CBSE Class 7 English Golu Grows a Nose Summary, Explanation, Question Answers from An Alien Hand Book

 

Golu Grows a Nose Class 7 NCERT Class 7 English An Alien Hand book Lesson 5 Golu Grows a Nose Summary and Detailed explanation of the lesson along with the meanings of difficult words. Also, the explanation is followed by a Summary of the lesson. All the exercises and Questions and Answers given at the back of the lesson have been covered. Take Free Online MCQs Test for Class 7 Click Here

Golu Grows a Nose Introduction

 

This story is about a baby elephant who does not have a big trunk. This story depicts how an elephant got a big trunk.

Golu Grows a Nose Class 7 Video Explanation

Golu Grows a Nose Summary

 

Long ago, the elephant had a bulgy nose instead of a trunk. The nose was big enough to wiggle it from side-to-side but it was too small to pick up things with it. There was a baby elephant named Golu who had a curious personality. He would ask questions from the other animals of the jungle a lot. He was never hesitant to get his answers. One day, he met the mynah bird which was sitting in a bush. He went to the bird and asked him what a crocodile eats for his dinner. The bird told him to go to the banks of the Limpopo river and find out the answer to his question. Golu decided to do this. He went to his home and gathered some food for himself. He then started to go towards the river, which was a journey of a few days. On the way, he also met a python. He asked the python about the crocodile but did not receive any answer. Golu helped the python and resumed his journey. After eating his food, he reached the river, where he saw a wood log floating on the river. The log turned out to be the crocodile. Golu did not know what a crocodile looked like. The crocodile then shed some crocodile tears to show Golu that he was a crocodile. Even though Golu was afraid, he sat on the bank and asked the crocodile the question. The crocodile told the baby elephant to come closer to the river to know the answer to his question. Golu obeyed him. When he was very close to the crocodile, the animal caught Golu by his nose. Then he said that a baby elephant would be his dinner for that day. Golu screamed, pleading with the crocodile to let him go. Golu was getting hurt. Then came the python who had been following the elephant. He told Golu that if he did not pull as hard as he could, he would be taken into the stream. Golu obeyed and carried this out but the crocodile started to pull as well. The python then coiled himself around Golu’s stomach to help him. They both pulled together. Instead of being free, Golu’s nose became longer and longer due to the pull. Then finally, the crocodile was defeated and the elephant had now a long nose which later became the trunk of the elephant. Golu’s nose hurt and he waited for two days to see if the nose would shrink back. He dipped the trunk into the cool river water. However, the nose did not cool and shrink. Then, at the end of the second day, a fly came and stung the elephant on his shoulder. Golu lifted the trunk and hit the fly in such a way that it died. The python told Golu that he was able to do so with the help of his long nose only. He then showed more advantages of having a long nose. The baby elephant was grateful towards the python for not only saving his life but also showing him the benefits of having the trunk. He thanked the python and said that he would now go back to his family. 

Golu Grows a Nose Explanation

 

Passage: Long, long ago the elephant had no trunk. He had only a bulgy nose, as big as a boot. He could wiggle it from side to side, but couldn’t pick up things with it. 

Word Meaning
bulgy
: swollen, protruding, or curving outwards.
boot: a sturdy item of footwear covering the foot and ankle, and sometimes also the lower leg, field shoes
wiggle: move or cause to move up and down or from side to side with small rapid movements.

Explanation of the above Passage: A long time ago, the elephants had a different appearance. Back then, the elephants had no trunk. Instead of a long nose, they had a bulgy nose which was as big as a boot. The nose was big enough to move it from side-to-side, but it was too small to pick things from it.

baby elephantPassage: There was a baby elephant called Golu. He, too, had no trunk but only a bulgy nose, as small as a small boot. Golu was full of questions. He asked his tall aunt, the ostrich, “Why don’t you ever fly like other birds?” Then he asked his tall uncle, the giraffe, “What makes your skin so spotty?” He asked his huge uncle, the hippopotamus, “Why are your eyes always so red?” He asked his hairy uncle, the baboon, “Why do melons taste like melons?” The ostrich, the giraffe, the hippopotamus and the baboon had no answers to Golu’s questions. “Golu is a naughty baby,” they said. “He asks such difficult questions.”

