Category: English Summary

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Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Summary in English by AR Williams

Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Summary in English

Tut, the last heir of a powerful family that had ruled Egypt, died a teenager. He was buried and, with the passage of time, forgotten. But after the discovery of his tomb in 1922, the modem world wondered about the cause of his untimely death. He was brought out of his tomb and a CT scan was done to ascertain the reason of his death.

It was 6 pm, on 5 January 2005 when King Tut was taken out from his burial tomb after a span of 3,300 years. The weather—dusty, and cloudy—was eerie. The mummy was then put into a CT scanner to investigate the continuing uncertainty of the death of this young ruler who died an untimely death.

Multitudes of tourists from around the world came to visit the tomb to pay their respects. They stared at the murals on the walls of the burial chamber and looked at Tut’s gilded face on the lid of his mummy-shaped outer coffin. The visitors were curious and thoughtful. Some feared the pharaoh’s curse would befall those who disturbed him.

Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the mummy was in very bad state because of the manner in which Howard Carter, the British archaeologist, who in 1922 had discovered Tut’s tomb, had gone about investigating the contents of the tomb. He had then found the richest royal collection ever. There were the dazzling works of art in gold that had caused a sensation then and continue to draw people’s attention even today. Everyday things such as board games, a bronze razor, linen undergarments, cases of food and wine had also been buried with the young pharoah.

Carter documented the pharaoh’s treasures that were buried with him. He then began looking into his three nested coffins. In the first, he found that the burial cloth was decorated with garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals, and cornflowers. This helped him conclude that the King was buried in March or April. When he reached the mummy, he realised that the ritual resins had solidified, cementing Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin.

Carter used the hot sun in Egypt to loosen the resins. For a number of hours he put the mummy outside in the sun that heated it to 149 degrees Fahrenheit. But it was futile. He stated that the mummy had to be cut from under the limbs and trunk before it was possible to lift the king’s remains. At that time, Carter had had no option. Had he not done this, thieves would have attacked the guards and robbed the place to remove the gold.

The royals believed that they could take their riches with them after death. Hence King Tut was given abundant jewellery and all of pure gold. To separate Tut from his ornamentation, Carter’s men removed the mummy’s head and cut off nearly every major joint. They then collected and put the remains of the body on a layer of sand in a wooden box with padding.

Lately, the archaeologists have started concentrating less on treasures and more on the details of life and mysteries of death. Moreover, they now have an access to more advanced technology. In 1968, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed that Tut’s breastbone and front ribs were missing.

King Tut’s demise was a big event as he was the last of his family’s lineage. With him, came to an end a dynasty. But the facts of his death and its consequences are unclear.

Amenhotep III, Tut’s father or grandfather, was a powerful pharaoh who ruled for almost four decades at the height of the eighteenth dynasty’s golden age. His son, Amenhotep IV succeeded him. He promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun disk, changed his name to Akhenaten, or “servant of the Aten”, and moved the religious capital from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, known now as Amama. He shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples. It must have been a terrible time for the people because the family that had ruled for centuries was coming to an end, and then Akhenaten had presumably gone a little crazy.

After Akhenaten’s death, a mysterious ruler named Smenkhkare showed up for a brief period and departed with hardly any sign. It was then that young Tutankhaten (Tut) took the throne. The boy king soon changed his name to Tutankhamun, “living image of Amun”, and during his reign the country witnessed a return of the old ways. He reigned for about nine years and then died suddenly.

The Egyptian Mummy Project has recorded almost 600 mummies so far and is still counting. The next stage is scanning the mummies with a portable CT machine. King Tut is one of the first mummies to be scanned to ascertain the secret of his death.

The million-dollar scanner had stopped functioning because of sand in a cooler fan. The guard there looked anxious and said jokingly that it was because of the curse of the pharaoh. Finally the problem with the scan machine was rectified and the task finished. Tut was carried back to his tomb in less than three hours after he was removed from his coffin.

The scanned images of Tut revealed that nothing had gone seriously wrong. Zahi Hawass was evidently comforted. The wind had stopped, and the winter air was cold and still. Just above the entrance to Tut’s tomb stood Orion, the constellation that the ancient Egyptians knew as the soul of Osiris, the god of the afterlife, as if watching Tut.

Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What generated the interest of the world in King Tut?
Answer:
King Tut was just a teenager when he died. He was the last heir of a powerful family that had ruled Egypt and its empire for centuries. Since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, the modem world wondered about what happened to him and wondered if he could have been murdered.

Question 2.
How did nature seem to echo the unnatural happening?
Answer:
As King Tut was taken from his resting place in the ancient Egyptian cemetery, dark-bellied clouds that had scudded across the desert sky all day, veiled the stars in grey. It seemed that the wind was angry and had roused the dust devils.

Question 3.
Why did the tourists throng to see Tut’s tomb? What was their reaction?
Answer:
The tourists came to pay their respects to King Tut. They admired the murals and Tut’s gilded face on his mummy-shaped outer coffin. They read from the guidebooks in whisper, or stood silently, pondering over Tut’s untimely death, dreading, lest the pharaoh’s curse befall those who disturbed him.

Question 4.
Who was Howard Carter? What did he find?
Answer:
Howard Carter was the British archaeologist who in 1922 discovered Tut’s tomb after years of unsuccessful search. He discovered the richest royal collection ever found that included stunning artefacts in gold that caused a sensation.

Question 5.
Tut was buried in March-April. How did Carter conclude this?
Answer:
On opening a coffin, Carter found a shroud decorated with garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals and cornflowers. Since these flowers grow in March or April, Carter concluded that the burial was in these months.

Question 6.
“When he finally reached the mummy, though, he ran into trouble.” Why was it so?
Answer:
When Carter tried to raise the mummy out of the coffin, he could not. The ritual resins had hardened, cementing Tut’s body to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. No amount of force could pull it out.

Question 7.
How did he decide to detach the mummy? Why?
Answer:
First Carter tried to loosen the resins with the heat of the sun. For several hours, he put the mummy outside in blazing sunshine that heated it to 149 degrees Fahrenheit but it was in vain. Then he decided to carve it out from beneath the limbs and trunk as there was no other way of raising the king’s remains.

Question 8.
What were the treasures found in the coffin? Why were they put there?
Answer:
King Tut’s coffin contained precious collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets, a ceremonial apron, sandals, sheaths for his fingers and toes, and his inner coffin and mask, all of which were made of pure gold. The royals, in King Tut’s time, hoped to take their riches along with them for their next life.

Question 9.
How has the viewpoint of archaeologists changed with the passage of time?
Answer:
The archaeologists, earlier, focussed on the treasures that the tomb would yield. The centre of attention, now, is more on the fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of death. Moreover, now they use more sophisticated tools, including medical technology.

Question 10.
What was the interesting fact about Tut that was brought to light in the late sixties?
Answer:
In 1968, more than forty years after Carter’s discovery, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed a startling fact: beneath the resin that caked his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs were missing.

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Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary in English by Thomas Campbell

Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary in English

The poem is a ballad, which tells the tragic tale of Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover, a Scottish chieftain. The poem begins with the girl and the chieftain arriving at the banks of Lochgyle with the intention of going across it, to safety. They are being closely followed by Lord Ullin and his men and so the two lovers are desperate to go across before others arrive at the shore. The lover requests the boatman to ferry them across and promises to pay him a silver pound.

The boatman hesitates because the weather is stormy and it is dangerous to cross the Loch just then. But, when the girl pleads with him and says that she would rather face the stormy weather than an angry father who would surely kill her lover, the boatman is touched and agrees to take them across without money.

Thus, the boat leaves the shore just as Lord Ullin and his men reach the place. All his anger evaporates the moment he sees his daughter in the boat, battling against the fury of the raging tempest. The sight of his daughter crying out for help from the storm-ravaged boat melts his heart and he cries out to her to return with the assurance that he would forgive her. But it is too late and before his very eyes the little boat capsizes and the two lovers and the boatman are drowned in the turbulent waters.

The mood of the poem is very dark, serious, emotional and sad as it recounts the tragic tale of the two lovers. The setting of the poem is the Scottish Highlands.

Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover are trying to:
(i) escape the wrath of her father.
(ii) settle in a distant land.
(iii) challenge the storm in the lake.
(iv) trying to prove their love for each other
Answer:
Escape the wrath of her father.

b. The boatman agrees to ferry them across because:
(i) he has fallen in love with Lord Ullin’s daughter.
(ii) he wants to avenge Lord Ullin.
(iii) he has lost his love.
(iv) he is sorry for the childlike innocence of the lady.
Answer:
He is sorry for the childlike innocence of the lady.

c. The mood changes in the poem. It transforms from:
(i) happiness to fear.
(ii) anxiety to grief.
(iii) fear to happiness.
(iv) love to pain.
Answer:
Anxiety to grief.

d. The shore of Lochgyle has been referred to as fatal shore! ’ The poetic device used here is:
(i) metaphor
(ii) simile
(iii) transferred epithet
(iv) onomatopoeia
Answer:
Transferred epithet.

Question 2.
In pairs, copy and complete the summary of the poem with suitable words/expressions.
Answer:
A Scottish Chieftain and his beloved were (a) running awav from her wrathful father. As they reached the shores, the (b) chieftain told a boatman to (c) ferrv them across Lochgyle. He asked him to do it quickly because if (d) her father’s men found them, they would kill him. The boatman (e) agreed to take them not for the (f) silver pound that the chieftain offered but for his (g) voung. innocent bride. By this time, the storm had (h) begun and a wild wind had started blowing. The sound of (i) trampling could be heard close at hand. The lady urged the boatman (j) to hurry as she did not want to face an angry father.

Their boat left the (k) stormy land and as it got caught in the stormy sea, Lord Ullin reached the deadly (1) shore. His anger changed to wailing when he saw his daughter (m) caught in the storm. He asked her to return to the shore. But it was (n) futile as the stormy sea claimed his daughter and her lover.

Question 3.
Why does Lord Ullin’s daughter defy her father and elope with her lover?
Answer:
Lord Ullin’s daughter defies her father and runs away with her lover because her father refuses to let her marry the person she loves. Hence, if she wants to marry her lover, her only option is to elope with him.

Question 4.
Give two characteristics of the boatman who ferries the couple across the sea.
Answer:
The boatman is tender because he is able to sympathise with the innocent girl who has braved the elements and her father’s wrath for the person she loves.

He is also courageous because he agrees to ferry the lovers across the lake in the raging storm, endangering his own life in the process.

Question 5.
Imagery’ refers to something that can be perceived through more than one of the senses. It uses figurative language to help form mental pictures. Campbell used vivid, diverse and powerful imagery to personify the menacing face of nature. Pick out expressions that convey the images of anger in the following stanzas.
Answer:
Stanza 6 • ‘raging white’
Stanza 7 • ‘water-wraith was shrieking’
Stanza 9 • ‘raging of the skies’
Stanza 10 • ‘stormy seas’
Stanza 13 • ‘stormy water’
Stanza 14 • ‘loud waves lash’d the shore’,‘water wild’

Question 6.
Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

‘His horsemen hard behind us ride:
Should they our steps discover.
Then who will cheer my bonny bride
When they have slain her lover?’

a. Who is ‘his’ in line l? Who does ‘us’ refer to?
Answer:
Lord Ullin is referred to as ‘his’ in line l. The chieftain and his lover, Lord Ullin’s daughter, are referred to as ‘us’.

b. Explain – ‘cheer my bonny bride’.
Answer:
In this phrase ‘bonny’ implies attractive or beautiful. In this phrase, the young chieftain argues that if he is slain by Lord Ullin’s men, nobody will be able to keep his lover happy.

c. Why would the lover be slain?
Answer:
The lover would be slain for daring to run away with Lord Ullin’s daughter.

Question 7.
In Stanza 10, the poet says –
‘The boat has left a stormy land,
A stormy sea before her, ———– ’

a. In both these lines, the word ‘stormy ’ assumes different connotations. What are they?
Answer:
In the lines, the land is considered to be stormy because it is dangerous for the young couple as Lord Ullin’s ‘ men are pursuing them over land on horseback. The sea is stormy because there is, actually, a storm brewing over the sea. ’

b. The lady faces a dilemma here. What is it? What choice does she finally make?
Answer:
The Lady has to choose between the stormy land, representing the wrath of her father, and the sea, upon which a storm is raging. She chooses to risk her life in the stormy sea rather than face her angry father.

Question 8.
‘Lord Ullin reached that fatal shore’ just as his daughter left it. (Stanza 11).

a. Why is the shore called fatal?
Answer:
The shore is called fatal because Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover escape to the sea from that shore, only to be killed in the open sea.

b. Why does Lord Ullin’s wrath change into wailing on seeing his daughter?
Answer:
Lord Ullin’s wrath changes to wailing on seeing his daughter because, in her haste to escape her father, she drowns in the stormy sea.

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The Solitary Reaper Summary in English by William Wordsworth

The Solitary Reaper Summary in English

William Wordsworth, a Romantic poet, highlights the beauty of a ‘highland lass’ song in this poem. The poet is walking in the highlands of Scotland when he comes upon a girl singing in the field. He is so enamoured by her song that he stops in his travels and listens to her song. Her beautiful voice fills the whole valley. As he climbs over the hill, the song lingers in his ears and remains with him for a long time.

The poem begins with the poet walking in the highlands of Scotland when he comes across a girl who is cutting and binding grain into sheaves. She is singing as she works. Though the tune is melancholy, her voice is so captivating that the poet stops to listen to her.

He compares her song to the sweet notes of the nightingale and the cuckoo, both birds that sing in romantic surroundings. Since he is not familiar with the dialect, or he is too far to catch the words of the song, he is unable to understand the theme of the maiden’s song. He is, nevertheless, intrigued by the song and wonders what the theme of the song could be. This does not detract from his enjoyment of the song and he just stands there and listens to her song as she goes about her work. One thing is clear, her song is sad and her notes are plaintive. He wishes that her song would go on and on. Finally, the poet carries on, along his way, bearing in his heart the memory of the song.

The Solitary Reaper Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. The central idea of the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper’ is:
(i) well sung songs give us happiness
(ii) melodious sounds appeal to all
(iii) beautiful experiences give us life-long pleasure
(iv) reapers can sing like birds
Answer:
That beautiful experiences give us life-long pleasure.

b. In the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper ’ to whom does the poet say ‘ Stop here or gently pass ’?
(i) to the people cutting com
(ii) to himself
(iii) to the people who make noise
(iv) to all the passers by
Answer:
To himself.

c. ‘The Solitary Reaper’ is a narrative poem set to music. This form of verse is called a:
(i) ballad
(ii) soliloquy
(iii) monologue
(iv) sonnet
Answer:
Ballad.

d. The poet’s lament in the poem ‘The Solitary Reaper’ is that:
(i) he cannot understand the song
(ii) he did not know the lass
(iii) she stopped singing at once
(iv) he had to move away
Answer:
He cannot understand the song.

e. The setting of the poem is:
(i) Arabia
(ii) Hebrides
(iii) Scotland
(iv) England
Answer:
Scotland.

Question 2.
Read the second stanza again, in which Wordsworth compares the solitary reaper’s song with the song of the nightingale and the cuckoo. On the basis of your reading (and your imagination), copy and complete the table below. (Work in groups of four, then have a brief class discussion.)
Answer:

	Place	Heard by	Impact on listener
Solitary Reaper	Scottish Highlands	the poet	holds him spellbound
Nightingale	Arabia	Arabian travellers	Welcomes weary travellers
Cuckoo	Seas along the farthest Hebrides	People in the farthest Hebrides	Breaks the silence of the seas

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We Are Not Afraid To Die If We Can All Be Together Summary in English by Gordon Cook and Alan East

We Are Not Afraid To Die If We Can All Be Together Summary in English

‘We’re Not Afraid to Die… if We Can All Be Together’ is an exciting account of a family’s experience at sea. It not only underlines the difficulties that mariners often face at sea but also brings out, poignantly, the spirit of togetherness in a family, who are prepared to brave death together.

In July 1976, the author who is a thirty-seven-year-old businessman, along with his wife Mary, son Jonathan, six, daughter Suzanne, seven, set sail from Plymouth, England, for a trip around the world, taking the route that Captain Cook had taken 200 years earlier. They had longed to do this for the past sixteen years and had hence spent all their spare time improving their maritime skills in the British waters. Their boat, Wavewalker, was a 23-metre, 30-ton boat that had been efficiently built. It had various fixtures and was tested in the roughest weather they could find.

