Additional Questions Solved: Poem - The Ant and the Cricket | English Class 8 PDF Download

Short Question Answers

Q1: When was the cricket happier?
Ans: The cricket was happier through the warm, sunny months of gay summer and spring.

Q2: Give the opposite of: empty, warm,
Ans:

• Empty – Full
• Warm – cold.

Q3: Why cricket go to the ant
Ans: The cricket went to the ant for shelter and grains to eat.

Q4: What did the ant ask the cricket?
Ans: The ant asked the cricket that what he was doing in summer times.

Q5: Why did the complain?
Ans: He complained because he found his cupboard was empty and winter was come.

Q6: What made the cricket bold?
Ans: Starvation and famine made the cricket bold.

Q7: What was the young cricket accustomed to do?
Ans: The young cricket accustomed to sing all day long and enjoyed his good times.

Q8: The cricket says, “Oh! What will become of me?” When does he say it, and why?
Ans: The Cricket said the given line when it found that its cupboard was empty and winter had arrived. It could not find a single crumb to eat on the snow-covered ground and there were no flowers or leaves on the tree. It wondered what would become of it because it was getting cold and since there was nothing to eat, it would starve and die.

Q9: What did the ant tell the cricket?
Ans: The ant told the cricket that they neither borrow from somebody nor lend to somebody.

Long Question Answers

Q1: Narrate the story of the ant and the cricket in about 50 words. What moral or message does it convey?
Ans: The cricket was fun-loving. He enjoyed singing all through summer. He did not store any food for winter. Naturally the silly creature began to starve.

There was only snow all around. He was wet. He decided to go to the ant to ask for help and shelter. He promised to repay the borrowed food on the next day.
The ant told that they neither lend nor borrow. Since the cricket had been singing in summer, he should dance the winter away.

Q2: Bring out the central idea of the poem, The Ant and the Cricket.
Ans: This poem conveys a very realistic message. It shows if one does not think for future, he is destined to suffer. The cricket in the story represents those human beings who are not wise enough to save for future. 

Such poor fellows face very awkward situation as the cricket had to. It is a humiliating situation. It makes them weak and morally down. 

But there are people like the ant who are bold. Their boldness is only due to their planned life. They live happily forever. It is our real life. We should be like the ant not the cricket. It makes our life comfortable.

Reference to Context

Q1:  At last by starvation and famine made bold,
All dripping with wet, and all trembling with cold,
Away he set off to a miserly ant,
To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant.

Paraphrase:
He was about to die of starvation and hunger as he had nothing to eat. He took a bold decision to seek help from ants to keep his body and souls together. Then, the cricket knocked on the ant’s door asking for help.
(i) What made him bold?
(ii) Where did he ‘set off do?
(iii) What did he call ant?
(iv) What was the reason ‘if is used in the lives?

Ans:
(i) Starvation and famine made him bold.
(ii) He set off to the ant.
(iii) He called ant to be a miser.
(iv) Cricket was not sure that he would get any help of ant.

Q2: Says the ant to the cricket, “I’m your servant and friend,
But we ants never borrow; we ants never lend.
But tell me, dear cricket, did you lay nothing by when the weather was warm?”
Quoth the cricket, “Not 1!

Paraphrase:
The ant gives a very important lesson of life during its conversation with the cricket. Ant says that ants neither borrow from somebody nor lend to somebody. Ants are hardworking creatures and save for the future. The ants asks the cricket what it was doing during happier times.

(i) What was the reaction of the ant?
(ii) What do ants usually do?
(iii) What was the question raised by the ant?
(iv) Was the cricket happy or depressed?

Ans:
(i) Ant talked to him in a friendly manner. Yet it was sorry for the cricket.
(ii) The ants neither borrow nor lend anything to others.
(iii) The ant asked the cricket what it was doing during happier times and nice weather.
(iv) The cricket was surely depressed because the ant did not offer any help to him.

Q3:A silly young cricket, accustomed to sing
Through the warm, sunny months of gay summer and spring
Began to complain when he found that, at home
His cupboard was empty, and winter was come.