Word Meaning
spotty: something which has spots

Explanation of the above Passage: In this para, we see a baby elephant whose name is Golu. He too had a bulgy nose which was the size of a small boot. He was always curious about the things around him and so, he was full of questions. He liked to ask those questions to the other animals of the jungle. He asked an ostrich why she did not fly like other birds. He had a tall uncle who was a giraffe to whom he asked why his skin was so spotty. He asked his huge uncle, the hippopotamus, why his eyes were always so red. He asked the baboon, who is referred to as a ‘hairy uncle’ because baboons are covered with hair and the baboon was an elderly figure to the baby elephant. He asked why the fruit melons tasted like melons. All these animals had no answers to Golu’s questions. They called him a naughty baby due to such hard questions. This indicated that the others thought that Golu asked these questions to irritate them, but this was true. Golu was just a curious baby elephant.

Passage: One day Golu met the mynah bird sitting in the middle of a bush, and he asked her, “What does the crocodile have for dinner?” The mynah said, “Go to the banks of the great, grassy Limpopo river and find out.” 

Word Meaning
mynah: an Asian and Australasian starling that typically has dark plumage, gregarious behaviour, and a loud call.

Explanation of the above Passage: One day, Golu met the mynah bird. The mynah bird was sitting in the middle of a bush. Golu asked the mynah bird what the crocodile had for dinner. The mynah replied that he should go to the banks of a great, grassy river named the Limpopo river to find out the answer to his question.

Passage: Golu went home. He took a hundred sugar canes, fifty dozen bananas and twenty-five melons. Then he said to his family, “Goodbye. I’m going to the great, grassy Limpopo river. I’ll find out what the crocodile has for dinner.” He had never seen a crocodile, and didn’t know what one looked like. 

Word Meaning
dozen
: something that is 12 in number

Explanation of the above Passage: Golu went home after meeting the mynah bird. When he reached home, he took food for him from his home which he would eat on his way to the river. He took three types of things with him – sugar canes, bananas and melons. The quantity of each food item was huge. He took a hundred sugar canes and twenty-five melons. The bananas were fifty dozen so the total number of bananas were (12×50) 600 bananas. After taking this, he bid goodbye to his family and explained that he was going to the great, grassy Limpopo river to find out what the crocodile had for dinner. The baby elephant had never seen a crocodile. He also did not know what the crocodile looked like, meaning that he did not know about the appearance of the crocodile. This must have made him excited to see the crocodile as he was now curious about this animal.

pythonPassage: He met a python and asked him, “Have you ever seen a crocodile? What does he look like? What does he have for dinner?”
The python uncoiled himself from the branch of a tree but said nothing. Golu politely helped him to coil around the branch again and said goodbye to him.

Word Meaning
uncoiled:
straightened from a coiled or curled position.

Explanation of the above Passage: Golu embarked on his journey. He met a python on the way. He asked the python three questions about the crocodile. He asked if he had ever seen a crocodile, what a crocodile looked like, and what did it eat for dinner. The python uncoiled himself from the branch of a tree. However, he did not answer any of the three questions. Golu did not feel bad. Instead, he politely helped the python to coil around the branch again. After that, Golu resumed his journey and said goodbye to the python.

crocodilePassage: Golu moved on, eating sugar canes, bananas and melons. After a few days he reached the very edge of the great, grassy Limpopo river. On the bank of the river he saw a log of wood.
It was really the crocodile who winked at him. “Excuse me,” said Golu. “Have you ever seen a crocodile?”

Explanation of the above Passage: Golu resumed his journey to the river after meeting the python. He then ate his food. After a few more days, Golu reached the edge of the great, grassy Limpopo river. He stood on the bank of the river. From there, he could see a log of wood, floating on the river. This log of wood was actually the crocodile. The crocodile winked at Golu. Golu asked him if he had ever seen a crocodile. (As we read in the previous paragraph, Golu did not know what a crocodile looked like.) So, Golu did not realise that the animal he was talking to was the animal he was looking for.

