NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English - Chapter 9 : The Great Stone Face-I

Write ‘True’ or ‘False’ against each of the following statements. 

1. The Great Stone Face stood near where Ernest and his mother lived.
2. One would clearly distinguish the features of the Stone Face only from a distance.
3. Ernest loved his mother and helped her in her work.
4. Though not very rich, Gathergold was a skillful merchant.
5. Gather gold died in poverty and neglect.
6. The Great Stone Face seemed to suggest that Ernest should not fear the general.

Answer: 

1. False
2. True
3. True
4. False
5. True
6. True

WORKING WITH THE TEXT (Page 130) 

Answer the following questions. 

Question 1: 

1. What was the Great Stone Face?
2. What did Young Ernest wish when he gazed at it?

Answer: 

1. The Great Stone Face was the work of nature. The rocks were put one over the other on the mountainside. They resembled the features of a human face.
2. Young Ernest wished that the stone face could speak. He wished to love the man dearly whoever resembled that face.

Question 2: What was the story attributed to the Stone Face? 

Answer: The story attributed to the Stone Face was that someday a child with the likeness of that face would be born. He would become the greatest and noblest person of his age. 

Question 3: What gave the people of the valley the idea that the prophecy was about to come true for the first time? 

Answer: A Youngman named Gathergold had left the valley many years ago. By the time he grew old, he had grown rich. When he returned to his native valley, a rumor spread that he resembled the Stone Face. People thought that the prophecy had come true. 

Question 4:

1. Did Ernest see in Gathergold the likeness of the Stone Face?
2. Who did he confide in and how was he proved right?

Answer:

1. No, Ernest did not see any likeness of the Stone Face in Gathergold.
2. He confided in the Great Stone Face. After Gathergold’s death as his wealth and gold had already disappeared, it was generally agreed that Gathergold had no resemblance with the Great Stone Face.

Question 5: 

1. What made people believe General Blood- and-Thunder was their man?
2. Ernest compared the man’s face with the Stone Face. What did he conclude?

Answer: 

1. General Blood-and-thunder had risen to the high position from a soldier. When he returned to the valley, his childhood friends said that the General had always looked like the Stone Face.
2. Ernest could not find any likeness between the General and the Stone Face.

WORKING WITH THE LANGUAGE (Page 130) 

Question 1: Look at the following words.
Like — likeness
punctual — punctuality
The words on the left are adjectives and those on the right are their noun forms.
Write the noun forms of the following words by adding -ness or -itv to them appropriately. Check the spelling of new words.

1. lofty _____________
2. able _____________
3. happy _____________
4. near _____________
5. noble _____________
6. pleasant _____________
7. dense _____________
8. great _____________
9. stable _____________

Answer: 

1. loftiness
2. ability
3. happiness
4. nearness
5. nobility
6. enormity
7. pleasantness
8. density
9. greatness
10. stability

Question 2: Add-iv to each of the following adjectives, then use them to fill in the blanks.

1. Why didn’t you turn up at the meeting? We all were ______ waiting for you.
2. ______ write your name and address in capital letters.
3. I was______ surprised to see him at the railway station. I thought he was not coming.
4. It is______ believable that I am not responsible for this mess.
5. He fell over the step and ______ broke his arm.

Answer: 

1. eagerly
2. kindly
3. pleasantly
4. perfectly
5. nearly

Question 3:
Complete each sentence below using the appropriate forms of the verbs in brackets. 

1. I ______ (phone) you when I (get) home from school.
2. Hurry up! Madam  ______ (be) annoyed if we ______ (be) late.
3. If it ______ (rain) today, we ______ (not) go to the play.
4. When you  ______ (see) Mandal again, you  ______ (not/recognise) him. He is growing a beard.
5. We are off today. We  ______  (write) to you after we ______ (be) back.

Answer: 

1. shall phone: get
2. will be; are
3. rains, shall not go
4. see; will not recognise
5. shall write; are

SPEAKING AND WRITING (Page 131) 

Question 1: Imagine you are Ernest. Narrate the story that his mother told him.
Begin like this: My mother and I were sitting at the door of our cottage. We were looking at the Great Stone Face. I asked her if she had ever seen anyone who looked like the Stone Face. Then she told me this story.
Answer: She had heard that story from her own Mother that someday a child would be born resembling the Stone Face. In manhood, he would become the greatest and noblest person of his time.

Question 2: Imagine you are Gathergold. Write briefly the incident of your return to the valley.
Begin like this: My name is Gathergold. I left the valley of the Great Stone Face fifty years ago. I am now going back home. Will the people of the valley welcome me? Do they know that I am very rich?
Answer: I drove to my native village in a horse-drawn carriage. The people mistook me for the Great Stone Face. They welcomed me and shouted, “Sure enough, the old prophecy is true and the great man has arrived at last”.  

I. SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS 

Question 1: What is the significance of the Great Stone Face?

Answer: The Stone Face was a work of nature. It was formed on the side of a mountain by rocks. Viewed from a distance, those rocks looked like the features of a human face. People linked stories to that face. The people living in that valley believed that someday a great and noble person with the likeness of that face would come. 

Question 2: What did the spectator see when he went near the Great Stone Face?
Answer: When the spectator went near the Great Stone Face, he lost the outline of the enormous face and could see only a heap of gigantic rocks, piled one upon another. 

Question 3: How did Ernest grow up to be a mild and quiet youth?
Answer: Ernest never forgot the story that his mother told him. He was dutiful to his mother and helpful to her many things, assisting her with his little hands, and more with his loving heart. In this manner, he grew up to be a mild and quiet youth. 

Question 4: How did Gathergold become rich?
Answer: Gathergold was a young man when he left his native valley and settled at a distant seaport. He set up there as a shopkeeper. He was very sharp in business matters and therefore became very rich in a very short span of time. 

Question 5: How did people’s opinion change about Gathergold after his death?
Answer: Gathergold died one day. His wealth had disappeared before his death. Since the melting away of his gold, it had been generally believed that there was no likeness between the ruined merchant and the majestic face upon the mountain. 

II. LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS 

Question 1: What was the prophecy connected with the Stone Face? Did it come true? 

Answer: The prophecy is a statement about some event in the future. The people of the valley believed that the Stone Face was auspicious for them. It made the land fertile with its gaze.
The old prophecy about the Stone Face was that at some future day a child would be born there who will grow up to become great and noble. The child would look like the Stone Face. Some people thought it was just idle talk. It appears finally Ernest himself would be declared to be the great man resembling the Stone Face.

Question 2: Who was Ernest? What personal qualities made him great?
Answer: Ernest was a little boy who lived with his Mother in a valley. His interest grew in the Great Stone Face which smiled on him. His mother told him the prophecy about that Face. The boy never forgot that story. He spent hours looking at that face. He regarded it as his teacher. He was inspired to be noble, kind and helpful. These qualities could make him the man with the likeness of the Face.