The first part of their three-year journey passed pleasurably as they sailed down the west coast of Africa to Cape Town. However, before moving to the east, they took two crewmen, American, Larry Vigil, and Swiss, Herb Seigler, to help them cross the southern Indian Ocean since this is known to be one of the world’s roughest seas.

It was just on the second day of their journey out of Cape Town that they began to face windstorms that continued for a few weeks. But worse than the ferocious winds were the waves that rose up as high as the main mast.

By 25 December they had travelled 3,500 kilometres east of Cape Town. The weather was terrible but they celebrated Christmas. By New Year’s Day, the weather became worse and on the morning of 2 January, the waves were extremely large.

They were sailing with only a small storm jib and were still making eight knots. The ship moved to the top of ‘ each wave but the gigantic waves and menacing winds continued to terrorise them. They dropped the storm jib to slow the boat and then lashed a heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem. Then they fastened everything, went through their life-raft drill, attached lifelines and put on oilskins and life jackets.

At about 6 pm, there was a lull before the storm. The wind stopped and the sky became dark. Then a loud roaring sound was heard and a huge cloud seemed to tower over the ship. It was, in fact, the biggest wave that they had ever seen. It was perpendicular and almost twice as high as the other waves.

The roaring grew louder and the author attempted to ride the wave. But just then there was a great explosion that shook the floor of the ship. Water gushed into the ship. With the impact, the author’s head hit against the wheel and before he knew he was thrown into the sea. He accepted the fact that he was going to die but suddenly his head popped out of the water and he spotted Wavewalker a few metres away. It was on the verge of overturning. Its masts were almost horizontal. Then a strong wave tossed it to a straight position. The author took hold of the guardrails and reached the Wavewalker.

The waves were throwing him around and his left ribs cracked. His mouth filled with blood as he had broken his teeth. Somehow he found the wheel, lined up the stem for the next wave and hung on. The author felt the ship flooding with water. Just then, Mary came in a panic and informed him that the ship was sinking as water was filling in. Putting her at the wheel, the narrator clambered towards the hatch. He saw Larry and Herb pumping out water frantically. He also noticed that the whole starboard had caved inwards and clothes, crockery, charts, tins and toys were floating in deep water.

The author waded with difficulty into the children’s cabin. Sue had a big bump above her eyes but this was insignificant compared to the situation that they were in. He found a hammer, screws and canvas and struggled back on deck. Somehow he managed to stretch the canvas and secure waterproof hatch covers across the gaping holes. Some water continued to come in but most of it could be prevented from entering the ship.

This was not the end of their troubles. The hand pumps started clogging up with the trash floating around the cabins. Soon the electric pump short-circuited. The water level rose menacingly. He went to the deck and found two spare hand pumps and another electric pump under the chartroom floor.

The night was extremely cold. They struggled to pump out water, find direction and also work the radio. There was no response to their desperate calls for help because they were in a distant comer of the world.

Sue’s head had swollen a lot, she had two huge black eyes, and a deep cut on her arm but she did not worry him.

By morning, on 3 January, they had managed to pump out the water to a reasonable level and they could afford to take two hours’ rest, in turns. The author suspected a huge leak somewhere and found that nearly all the boat’s main rib frames were damaged down to the keel. There was nothing holding up a whole section of the starboard hull except a few cupboard partitions.

By now they knew that their ship, Wavewalker, was not sturdy enough to take them to Australia. The author checked the charts and assessed that there were two small islands a few hundred kilometres to the east; one of them was lie Amsterdam. They hoped to reach one of these safely and for better weather as their secondary engine was out of order.

On 4 January, they managed to throw out the water from the ship after thirty-six hours of non-stop pumping. Now, they had to only pump out the water that was still coming in. It was difficult to set any sail on the main mast as the pressure on the rigging would pull the broken section of the hull apart. So they hoisted the storm jib and moved towards the two islands.

They ate their meagre meal of some corned beef and cracker biscuits after almost two days. However, their relief was short-lived and came to an end at 4 pm. Dark clouds gathered again, the wind started blowing fiercely, and the sea rose afresh. The situation worsened and when the narrator tried comforting the children on 5 January, Jon said that they were not afraid of dying if the family could be together.

But the author was determined to fight the sea. To protect the weakened starboard he decided to heave-to—with the undamaged port hull facing the oncoming waves, using a makeshift sea anchor of heavy nylon rope and two 22 litre plastic barrels of paraffin.

Later in the evening, as more water came into the ship they felt defeated again.

But by the morning of 6 January, the speed of the wind decreased. The author tried to calculate their position. All they could find out was that they were somewhere in 150,000 kilometres of ocean looking for a 65 kilometre wide island. Sue, who was injured, moved up to him and gave him a card she had made. It was a message to hope for the best.

The author tried to calculate their position using a spare compass and by estimating the influence of the westerly currents. About 2 pm, he asked Larry to steer a course of 185 degrees. He said that they could expect to see the island at about 5 pm, although inwardly he was doubtful.

Dejected, he went down to his bunk and before he knew, he fell asleep. He woke up at 6 pm, and it was growing dark. Just then, the two children came up to him. Jon told him that he was the best father and the best captain. Sue announced that the island was just in front of them. The author rushed out to the deck and stared with relief at lie Amsterdam. It was a piece of volcanic rock, with little vegetation.

They stayed offshore for the night, and the next morning all twenty-eight inhabitants of the island helped them to the island. When at the island, he admired Larry and Herb’s happy and positive attitude, Mary for being at the wheel for all the critical hours but most of all, Sue who did not want them to worry about a head injury and Jon who was not afraid to die.

We Are Not Afraid To Die If We Can All Be Together Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Who was the narrator? What adventurous task did he take on?
Answer:
The narrator was a thirty-seven-year-old businessman, who along with his family, set from Plymouth, England, on a round-the-world voyage like Captain James Cook had done 200 years earlier in a 30-ton wooden-hulled boat.

Question 2.
How did they prepare for this onerous task?
Answer:
For sixteen years, they spent all their leisure time improving their seafaring skills in British waters. They bought a boat, Wavewalker, a 23-metre, 30-ton wooden-hulled vessel that had been professionally built.

They spent months fitting it out and testing it in the roughest weather that they could find.

Question 3.
How many people were there in the boat?
Answer:
The four of them—the narrator, his wife Mary, son Jonathan, and daughter Suzanne—sailed for 105,000 kilometres to the west coast of Africa to Cape Town. They took on two crewmen with them—an American, Larry Vigil, and a Swiss, Herb Seigler, before settling sail on the southern Indian Ocean.

Question 4.
What was the first indicator of rough weather?
Answer:
On their second day out of Cape Town, they encountered strong winds. For the next few weeks, the gales blew continuously. The gales did not worry the narrator but the sizes of the waves were disturbing.

Question 5.
What ordeal awaited them on 2 January?
Answer:
After they celebrated Christmas, the weather changed for the worse. On the early morning of 2 January, the waves became huge. As the ship rose to the top of each wave, they could see the vast sea rolling towards them. The wind seemed to be howling.

Question 6.
What measures did they take to counter this ordeal?
Answer:
They dropped the storm jib and lashed a heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem to slow the boat, and then double-lashed everything, went through their life-raft drill, attached lifelines, put on oilskins and life jackets.

Question 7.
What happened on the evening of 2 January?
Answer:
On the evening of 2 January there was a lull before the storm. As the sky grew dark, they heard a growing roar, and saw a massive cloud rising at the rear of the ship. To their dismay, it was a huge wave, almost twice the height of other waves, with a fearsome breaking top.

Question 8.
What happened when they tried to ride over the wave?
Answer:
When they tried to ride over the wave, there was a loud blast that shook the deck. Water gushed over the ship, the narrator’s head hit the wheel and he was thrown overboard into the water. He accepted his impending death, and while he was losing consciousness, he felt peaceful.

Question 9.
How did the narrator get back to the ship after having been thrown into the sea?
Answer:
After the narrator felt he was losing consciousness, his head suddenly popped out of the water. A few metres away, he saw Wavewalker, nearly overturned. Then, a wave threw it upright. He grabbed the guardrails and sailed through the air into Wavewalker’s main boom. The waves tossed him onto the deck like a rag doll.

Question 10.
How did they manage to throw out water from the ship?
Answer:
With the narrator’s wife, Mary, at the wheel, the narrator half-swam, half-crawled into the children’s cabin, where he found a hammer, screws and canvas, and struggled back on deck. He secured waterproof hatch covers across the wide-open holes. With Herb and Larry’s assistance, he managed to throw out the water.

