VELAMMAL VIDYALAYA, ALAPAKKAM

CLASS -9 ENGLISH-COMMON NOTES

PROSE 3 -THE LITTLE GIRL

I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences
1. Why was Kezia afraid of her father?
Kezia was afraid of her father because he used to talk to her harshly. He was in
a habit of finding out her mistakes.
2. Who were the people in Kezia’s family?
Kezia’s family had her grandmother, mother and father.
3. What was Kezia’s father’s routine?

1. before going to his office?

2. after coming back from his office?
3. on Sundays?
Answer:

1. He used to kiss Kezia casually before going to his office.

2. He would ask for the newspaper and tea after coming back from his
office.
3. On Sundays, he would take rest. He would enjoy sound sleep on the sofa.

4. In what ways did Kezia’s grandmother encourage her to get to know her
father better?
Kezia’s grandmother sent her to her father’s room to have a nice talk with him.
Besides, she asked her to make a gift of a pin-cushion on her father’s birthday.
II.
1. Kezia’s efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him very much.
How did this happen?
Kezia used to be afraid of her father because her father talked to her
harshly.One day her grandmother told her to make a pin-cushion to gift him on his
birthday which was approaching. Kezia took it an opportunity to please him. So,
she stitched cotton cloth three sides and looked for the things that could be stuffed
into the stitched cloth. Soon she found out many sheets of paper.
Actually they contained her father’s speech for the Port Authority. She tore them
into pieces and stuffed her case.
One day when her father looked for the papers, he did not find them. After some
time, he came to know that Kezia had tom them into pieces to make a pin- cushion.
He got infuriated and beat her with a ruler. Thus, her efforts to please her father
resulted in displeasing him very much.
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?
In Kezia’s opinion, her father was very harsh. He did not talk to her
affectionately but rather he used to speak to her stringently. So she avoided him.
She did not want to be in front of him because she was afraid of him. Moreover, her
father never spent time with her.
Macdonald family lived next door to her house. One evening she saw him playing
tag with his children. A baby was on his shoulders and two little girls were
hanging on to his coat pockets. They were laughing. Also, she saw some boys turn
the hose on Macdonald and he tried to catch them laughing all the time. She found
them feel friendly with their father. So, she wished if her father were like them.
3. How does Kezia begin to see her father as a human being who needs her
sympathy?
One night Kezia had a nightmare which made her too terrified. She was crying
out of fear. When she woke up, she found her father beside her bed with a candle
in his hand. He asked her what the matter was. When he came to know about her
nightmare, he blew out the candle, bent down and caught up the child in his arms.
He carried her to the big bedroom. He laid her on the bed and pulled the covers up
around her. Apart from this, he lay down beside her.
After some time, still half asleep, she crept close to him, snuggled her head under
his arm and held tightly to his shirt. Now she felt comfortable.
Her father told her to rub her feet against his legs and get them warm.
Now, Kezia realised that her father was not as harsh as she thought. She realised
that her father had to work all day long and got so tired that he could not play with
her. She realised that her father wanted her to understand his compulsion.
At bottom, he was a very good person.

Additional questions:
1. Why did Kezia stutter in the presence of Father?
Answer: Kezia’s father’s domineering personality and frequent scolding shook her
self-confidence. She felt under pressure to please him, so she would search hard for
appropriate words in her mind while talking to him. This pressure made her stutter
in his presence.

2.What kind of dreams did Kezia usually have?

Answer: Usually, Kezia had horrible, frightening dreams. In her nightmares, she
saw a butcher with a knife and a rope. The butcher came closer and closer to her
with a dreadful smile while she stood still overpowered by fear.

3.Why was a hue and cry in the house? Why did her father punish Kezia?
Answer: There were a hue and cry in the house. Kezia had stuffed her father’s
important papers into the pin-cushion. It was a birthday present she wanted to gift
to her father. His father became furious after knowing this. He beat her with a ruler
for tearing his important papers into pieces.

4.How did Father comfort the little girl, Kezia, when she got scared in her
sleep?
Answer: When Kezia got scared in her sleep, her father came to her room, lifted
her in his arms, took her to his bed and made her sleep close to him. He allowed
her to warm her feet against his legs. She felt secure and protected as she snuggled
up to him.

