Extract Based Questions: The Frog and the Nightingale - Class 10 PDF Download

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Other creatures loathed his voice,
But, alas, they had no choice,
And the crass cacophony
Blared put from the sumac tree
At whose foot the frog each night
Minstrelled on till morning light.

(a) Where did the frog live?
Ans: The frog lived under the sumac tree in Bingle Bog.

(b) What did the other creatures not have any choice in? Why?
Ans: The other creatures were forced to listen to the frog’s song all night. All their efforts to make him stop singing were in vain

(c) Explain‘crass cacophony’.
Ans: The phrase means a very loud and unpleasant noise.

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Next night when the Nightingale
Shook her head and twitched her tail,
Closed an eye and fluffed a wing
And had cleared her throat to sing
She was startled by a croak.

(a) Where is the nightingale? Who lived at the foot of the tree?
Ans: The nightingale is on the sumac tree in Bingle Bog. The frog lived at the foot of the tree.

(b) How do you know that the nightingale was getting ready to sing?
Ans: The nightingale shook her head and twitched her tail. Then she closed an eye, fluffed a wing and cleared her throat preparing to start singing.

(c) What surprised the nightingale?
Ans: The frog’s croak surprised the nightingale.

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Neither stones nor prayers nor sticks,
Insults or complaints or bricks
Stilled the frog’s determination
To display his heart’s elation.

(a) How did the other creatures try to quieten the frog?
Ans: The other creatures threw stones, sticks and bricks at the frog, begged him to stop singing, insulted him, and complained about him.

(b) Did they succeed in their efforts?
Ans: No, they did not succeed in their efforts. The frog continued to sing despite their efforts.

(c) What feature of the frog’s personality is brought out in the above lines?
Ans: The frog was thick-skinned and impervious to insults. He was determined and stubborn.

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Dumbstruck sat the gaping frog,
And the whole admiring Bog
Stared towards the sumac, rapt,
And, when she had ended, clapped.

(a) Explain the phrase ‘whole admiring Bog’.
Ans: All the creatures of the Bog were struck with admiration for the nightingale’s song.

(b) How did the frog react to the nightingale’s song?
Ans: The frog was dumbstruck by the beauty of her voice.

(c) What had been the frog’s experience at the sumac tree?
Ans: When the frog sang, the other creatures threw stones, sticks and bricks at him, begged him to stop singing, insulted him and complained.

Q5: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Ducks had swum and herons waded
To her as she serenaded,
And a solitary loon
Wept, beneath the summer moon.

(a) Who is ‘she’ in the above lines? Why did the ducks and herons come towards her?
Ans: The nightingale, is being referred to in these lines. The ducks and herons came to hear her song.

(b) Who was the solitary loon? How was his behaviour different from that of the others?
Ans: Loons are water birds. A single loon came to listen to the nightingale’s song. He was so overcome by emotions that he wept on hearing her beautiful song.

Q6: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Yes,” the frog replied. “You see,
I’m the frog who owns this tree.
In this bog, I’ve long been known
For my splendid baritone
And, of course, I wield my pen
For Bog Trumpet now and then.”

(a) What quality does the frog reveal in the second line of this extract?
Ans: The frog is boastful.

(b) What is a baritone?
Ans: Baritone is a deep male singing voice.

(c) Why does he say this?
Ans: The frog says this to impress the nightingale and to get her under his influence.

Q7: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Toads and teals and tiddlers, captured
By her voice, cheered on, enraptured:
‘Bravo! ’ ‘Too divine!’ ‘Encore! ’
So the nightingale once more,
Quite unused to such applause,
Sang till dawn without a pause.

(a) How do you know that the nightingale s song was a sensation?
Ans: The creatures of the bog heard her voice and swam towards her. They listened to her song, enraptured and encouraged her to sing the whole night long.

(b) How did the nightingale react to the applause?
Ans: The nightingale sang the whole night without a pause.

(c) Who are‘toads and teals and tiddlers’?
Ans: The toads are a type of frog, teals are freshwater ducks and tiddlers are small fish. They were all a part of the nightingale’s adoring audience.

Q8: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Sorry—was that you who spoke?
She enquired when the frog
Hopped towards her from the bog.
“Yes,” the frog replied. “You see,
I’m the frog who owns this tree.”

(a) Who is ‘she’? What aspect of the frog’s personality is revealed in these lines?
Ans: ‘She’ is the nightingale. The frog is territorial and possessive.

(b) How did the frog introduce himself?
Ans: The frog introduced himself as the owner of the sumac tree.

Q9: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Once upon a time a frog
Croaked away in Bingle Bog.
Every night from dusk to dawn
He croaked awn and awn and awn.

(a) What did the frog do all night?
Ans: The frog croaked all night.

(b) How did the other creatures react to his voice?
Ans: The other creatures hated the frog’s voice. They threw stones, sticks and bricks at him, begged him to stop singing, insulted him, and complained about him, but in vain.

(c) Find a word in the above lines which the poet has made up? Why has he done so?
Ans: The word is‘Awn’. The poet has done so to create a rhyme scheme with dawn.

Q10: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
But one night a nightingale
In the moonlight cold and pale
Perched upon the sumac tree
Casting forth her melody.

(a) Whose songs had echoed in the bog all night earlier?
Ans: The frog’s song had echoed in the bog earlier all night.

(b) What did the nightingale do?
Ans: The nightingale sat on the sumac tree singing her melodious song.
(c) How was the nightingale’s song different from the frog’s?
Ans: The nightingale’s song was melodious while the frog’s song was crass cacophony. His voice sounded like a foghorn.