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The Portrait of A Lady Summary in English by Khushwant Singh

The Portrait of A Lady by Khushwant Singh About the Author

Author Name	Khushwant Singh
Born	2 February 1915, Hadali, Pakistan
Died	20 March 2014, Sujan Singh Park, Delhi
Spouse	Kawal Malik (m. 1939–2001)
Education	GCU, Panjab University, King’s College London, The Dickson Poon School of Law, St Stephen’s College
Awards	Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Punjab Rattan Award

The Portrait of A Lady Summary in English

“The Portrait of a Lady” is a heart-warming pen picture of Khushwant Singh’s grandmother who brought him up.

The author describes his association with his grandmother and the changes that came about in their relationship with the passage of time. Her simplicity and beauty left an indelible imprint on the poet’s mind.

Khushwant Singh’s grandmother was short, old and slightly bent, and hobbled around the house telling the beads on her rosary. He had seen her look the same for twenty years and to him it seemed that she was really old and could not grow older. It was difficult for him to conceptualise that she could have been young and . pretty; to believe that she had had a husband. His grandfather’s portrait hung on the wall of the drawing room.

He too looked very old arid very grandfatherly. Looking at his portrait one could visualise that he had many grandc hildren but one could not imagine him in his youth with his wife and children.

When Khushwant Singh was still young, his parents left for the city leaving him to the care of his grandmother.

They were good friends. She woke him up each morning, bathed him, dressed him, plastered his wooden slate, gave him breakfast—a stale, buttered chapatti with sugar sprinkled on it and walked him to school. The school was attached to a temple. While Khushwant Singh and the other children sat in the veranda learning the alphabets and morning prayers, his grandmother sat inside the temple reading scriptures. After they had both finished, they would head back home. On their way, she fed the dogs each day with the stale chapattis that she carried with her. When the writer’s parents had settled in the city, they sent for them. This proved to be a turning point in their relationship. The only thing that remained unchanged was their common bedroom.

She could not accompany him to school as he went by the school bus. Now, he went to an English school where they taught science. She could not understand English and did not believe in science. The fact that they were not taught about god made her unhappy. Khushwant Singh’s learning music in school made her unhappier as she felt it was not meant for gentle folk. Her communication with him deteriorated further. But it was when he went to the university and got a separate room that even this link was snapped.

When the writer was going abroad, she went to the railway station to see him off but did not speak a word, only kissed his forehead. The writer believed this was their last physical contact as he was going away for five years. But she was there when he returned and was delighted to see him back. In the evening she collected women from the neighbourhood and beat the drum and sang for hours of the homecoming of warriors. For the first time she missed her prayers.

She was then taken slightly ill. The doctors reassured the family that there was nothing to worry but she stopped talking. She said her end was near. She began to tell the beads of her rosary and her lips moved in a silent prayer before she died.

After her death, her body was laid on the floor, covered in a red shawl. Thousands of sparrows came and sat quietly all around her body. The writer’s mother threw breadcrumbs but the sparrows took no notice of them.

After her cremation they flew away without touching the crumbs.

The Portrait of A Lady Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why was it hard for the author to believe that the grandmother was once young and pretty?
Answer:
It was difficult for the author to believe that his grandmother was once young and pretty. In fact, the thought was almost revolting. He had seen her old for the last twenty years. He felt she could age no further. The very thought of her playing games as a child seemed quite absurd and undignified.

Question 2.
The grandmother has been portrayed as a very religious lady. What details in the story create this impression?
Answer:
The author recalls his grandmother as a very religious woman. He remembers her hobbling about the house, telling the beads of her rosary. He recalls her morning prayers and her reading scriptures inside the temple. The author recounts how, during the last few days, she spent all her time praying.

Question 3.
The grandmother had a divine beauty. How does the author bring it out?
Answer:
The grandmother was not pretty but had a divine beauty. She dressed in spotless white. Her silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, and her lips constantly moved in an inaudible prayer. The author describes her “like the winter landscape in the mountains”—a personification of “serenity, breathing peace and contentment.”

Question 4.
What proofs do you find of friendship between the grandmother and grandson in the story?
Answer:
The grandmother and grandson were good friends. She got him ready and walked him to and back from school. In the city, they shared a common bedroom. The author’s grandmother saw him off, silently, but kissing him on his forehead, when he went abroad and celebrated his return five years later.

Question 5.
The grandmother was a kind-hearted woman. Give examples in support of your answer.
Answer:
The grandmother was a kind-hearted woman. On her way back from school, she would feed the village dogs with stale chapattis. In the city, when she could not move out, she took to feeding sparrows that came and perched on her legs, shoulders, and head.

Question 6.
“This was the turning point in our friendship.” What was the turning point?
Answer:
The turning point in the friendship arrived when they shifted to the city. They saw less of each other as she could neither accompany him to school, nor understand English. She did not believe in science. She could not keep pace with the author’s modem education that he received in the city school.

Question 7.
Draw a comparison between the author’s village school education and city school education.
Answer:
The village school was attached to a temple and the students were taught the alphabet and morning prayers. The author and his grandmother walked to the school in the village. However, in the city he went by the school bus. He was taught science and English but not taught about god. He was also taught music.

Question 8.
What was the happiest moment of the day for the grandmother?
Answer:
The happiest moment of the day for the grandmother in the city was when she was feeding the sparrows.
They perched on her legs, shoulders, and head but she never shooed them away.

Question 9.
What was ‘the last sign’ of physical contact between the author and the grandmother? Why did the author think that to be the last physical contact?
Answer:
The author was going abroad for five years. His grandmother kissed his forehead. He presumed this as the last sign of physical contact between them. He feared that she would not survive till he returned since he was going away for five years.

Question 10.
Everybody including the sparrows mourned the grandmother’s death. Elaborate.
Answer:
When the grandmother died, thousands of sparrows collected and sat in the courtyard. There was no chirruping. When the author’s mother threw some breadcrumbs for them, they took no notice of the breadcrumbs. They were full of grief at her death and flew away quietly after the cremation.

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The Road Not Taken Summary in English by Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken Summary in English

This poem talks about the choices that one has to make in life and their consequences. One day, while walking in a wooded area full of trees with yellow leaves, the poet comes to a fork in the road and has to decide which road he should take. He starts debating over the choice as he realizes he cannot walk on both. The second road appears to be less travelled and he is tempted to walk on it even though the first path also appears to have been left undisturbed for some time. However, he decides to take the second path with the intention of walking on the first one sometime in the future.

At the same time he knows that the chances of his returning that way are slim, especially as he is aware of the manner in which one path leads on to the other, taking the traveller far away from the main path. In the last stanza, the poet becomes philosophical when he talks about a future time when he would look back at the choices that he has made in life and their consequences. He feels his life will be very different from others because he has always been tempted to take the path that is not generally followed by others. It shows the poet as an adventurous man ready to take risks in life. He does not appear to like following the conventional path.

The mood of the poem is philosophical and thoughtful as the narrator wonders whether his choice of the road he decided to travel upon had been the right one.

The Road Not Taken Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. In the poem, a traveller comes to a fork in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue his journey. Figuratively the choice of the road denotes:
(i) the tough choices people make the road of life.
(ii) the time wasted on deciding what to do.
(iii) life is like a forest.
(iv) one must travel a lot to realize his dreams.
Answer:
The tough choices people make on the road of life.

b. The poet writes, ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. ’ The word diverged means:
(i) appeared
(ii) curved
(iii) branched off
(iv) continued on
Answer:
Branched off.

c. The tone of the speaker in the first stanza is that of:
(i) excitement
(ii) anger
(iii) hesitation and thoughtfulness
(iv) sorrow
Answer:
Hesitation and thoughtfulness.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions briefly.

a. Describe the two roads that the author comes across.
Answer:
The author comes across a fork in the road as he is travelling through the woods. Both the roads look similar to him because of the undisturbed leafy undergrowth, but he senses that one of the roads has been trodden on less often than the other. .

b. Which road does the speaker choose? Why?
(Encourage the students to think creatively andformulate their own answers.)
Answer:
The speaker finally decides to take the road that not many people had walked on because it seems more adventurous than the route everyone seemed to take.

c. Which road would you choose? Why?
(Encourage the students to think creatively and formulate their own answers.)
Answer:
I would choose the road that many people have walked on because that is a tried and tested road. Many people have walked that path and achieved success.

