A Legend of the Northland NCERT Solutions, Summary & Word Meanings Class 9 PDF
Subject: English (Beehive) | Poem: 5 | Poet: Phoebe Cary
📥 Download Notes PDF 📢 Join Telegram📖 Poem Summary: A Legend of the Northland
"A Legend of the Northland" is a ballad (a poem that tells a story) originating from the cold, snowy regions near the North Pole. The poet narrates an old folktale about a highly selfish and greedy little woman.
One day, Saint Peter was traveling around the world preaching. He had been fasting all day and was extremely tired and hungry. He reached the door of a cottage where a little woman was baking cakes on her hearth. Saint Peter asked her to give him just one single cake from her store to save him from fainting.
The greedy woman baked a small cake, but when it was ready, she looked at it and thought it was too big to give away for free. So, she kneaded the dough again and baked an even smaller one. Still, her greed stopped her from parting with it. Finally, she took a tiny scrap of dough and rolled it as thin as a wafer. However, she could not bring herself to give even that away, saying her cakes seemed too large when she had to give them away, and she put them all on the shelf, leaving Saint Peter empty-handed.
Seeing her extreme selfishness, Saint Peter grew angry. He cursed her, declaring that she was too selfish to live in human form, to enjoy warm food, shelter, and the comfort of a fire. He turned her into a woodpecker. Immediately, she flew up through the chimney. Her clothes were burned black, except for a scarlet (red) cap on her head. The poem concludes by saying that even today, every country schoolboy can see her in the forest, boring into hard, dry wood all day long just to get a scanty bit of food.
✨ Key Poetic Devices
- Ballad: The poem is written in the form of a ballad, narrating a story in short stanzas.
- Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds. Examples: "faint with fasting", "still smaller".
- Simile: Comparing two things using 'like' or 'as'. Example: "baked it thin as a wafer", "clothes were burned black as a coal".
- Repetition: The word "boring" is repeated in the last stanza to emphasize the hardship the woodpecker faces.
📚 Part 1: NCERT Solutions (Textbook Questions)
Q1: Which country or countries do you think "the Northland" refers to?
Ans: "The Northland" refers to the extremely cold regions surrounding the North Pole. It could include countries like Greenland, the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Russia, or Canada, where the days are very short and nights are very long in winter.
Q2: What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the lady’s reaction?
Ans: Saint Peter had been fasting all day and was faint with hunger. He asked the old lady to give him just one single cake from her store. The greedy lady did not give him any cake. Instead, she kept baking smaller and smaller cakes because every time a cake was ready, she felt it was too big to give away for free.
Q3: How did he punish her?
Ans: Saint Peter grew angry at her extreme selfishness. He punished her by cursing her and changing her into a woodpecker bird. He declared that she was too selfish to enjoy human life, warm shelter, and food.
Q4: How does the woodpecker get her food?
Ans: After being turned into a woodpecker, the woman now has to get her food by continuously boring (pecking) into hard, dry wood of trees all day long, getting only a scanty (very small) amount of food after intense hard work.
Q5: 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?
Ans: No, if the old lady had known that the hungry man was actually the holy Saint Peter, she would not have been so ungenerous. Out of fear of a curse or the greed for a divine blessing, she would have welcomed him and offered him her largest and best cakes.
⚡ Part 2: Extra Practice Questions
Q6: Why did Saint Peter get angry with the little woman?
Ans: Saint Peter was starving, weak, and tired after fasting and traveling all day. He got angry because the woman was so greedy and selfish that she could not even part with a tiny, wafer-thin piece of cake to save a fainting man's life.
Q7: What is the moral of the poem "A Legend of the Northland"?
Ans: The poem teaches a powerful moral lesson about the negative consequences of greed and selfishness. It conveys that human beings are blessed with food, shelter, and warmth, and they should share these blessings with those in need. Being overly greedy, like the little woman, displeases God and invites punishment. True happiness lies in sharing and caring for others.
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Q: What bird did Saint Peter turn the greedy woman into?
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🔤 Important Word Meanings
- 1. Legend (n): An old traditional story, often considered to be historical but unauthenticated (Pauranik katha).
- 2. Sledges (n): Vehicles on runners for traveling over snow or ice.
- 3. Hearth (n): The floor or area inside a fireplace where food is cooked (Chulha).
- 4. Dough (n): A thick, malleable mixture of flour and liquid, used for baking into bread or pastry (Gundha hua aata).
- 5. Provoked (v): Made someone angry or annoyed (Gussa dilana).
- 6. Scanty (adj): Too small in size or amount; insufficient (Bohot thoda).
- 7. Boring (v): Making a hole in something using a tool or beak (Chhed karna).