A Legend of the Northland

 

 

A Legend of the Northland

Short Answer Type Questions

1. Who came to the woman’s house and what did he ask for?

Answer: Saint Peter, while preaching around the world, reached the woman’s door. He had been travelling the whole day and was tired and hungry. When Saint Peter saw the woman making cakes, he asked her for one of her large store of cakes.

2. Why was Saint Peter tired and hungry?

Answer: Saint Peter was an apostle of Jesus Christ. He travelled around the land, preaching the message of Christ. During the course of his journey, sometimes, he did not get food and water. Besides, he had to observe fasts also. This often left him tired and hungry.

3. What did Saint Peter ask the woman for? What was the woman’s reaction?

Answer: Saint Peter asked the old lady for a cake from her store of cakes. The woman, who was very greedy, did not wish to part with her cakes as she felt they were too large to be given away. So she made a small cake for him, but, that too, seemed to her too big to be given away. In the end, she made a very small and thin cake. But she did not give even that cake to St. Peter and she put it away on the shelf.

4. Why did the woman bake a little cake?

Answer: The woman in the poem has been shown as being highly stingy, miserly, greedy and mean by nature. Whenever she picked up a cake to give it away, it appeared to be too large to give away. Hence, she baked a ‘ very small cake for Saint Peter that was as thin as a wafer.

5. What happened to the cakes the woman baked for Saint Peter?

Answer: The woman was greedy. When Saint Peter, tired and hungry, after his travels, arrived at her cottage and asked for a cake from her large store, she had no desire to share anything with him. The woman tried time and again to bake a smaller and smaller cake for Saint Peter. But even when the cake was as thin as water, the woman felt the cake was too big to be given away to Saint Peter and she put it on her shelf.

6. Explain: ‘And surely such a woman was enough to provoke a saint.’ Who was the lady and how did she provoke the saint?

Answer: The woman, who was making cakes when the saint visited her, was mean and greedy. Though she could see the visitor was tired and hungry, she did not give him anything to eat. She baked cakes that were smaller and smaller, till she made one that was as thin as a wafer, but she could not bear to part even with that. The old lady did not help the hungry and tired saint. Saints are known for their patience, but her selfishness angered the saint, who cursed her.

7. Why did Saint Peter curse the woman? What did he turn her into?

Answer: Saint Peter cursed the woman because she had been miserly and selfish. He felt she was not fit to live in a human form and enjoy food, shelter and warmth. He turned her into a woodpecker that has to build its nest “as birds do” and gather its scanty food by boring in the “hard, dry wood” all day long.

8. ‘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?

Answer: A woman of Northland, who was miserly and selfish, was changed to a woodpecker by Saint Peter. She had refused to give even a cake as thin as a wafer to the tired and hungry saint. So, as a punishment, she was turned to a bird that would have to live in a nest and bore into wood for her food.

9. Describe the theme of the poem ‘A legend of the Northland ‘?

Answer: Saint Peter once asked a woman baking cakes for something to eat. She was selfish and did not give any cake . to the hungry saint. It made the saint angry. He turned the lady into the bird. The bird keeps on searching for her food the whole day. We should not be greedy and always help the needy person.

10. What is a ballad? Is this poem a ballad?

Answer: A ballad is a song narrating a story in short stanzas. Ballads are part of the folk culture and are passed on orally from one generation to another. The poem ‘A Legend of the Northland’ is also a ballad as it contains the story of an old, selfish woman and has been passed on from generation to generation, “They tell them a curious story”.

11. What do you learn about Saint Peter in the poem?

Answer: Saint Peter goes about the land preaching the message of God. As he goes on his journey, sometimes, he does not get food and water. Besides, he has to observe fasts also. This often leaves him tired and hungry. Despite being a saint, he is provoked to anger and he curses the woman, and she is turned into a woodpecker. Being a saint, he should have forgiven the woman and shown her some mercy.