Comprehension check…
1. How many daughters did the royal couple have?
Ans: The royal couple had nine daughters.
2. Why were they named after the months of the
year?
Ans: They were named after the months of the
year because the King and the Queen had many daughters and the Queen found it to
be confusing to remember so many names.
3. The King had a peculiar habit. What was it? Why is it called
peculiar?
ans: The King’s peculiar habit was that instead of receiving
gifts on his birthday, he gave them. It is called peculiar because usually,
people receive gifts on their birthdays.
4. (i) What was Princess September’s reaction to the loss of her
parrot?
(ii) What was her mother’s reaction to it?
(iii) What do the reactions indicate about the
nature and temperament of each?
Ans:
(i) Princess September burst into
tears at the loss of her parrot.
(ii) Her mother said that it was nonsense
and she should go to bed without any supper.
(iii) The Princess’ reaction indicates that
she was a sensitive child. The loss of her parrot filled her with grief. Her
mother’s reaction indicates that she was a little harsh. She did not understand
her daughter’s grief and console her.
5. What pulled the Princess out of her gloom?
Ans: When
the Princess was lying on her bed crying, she saw a little bird hop into her
room. She wiped her tears and sat up. The little bird sang a beautiful song.
This brought her out of her gloom.
6. How did the Maids of Honour come to know that the Princess and the
bird had become intimate
friends?
Ans: When the Maids of Honour brought breakfast
for the princess, they saw the bird eating rice out of her hand and had its
bath in her saucer. This showed them that the princess and the bird had become
intimate friends.
7. The new bird was full of new songs but the old parrots always
repeated themselves. What did they say?
Ans:
The old parrots would say ‘God save the
king’ and ‘Pretty Polly’ in seven different languages.
8. What is the King’s opinion about his Councillors? Why did he form
that opinion?
Ans: The parrots would repeat ‘Pretty Polly’ in
seven different languages. It reminded the king of his Councillors who also said
the same thing in seven different ways. It meant nothing in any way they said
it. This was similar to the way the parrots kept repeating without knowing the
meaning of what they said.
9. (i) The eight Princesses made an offer to Princess September.
What was it?
(ii) Why, in your view, did they do it?
Ans:
(i) The eight princesses offered to buy a
lovely green and yellow parrot for Princess September by collecting their
pocket money together.
(ii) They did so because they were vexed at
the fact that everybody was praising Princess September’s bird and its song.
Their parrots looked very glum and repeated the same things. They wanted her to
have the same pet as they had.
10. What did the sisters advise the Princess to
do about her bird?
Ans:
The sisters advised the Princess to keep
her bird in a cage.
Comprehension check…
1. In the following sentence elaborate the parts
given in bold. Under the circumstances, it was a very
unfortunate remark for
the bird to make.
Ans: Under the circumstances: The Princess September feared that the bird might forget
her or start liking someone else. She felt that in such a circumstance, she
would lose her little pet.
A very unfortunate remark: On returning, the bird said that it very nearly
did not come back that night as its father-in-law was giving a party and had
wanted it to stay. This was the last thing that the princess wanted to hear as
it only confirmed her fears.
2. (i) What did Princess September do to ensure the safety of her
pet?
(ii) How did the bird react to it?
Ans:
(i) To
ensure the safety of her pet, Princess September put it in the cage.
(ii) The bird at first suspected nothing. After
a moment or two, it asked what the joke was. When the Princess said that it
would be much safer in the cage as there were many cats roaming about, it said
that it did not mind for that one time, as long as she let it out in the
morning.
3. Why did the bird refuse to be taken out in her cage?
Ans:
The bird refused to be taken out in her
cage because it was not the same thing as flying. It said that the rice fields,
the lake and the willow trees looked quite different when seen through the bars
of a cage.
4. (i) What persuaded Princess
September to give the bird his freedom again?
(ii) How did the bird react to it?
Ans:
(i) When she saw the little bird lying at
the bottom. She thought it was dead. She took the bird out. It said that it
could not sing unless it was free and if it could not sing, it would die. This
persuaded her to give it its freedom again.
(ii) The bird promised that it would sing
the loveliest of songs for her. It would go far away but would always come back
and would never forget her.
5. Princess September kept her window open day and night.
(i) How did it help the bird?
(ii) How did it help the Princess herself?
Ans:
(i) Princess September kept her window open
day and night. It helped the bird as it could come into her room and leave
whenever it felt like.
(ii) She grew extremely beautiful because of
the open window.
6. The eight sisters kept their windows shut. How did it affect them?
Ans:
The eight sisters grew very ugly and
disagreeable because of it.