Long Question Answer: A Legend of the Northland

Q1. What is the message of the poem?

Ans: This poem teaches that true happiness comes from sharing with those in need. Greed and selfishness stop a person from feeling the warmth of giving, while a charitable nature makes one sensitive to the suffering of others. In the poem a little woman is baking cakes when a tired, hungry traveller asks her for something to eat. Although she has many cakes, she keeps making each new cake smaller and smaller until she refuses to give any away. Her miserly behaviour angers the traveller, who is revealed to be Saint Peter. He rebukes her for being too selfish to live properly as a human - she had food, warmth and shelter yet would not share them - and as a punishment turns her into a bird that must peck at hard, dry wood for scarce food. The moral is clear: generosity brings respect and inner joy, while greed brings loss and loneliness.

Q2. Describe Northland as done by the poet?

Ans: The Northland means the region around the North Pole and includes very cold places such as Greenland, northern Russia (Siberia) and the Scandinavian countries like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland. The poet paints it as a harsh, snow-covered land where days are short and nights are long and bitterly cold. Winters are severe and people sometimes find it hard to sleep through the long nights. When it snows, people use reindeer to pull their sledges, and children wear thick, furry clothes that make them look like little bear cubs. These vivid details show how extreme cold shapes daily life and customs in the Northland.

Q3. Briefly narrate the legend of the old woman and St Peter?

Ans: Once Saint Peter came to an old woman's cottage feeling hungry and weak after fasting. The woman was baking cakes and, when he asked for one, she tried to make a very small cake. As it baked she thought it was too large to give away, so she made another even smaller. Still it seemed too big, and she would not part with it. Saint Peter was angered by her greed and cursed her for refusing to share the comforts of human life - food, warmth and shelter. He changed her into a woodpecker; all her clothes flew away up the chimney except for her scarlet cap. Ever since, people say, she can be seen in the woods boring into trees in search of food.