Beehive Chapter 03

The Little Girl

Page No: 38 Thinking about the Text
I. Given below are some emotions that Kezia felt. Match the emotions in Column
A with the items in Column B.
Ans.
A B
1. Fear or terror (iii) Father comes home
(iv) Speaking to father
(v) Going to bed when alone at home
(vii) Father stretched out on the sofa, snoring
2. glad sense of relief (i) Father comes into her room to give her a
goodbye kiss
(ii) Noise of the carriage grows fainter
3. a “funny” feeling, perhaps (vi) Father comforts her and falls asleep
of understanding

II. Answer the following questions in one or two sentences.

1. Why was Kezia afraid of her father?
Ans: Kezia was afraid of her father because he was very strict who always used to give
commands to everybody else in the house. He never played with her. He had big hands and
heavy face especially his mouth, when he yawned, were big and she was especially terrified
with the manner in which he looked at her over his spectacles.
2. Who were the people in Kezia’s family?
Ans: Kezia’s family consisted of her mother, father, grandmother and herself.
3. What was Kezia’s father’s routine
(i) before going to his office?
(ii) after coming back from his office?
(iii) on Sundays?
Ans: (i) Before going to his office, Kezia’s father usually went into her room to give her a
casual kiss.
(ii) After coming back from his office, he ordered for tea to be brought into the drawing room.
He also asked her mother to bring him the newspaper and his slippers, and Kezia to pull off his
boots.
(iii) On Sunday, Kezia's father would stretch out on the sofa. He would cover his face with his
handkerchief, put his feet on one of the cushions and sleep soundly.
4. In what ways did Kezia’s grandmother encourage her to get to know her father
better?
Ans: Kezia’s grandmother encouraged her to get to know her father better by sending her to
the drawing room to talk to her parents on Sundays. She also suggested Kezia to make a pin
cushion out of a beautiful piece of yellow silk as a gift for her father’s birthday.
III. Discuss these questions in class with your teacher and then write down your
answers in two or three paragraphs each.
1. Kezia’s efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him very much. How
did this happen?
Ans: Kezia efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him. On every Sunday, her
grandmother sent her down to the drawing room to have a nice talk with father and mother.
But her presence always irritated the father. He used to call her 'little brown owl'.
One day her grandmother told her that her father's birthday would be next week and suggested
that she should make him a pin-cushion for beautiful gift. After stitching three sides of the
cushion with double cotton with great care and effort, Kezia was stuck as to what to fill the
cushion with. Since her grandmother was busy in the garden, she searched her Mother's
bedroom for scraps. Finally, she discovered sheets of paper on the bed table. She gathered
these, tore them up and filled the cushion with the torn pieces.
Unfortunately, her efforts to please her father not only went in vain but also had an
unanticipated consequence. This was because the sheets she had torn were her father’s speech
for the Port Authority. Her father scolded her for touching things that did not belong to her
and punished her by hitting her palm with a ruler.
2. Kezia decides that there are “different kinds of fathers”. What kind of father
was Mr Macdonald, and how was he different from Kezia’s father?
Ans: Kezia compared her father with Mr. Macdonald, her next door neighbour. He was a
loving, gentle and forgiving father. He was always smiling and playing with his children. He
treated his children in a friendly manner.
He was just opposite to Kezia's father. Unlike Kezia's father he never punished his children. He
played with them whenever he was free. Kezia's father was very harsh and a strict
disciplinarian.
3. How does Kezia begin to see her father as a human being who needs her
sympathy?
Ans: With her mother and grandmother at the hospital, Kezia is left at home in the care of
Alice, the cook. At night, after she is put to bed by the cook, she has a nightmare
She calls for her grandmother but, to her surprise, she finds her father standing near her bed.
He takes her in his arms and makes her sleep next to him. Half asleep, she creeps close to him,
snuggles her head under his arm, and holds tightly to his shirt. Her father asks her to rub her
feet against his legs for warmth.
Her father goes off to sleep before her. This makes her understand that he has to work hard
every day and this leaves him too tired to be like Mr Macdonald. She expresses her altered
feelings for her father by telling him that he has a 'big heart'.

Page No: 39 Thinking about Language

I. Look at the following sentence. pleased, joyed, thrilled, delighted, happy
1. Use an appropriate word from the synonyms given above in the following
sentences.
Clues are given in brackets.
Ans: (i) She was thrilled by the news of her brother’s wedding.
(ii) I was delighted to be invited to the party.
(iii) She was over joyed at the birth of her granddaughter.
(iv) The coach was pleased with his performance.
(v) She was very happy with her results.
2. Study the use of the word big in the following sentence.
He was so big − his hands and his neck, especially his mouth…
Here, big means large in size.
Now, consult a dictionary and find out the meaning of big in the following
sentences.
The first one has been done for you.
(i) You are a big girl now. older
Ans: (ii) most important
(iii) innovation
(iv) popular
(v) great
(vi) gourmet
(vii) generous
Page No: 40
1. Underline the verbs of reporting in the following sentences.
Ans: (i) He says he will enjoy the ride.
(ii) Father mentioned that he was going on a holiday.
(iii) No one told us that the shop was closed.
(iv) He answered that the price would go up.
(v) I wondered why he was screaming.
(vi) Ben told her to wake him up.
(vii) Ratan apologized for coming late to the party.
2. Some verbs of reporting are given in the box. Choose the appropriate verbs and
fill in the blanks in the following sentences.
were complaining shouted replied
remarked ordered suggested

Ans: (i) “I am not afraid,” replied the woman.

(ii) “Leave me alone,” my mother shouted.
(iii) The children were complaining that the roads were crowded and noisy.
(iv) “Perhaps he isn’t a bad sort of a chap after all,” remarked the master.
(v) “Let’s go and look at the school ground,” suggested the sports teacher.
(vi) The traffic police ordered all the passers-by to keep off the road.

*****************************************