Passage: The crocodile winked again and lifted half his tail out of the mud. “Come here, little one,” said the crocodile. “Why do you ask such questions?”
“I want to know…” 

Explanation of the above Passage: The crocodile winked again. He lifted his tail out of the mud. He called Golu ‘little one’ and told him to come closer to him. He then asked Golu why he asked such questions. Golu simply answered that he just wanted to know, meaning that he was curious.

Passage: “Come close, little one, for I am the crocodile,” and he shed crocodile tears to show it was quite true.
Golu was afraid, but he sat down on the bank and said, “You are the very person I was looking for. Please tell me what you have for dinner.” 

Explanation of the above Passage: The crocodile listened to Golu’s answer and asked him to go nearer. He told Golu that he was the crocodile. He then shed crocodile tears to show the baby elephant that what he was saying was true. Golu was afraid. However, he still sat down on the bank because he still wanted to know the answers to his questions. He told the crocodile that he was the very person he was looking for. He then requested the crocodile to tell him what he had for dinner.

Passage: “Come here, little one, and I’ll whisper the answer to you,” said the crocodile.
Golu put his head down close to the crocodile’s snout and the crocodile caught him by the nose.
“I think,” said the crocodile, “today a baby elephant will be my dinner.”

Word Meaning
snout:
the projecting nose and mouth of an animal, especially a mammal

Explanation of the above Passage: The crocodile listened to him and told him to go closer so that he could whisper the answer to him. Golu obeyed him and put his head down close to the crocodile’s snout (mouth). When Golu did that, he came so close to the crocodile that he could be easily caught by the crocodile. The crocodile caught him by the nose. He then told him that that day a baby elephant would be his dinner. He was referring to Golu who had been caught by the crocodile.

Passage: “Let me go. You are hurting me, Mr Crocodile,” screamed Golu.
The python, who had been quietly following Golu, came to the bank and said, “If you do not pull as hard as you can, the crocodile will drag you into the stream.” 

Explanation of the above Passage: Golu screamed. He told the crocodile to let him go. The crocodile caught Golu so tightly that Golu was getting hurt. The python Golu had met on the beginning of his journey, came to the bank. He had been quietly following Golu since they first met. He went up and told Golu to pull as hard as he could. He said that if he did not pull efficiently, the crocodile would win and drag him into the stream.

Passage: Golu sat back on his little haunches and pulled and pulled. The crocodile slipped into the water making it all creamy with great sweeps of his tail, and he also pulled and pulled.

Word Meaning
haunches: a buttock and thigh considered together, in a human or animal

Explanation of the above Passage: Golu obeyed the python and sat back on his little haunches. He then pulled and pulled. The crocodile was not willing to give up his dinner so easily. He slipped into the water. He made great sweeps with his tail, making the water look creamy. After slipping into the water, he began to pull harder as well.

Passage: Then the python coiled himself round Golu’s stomach and said, “Let’s pull harder.” Golu dug in all his four legs in the mud and pulled. The nose kept on stretching. At each pull the nose grew longer and longer and it hurt Golu. The nose was now five feet long, but it was free at last.

Explanation of the above Passage: The python must have realised that if he would not assist Golu, the baby elephant would get dragged into the stream. So, he coiled or wrapped himself around Golu and his stomach. He then asked Golu to pull harder with him. Golu obeyed him and dug in all his four legs in the mud to stop himself from getting dragged into the stream. Then, he began to pull harder. None of them was winning. Instead, the nose began to stretch. This means that the force on both the ends of the nose was equal and great in magnitude. So, the nose began to stretch and become longer. At each pull the nose grew longer. Not only this but Golu got hurt at each pull too. Finally, the nose was free. However, it was now five feet long.

Passage: Golu sat down, with his nose wrapped up in a big banana leaf and hung it in the great, grassy Limpopo river to cool.
Golu sat there for two days waiting for his nose to cool and to shrink. It grew cool but it didn’t shrink.
At the end of the second day, a fly came and stung Golu on the shoulder. Golu lifted his long nose (trunk) and with it hit the fly dead.

