Unit -8
THE STORY TELLER
Saki ( H H Munro)
Comprehension:
C1. Answer the following in a word, a
phrase or a sentence each:
1) Who were the
occupants of the carriage?
Ans: An aunt, a small girl, a smaller girl, a small boy
and a bachelor were the occupants of the carriage.
2) What questions
haunted Cyril when he saw sheep in the field?
Ans: There was lots of grass in that field and Cyril
wanted to know why the sheep were driven form one field to another.
3) What made the
aunt decide that the bachelor was a hard and unsympathetic man?
Ans: Children were disturbing aunt and asking weird
questions to her, the bachelor’s was observing them with the frown on his face
was deepening to a scowl. Thus, the aunt decided that the bachelor was a hard
and unsympathetic man.
4) Who saved the
little girl in the aunt’s story?
Ans: The little girl was saved from a mad bull by a
number of rescuers who admired her moral character in the aunt’s story.
5) Name the little
girl in the bachelor’s story.
Ans: Bertha was the little girl in the bachelor’s story.
6) What remark of
the bachelor’s story created a wave of reaction in favor of the story?
Ans: The correlation kindness with awful was novelty in
the story. The children felt there would be some reality in story which was not
present in aunt’s tales.
7) How did the
Prince of the country come to know about Bertha?
Ans: Bertha’s goodness made her popular and the Prince of
the country came to know from people.
8) How did the
Prince of the country honour Bertha?
Ans: Bertha got opportunity to walk in his royal park
once in a week.
9) Why was it a
great honour for Bertha being allowed into the Prince’s park?
Ans: No children were allowed into the park, so it was a
great honour for Bertha being allowed into the Prince’s park.
10) When did Bertha
begin to wish that she had never been allowed into the park?
Ans: At the beginning Bertha was very happy to be in the
park but when she was chased by a wolf then she wished that she had never been
allowed into the park.
11) The wolf
located Bertha while she was hiding in the bushes by
a) sniffing around
b) the clinking sound of the medals
c) her spotlessly white pinafore.
Ans: (b) the clinking sound of the medals.
12) What was the
aunt’s reaction to Bertha’s story?
Ans: Aunt was not happy with Bertha’s story and she said
that it was the most improper story to tell to young children and he had
undermined the effect of years of careful teaching.
C2. Work in pairs and answer the following
in a few lines each:
1) How did the
bachelor describe
a) the pigs in the
park b)
the fish in the park
c) the wolf in the
park?
Ans: a) The pigs in the park: the pigs were black with
white faces, white with black spots, black all over, grey with white patches,
and some were white all over. They had eaten all flowers of park and were
running all over.
b) The fish in the park: There were ponds with gold and
blue and green fish in them.
c) The wolf in the park: The wolf was mud colour with a
black tongue and pale grey eyes that gleaned with unspeakable ferocity and came
prowling into the park.
2) What qualities
of Bertha earned her the three medals?
Ans: Bertha earned a medal for obedience, another medal
for punctuality and a third medal for good behavior.
3) Give reasons for
a) the absence of sheep in the Prince’s park.
b) the absence of flowers in the Prince’s park
c) Bertha feeling sorry for the absence of flowers in the
Prince’s park.
Ans: a) the absence of sheep in the Prince’s Park:
Prince’s mother once had a dream that her son would either be killed by a sheep
or else by clock falling on him. For this reason the Prince never kept sheep in
his park or a clock in his palace.
b) the absence of flowers in the Prince’s Park: The pigs
had eaten all flowers so there were no flowers in the Prince’s park.
c) Bertha feeling sorry for the absence of flowers in the
Prince’s park: Bertha got surprised when there no flowers in the park, as
Bertha had promised her aunt that she would not pick any flower. But there were
no flowers in park so Bertha felt sorry for the absence of flowers.
4) What are the two
different thoughts of Bertha on her being extraordinarily good, when she was in
the Prince’s park?
Ans: Children were not allowed in that park, Bertha was
the only girl who got an opportunity to enter that Prince’s park once in a
week. She was very happy for getting that chance. But she felt that she
shouldn’t have entered that park when she encountered with a wolf which was
chasing her. Thus, those were the two different thoughts of Bertha on her being
extraordinary good, when she was in the Prince’s park.
C3. Discuss in
groups and answer the following questions.
1) How did the
medals earn respect for Bertha, as well as cause her death?
Ans: Bertha was good and well mannered girl and she won
several medals for her goodness, which she always wore pinned on to her dress.
There was a medal for obedience, another medal for punctuality, and a third for
good behavior. They were large metal metals and they clinked against one
another as she walked. The Prince of the country allowed her to walk once a
week in his park.
As days passed, Bertha was walking in the garden at that
a wolf entered that park and was chased by her, she ran to hide herself behind
a bush, she was luck that moment but her medals clinked and the wolf found her
and attacked her.
2) The aunt terms
the bachelor’s story the most improper one. Do you agree with her? Give
reasons.
Ans: The bachelor’s story had a wave of reaction in
favour of the story; the word horrible in connection with goodness was a
novelty that commended itself. It seemed to introduce a ring of truth that was
absent from the aunt’s tales of infant life. Children enjoyed bachelor’s story
and they appreciated him but the aunt said it was improper story to tell to
young children. The reason that the aunt considered that story was improper;
she felt that children those who were having positivity and faith in goodness
would vanish. Even children were influenced by bachelor’s story; his story gave
importance to immortality where kindness was punished. Aunt was worried about
her teaching where she tried to inculcate moral values. But the bachelor’s
intension was to entertain children who bored by aunt’s story.
3) What elements in
the bachelor’s story appealed to the children?
Ans: The bachelor’s story had entertained children so
much even they appreciated him for his story, as the story had eloquent
element, unpredictable interweave and believable responds to the queries of the
story.
4) How would the
story have ended if Bertha had not pinned the medals on her pinafore?
Ans: The story had ended in a different way if Bertha had
not pinned the medals on her pinafore. The wolf would have not noticed her and
it would have chased those piglets rather than Bertha.
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