NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Beehive book A Legend of the Northland Important Question Answers Poem 5
Class 9 English A Legend of the Northland Question Answers – Looking for A Legend of the Northland question answers (NCERT solutions) for CBSE Class 9 English Beehive Book Poem 5? Look no further! Our comprehensive compilation of important questions will help you brush up on your subject knowledge. Practising Class 9 English question answers can significantly improve your performance in the exam. Our solutions provide a clear idea of how to write the answers effectively. Improve your chances of scoring high marks by exploring Poem 5: A Legend of the Northland now. The questions listed below are based on the latest CBSE exam pattern, wherein we have given NCERT solutions to the chapter’s extract based questions, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and long answer questions.
Also, practising with different kinds of questions can help students learn new ways to solve problems that they may not have seen before. This can ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and better performance on exams.
Class 9 English A Legend of the Northland Question Answers Poem 5 – Extract Based Questions
Extract-based questions are of the multiple-choice variety, and students must select the correct option for each question by carefully reading the passage.
A Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
Away, away in the Northland
Where the hours of the day are few
And the nights are so long in winter
That they cannot sleep them through
Q1. Why is the word ‘away’ repeated twice?
Ans. To convey a sense of separation, the word away has been used several times.
Q2. Which place is discussed in this stanza?
Ans. Northland, or the cold polar region of the North, including Greenland, northern Europe and Siberia are being discussed here.
Q3. What does the phrase “hours of the day are few” mean?
Ans. The days are shorter than the nights
Q4. Why are people unable to get a good night’s sleep?
Ans. The winter nights are long and cold.
B Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
Where they harness the swift reindeer
To the sledges, when it snows
And the children look like bear’s cubs in their funny, furry clothes
Q1. What does “Where” refer to?
Ans. “Where” refers to Northland.
Q2. Where are the reindeer harnessed? What does swift reindeer convey?
Ans. The sledges are equipped with reindeer harnesses. When pulling sledges across the snow, reindeer are swift, as implied by the phrase swift reindeer.
Q3. Why do children look like bear cubs?
Ans. Children are forced to wear bulky woollen clothing that completely covers them and makes them look like bear cubs due to the cold.
Q4. Mention two characteristics of the place
Ans. The place is very cold, the days are shorter than the nights; people cannot sleep through the night.
C Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
They tell them a curious story
I don’t believe tis true
And yet you may learn a lesson
if tell the tale to you
Q1. What is the curious story that the people tell?
Ans. Legend has it that St. Peter cursed an elderly woman for being greedy after she offended him.
Q2. Who does not believe in the story?
Ans. The poet rejects the veracity of the narrative.
Q3. Why does the poet narrate this tale?
Ans. The narrative is told by the poet because it contains a moral.
Q4. What lesson does it give?
Ans. The story imparts to us the moral that greed is an evil. One should not be avaricious like the elderly woman who received St. Peter’s curse.
D Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
So she made a very little cake,
But as it baking lay
She looked at it and thought it seemed
Too large to give away
Q1. Why did she bake a small cake?
Ans. The woman baked a small cake for giving to the saint.
Q2. As she watched it being baked, what did she think of it?
Ans. She thought that the cake was too big to be given away to charity.
Q3. What does this say about her character?
Ans. She is selfish and miserly.
Q4. How was she punished for her greed?
Ans. Saint Peter turned her into a woodpecker.
E Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
For she said, “My cakes that seem too small
When I eat of them myself
Are yet too large to give away.”
So she put them on the shelf
Q1. Who is the speaker in these lines?
Ans. The woman is the speaker in these lines
Q2. When do the cakes seem too small?
Ans. The cakes seemed too small for eating them herself.
Q3. What kind of cakes did the woman make?
Ans. The woman made cakes that were smaller and smaller, till the last one was as thin as a wafer.
Q4. What was done with the woman’s cakes? Why?
Ans. The woman believed that the cakes were too large to be donated to charity, so, she put them away.