Paraphrase:
This is the poem about a silly young cricket and an ant. Cricket was only singing all day long and used to enjoy his good times during summer season. He didn’t plan anything for the future. He began complaining when he couldn’t find food in his house and by that the season has changed. So he couldn’t go out in search of food.
(i) What did the ‘silly’ cricket do?
(ii) When did he sing?
(iii) What was his complaint?
(iv) What worried him the most?

Ans:
(i) A young silly cricket usually sing.
(ii) He sang in warm and sunny months of summer and spring.
(iii) His began to complain when he observed that he has no food.
(iv) The Cricket knew that he won’t be able to get food in winters.

Q4: Not a crumb to be found
On the snow-covered ground;
Not a flower could he see
Not a leaf on a tree.
“Oh! what will become,” says the cricket, “of me?”

Paraphrase:
When winter arrives, cricket couldn’t find a small amount of food to eat. As there was snow everywhere he couldn’t find a flower or a leaf on a tree, so that he could feed on. Now he knew that if he search for food, his efforts would turn out to be futile. He was also scared of his fate.
(i) What couldn’t he found?
(ii) What other things would go missing?
(iii) Explain ‘What will become’?
(iv) What is the rhyming scheme?

Ans:
(i) He knew that he couldn’t get a crumb in winter.
(ii) During winter season, he couldn’t find flower or leaf to feed on.
(iii) Cricket was now scared of his future and survival.
(iv) aabb.

Q5: Him shelter from rain,
And a mouthful of grain.
He wished only to borrow;
He’d repay it tomorrow;
If not, he must die of starvation and sorrow.

Paraphrase:
He went out drenched and trembled to take refuge, from rain and hunger. He wanted to find a place to hide and some food for utility. He requested her to lend him place and food. He also promised to return it with all humility. Otherwise he would die of hunger and cold.
(i) What did he expect from ant?
(ii) What did he wish to borrow?
(iii) When would he repay?
(iv) What would happen if couldn’t repay?

Ans:
(i) Cricket expected to take shelter from rain.
(ii) He wished to borrow a mouthful of grain.
(iii) He would repay the next day.
(iv) He hopes that if couldn’t repay then he should die of starvation.

Q6: My heart was so light That I sang day and night,
For all nature looked gay.”
“Your Sang, Sir, you say?
Go then,” says the ant, “and dance the winter away.”

Paraphrase:
On hearing the cricket indulged in dancing and singing and making merry, the ant asks the cricket to try dancing and singing once again during rough times.
(i) What did the cricket reveal about his routine?
(ii) What did the ant reply to him?
(iii) What does the poet try to teach his readers?
(iv) Name the poem and the poet.

Ans:
(i) The cricket revehled that he was so happy during the warm season that he sang day and night.
(ii) The ant was annoyed with his careless attitude and she replied to him to dance and be happy in winter season too.
(iii) The poet .wants his reader to value the time and work diligently. He also preaches the importance of saving for worst conditions.
(iv) Poem is ‘The Ant and the Cricket’ and Poet is ‘Aesop’s Fables’.

Q7: Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket,
And out of the door turned the poor little cricket.
Folks call this a fable. I’ll warrant it true:
Some crickets have four legs, and some have two.

Paraphrase:
Towards the end of the poem. He realized that it would be of no use to ask the ant for help. So he went away quietly. The poet however sympathesizes with the pathetic state of the cricket. He reiterate that people may take it as a fable/ story but it is applicable to human also we should happy moments but should not ignore our future.
(i) What did he ‘hastily’ lift the wicket’?
(ii) Why did the poet call him ‘the poor little cricket’?
(iii) What is the moral teaching in the poem?
(iv) Write the poetic device in the poem.
(v) What is the rhyming scheme of the poem?

Ans:
(i) The cricket learnt the lesson and by then he knew that ants wouldn’t help him at all.
(ii) The little cricket was busy dancing and merry making during the summertime. He wasted his time and saved nothing. Now, he was at mercy of the ant that refused to help him. So the poet sympathized with ‘the cricket’.
(iii) The poet gave a moral lesson that those who do not wish to help themselves cannot be saved by others.
(iv) Imagery and Personification, aa bb cc dd.