Poem - A legend of Northland Class 9 Worksheet English Chapter 1

Multiple Choice Questions

Q.1. A legend of the Northland, which is a song narrating a story in short stanzas is also called ________.
(a) Song
(b) Poem
(c) Short story
(d)Ballad

Correct Answer is Option (d)
A song narrating a story in short stanzas is called ballad.

Q.2. What did the woman do when Saint Peter asked for a cake?
(a) She started making the smallest cake
(b) She refused to give him cake
(c) She gave the largest cake from the bakery
(d) She gave him some fruits

Correct Answer is Option (a)
She didn't want to give him a large cake so she made a small cake for him.

Q.3. Identify the literary device repetition into the given stanza:
Then she took tiny scrap of dough,
And rolled and rolled it flat;
And baked it thin as a wafer
But she couldn't part with that.
(a)Then she took
(b) Baked it thin
(c) Part with that
(d) Rolled and rolled

Correct Answer is Option (d)
Rolled and Rolled has the repetition of the term rolled.

Q.4. Who was Saint Peter?
(a)God itself
(b) A begger
(c)Disciple of Christ
(d)A traveller

Correct Answer is Option (c)
Saint Peter was a disciple of Jesus Christ and preaching all over the world.

Q.5. What did Saint Peter ask for from the little woman?
(a)A single cake
(b) Something to eat
(c)A loaf of bread
(d) A dozen cakes

Correct Answer is Option (a)

Q.6. Which cake was given to Saint Peter finally?
(a)Second cake
(b)No one
(c)First cake
(d) Third cake

Correct Answer is Option (b)
After baking three small cakes she thought that they were still too large to give anyone. So she put them on the shelf.

Q.7. The animal which is used to pull the sledges in Northland:
(a)Polar bear
(b) Bull
(c) Reindeer
(d)Sheep

Correct Answer is Option (c)

Q.8. Why did not woman give a cake to Saint Peter?
(a)Every cake was looking too large to give anyone
(b)No cake was tasty
(c)Saint Peter refused to take cake
(d)Every cake was looking too small

Correct Answer is Option (a)
She thought that her cakes seemed too small when she ate one of them herself but they were looking too large to give away. So she put them on the shelf.

Q.9. When do people go for sledging?
(a)All of these
(b) During vacations
(c) In summers
(d) When snow falls

Correct Answer is Option (d)

Q.10. The vehicle, which is used to carry things and passengers over the snow in Northland:
(a)Bus
(b) Cart
(c)Sledge
(d)Train

Correct Answer is Option (c)

Reference to Context

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Away, away in the Northland,
Where the hours of the day are few,
And the nights are so long in winter
That they cannot sleep them through;
(a) Why is the word ‘away’ repeated twice?
Ans: The word away has been repeated to create a sense of distance

(b) Which place is discussed in this stanza?
Ans: Northland, or the cold polar region of the North, including Greenland, northern Europe and Siberia are being discussed here.

(c) What does “hours of the day are few” mean?
Ans: The days are shorter than the nights

(d) Why can the people not sleep through the night?
Ans: The winter nights are long and cold.

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Where they harness the swift reindeer
To the sledges, when it snows;
And the children look like bear’s cubs
In their funny, furry clothes:
(a) What does ‘Where’ refer to?
Ans: Where refers to Northland.

(b) Where are the reindeer harnessed? What does ‘swift reindeer’ convey?
Ans: The reindeer are harnessed to the sledges. The phrase ‘swift reindeer’ conveys that the reindeer are very fast when they pull the sledges on the snow.

(c) Why do children look like bear cubs?
Ans: Because of the cold, children are made to wear heavy woollen clothes that cover them up fully and make them look like bear cubs.

(d) Mention two characteristics of the place.
Ans: The place is very cold; the days are shorter than the nights; people cannot sleep through the night.