I would choose the road less travelled because I want to do something different and carve out my own space in the world.

d. Does the speaker seem happy about his decision?
Answer:
No, the speaker does not seem happy about his decision because although he plans to come back to the path that he doesn’t take, he knows that the path that he has chosen might lead him to other, far flung paths. He might not get a chance to come back to the road that he did not take.

e. The poet says ‘I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference. ’ What is ‘the difference ’ that the poet mentions?
Answer:
The poet talks about his decision of choosing a path that is different from the path that everybody has chosen to take. His choice of path will lead him to a destination that is different from the one that everybody has reached. This is the difference that the poet is talking about.

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The Brook Summary in English by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Brook Summary in English

This is a poem that traces the life of a brook or a small stream as it emerges from the mountaintop and flows down the hills and across valleys to empty into the river. On a deeper level, the poet uses the brook to draw a parallel with the life of man. Like the brook, man is energetic, lively, and moves swiftly when he is young but slows down later on in life, just like the brook does, before it empties into the river.

By the use of words like ‘chatter’, ‘babble’, ‘sharps and trebles’, the poet describes the energetic movement of the brook in the initial stages which changes to the usage of words like ‘steal’, ‘slide’, ‘gloom’, ‘glide’, ‘murmur’ and ‘loiter’ to express the slower movement towards the end of its journey. As it slows down, it also deposits the ‘shingle’, sand and silt that it has brought down from the mountain and hills during its journey.

It passes through different landforms, through forests and past fields that are either fertile or fallow. It also passes by grassy lawns and flower filled gardens with forget-me-nots and hazel trees. It does not follow a straight path but meanders on around rocks and boulders without letting anything stop its path. Similarly, a man also is faced with many challenges in life and has to go on regardless finding new paths. The picture of the brook comes alive with the mention of the fishes like trout and grayling that swim in it and the reflection of the sunbeam dancing on its waves.

Through this poem, the poet points to the eternal nature of the brook that outlives man. Many men are bom and die but the brook never ceases to exist. It continues to flow from its source to the river eternally.

The Brook Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.

a. The message of the poem is that the life of a brook is:
(i) temporary
(ii) short-lived
(iii) eternal
(v) momentary
Answer:
Eternal.

b. The poet draws a parallelism between the journey of the brook:
(i) the life of a man
(ii) the death of man
(iii) the difficulties in a man’s life
(iv) the endless talking of human beings
Answer:
And the life of man.

c. The poem is narrated in the first person by the brook. This figure of speech is:
(i) Personification
(ii) Metaphor
(iii) Simile
(iv) Transferred epithet
Answer:
‘Personification’.

d. In the poem, below mentioned lines: ‘And here and there a lusty trout, And here and there a grayling ’ suggest that:
(i) the brook is a source of life.
(ii) people enjoy the brook.
(iii) fishes survive because of water.
(iv) the brook witnesses all kinds of scenes.
Answer:
The brook is a source of life.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions.

a. How does the brook sparkle?
Answer:
The brook sparkles because the sunlight reflects off its clear water.

b. Bicker’ means to quarrel. Why does the poet use the word here?
Answer:
The brook makes a noise which can be compared to the sound of quarrelling as it flows down into a valley.

c. How many hills and bridges does the brook pass during its journey?
Answer:
The brook passes thirty hills and fifty bridges during its journey.

d. Where does it finally meet the river?
Answer:
It finally meets the river after flowing by Phillip’s farm.

e. Why has the word‘chatter’been repeated in the poem?
Answer:
The word ‘chatter’ has been repeated in the poem to create the sound effect of the rapid movement of the brook.

f. With many a curve my banks I fret’. What does the poet mean by this statement?
Answer:
The brook shapes its bank by constantly eroding it and depositing silt. This creates new curves on the banks. This process is referred to in the above mentioned line.

g. ‘I wind about, and in and out’. What kind of a picture does this line create in your mind?
Answer:
This line creates a picture of a meandering brook, weaving itself into the landscape. Its movement is rapid as curved and it rolls down the gentle slopes, making its marks on the landscape.

h. Name the different things that can be found floating in the brook.
Answer:
Blossoms of flowers, lusty trouts, graylings and foamy flakes can all be found floating in the brook.

L What does the poet want to convey by using the words ‘steal’ and ‘slide’?
Answer:
‘Steal’ and ‘slide’ implies that the brook is moving quietly and fluidly through the landscape.

j. The poem has many examples of alliteration. List any five examples.
Answer:
Five examples of alliteration in the poem are:
‘field and fallow’
‘fairy foreland’
‘With willow-weed’
‘foamy flake’
‘golden gravel’

k. ‘I make the netted sunbeam dance ’. What does ‘the netted sunbeam ’ mean? How does it dance?
Answer:
The rays of the sun, as they filter through the leaves of the trees, create a netted pattern. This pattern projects itself on the surface of the water and gives the illusion of dancing sunbeams.

l. What is the ‘refrain ’ in the poem? What effect does it create?
Answer:
The refrain is ‘For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.’ It creates an effect of timelessness.

Question 3.
Read the given lines and answer the questions.
“I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.”

a. Who does ‘I’ refer to in the given lines?
Answer:
‘I’ refers to the brook.

b. How does it ‘chatter’?
Answer:
It ‘chatters’ because of the noise that it makes as it flows over the golden bedrock, cutting through the landscape.

c. Why Has the poet used the word ‘brimming’? What kind of a picture does it create?
Answer:
The poet has used the word ‘brimming’ to indicate that the river is overflowing its banks in its motion.

d. Explain the last two lines of the stanza.
Answer:
The last two lines of the stanza imply that although the life of human beings is finite, the flow of the river is eternal.

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Best Seller Summary in English by O.Henry

Best Seller Summary in English

The story is set in a typical American background with the twists and turns associated with an O. Henry story. It traces the life of a travelling salesman John Pescud, who believes that bestselling romances are the product of an over-imaginative mind. He finds the stories impossible to believe and feels that they are far removed from real life. He finds it hard to digest that an American man from Chicago would feel so deeply about a girl as to follow her to a remote European country with an unpronounceable name and fight half a dozen soldiers to win her hand in marriage.

Ironically, when he recounts the story of his own marriage to his travelling companion, the reader is exposed to events that are as extraordinary as a best seller. He meets his wife for the first time in a train and follows her as she changes train after train, travelling all the way from Pittsburgh to Virginia only because he falls in love with her. He stays in a local hotel, finds out all about her background and then approaches her to inform her of his intentions of marrying her. Then, he proceeds to meet her father, informs him about his background and his intentions of marrying his daughter, charms him with his stories, and finally gets his permission to marry his daughter.

Best Seller Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Based on your reading of the story, answer the following questions by choosing the correct option.

a. The narrator says that John was ‘of the suff that heroes are not often lucky enough to be made of ’ His tone is sarcastic because:
(i) he hated John.
(ii) he felt that John was a threat to him.
(iii) John was not particularly good-looking.
(iv) nobody liked John.
Answer:
He felt that John was a threat to him.

b. Pescud felt that best-sellers were not realistic as:
(i) American farmers had nothing in common with European princesses.
(ii) men generally married girls from a similar background.
(iii) American men married girls who studied in America.
(iv) American men did not know fencing and were beaten by the Swiss guards.
Answer:
Men generally married girls from a similar background.

c. ‘Bully’, said Pescud brightening at once. He means to say that:
(i) he is a bully. ‘
(ii) his manager was a bully.
(iii) he was being bullied by his co-workers.
(iv) he was doing very well at his job.
Answer:
He was doing very well at his job.

d. The narrator says that life has no geographical bounds implying that:
(i) human beings are essentially the same everywhere.
(ii) boundaries exist only on maps.
(iii) one should work towards the good of mankind.
(iv) he was happy to travel to other countries.
Answer:
Human beings are essentially the same everywhere.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions briefly.

a. One day last summer the author was travelling to Pittsburgh by chair car. What does he say about his co-passengers?
Answer:
The author’s co-passengers were well- dressed ladies who refused to open their windows and men wearing identical looking business suits with the same expressionless faces.

b. Who was the passenger of chair no. 9? What did he suddenly do?
Answer:
The passenger of chair no. 9 was a travelling salesman named John Pescud of Pittsburgh, who the narrator was acquainted with.
He suddenly threw a book to the floor between his chair and the window, in disgust.

c. What was John Pescud’s opinion about best sellers? Why?
Answer:
John Pescud felt that the stories in such books were of a poor quality and far removed from real life.

d. What does John say about himself since his last meeting with the author?
Answer:
According to John, he was on his way to becoming prosperous. His salary had been raised twice along with receiving a commission. He had bought some real estate and was on the way to buy some shares. He was also married now.

e. How did John’s first meeting with Jessie’s father go ?
Answer:
For the first few seconds of John’s first meeting with Jessie’ father was a little nervous but they soon hit it off. John got him to laugh at his stories. They talked for two hours. He was honest with his intentions and asked the colonel to give him a chance to woo his daughter.

f. Why did John get off at Coketown?
Answer:
Some time back Jessie had admired some petunias growing in some of the houses in Coketown, so John had got down there in the hope of finding some saplings of these flowers to take back for Jessie.

g. John is a hypocrite. Do you agree with this statement? Substantiate your answer.
(Encourage the students to think creatively andformulate their own answers.)
Answer:
Yes, John was a hypocrite because on one hand, he was making fun of the romantic stories written in best-sellers but on the other hand, he himself had had a romantic marriage. He had followed the girl he had seen in a train to her hometown, changing a number of trains till he had landed in her hometown, met her father, and wooed her in the style of any romantic hero of a best-seller.

