Class 7 English Honeycomb Poem 9 Question Answers - Poem 9 - Garden Snake (Old Syllabus)

Q1. Where did the poet see the snake?
Ans: The poet saw the snake in the garden.

Q2. How long does it take for a grub to become a complete ant?
Ans: It takes five to six weeks for a grub to become a complete ant.

Q3. What jobs are new ants trained for?
Ans: The new ants are trained as workers, soldiers, builders, cleaners, etc.

Q4. Mention three things we can learn from the ‘tiny teacher’. Give reasons for choosing these items.
Ans: We can learn team work from ants as they do their work by sharing and contributing without interference in other’s work. We can learn hard work as ants spend most of their time in doing their respective jobs without hesitation. We can learn discipline as ants live a disciplined life and always follow the rules of their group and are loyal towards it.

Q5. What facts are revealed in the lesson?
Ans: A number of facts that are revealed that ants are a hard-working and intelligent creature.

Q6. Where do the ants live?
Ans: The ants live in comfortable homes called nests or anthills.

Q7. What is the life span of a queen?
Ans: The queen lives for about fifteen years.

Q8. Why did the narrator run away when he saw the garden snake?
Ans: The narrator thought the snake to be dangerous and he ran away.

Q9. What does a garden snake eat?
Ans: A garden snake survives on insects.

Q10. ‘Perhaps they have, but they have not put their learning to good use’. What qualities should be adopted from Ants?
Ans: The ants are one of the smallest creature yet they can add a lot to humanity. Human beings can learn hard work, dutifulness, discipline. By loving and taking care of the young ones and loyalty towards land can help individually and society at large.

Q11. Answer the following questions.
(i) Pick out the line that suggests that the child is afraid of snakes.
(ii) Which line shows a complete change of the child’s attitude towards snake? Read it aloud.
(iii) “But mother says that kind is good ” What is mother referring to?
Ans:
(i) The line that suggests that the child is afraid of snakes is ‘i saw a snake and run away…”
(ii) ‘I’ll stand aside and watch him pass,
And tell myself. “There’s no mistake,
It’s just a harmless garden snake!”
(iii) The mother is referring to the harmless garden snake.

Q12. In what ways is an ant’s life peaceful?
Ans: The ants live in peace because each one does its share of work honestly, wisely and bravely. They don’t interfere in the work given to others. They never fight in their group.

Q13. Why do the worker ants carry the grubs about?
Ans: The grubs are carried about daily for airing, exercise and sunshine.

Q14. Name some other creatures that live in anthills?
Ans: Some other creatures that live in anthills are beetles, lesser breeds of ants and the greenfly.

Q15. Which is the wisest insect?
Ans: Ant is the wisest insect.

Q16. How do ants communicate with other ants?
Ans: Ants use its feelers or antennae to talk to other ants.

Q17. How do soldiers and workers live in anthills.
Ans: Soldiers and workers ants live cordially.

Q18. How do workers take care of eggs before they hatch?
Ans: Workers feed and clean eggs. They also carry them almost daily for airing, exercise and sunshine.

Q19. What did the mother say about snakes?
Ans: The poet’s mother said that every snake is not harmful.

Q20. What did the poet learn about snakes?
Ans: However, on being told by his mother that the particular snake is not dangerous, the child becomes comfortable the next time he encounters the garden snake.

Q21. What qualities of an ant do you wish to inculcate and why?
Ans: No wonder, ants are the tiniest insect around us out it can teach us to fead coordinated and systematic strategy for community living. Ants are social insects that live in a community of co-existence where every member plays its role in perfection without fuss. So I will try to inculcate the behaviour of ants.

Q22. There are four pairs of rhyming words in the poem. Say them aloud.
Ans:

• Good, food
• Pass, grass
• Away, say
• Mistake, snake.

Q23. Can you recall the word used for a cobra’s long sharp teeth? Where did you come across this word first?
Ans: Cobra’s long sharp teeth are like two bows or forks that are ready to chase you down. It makes me frightened, they are called fangs which is hollow tube attached to a poisonous gland on one side. I came across these words as it looks very dangerous and sharp like knife.

Q24. A snake has no legs or feet, but it moves very fast. Can you guess how? Discuss in the group.
Ans: A snake has no legs or feet. It wiggles on the surface.

Q25. So when he wiggles in the grass
I’ll stand aside and watch him pass,
And tell myself, “There’s no mistake,
It’s just a harmless garden snake!”
Explanation
The boy decided that the next time if he sees the garden snake, he would let him pass. He would tell himself that garden snake is harmless.
(i) How does the snake move in the garden?
(ii) How did he convince himself?
(iii) What was the poet doing in the garden?
(iv) Give antonym of ‘harmless’.
Ans:
(i) The snake ‘wiggles’ in the garden.
(ii) He convinced himself by saying that there is no mistake in letting the snake go.
(iii) The poet was standing in the garden.
(iv) Harmful.

Q26. I saw a snake and ran away…
Some snakes are dangerous, they say;
But mother says that kind is good,
And eats up insects for his food.
Explanation
A little boy saw a snake in his garden and was scared because people generally say snakes are dangerous. But his mother told him that garden snakes are good since it eats up insects for its food.
(i) Who is T in the above lines.
(ii) What is the general perception about snakes?
(iii) What is the information imparted by the mother?
(iv) What is the food of snakes?
Ans:
(i) T is the poet who narrates his experience.
(ii) It is the general perception that snakes are poisonous and can*bite to death.
(iii) Mother told him that the garden snakes are not dangerous.
(iv) Snakes feed on insects in the garden.