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
They tell them a curious story—
I don’t believe ’tis true;
And yet you may learn a lesson
If I tell the tale to you.
(a) What is the ‘curious story’ that the people tell?
Ans:The curious story is a legend of an old greedy lady who angered St. Peter and he cursed the lady for her greed.

(b) Who does not believe in the story?
Ans: The poet does not believe the story to be true.

(c) Why does the poet narrate this tale?
Ans: The poet narrates the story because it has a moral lesson.

(d) What lesson does it give?
Ans: The tale teaches us a lesson that greed is a vice. One should not be greedy like the old lady who was cursed by St. Peter.

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Once, when the good Saint Peter
Lived in the world below,
And walked about it, preaching,
Just as he did, you know
(a) Which line shows that St. Peter is not alive today?
Ans: ‘Once, when the good Saint Peter lived in the world below’ shows that St. Peter is not alive today

(b) Who was St. Peter?
Ans: St. Peter was an apostle of Jesus Christ. His mission was to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ.

(c) What does the line “Lived in the world below,” mean?
Ans: St Peter lived on earth

(d) What did St Peter do when he ‘Lived in the world below’?
Ans: He went about the world preaching the message of God.

Q5: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
He came to the door of a cottage,
In travelling round the earth,
Where a little woman was making cakes,
And baking them on the hearth;
(a) Who does “he” refer to in the first line?
Ans: He refers to Saint Peter.

(b) What was the little woman doing?
Ans: The woman was baking cakes.

(c) What request did “he” make to the woman? Why?
Ans: Saint Peter asked the woman for a cake because he was weak with hunger.

(d) Why did Saint Peter curse the woman?
Ans: Saint Peter cursed the woman because she was highly stingy and mean and could not spare even a small cake from her large store for a weary traveller.

Q6: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
And being faint with fasting,
For the day was almost done,
He asked her, from her store of cakes,
To give him a single one.
(a) Why was St Peter about to faint?
Ans: Saint Peter was tired and hungry, and so ready to faint.

(b) What had Saint Peter been doing?
Ans: Saint Peter had been travelling, spreading the message of God.

(c) What time of the day was it?
Ans: It was evening

(d) What did he ask the woman for?
Ans: Saint Peter asked the woman for a cake from her large store.

Q7: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
So she made a very little cake,
But as it baking lay,
She looked at it, and thought it seemed
Too large to give away.
(a) Why did she bake a small cake?
Ans: The woman baked a small cake for giving to the saint

(b) What did she think about it as she saw it being baked?
Ans: She thought that the cake was too big to be given away in charity.

(c) What aspect of her character does this reveal?
Ans: She is selfish and miserly.

(d) How was she punished for her greed?
Ans: Saint Peter turned her into a woodpecker.

Q8: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Therefore she kneaded another,
And still a smaller one;
But it looked, when she turned it over,
As large as the first had done.
(a) Who does ‘she’ refer to?
Ans: ‘She’ refers to the old little woman in the cottage.

(b) Who had come to her door? Why?
Ans: Saint Peter had come to her door. He was hungry and wanted something to eat.

(c) Why was she kneading smaller and smaller cakes?
Ans: She did not want to give away a large one to Saint Peter.

(d) What quality of the woman do her actions reveal?
Ans: She is miserly and selfish.

Q9: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Then she took a tiny scrap of dough,
And rolled and rolled it flat;
And baked it thin as a wafer —
But she couldn’t part with that.
(a) Who had asked the woman for a cake? Why?
Ans: Saint Peter had asked the woman for a cake. He had been fasting the whole ay and was weak with hunger.

(b) Why did the old lady take a tiny scrap of dough?
Ans: The old lady was a greedy woman. She wanted to give St. Peter, the smallest cake she could make.

(c) Why did she make the thin cake?
Ans: She wanted to save her dough. She wanted to give him a very small cake. So, she made a cake as thin as a water.

(d) What did Saint Peter do?
Ans: Saint Peter cursed the woman and turned her into a woodpecker.