Class 9 English Beehive A Legend of the Northland Poem 5 Multiple Choice Questions
Q1. What happened to the old woman’s clothes?
A. As she ascended through the chimney, they were burned to a black color.
B. They were lost in the woods.
C. They were taken away by the thieves
D. The wild creatures tore them apart.
Ans. A. As she ascended through the chimney, they were burned to a black color.
Q2. What kind of curse did Saint Peter utter against the conceited woman?
A. That she will construct her shelter just like birds do.
B. That she will mine dry, firm wood for her meager diet.
C. That she will remain monotonous all day.
D. All the above
Ans. D. All the above
Q3. What made Saint Peter angry?
A. The woman’s greed.
B. The woman’s selfishness
C. The woman’s pride.
D. The woman’s kindness.
Ans. B. The woman’s selfishness.
Q4. For Saint Peter, the small woman cooked a cake, so why didn’t she give it to him then?
A. She believed it to be too large to give away.
B. For the holy man, she believed it to be too little.
C. She believed the holy man wouldn’t approve.
D. The cake, in her opinion, was not appetising.
Ans. A. She believed it to be too large to give away.
Q5. What did Saint Peter ask for from the little woman?
A. A single cake
B. A dozen cakes.
C. A loaf of bread.
D. Something to eat.
Ans. A. A single cake.
Q6. What was the little woman doing when Saint Peter went to her?
A. She was eating cakes.
B. She was giving away cakes to the poor
C. She was making and baking cakes.
D. She was putting cakes on the shelf.
Ans. C. She was making and baking cakes.
Q7. How do the children wearing furry clothes look?
A. They look like little pups.
B. They look like foxes.
C. They look like fawns.
D. They look like bear’s cubs
Ans. D. They look like bear’s cubs.
Q8. Why can’t people sleep on winter nights in Northland?
A. Because the nights are too short there
B. Because the nights are too long there.
C. Because it is all the time night there
D. Because there is no night there.
Ans. B. Because the nights are too long there.
Q9. Where is Northland situated?
A. The cold polar region of the North, including Greenland, northern Europe and Siberia.
B. It is in Holland.
C. It is an island of New Zealand.
D. It is an island of Ireland.
Ans. A. The cold polar region of the North, including Greenland, northern Europe and Siberia.
Q10. What was the selfish woman changed into?
A. Into a fox.
B. into a crow.
C. into an eagle.
D. Into a woodpecker.
Ans. D. Into a woodpecker.
Q11. Where did the story of this poem occur?
A. Switzerland
B. Scotland
C. Northland
D. Netherland
Ans. C. Northland
Q12. What is the poem’s rhyme pattern?
A. 4-lined stanzas with abcb rhyming scheme
B. 3 lined stanzas with aabc
C. 5 lined stanzas with abbcc
D. None
Ans. A. 4-lined stanzas with abcb rhyming scheme
Q13. Cite examples of alliteration from the poem.
A. tell the tales to you
B. faint with fasting
C. cakes that seem too small
D. All of the above
Ans. D. All of the above
Q14. Which literary device has been employed in this poem?
A. irony
B. alliteration
C. personification
D. All of the above
Ans. B. alliteration
Q15. What made St. Peter angry with the woman?
A. her cakes
B. she made a thin cake for him
C. her greedy actions
D. All
Ans. C. her greedy actions
Class 9 English A Legend of the Northland Short Question Answers (including questions from Previous Years Question Papers)
In this post we are also providing important short answer questions from Poem 5 A Legend of the Northland for CBSE Class 9 exam in the coming session
Q1. What is a legend? Why is this poem called a legend?
Ans. A legend is a very old, possibly untrue narrative from long ago that people tell about a well-known occasion or somebody. A legend frequently imparts a lesson. The poem tells a historical tale about Northland, so it is referred to as a legend. The poet herself states, “I don’t believe it is true.” This is the tale of an elderly, avaricious woman who, as a result of her avarice, enraged St. Peter and was transformed into a woodpecker.