5. Give in brief the message of the story ‘The Little Girl’.

Answer: Appearances can be deceptive. Kezia’s father looked like a cruel giant to
her. She trembled and stuttered in his presence. His harsh words made her curse
her fate. However, she, later on, found that her father was not devoid of tender
human feelings. Beneath his rough exterior was hidden his deep love and affection
for his daughter.

Question 1.What do the following phrases mean to you? Discuss in class.

1. humid shadows
2. starry spheres
3. what a bliss
4. a thousand dreamy fancies into busy being start
5. a thousand recollections weave their air-threads into woof
Answer:

1. Humid shadows: These are the shadows of different things which become
wet during the rainy season.
2. Starry spheres: The area where stars appear in a group in the sky.
3. What a bliss: The poet feels happy when he listens to the rain drops.
4. A thousand dreamy fancies into busy being start: The poet starts
recollecting the past and finds himself lost in reveries and dreams in the
rainy weather.
5. A thousand recollections weave their air-threads into woof: The poet
recollects hundreds of memories in the rainy season. They weave a weft
with the help of air-threads.
2. What does the poet like to do when it rains?
When it rains the poet wants to lie on bed in a cottage and listen to pitter-patter
sound of the rain.
3. What is the single major memory that comes to the poet’s mind? Who are
the “darling dreamers” he refers to?
The poet’s mother is the single major memory that comes to his mind. ‘Darling
dreamers’ are those ‘kids’ who remember their mothers like the poet.
4. Is the poet now a child? Is his mother still alive?
No, the poet is not a child. His mother is no more. But her memories still haunt him.

II. 1.When you were a young child, did your mother tuck you in, as the poet’s
mother did?
Yes, my mother used to tuck me in when I was a child. Whenever I said that I
could not do some work, she embraced me and took me in her lap to get that work
done. She used to feel sad and dejected if I was involved in any mishap.

2. Do you like rain? What do you do when it rains steadily or heavily as

described in the poem?
Yes, I like rain and prefer to take a bath in the rain for some time. But when it rains
heavily, I stay inside and enjoy the beauty of nature.

3. Does everybody have a cosy bed to lie in when it rains? Look around you
and describe how different kinds of people or animals spend time, seek
shelter, etc. during rain.
No, everybody is not so fortunate to have a cosy bed to lie in when it rains. There
are some people who live at the railway platforms and bus terminal. They don’t
have even bed sheet, what to talk of comfortable beds.There are so many animals
which don’t have any shelter and tremble under the dark sky in the rainy season
Additional questions:
1.Why does the poet call the sound of the rain as “refrain”?
Answer: A refrain is a line repeatedly used in a song or a poem. The drops of rain
produce a piece of distinct and continuous music by way of their pattering. This
repetitive sound of the rain is called ‘refrain’ by the poet.
2. What is a ‘bliss’ for a poet in the poem?
Answer: The poet loves the rain because it carries him in old memories. He thinks
it is bliss to hear the sound of the rain on the roof. He lies in his cosy bed and
enjoys the music of nature. It is a bliss for him.
SUPPLEMENTARY-2
THE ADVENTURES OF TOTO
.
1. How does Toto come to grand-father’s private zoo?
Grandfather loved animals. One day he saw this attractive monkey with a
tonga- driver. The monkey was tied to a feeding- trough and seemed out of place
there. Grandfather had great liking for animals. So he decided to buy Toto from
the tonga- driver and bought it for five rupees.
2. “Toto was a pretty monkey.” In what sense is Toto pretty?
Toto had bright eyes sparkling with mischief, pearly white teeth, quick and
wicked fingers and a gracious tail which served as a third hand. The smile of Toto
was cute and frightened elderly Anglo- Indian ladies. Altogether all these qualities
made him pretty.
3. Why does grandfather take Toto to Saharanpur and how? Why does the
ticket collector insist on calling Toto a dog?
Toto was a mischievous monkey. He kept disturbing all other animals in
grandfather’s private zoo. It seemed that only grandfather could manage him
properly. So, he took Toto to Saharanpur in a bag. The ticket collector called
Toto a dog as the monkey did not qualify the category of human beings.How
does Toto take a bath? Where has he learnt to do this? How does Toto almost
boil himself alive?
Toto cunningly tested the temperature with his hand then gradually stepped into the
bath. He stepped first one foot, then the other, until he was into the water up to his
neck. He rubbed himself all over with the soap. He learned it all from the author.
Some day Toto got in a large kitchen kettle which was on fire to boil. He enjoyed
the warm water but when the water turned out to be hot he jumped up and down.
Suddenly the grandmother arrived at and pulled him out in half- boiled condition.