No, John was not a hypocrite. In my opinion, he probably had not realized that his love story was as romantic as the stories of the best selling novels that he so disliked were meant to be.

h. Describe John A. Pescud with reference to the following points:
Answer:
Physical appearance: He had a small, black, bald-spotted head. He was a small man with a wide smile, and an eye that seemed to be fixed upon that little red spot on the end of one’s nose.

His philosophy on behavior: He believed that when a man is in his home town, he ought to be decent and law-abiding.
His profession: He was a travelling salesman for a plate glass company based in Pittsburgh.
His first impression of his wife: She was the loveliest creature that he had set his eyes upon.
His success: He’d had his salary raised twice since he last saw the author and he got commission for his sale. He had bought some real estate and the following year the firm was going to sell him some shares of stock.

Question 3.
Rearrange in the correct sequence as it happens in the story.
Pescud sees a girl (Jessie) reading a book in the train.
Pescud instantly gets attracted to the girl (Jessie)
Jessie takes a sleeper to Louisville.
Pescud follows her but finds it difficult to keep up.
Jessie arrives at Virginia. .
Pescud goes to the village to find out about the mansion Pescud speaks to the girl (Jessie) for the first time.
Jessie informs Pescud that her father would not approve of them meeting.
Pescud meets Jessie’s father.
They meet alone two days later.
They get married a year later.

Question 4.
A newspaper reporter hears of the marriage of Pescud and Jessie. He interviews them and writes an article for the paper entitled: A Modern Romance.
Answer:
Pittsburgh, 19 March, 20xx

And we thought romances were the creations of highly imaginative minds! Recently I had the privilege of interviewing Mr and Mrs Pescud of Pittsburgh on their fairy-tale romance which culminated in marriage a year ago.

Mr John Pescud is a highly successful man working for Cambria Steel Works as a travelling salesman selling plate-glass. He comes from a humble background while Mrs Pescud belongs to an old aristocratic family of Virginia. How they met can make any best-selling novel pale in comparison!

Well, Pescud first saw his wife, Jessie reading a book in the train in which he was travelling. He got instantly attracted to her and followed her as she changed several trains till she finally reached Virginia. In fact he says that during that time his business took a back seat!

Jessie’s father came to receive her at the station at Virginia and Pescud followed them till they reached their mansion. He booked himself in a hotel and found out details about the family from the landlord of his hotel. On the third day, he met Jessie alone for the first time and informed her of his intentions of marrying her. Jessie was obviously taken aback and informed him that her father may not approve of him and probably would set the hounds on him. Pescud was not a man to be frightened so easily. He met Jessie’s father at the mansion. The meeting was surprisingly a pleasant one and a year later he married Jessie. Today, the old Colonel, her father lives with them in Pittsburgh!

As Shakespeare had wisely said—“All’s well that ends well!”

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The Bishop’s Candlesticks Summary in English by Norman Mckinnell

The Bishop’s Candlesticks Summary in English

The play, which is very popular, is based on the theme that love and kindness can change a man rather than violence.

The play is about a convict who breaks into a Bishop’s house and is clothed and warmed. The benevolence of the Bishop somewhat softens the convict, but, when he sees his silver candlesticks, he steals them. He is captured and brought back. He expects to go back to jail, but the Bishop informs the police that they are a gift. This one kind act of the Bishop reforms the convict to believe in the spirit of God that dwells in the heart of every human being.

The play is set in the house of a Bishop, on a cold winter night. On the mantelpiece are two handsome candlesticks, quite out of place with the plain furnishings of the room. Marie, the maidservant, is busy stirring a pot of soup on the fire and Persome, the Bishop’s sister, is laying the table and keeping an eye on the soup being cooked by Marie. Persome is worried as it is already past 11 o’clock and her brother has not yet returned. She wonders where her brother, the Bishop, could be at that late hour. She asks Marie if there is any message. Marie tells her that the Bishop has gone to see her ailing mother.

This angers Persome who feels that most people take advantage of her simple brother who is always eager to help the poor and the needy. While the table is being laid for dinner, Persome asks Marie if she has placed the salt-cellars on the table. Marie tells her that the Bishop has sold the salt-cellars to pay the house rent for Mere Gringoire, who was being troubled by the bailiff. Persome curses the old lady for taking advantage of her brother, lamenting that the Bishop, who has already sold many of his belongings to help others, would sell everything.

The Bishop enters the cottage and informs Marie that her mother was better. He gives her his comforter and asks her to run home since it is very cold. Persome, who has been crying, gets very angry with the Bishop. When Marie leaves, she tells him that people lie to him to get help from him. The Bishop regrets that there is so much suffering in the world and so little that he can do.

To show her anger and resentment over his selling her salt-cellars, Persome taunts the Bishop that one day he would sell the candlesticks also. The Bishop assures her that he would never sell the candlesticks, as they are a token from his dying mother and encompass her memory. However, in the next breath, he feels bad to set such store by them.

As it is midnight, Persome goes off to bed and the Bishop sits down to read. Suddenly, a runaway convict, with a long knife in his hand, enters the room. He threatens to kill the Bishop if he tries to call out, and demands food. The Bishop greets him lovingly and assures him that he shall have food. He calls Persome to open the cupboard. Persome is scared to see the convict but the Bishop reassures her and takes the keys of the cupboard from her. He then serves the convict cold pie, wine, and bread.

After having his fill, the convict feels relaxed. He tells the Bishop that he has lived in Hell for ten years. He narrates the circumstances under which he was imprisoned. Once upon a time he, too, had a lovely wife and a home. His wife, Jeanette, was ill and dying and there was no food. He could not get work. So, he stole money to buy food for her. He was caught and sentenced to ten years in prison. The jailor told him that his wife had died the night that he was sentenced.

The convict recounts his sufferings in the prison. The jailer took away his name and only gave him a number. One day, they forgot to chain him and he escaped. After his escape from prison, he has been wandering from pillar to post without food and shelter, pursued by the gendarmes.

The Bishop is moved upon hearing his story. He consoles the convict and tells him that although he has suffered a great deal, there is hope for him. He then asks the convict to sleep in his house and assures that no harm would come to him. Saying this, the Bishop goes inside to bring him a coverlet.

The convict happens to see the candlesticks on the mantelpiece. He takes them down and finds that they’re quite heavy and made of pure silver. On his return, the Bishop finds the candlesticks in the convict’s hands. He tells the convict that they’re a parting gift from his mother. He bids the convict good night and goes to bed.

The convict decides to steal the candlesticks and use them to start a new life. He does think of the Bishop’s kindness but hardens his heart, stuffs the candlesticks in his pocket, and escapes.

Persome wakes up on hearing the noise and rushes downstairs. She finds the candlesticks missing and raises a hue and cry. She wakes the Bishop up and informs him about the theft. The Bishop regrets the loss of the candlesticks but refuses to call in the police as he doesn’t want the convict to be sent back to the prison, to suffer once again.

Just then a sergeant enters the cottage with the convict, led by three constables. He tells the Bishop about the circumstances under which he caught the thief. He had been moving along the roads suspiciously. On searching him, they found the candlesticks on his person. The sergeant remembered that they belonged to the Bishop, so he arrested the thief and brought him there.