Q2. Where does this legend belong to and what kind of country is it?
Ans. The legend takes place in the “Northland,” which could refer to any of the extremely cold nations in the Earth’s north polar region, including Greenland, Russia’s northern Siberia, or the Scandinavian nations of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Finland. It is a place where the days are brief and the nights are long.
Q3. Why does the poet say that the hours of the day are few?
Ans. The author claims in the poem that Northland is where the narrative is narrated. The Northland is a frigid area close to the North Pole that is blanketed in snow. Here, the nights are longer and the days are shorter. There are consequently not many hours in a day.
Q4. Why are the People unable to sleep through the night?
Ans. The folks find it difficult to sleep because the evenings are so lengthy and chilly.
Q5. And the children look like bear’s cubs. What have the children been compared to? Why?
Ans. The children dress in amusing fuzzy outfits to keep warm because Northland is a frigid environment. They appear to be bear cubs in these clothes.
Q6. What does the poet tell us about the story she is about to narrate? Why does she want to tell the tale?
Ans. The poet claims that she will share a peculiar tale from the inhabitants of Northlands: Although she acknowledges that the story may not be true, she still feels compelled to share it because it contains a valuable lesson about generosity and philanthropy. She wants the poem’s audience to take something away from it.
Q7. Who came to the woman’s house and what did he ask for?
Ans. Saint Peter arrived at the woman’s door while travelling the globe and preaching. He was hungry and exhausted from his day of travel. The woman was baking cakes when Saint Peter approached her and requested one of her many supplies.
Q8. Why was Saint Peter tired and hungry?
Ans. Saint Peter served as a disciple of Jesus. He toured the nation, spreading the gospel of Jesus. On occasion, he ran out of food and water while travelling. In addition, he had to observe fasts. He often felt hungry and worn out as a result.
Q9. What did Saint Peter ask the woman for? What was the woman’s reaction?
Ans. Saint Peter requested a cake from the elderly woman’s bakery. The woman was quite selfish and did not want to give away her cakes because she believed they were too big. She then baked a tiny cake for him, but she felt that even that was too huge to be shared. She ultimately created a tiny, thin cake. However, she didn’t even give that cake to St. Peter; instead, she stored it on a shelf.
Q10. Why did the woman bake a little cake?
Ans. The poem depicts the woman as being extremely stingy, miserly, selfish, and cruel in nature. Every time she took up a cake to distribute, it seemed to be too big. As a result, she created a tiny, wafer-thin cake for Saint Peter.
Q11. What happened to the cakes the woman baked for Saint Peter?
Ans. The woman was avaricious. She had no inclination to share anything with Saint Peter when he came at her cottage after his travels, exhausted and hungry, and requested a cake from her sizable supply. Even when the cake was as thin as a wafer, the lady kept trying to create Saint Peter a smaller and smaller cake. The woman placed the cake on her shelf because she thought it was too enormous to be handed to Saint Peter.
Q12. “And surely such a woman was enough to provoke a saint!” Who was the lady and how did she provoke the saint? Explain.
Ans. When the saint came to see her, the woman was baking cakes, and she was vengeful and obnoxious. She did not give the guest anything to eat despite the fact that she could tell he was hungry and exhausted. Even after making a cake that was as thin as a wafer, she continued to bake smaller and smaller cakes because she could not bear to give them up. The elderly woman refused to assist the weak and hungry saint. Saints are renowned for their patience, yet because of her selfishness, the saint cursed her.
Q13. Why did Saint Peter curse the woman? What did he turn her into?
Ans. The woman had been miserly and selfish,so, Saint Peter cursed her. He believed she was unfit to exist in a human form and have access to comforts like food and shelter. He transformed her into a woodpecker, who spends all day digging into “hard, dry wood” in order to build its nest “as birds do” and gather its meager food.
