Q. How many daughters did the royal couple have?
Ans. The Royal couple had nine daughters.
Q. Why were they named after the months of the year?
Ans. They were named after the months of the year because the queen could not recall their names easily.
Q. The King had a peculiar habit. What was it? Why is it called peculiar?
Ans. The peculiar habit of the king was to give gifts on his birthday rather than receive them. Usually people get gifts on their birthdays.
Q. What was Princess September’s reaction to the loss of her parrot?
Ans. Princess September took the loss of her parrot to heart. She wept continuously. She was put to sleep without supper.
Q. What was her Mother’s reaction to it?
Ans. Her Mother said that Princess September’s weeping was simply nonsense. She asked the maids to put the child to sleep without supper.
Q. What do the reactions indicate about the nature and temperament of each?
Ans. The princess was very simple-hearted and sensitive. She was stricken with grief when her parrot died. But the Queen mother was not moved at all. She had nothing to console the child.
Q. What pulled the Princess out of her gloom?
Ans. The coming of a little song bird into her room comforted Princess September. She was so enchanted that she forgot about her loss.
Q. How did the Maids of Honour come to know that the Princess and the bird had become intimate friends?
Ans. The Maids of Honour brought in the princess’s breakfast. The song bird ate rice out of the princess’s hand and then sang sweetly. The Maids were surprised to find September so much happy. They were convinced that the two had become good friends.
Q. The new bird was full of new songs but the old parrots always repeated themselves. What did they say?
Ans. The old parrots only repeated what they had been taught. They could only say ‘God save the King’ and ‘Pretty Polly’.
Q. What is the king’s opinion about his Councillors? Why did he form that opinion?
Ans. The King had a low opinion about his Councillors because like parrots, they too repeated the same thing differently.
Q. The eight Princesses made an offer to Princess September. What was it?
Ans. They offered their pocket money to Princess September to buy another parrot.
Q. Why, in your view, did they do it?
Ans. They did that because they felt jealous of the song bird’s friendship with Princess September.
Q. What did the sisters advise the Princess to do about her bird?
Ans. The sisters advised the Princess to put the little bird into the cage lest it should fly away for ever.
Q. In the following sentence elaborate the parts given in bold. Under the circumstances it was a very unfortunate remark for the bird to make.
Ans. The circumstance was that the bird hadn’t come back because of the party at his father-in-law’s house. The princess was naturally worried. The remark of the sisters added to her worry.
Q. What did Princess September do to ensure the safety of her pet?
Ans. Princess September put the bird into a cage to ensure his safety.
Q. How did the bird react to it?
Ans. The bird disliked his imprisonment. He stopped singing.
Q. Why did the bird refuse to be taken out in her cage?
Ans. The bird said that he won’t be really happy and normal if he was taken out in her cage. The rice-fields and the lake looked quite different and dull when seen through the cage bars.
Q. What persuaded Princess September to give the bird his freedom again?
Ans. The Princess freed the bird lest he should die in captivity.
Q. How did the bird react to it?
Ans. The Princess kept the window open so that the bird might fly in and out making fresh air charming. Freedom helped the bird to sing and enjoy himself.
Q. Princess September kept her window open day and night.
- How did it help the bird?
- How did it help the Princess herself?
Answer
- The bird opened his wings and flew away.
- It helped the Princess herself by providing her fresh wind and natural light. It helped her make her beautiful.
Q. The eight sisters kept their windows shut. How did it affect them?
Ans. The eight sisters who kept their window shut all night became extremely ugly and disagreeable. They were married to the councillors.
Q. Are the sisters unkind and cruel? Find evidence in the text to support your idea.
Ans. Yes, the eight sisters of the princess were unkind and cruel. They were jealous too. They advised her to encage the bird. This suggestion might have killed the bird.
Q. Which, to you, is the most important idea in this story, and why?
- importance of music
- value of freedom
- beauty of nature
Answer
- value of freedom.