NCERT Solutions For Class 9 English Beehive Poem 5 A Legend of the Northland free PDF is given here. These Solutions contains answers to all questions provided in the textbook. Class 9th English A Legend of the Northland solutions are explained by the expert English teacher and as per NCERT (CBSE) guidelines.
Thinking about the Poem
I.
Question 1: Which country or countries do you think “the Northland” refers to?
Answer: “The Northland” could refer to any extremely cold country in the Earth’s north polar region, such as Greenland, the northern regions of Russia, Canada, Norway etc.
Question 2: What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the lady’s reaction?
Answer: Saint Peter asked the old lady for alms. The lady behaved miserly and kept changing the size of the cake but could not give him anything to eat.
Question 3: How did he punish her?
Answer: He punished the lady by changing her into a woodpecker that would have to build a nest to live in and gather scanty food all day long by boring in the hard dry wood.
Question 4: How does the woodpecker get her food?
Answer: The woodpecker gets her food by boring holes into trees.
Question 5: Do you think that the old lady would have been so ungenerous if she had known who Saint Peter really was? What would she have done then?
Answer: No, she would not have done this. On the contrary, she would have given him a large piece of cake to make him happy with the greed to get a handsome return.
Question 6: Is this a true story? Which part of this poem do you feel is the most important?
Answer: No, this not a true story; it is a legend.
I feel that the point in the story where the old lady is changed into a woodpecker is the most important. This is because the punishment meted out to the lady teaches us the value of generosity and charity.
Question 7: What is a legend? Why is this poem called a legend?
Answer 7: A ‘legend’ is a popular story from the past which is believed by many but one cannot prove whether it is true or not. It usually contains a message or a moral and is narrated to children.
The poet himself says that he doesn’t believe this tale to be true. This poem is called a ‘legend’ because it preaches generosity towards fellow beings.
Question 8: Write the story of ‘A Legend of the Northland’ in about ten sentences.
Answer 8: Once Saint Peter, who moved around preaching, stopped by an old lady’s cottage because he was feeling hungry and weak after fasting the whole day. The lady was baking cakes on the hearth. He asked her for a cake. The lady was quite ungenerous. She tried to make a tiny cake for him. But as it was baking, she found it too large to be given away. She tried to make smaller cakes two more times but each time the cakes seemed too large to her and in the end she did not give any cake to the Saint.
Saint Peter became very angry to see such greedy behaviour of the lady and called her too selfish to live as a human and have food, shelter and a fire to keep her warm. He punished her by changing her into a woodpecker that would have to build a nest to live in and get its food by boring the hard dry trunks of trees. Her clothes were burned and she was left with her scarlet cap on her head as she flew out through the chimney. Even today the country school boys are said to have seen her in the woods, boring the trees for food.
II.
Question 1: Let’s look at the words at the end of the second and fourth lines, viz., ‘snows’ and ‘clothes’, true’ and ‘you’, ‘below’ and ‘know’. We find that ‘snows’ rhymes with ‘clothes’, ‘true’ rhymes with ‘you’ and ‘below’ rhymes with ‘know’.
Answer: The rhyming words are:
‘Few’ and ‘through’
‘Earth’ and ‘hearth’
‘Done’ and ‘one’
‘Lay’ and ‘away’
‘One’ and ‘done’
‘Flat’ and ‘that’
Myself and ‘shelf’
‘Faint’ and ‘saint’
‘Form’ and ‘warm’
‘Food’ and ‘wood’
‘Word’ and ‘bird’
‘Same’ and ‘flame’
‘Wood’ and ‘food’
Question 2: Go to the local library or talk to older persons in your locality and find legends in your own language. Tell the class these legends.
Answer: Self attempt.