Explanation of the above Passage: Golu sat down. He was tired by the pulling. His nose was wrapped up in a big banana leaf and was hanging in the river. He did this to cool off his nose so that the nose would shrink (When things cool down, they contract or shrink). However, even though the nose was set down to cool continuously for two days, it did not shrink. The reason was unknown. The nose did grow cool, but it did not shrink. At the end of the second day, a fly came and stung Golu on his shoulder. Golu lifted his long nose and hit the fly with it. The nose knocked the fly dead.

Passage: “Advantage number one,” hissed the python. “You couldn’t have done it with a small nose. Try and eat a little now.”
Golu put out his trunk and plucked a large bundle of grass. He dusted it against his forelegs and stuffed it into his mouth. 

Explanation of the above Passage: The python was with the baby elephant the whole time. He wanted Golu to look at the brighter side of having a long nose. So, he pointed out the first advantage of having a long nose. It was that Golu could now protect himself better. The python told him to eat food. Golu put out his long nose or trunk and plucked a large bundle of grass. He dusted the food against his forelegs and stuffed it into his mouth.

Passage: “Advantage number two,” hissed the python. “You couldn’t have done it with a small nose. Don’t you think the sun is too hot now?
Golu scooped up some mud from the bank and slapped it on his head.

Word Meaning:
scoop: pick up something in a spherical shape

Explanation of the above Passage: The python pointed out the second advantage which was that getting food was now easier with a longer nose. He then asked Golu if he thought the Sun was too hot. Golu said yes as he scooped up mud in the form of a ball from the bank of the river Limpopo. He slapped the mud on his head to make himself feel cooler.

Passage: “Advantage number three,” hissed the python. “You couldn’t have done it with a small nose.”
“Thank you, Mr Python,” said Golu gratefully. “I’ll remember all this and now I’ll go back to my family.” 

Explanation of the above Passage: The python pointed out the third advantage which was that Golu could not have scooped up mud so easily with a smaller nose. Golu realised what the python was trying to teach him. He was grateful. He said that he would remember all of this and now he would go back to his family.

Golu Grows a Nose Questions Answers

 

Answer the following questions

 

Q1. Whom does Golu ask, “Why don’t you ever fly like other birds?”

Ans. Golu asked the ostrich the question, “Why don’t you ever fly like other birds?”.

 

Q2. Which uncle of Golu had red eyes? 

Ans. The uncle Hippopotamus had red eyes.

 

Q3. Golu’s relatives did not answer his questions because 

(i) they were shy. 

(ii) the questions were too difficult. 

(iii) Golu was a naughty baby. 

Ans. (ii) the questions were too difficult. 

 

Q4. Who advised Golu to go to the Limpopo river?

Ans. The mynah bird advised Golu to go to the Limpopo river.

 

Q5. Why did Golu go to the river? 

Ans. Golu went to the river to get the answer to his questions. He was curious to know more about a specific animal named the crocodile.

 

Q6. The crocodile lay on the bank of the Limpopo river. Golu thought it was 

(i) a living crocodile. 

(ii) a dead crocodile. 

(iii) a log of wood.

Ans. (iii) a log of wood.

 

Q7. What did the crocodile do to show that it was a real crocodile?

Ans. The crocodile shed some crocodile tears to show that it was a real crocodile.

 

Q8. “Come here, little one, and I’ll whisper the answer to you.” The crocodile said this because 

(i) he couldn’t stand up. 

(ii) he wanted to eat Golu. 

(iii) Golu was deaf. 

Ans. (ii) he wanted to eat Golu. 

 

Q9. Who helped Golu on the bank of the river?

Ans. The python helped Golu on the bank of the river. He saved his life by pulling him away from the crocodile.

 

Q10. Name two things the elephant can do with his trunk, and two he cannot.

Ans. The two things the elephant can do with his trunk are as follows:

  1. He can pick up things with it.
  2. He can protect himself with it and use the trunk as a weapon.

The two things the elephant cannot do with his trunk are as follows:

  1. He cannot see with it.
  2. He cannot stand on the ground by the trunk.

 

 
Also See : 

Honeycomb Book Lessons

Honeycomb Book Poems

An Alien Hand Book Lessons