Q14. For she was changed to a bird. Who was she and why was she changed to a bird?
OR
You are too selfish to dwell in a human form. Who said this and to whom? Why did he say so?
Ans. Saint Peter transformed a greedy and miserly woman from the Northland into a woodpecker. She had refused to offer the worn-out and hungry saint even a cake as thin as a wafer. She was therefore transformed into a bird as a form of punishment, forced to live in a nest and forage for food by boring into wood.
Q15. Do you think that the woman would have been so ungenerous if she had known who Saint Peter really was? What would she have done then?
Ans. No, she wouldn’t have rejected Saint Peter out of avarice. Instead, she would have wanted Saint Peter to thank her for her generosity, and she probably would have done so by giving him a sizable slice of cake to make him happy.
Class 9 A Legend of the Northland Long Answer Questions Poem 5
Q1. Describe Northland as done by the poet?
Ans. The region surrounding the North Pole is known as the Northland, and it comprises all of the extremely cold nations that are found in this area, including Greenland, northern Russia-Siberia, and the Scandinavian nations of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Finland. The days are short and the nights are long in this frigid, snow-covered location.
In this area, the days are short and the winter nights are extremely long and cold, making it difficult for individuals to sleep through the night. Reindeer are harnessed and used to pull sledges when it snows. Children’s humorous and fluffy clothing makes them look like bear cubs due to the intense cold!
Q2. Briefly narrate the legend of the old woman and St Peter?
Ans. When Saint Peter was weak and hungry from his day of fasting, he once stopped by an elderly woman’s cottage. On the fireplace, the woman was preparing cakes. She attempted to bake a little cake for Saint Peter when he requested for one. She discovered, however, that it was too big to be given away as it baked.
She made two more attempts at baking, but even the smallest cakes felt too big to her. The saint was hungry, and she was acting in such a greedy manner. He cursed her, calling her too self-centered human and depriving her of food, housing, and a fire to keep her warm. She thus changed into a woodpecker.
As she climbed the chimney and flew out of the top, all of her clothing was gone save for her scarlet cap. She is reported to have been seen by every rural schoolboy in the forest to this day, drilling into the wood for nourishment.
Q3. What is the message of the poem?
Ans. This poem tells us that being greedy prevents us from experiencing true happiness; instead, it encourages us to share with those in need. On the other hand, our compassion compels us to consider the suffering endured by others. A weary and hungry traveller begged the small woman making cakes for something to eat. The woman was ungrateful and self-centered and kept a lot of cakes.
She prepared cakes that got smaller and smaller, but she ultimately resisted sharing any. Saint Peter, a tired traveller, was enraged by her greed and miserliness and told her that she was too self-centered to live in human form, where she had access to food, warmth, and shelter. He cursed her with the ability to transform into a bird, dwell in a nest, and forage for meagre food by digging up all dry and hard wood.
Q4. What is a ballad? Is this poem a ballad? What do you learn about the woman and Saint Peter in the poem?
Ans. A ballad is a song with few stanzas that tells a story. Folk songs, which are passed down orally from one generation to the next, include ballads. Because it tells the tale of an elderly woman who is self-centered and has been passed down through the generations, the poem “A Legend of the Northland” is also a ballad. Ballads share a puzzling tale with them.
In the poem, the woman is avaricious and self-centered. Despite having a vast supply of cakes, she won’t provide even one wafer-sized cake to a weary traveler.
Peter spreads the gospel of God across the nation. On his journey, he occasionally runs out of food and water. Additionally, he must observe fasts. He often gets hungry and exhausted as a result. Despite being a saint, he becomes enraged and curses the woman, turning her into a woodpecker as a result. He ought to have extended the woman mercy and forgiveness because he is a saint.
Also See:
- A Legend of the Northland Lesson Explanation, Summary
- A Legend of the Northland MCQ Question Answers
- Class 9 English Lesson Explanation
- Class 9 English Beehive Poem word meaning