The Bishop tells the sergeant that the gentleman he had brought was his good friend and he himself had given the candlesticks to him that night. The sergeant finds it difficult to accept this explanation. However, he releases the prisoner and goes out.

The convict is now a changed man. He is overwhelmed with remorse. He begs forgiveness from the Bishop, who has made him feel that he was a man again and not a beast. He asks his permission to go to Paris. The Bishop gives him the candlesticks so that they might help him and tells him about a safe route to Paris. As parting advice, he tells the convict to remember that the body was the ‘Temple of the Living God’. The convict assures him he would remember that all his life.

The Bishop’s Candlesticks Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Copy and complete the following paragraph about the theme of the play in pairs.
Answer:
The play deals with a convict and a Bishop who is always ready to lend a helping hand to anyone in distress. A convict breaks into the Bishop’s house and is fed and warmed. The benevolence of the Bishop somewhat transforms the convict, but, when he sees the silver candlesticks, he steals them, and runs away. However, he is caught and brought back. He expects to go back to jail, but the Bishop informs the police that they are a gift. The convict is overwhelmed by this kindness of the Bishop and before he leaves he seeks the priest’s blessing.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions briefly.

a. Do you think the Bishop was right in selling the salt-cellars? Why/ Why not?
Answer:
Encourage the students to come up with their own answers.
Yes, I th
ink the Bishop was right in selling the salt-cellars because he sold them for a good cause. His act of selling the salt-cellars helped somebody to get out of trouble.

No, I don’t think the Bishop did the right thing by selling the salt-cellars because they belonged to Persome too and selling them without Persome’s knowledge was not the right thing to do.

b. Why does Persome feel the people pretend to be sick?
Answer:
Persome feels that people pretend to be sick so that they can take advantage of the Bishop’s kindness. Persome claims that the people realize that the Bishop will definitely help those in need even at the cost of himself and his family. Hence, they try to take advantage of this fact.

c. Who was Jeanette? What was the cause of her death?
Answer:
Jeanette was the convict’s deceased wife. She was sick and did not have enough to eat. Hence, she died.

d. The convict says, “/ am too old a bird to be caught with chaff. ” What does he mean by this statement?
Answer:
The convict believes that the Bishop is trying to call the police rather than Persome and implies that he is too experienced in the life of a runaway prisoner to fall for the trick of calling the police under the pretense of calling someone else.

e. Why was the convict sent to prison? What was the punishment given to him?
Answer:
The convict was sent to prison for stealing food. His name was taken away from him, as was his humanity. He was treated like an animal, made to sleep on boards with vermin crawling on him. He was not given food and lashed like a hound.

f. Do you think the punishment given to the convict was justified? Why/ Why not?
Answer:
No, the punishment given to the convict was not justified. Punishment should be proportionate to the crime committed and one should always try to understand the reason behind the crime. The convict stole food to feed his ill wife, after he had been disappointed in the day’s work. His crime was bom out of desperation. He should have been dealt with in a more humane manner. By sentencing him to prison, the judiciary created a criminal, distrustful of the system and vengeful at the world.

g. Why is the convict eager to reach Paris?
Answer:
The convict is eager to reach Paris because he wants to start a new life there, leaving his old life behind.

h. Before leaving, the convict asked the Bishop to bless him. What brought about this change in him?
Answer:
The convict asked the Bishop to bless him before leaving because he realized that the Bishop was a great man and was, perhaps, the only person in the world who wanted the best for him. The Bishop’s kindness and love had transformed the hardened convic into a humble and trusting man.

Question 3.
Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow by choosing the correct options.

A. Monseigneur, the Bishop is a … a hem!

a. Why does Persome not complete the sentence?
Answer:
she did not wish to criticise the Bishop in front of Marie.

b. Why is she angry with the Bishop?
Answer:
the Bishop has sold her salt-cellars.

B. She sent little Jean to Monseigneur to ask for help.

a. Who sent little Jean to the Bishop?
Answer:
Mere Gringoire

b. Why did she send Jean to the Bishop?
Answer:
as she knew that he was a generous person.

C. I offered to take her in here for a day or two, but she seemed to think it might distress you.

a. The Bishop wanted to take Mere Gringoire in because:
Answer:
She was unable to pay the rent of her house.

b. Persome would be distressed on Mere Gringoire’s being taken in because:
Answer:
She felt that Mere Gringoire was taking undue advantage of the Bishop.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

Keeping it from Harold Summary in English by P.G. Wodehouse

Keeping it from Harold Summary in English

Mr Bramble is a famous boxer, popular by the name of ‘Porky’, with a large fan following. But, despite his successful boxing career, he is keen to give it all up because of his son Harold. Harold, a ten-year- old schoolboy, is unaware of his father’s profession and has been told that he is a commercial traveller. Harold is a constant source of amazement to his parents because of his excellence in studies and his impeccable manners. His mother, Mrs Bramble is convinced that he is a child prodigy. They fear that such a superior human being might not approve of his father’s profession.

Encouraged by his brother-in-law (Mrs Bramble’s brother), Major Percy Stokes, Mr Bramble decides to give up his boxing career and look for a job as a boxing instructor in a school or college. Unfortunately, the decision is taken days before a major boxing event where he stands to win a lot of money and fame. His wife does not appear too happy at this decision as she feels the money he would have won would have helped in their son’s education. Before the discussion can go any further, Mr Fisher, the trainer and promoter of Mr Bramble’s fight, arrives. He is horrified at Mr Bramble’s decision to give up boxing at such a time and does all he can to make him change his mind. In the middle of all this chaos enters Harold wanting to know why there was so much fighting in the house.

Much to the surprise of his parents he is extremely excited to know that his father is the famous boxing champion ‘Porky’ and surprises everyone with his in-depth knowledge of the boxing world and the fact that he has bet some money on ‘Porky’s’ win. Hence, matters end peacefully, with Mr Fisher taking Mr Bramble to train for the ‘big fight’ and Harold asking his mother to help him with his studies.

The story is written in the typical humorous, ironical style that came so naturally to P.G. Wodehouse.

Keeping it from Harold Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Based on your reading of the story, answer the following questions by choosing the correct option.

a. Mrs Bramble was a proud woman because:
(i) she was the wife of a famous boxer.
(ii) she had motivated her husband.
(iii) she was a good housewife
(iv) she was the mother of a child prodigy.
Answer:
She was the mother of a child prodigy.

b. ‘The very naming of Harold had caused a sacrifice on his part ’ The writer’s tone here is:
(i) admiring
(ii) assertive
(iii) satirical
(iv) gentle
Answer:
Satirical.

c. Harold had defied the laws of heredity by:
(i) becoming a sportsperson.
(ii) being good at academics.
(iii) being well-built and muscular
(iv) respecting his parents
Answer:
Being good at academics.

d. Harold felt that he was deprived of the respect that his classmates would give him as:
(i) they did not know his father was the famous boxer, ‘Young Porky’.
(ii) his hero, Jimmy Murphy had not won the wrestling match.
(iii) he had not got Phil Scott’s autograph.
(iv) Sid Simpson had lost the Lonsdale belt.
Answer:
They did not know his father was the famous boxer, ‘Young Porky’.

Question 2.
Answer the following questions.

a. What was strange about the manner in which Mrs Bramble addressed her son? What did he feel about it?
Answer:
Mrs Bramble addressed her son in the third person and it jarred upon him as he felt she was addressing him the way one addresses a baby. He felt offended especially as he felt all grown up since he had won a prize for dictation and spelling.

b. Why was it necessary to keep Harold’s father’s profession a secret from him?
Answer:
Harold was studying in an expensive private school and was growing up to be quite a don. He was very intelligent and interested in studies. He amazed his parents with his courteous behaviour. Therefore, they felt that he might be embarrassed if he came to know that his father was a boxing champion and belonged to the rough world of boxing.

c. When Mr Bramble came to know that he was going to be a father what were some of the names he decided upon? Why?
Answer:
Mr Bramble had wanted to call the child John if he was a boy, after the American boxing legend John L Sullivan, and Marie if she were a girl, after Marie Lloyd, the music hall artist. He probably decided upon these names because they were famous and belonged to his world of entertainment and sports.

d. Describe Mr Bramble as he has been described in the story.
Answer:
Mr Bramble was one of the mildest and most obliging of men in private life and always yielded to everybody. Nobody could help but like this excellent man.

e. Why was Mrs Bramble upset when she heard that Bill had decided not to fight?
Answer:
Mrs Bramble was upset because the money that Bill would have made after the boxing match would have helped to provide for the expenses of their son’s education.

f. Who was Jerry Fisher? What did he say to try and convince Bill to change his mind?
Answer:
Jerry Fisher was the trainer, manager, and promoter of Mr Bramble’s boxing matches.