4. Why does the author say, “Toto was not the sort of pet we could keep for
long”?
Author’s statement about Toto proves itself if we take Toto’s misdeeds into
consideration. Nobody could afford the frequent losses. He disturbed all other
animals too. Obviously Toto was not the sort of pet we could keep for long.

Additional questions:
1.What did Toto do in the author’s room?
Answer: Toto was kept in a little store. It opened into the narrator’s bedroom. He
was tied to a peg on the wall. A few hours later, the narrator found a change in his
bedroom. Toto had made himself free by pulling out the peg. He had removed the
wallpaper of the bedroom. He had torn the narrator’s school blazer.
2. Describe how grandfather took Toto with him to Saharanpur.
Answer: The next day, grandfather had to go to Saharanpur to get his pension. He
decided to take Toto along with him. He got a big black canvas bag and put Toto
into it. The bag was too strong for Toto to bite or tear. Tow remained in the bag as
far as Saharanpur. There, he suddenly stuck his head out of the bag and grinned at
the ticket collector.

3.How many pets did the author’s grandfather have? Where were they kept?
Answer: The author’s grandfather was fond of keeping pets. Ile had a small
private zoo of his own. In it, he had a tortoise, a pair of rabbits, a tame squirrel,
and the narrator’s pet goat. Toto, the monkey, was the latest addition to his zoo.
Apart from these animals, grandfather had a donkey also.
4. How did Toto get along with other animals?
Answer: Tow did not get along well with other animals. He troubled Nana, the
family donkey. He often fastened himself on to her long ears with his sharp teeth.
He did not allow other animals to sleep in peace.

SUPPLEMENTARY-3
ISWARAN THE STORY TELLER

1. In what way is Iswaran an asset to Mahendra?

Iswaran was an obedient person. He was Mahendra’s cook. He was very caring
and hardworking. He did all the jobs such as cooking meal, washing clothes and
chatting with Mahendra at night. He obeyed his master with full dedication. So, he
was an asset to Mahendra.

2. How does Iswaran describe the uprooted tree on the highway? What
effect does he want to create in his listeners?
Iswaran was greatly influenced by the Tamil authors. He was in the habit of
creating suspense. He had the quality of narrating even the smallest incident in
impressive way. He presented the incident related to the uprooted tree on the
highway in a dramatic way. He was alone and the road was deserted. He saw
something that looked like an enormous beast lying across the road. But as soon as
he came closer, he found there nothing but a fallen tree. His main purpose was to
create suspense and surprise.

3. How does he narrate the story of the tusker? Does it appear to be

plausible? Iswaran narrated the story of the tusker exaggeratedly.
The Tusker, having escaped from the timber yard, stamped on
bushes, tore up wild creepers and broke the branches at his will. The
elephant became uncontrollable and entered the school ground.
It created chaos there. Everyone in the school tried to escape. No one
dared to face the tusker. In the meantime Iswaran grabbed a cane
from a teacher and moved towards the elephant. He hit its third
toenail and the beast collapsed. He claimed that he had used the
Japanese art to control the tusker.
But this story seems totally implausible as it is very difficult to believe that a child
can control a mad elephant.
.
4. Why does the author say that Iswaran seemed to more than make up for
the absence of a TV in Mahendra’s living quarters?
Iswaran was an expert in telling adventurous and mysterious stories in a
dramatic way. It was his daily routine to entertain Mahendra at night. Mahendra
could listen to and watch the development of the story. Thus Iswaran seemed to
more than make up for the absence of a TV.

5. Mahendra calls ghosts or spirits a figment of the imagination. What

happens to him on a full-moon night?
Mahendra calls ghosts or spirits a figment of the imagination as he did not
believe in ghosts. One day Iswaran told him about a female ghost holding a foetus
in her arms. On a full-moon night he woke up from his sleep and looked outside the
window. He got shocked to see the same figure and began to sweat profusely.

6. Can you think of some other ending for the story?

The present story ends with Mahendra’s resolve to leave the haunted place.
But it is not the appropriate ending. Mahendra should not have decided to leave
the haunted place without knowing the reality. The story could end like this:
Courageously Mahendra approached the woman and tried to know the reality.
As soon as Mahendra caught the woman, it became the revelation of the
mystery. It was none but Iswaran in the guise of a ghost of woman.