
Q.1.a. Ans: When the Nurse tells the children to leave off their playing and come back
home, then the children say these words to the nurse.
Q.1. b. Ans: Before this , the children told the Nurse not to call them so soon as it was still
day and they couldn’t go to sleep even if they returned home.
Q.1, c. Ans: To this statement, the nurse replies that, they can play but they will have to go
home to bed if the light fades away.

Q. Learn the first 10 lines of Nurse’s Song