Worksheet Solutions: Poem - The Last Bargain | English Class 8 PDF Download

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Q1: What is the speaker doing in the poem?
(a) Selling goods
(b) Walking on a road
(c) Gardening
(d) Playing with a child

Q2: Why does the speaker reject the king's offer?
(a) The king has no power
(b) The speaker dislikes the king
(c) The king's power is worthless
(d) The speaker prefers money

Q3: What does the old man offer to hire the speaker with?
(a) Power
(b) Gold coins
(c) A smile
(d) Shells

Q4: Why does the speaker reject the old man's offer?
(a) Money cannot buy happiness
(b) The speaker dislikes gold coins
(c) The old man is not sincere
(d) The speaker prefers power

Q5: Who offers to hire the speaker with a smile?
(a) King
(b) Old man
(c) Fair lady
(d) Child

Fill in the Blanks

Q1: In the evening, the garden fences were full of _________.
Ans: Flowers

Q2: The fair lady's smile faded away, and she melted into _________.
Ans: Tears

Q3: The child offers to hire the speaker with _________.
Ans: Nothing

Q4: The speaker ultimately accepts the agreement of the _________.
Ans: Child

Q5: The bargain with the child makes the speaker a _________ man.
Ans: Free

Answer the following Questions

Q1: Why speaker deny the king proposal?
Ans: The speaker stated the king power as nothing so he denied the proposal of king. 

Q2: What did the old man want? Was he successful in his bargain? 
Ans: The old man wanted to hire the speaker with his money. No, he was not successful in his bargain.

Q3: Explain, “I hire you with nothing”?
Ans: The child has no material thing so he used the word nothing here. He has only goodwill and cheer to hire to speaker.

Q4: Who is the speaker in the poem?
Ans: The Poet “Rabindranath Tagore” is the speaker of this poem.

Q5: “The king, sword in hand” suggests
(i) wealth
(ii) power
(iii) more power than wealth
Mark the appropriate item in the context of stanza 1.
Ans: (ii) power 

Q6: The old man offered the speaker a lot of money. Why did he turn down the offer?
Ans: The old man offered the speaker a lot of money. But the speaker refused to take. Because the poet realised that money cannot give him happiness. When the old man was counting the gold coins, the speaker realised that once the money would be finished. He would again be out of work. Hence he turned away the bargain.

Q7: Find the poem, lines that match the following. Read both one after another.
(i) I have nothing to give you except goodwill and cheer.
(ii) Her happiness was no more than sorrow in disguise.
(iii) the king’s might was not worth much.
Ans: 
(i) ‘I hire you with nothing.
(ii) ‘Her smile paled and melted into tears
(iii) ‘But his power counted for naught’.

Q8: How did the speaker feel after talking to the child on the beach? 
Ans: After talking to the child on the beach, the speaker felt extremely happy.

Q9: Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:
In the heat of the mid-day the houses stood with shut doors.
I wandered along the crooked lane.
An old man came out with his nag of gold.
He pondered and said, “I will hire you with my money.”
He weighed his coins one by one, but I turned away.
Paraphrase: During mid-day, an old man came with gold coins and said that he would hire with money but the speaker rejects all his money because money will soon be spent and money cannot buy us everlasting happiness.
(i) Where was the man heading to?
Ans: The man was wandering along the crooked lane on a hot day.
(ii) Who came to him and what did he offer?
Ans: An old man came to him with a bag of gold to offer.
(iii) Why did he ‘turned away’?
Ans: The poet turned away because he knew that money cannot buy everlasting happiness.
(iv) Explain – ‘weighed his coins one by one’?
Ans: The poet wanted to feel the worth of the memory. He decided not to gave his freedom and services for money.

Q10: Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:
It was evening. The garden hedge was all a flower.
The fair maid came out sand said, “I will hire you with a smile.”
Her smile paled and melted into tears, and she went back alone into the dark
Paraphrase: In the evening, the garden fences were full of flowers. A fair lady came out from garden and said that he would hire him with a smile but her smile faded away and she melted into tears and returned into the dark leaving the speaker alone.
(i) Where did the poet go in the evening?
Ans: The poet went across a garden full of beautiful flowers.
(ii) Who said ‘I will hire you’?
Ans: A beautiful maid was standing there to hire for his service.
(iii) What did she offer to pay?
Ans: The old man offered to pay with smile in return of his services.
(iv) Why had her ‘smile pale’?
Ans: Her smile paled because the poet disagreed to bestow his services in exchange of smile.