Q10: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
For she said, “My cakes that seem too small
When I eat of them myself
Are yet too large to give away. ”
So she put them on the shelf.
(a) Who is the speaker in these lines?
Ans: The woman is the speaker in these lines.

(b) When do the cakes seem too small?
Ans: The cakes seemed too small foe eating them herself.

(c) What kind of cakes did the woman make?
Ans: The woman made cakes that were smaller and smaller, till the last one was as thin as a wafer.

(d) What did the woman do with her cakes? Why?
Ans: The woman put the cakes away because she felt that they were to big to be given away in charity.

Q11: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Then good Saint Peter grew angry,
For he was hungry and faint;
And surely such a woman
Was enough to provoke a saint.
(a) Who was Saint Peter?
Ans: Saint Peter was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ.

(b) Who was Saint Peter angry with? Why?
Ans: Saint Peter was angry with the woman because of her greed and selfishness.

(c) How had the woman provoked the Saint?
Ans: The woman had provoked Saint Peter by not giving him any cake from her plentiful store.

(d) What did Saint Peter do?
Ans: Saint Peter cursed the woman and turned her into a woodpecker who would have to bore for her food.

Q12: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
And he said, “You are far too selfish
To dwell in a human form,
To have both food and shelter,
Andfire to keep you warm.
(a) Who is ‘he’? Who is he speaking to?
Ans: He refers to Saint Peter. He is talking to the woman in the cottage.

(b) What did the saint say about the woman?
Ans: He said she was too selfish to live in human form.

(c) Why was he angry with her?
Ans: She had refused to give him anything to eat from her plentiful store, when he was faint with hunger.

(d) What benefits did he want her to forego?
Ans: He wanted her to forego the basic benefits of food, shelter and a fire to keep her warm.

Q13: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Now, you shall build as the birds do,
And shall get your scanty food
By boring, and boring, and boring,
All day in the hard, dry wood. ”
(a) What did St Peter turn the old woman into?
Ans: Saint Peter turned the woman into a bird, a woodpecker.

(b) Why did he curse her?
Ans: Saint Peter was angry with her because of her miserliness.

(c) What would she build?
Ans: She would build a nest in the woods like other birds.

(d) How would she get her food?
Ans: She would get her food by boring into the hard wood.

Q14: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Then up she went through the chimney,
Never speaking a word,
And out of the top flew a woodpecker,
For she was changed to a bird.
(a) Who is ‘she’? How did she go up?
Ans: “She’ refers to the woman. She went up through the chimney.

(b) Who changed her into a bird?
Ans: Saint Peter had changed her into a bird by cursing her.

(c) Why did she change into a woodpecker?
Ans: As the woman passed through the chimney and came out through the top, her clothes were burned and had become black but the scarlet cap on her head remained unchanged.

(d) Where did the woman live?
Ans: She lived in a country in the Earth’s north polar region, such as Greenland, the northern regions of Russia, or the Scandinavian countries.

Q15: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
She had a scarlet cap on her head,
And that was left the same;
But all the rest of her clothes were burned
Black as a coal in the flame.
(a) What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for?
Ans: Saint Peter asked the old lady for one of her baked cakes to satisfy his hunger.

(b) What was the lady’s reaction?
Ans: The lady tried to bake a small cake for the Saint, but did not give him even that.

(c) Why did Saint Peter feel the woman should leave her human form?
Ans: She was too selfish to live in human form and enjoy food, shelter and warmth.

(d) How does the woodpecker get its food?
Ans: The woodpecker gets its food by boring holes into trees.

Q16: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
And every country schoolboy
Has seen her in the wood,
Where she lives in the trees till this very day,
Boring and boring for food.
(a) Where can the woman be seen now?
Ans: She can be seen in the forest

(b) What is she doing?
Ans: She can be seen boring into the trees for food

(c) What lesson do you learn from the poem?
Ans: We should not be greedy and must always help the needy. ”

(d) Who was Saint Peter?
Ans: Saint Peter was an apostle of Christ, who went about preaching the message of God.