He tried to tempt Mr Bramble by reminding him of the large sum of money that he would win at the end of the fight, the celebrities who would come to watch him fight and the publicity he would get. He also tried to point out the problems that he would have to face if he decided not to fight.

g. How did Harold come to know that his father was a boxer?
Answer:
When Harold returned from a walk, finding the door of his house open, he walked into a room full of adults discussing about him. Seizing the opportunity, Mr Fisher told him that his father was the famous boxing champion, popularly called ‘Young Porky’.

h. Why was Harold upset that his father had not told him about his true identity? Give two reasons.
Answer:
Harold was upset that he had been denied the chance to show off before his friends that his father was the famous boxing champion ‘Young Porky’. He also felt that if his friends had known of his father’s true identity, they would have treated him with more respect and not called him ‘Goggles’.

i. Do you agree with Harold’s parents ’ decision of hiding from him that his father was a boxer? Why? Why not?
(Encourage the students to think creatively andformulate their own answers.)
Answer:
Yes, they did the right thing by hiding the fact from Harold because they did not know how he would react. They felt they were saving him from embarrassment .They did not want him to feel inferior to the other boys in his class, especially as most of them came from the upper strata of society and may have looked down upon him once they came to know of it.

No, it was foolish on their part to hide things from him because by doing so they were living under false pretenses • and this would have had painful consequences in the future. Also, they were being overprotective, deciding what their son should or should not be told. They were turning him into a snob by hiding his true background from him.

Question 3.
The sequence of events has been jumbled up. Rearrange them and complete the given flowchart.
Answer:
a. Harold is alone with his mother in their home.
b. Mrs. Bramble is amazed to think that she has brought such a prodigy as Harold into the world.
c. Mrs. Bramble resumes work of darning the sock.
d. Major Percy and Bill come to the house.
e. Mrs. Bramble is informed that Bill had decided not to fight.
f. Bill tells his wife that he is doing it for Harold.
g. Jerry Fisher tries to convince Bill to reconsider.
h. Harold comes to know that his father is a boxer.
i. Harold wants to know what will happen to the money he had bet on Murphy losing.

Question 4.
Choose extracts from the story that illustrate the characters of these people in it.
Answer:

Person	Extracts from the story	What this tells us about their characters
Mrs Bramble	(Para 12) ‘Bill we must keep it from Harold’	She was not honest and open with her son; concerned mother
Mr Bramble	(Para 33) ‘The scales have fallen from his eyes.’	He is easily influenced or coerced
Percy	(Para 109) ‘My dear sir.’ There was a crooning winningness in Percy’s voice.’	He is persuasive and a smooth talker
Jerry Fisher	(Para 110) ‘Tommy,’ said Mr. Fisher, ignoring them all, ‘you think your pa’s a commercial. He ain’t. He’s a fighting man, doing his eight-stone-four ringside, and known to all the heads as “Young Porky.’”	He is vengeful and does not think before speaking. He is also inconsiderate of the wishes of others

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

Indigo Summary in English by Louis Fischer

Indigo by Louis Fischer About the Author

Louis Fischer (29 February 1896 – 15 January 1970) was an American journalist. He wrote the biography of Mahatma Gandhi entitled The Life of Mahatma Gandhi. ‘Indigo’ is an excerpt from this book widely acknowledged as one of the best books written on Gandhi.

Author Name	Louis Fischer
Born	29 February 1896, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	15 January 1970, Princeton, New Jersey, United States
Education	Central High School, South Philadelphia High School
Awards	National Book Award for History and Biography (Nonfiction)
Nationality	American

Indigo Introduction to the Chapter

In the chapter’Indigo’, the author describes the struggle of Gandhi for the poor peasants of Champaran, who had to share their crops with the British planters. This made their life miserable as they were forced to grow indigo according to an agreement.

Indigo Theme

In the chapter ‘Indigo’, the main theme covered by the author is that how an effective leadership can overcome any problem. The chapter tells us about the leadership shown by Mahatma Gandhi to secure justice for the oppressed people through convincing argumentation and negotiation.

Indigo Summary in English

The story ‘Indigo’, written by Louis Fischer narrates Gandhiji’s struggle for the poor peasants of Champaran. The peasants were sharecroppers with the British planters. According to an old agreement, the peasants had to produce indigo on 15 per cent of the land and give it as rent to the landlords. Around 1917, it was told that Germany had developed synthetic indigo. So the British planters now no longer desired the indigo crop. To release the peasants from the old 15 per cent agreement, they demanded compensation from them. Most of the illiterate peasants agreed to it.

However, others refused. Lawyers were engaged to go to the court. At that time, on the request of Rajkumar Shukla a sharecropper, Gandhiji appeared in Champaran. He fought for the poor peasants a long battle for one year and managed to get justice for them. The peasants now got courage and became aware of their rights. Along with the political and economic struggle, Gandhiji worked on the social level also. He made arrangements for the education, health and hygiene of the families of poor peasants by teaching the lesson of self¬reliance. It was one of the ways to forward the struggle for Indian independence.

Indigo Main Characters in the Chapter

Rajkumar Shukla

Rajkumar Shukla was a poor sharecropper who was a victim of British landlords. Though he was illiterate, he was determined to fight against the injustice of the British landlords, and to fight them, he goes to meet Gandhiji to seek his help. It was because of Rajkumar Shukla that Gandhiji came to Champaran village in Bihar. Later, this struggle with British landlords became a turning point in the fight for the independence of India.

Charles Freer Andrews

Charles Freer Andrews was an English pacifist who became a devoted follower of Gandhi. He came to bid farewell to Gandhi before going on a tour to Fizi islands. Gandhi’s lawyer friends insisted him to stay and help them in the battle, but Gandhiji strongly opposed saying that they must not rely on an Englishman but on themselves to win the battle.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as Mahatma Gandhi was a highly intelligent and perceptive man. His fundamental principles were non-violence and self-reliance. His entire political campaign for the development of the country was based on these two principles.

Indigo Summary Reference-to-Context Questions

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

1. He had gone to the December 1916 annual convention of the Indian National Congress party in Lucknow. There were 2, 301 delegates and many visitors. During the proceedings, Gandhi recounted, “a peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant in India, poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to my district’!”

a. Who is ‘he’ here?
Answer:
Here, ‘he’ is Gandhiji.

b. What was ‘he’ doing in Lucknow?
Answer:
He was attending the annual convention of the Indian National Congress Party.

c. What did Gandhi recount?
Answer:
He recounted about a poor looking peasant who came up to him and asked him to visit Champaran.

d. What did Rajkumar Shukla want from Gandhiji?
Answer:
Rajkumar Shukla wanted Gandhiji to visit Champaran to look after the problems faced by the poor peasants there.

2. Then the two of them boarded a train for the city of Patna in Bihar. There Shukla led him to the house of a lawyer named Rajendra Prasad who later became President of the Congress party and of India.

a. Who are ‘them’ here?
Answer:
Here, ‘them’ are Mahatma Gandhi and Rajkumar Shukla.

b. Where are they going?
Answer:
They were going to the city of Patna in Bihar.

c. Who was Rajendra Prasad?
Answer:
Rajendra Prasad was a lawyer who later became the President of the Congress party of India.

d. Was Rajendra Prasad available at home?
Answer:
Rajendra Prasad was not at home, he was out of town.

3. Gandhi decided to go first to Muzaffarpur, which was en route to Champaran, to obtain more complete information about conditions than Shukla was capable of imparting. He accordingly sent a telegram to Professor J.B. Kriplani, of the Arts College in Muzaffarpur, whom he had seen at Tagore’s Shantiniketan school.

a. Why did Gandhi go to Muzaffarpur?
Answer:
Gandhi went to Muzaffarpur as he wanted to collect more information about the issue addressed by Rajkumar Shukla.

b. Whom did he contact in Muzaffarpur?
Answer:
He sent a telegram to Professor J.B. Kriplani, of the Arts College in Muzaffarpur.

c. Where did Gandhi first meet J.B. Kriplani?
Answer:
Gandhi first met J.B. Kriplani at Tagore’s Shantiniketan school.