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Princess September: Comprehension Check (Page 38)

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Princess September: Comprehension Check (Page 38)

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at3595128
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Princess September

Comprehension Check (Page 38)

Question 1:

1.How many daughters did the royal couple have?

Answer:

The royal couple of Siam had nine daughters who were named after the
months of the year.

Question 2:

2.Why were they named after the months of the year?

Answer:

The princesses were named after the months of the year because the Queen
of Siam found it difficult to remember so many names. Hence, the King
decided to name the princesses as per the months of the calendar year.

Question 3:

3.The King had a peculiar habit. What was it? Why is it called peculiar?

Answer:
The King had a peculiar habit of giving gifts instead of receiving gifts on his
birthday. In one such year, on his birthday, he gave each of his daughters a
green parrot in a golden cage.

As a matter of fact, people receive gifts instead of giving away gifts on their
birthday. But the King followed an opposite tradition, and due to this reason,
his habit was peculiar.

Question 4:

(i) What was Princess September’s reaction to the loss of her parrot?

(ii) What was her mother’s reaction to it?

(iii) What do the reactions indicate about the nature and temperament
of each?

Answer:

When Princess September locked her parrot in the golden cage gifted by her
father, the poor bird soon died. She burst into a flood of tears and wept
continuously at the loss of her dear parrot. Even her Maids of Honour
couldn’t comfort her pain.

Her mother said that Princess September’s weeping was utter nonsense. In a
heartless manner, she asked the Maids of Honour to put the girl to sleep
without any supper.

From the reaction, we understand that Princess September was a very


sensitive and simple-hearted girl. She was grief-stricken when her parrot
died. On the contrary, the Queen mother appeared to be unmoved by the
death of the parrot and her daughter’s grief and she did nothing to console
her child. She seems to be an unsympathetic woman.

Question 5:

What pulled the Princess out of her gloom?

Answer:

The Princess was really upset and depressed over the sudden demise of her
parrot and wept continuously. While she lay in her bed crying, she saw a little
bird hop into her room. She wiped her tears and watched the little bird sing a
beautiful song. This pulled the Princess out of her gloom .

Question 6:

How did the Maids of Honour come to know that the Princess and the bird
had become intimate friends?

Answer:

The next morning when the Maids of Honour brought in the Princess’s
breakfast, they noticed her in a good mood. They saw the songbird eat rice
out of the Princess’s hand and bathe in her saucer. After that, the little bird
sang a beautiful song, and the Princess thoroughly enjoyed it. Seeing this,
they were convinced that the two had become good friends.

Question 7:

The new bird was full of new songs but the old parrots always repeated
themselves. What did they say?
Answer:

The little bird sang a different and new song every time. On the other hand,
all the old parrots were taught two phrases – ‘God save the King’ and ‘Pretty
Polly’ in seven different Oriental languages. They would say the same
phrases repeatedly when asked.

Question 8:

What is the King’s opinion about his Councillors? Why did he form that
opinion?

Answer:

The King saw the parrots say two phrases repeatedly – ‘God save the King’
and ‘Pretty Polly’ in seven different Oriental languages, and this reminded
him about his Councillors who, too repeated the same thing differently. This
made the King have a low opinion of all his Councillors, who blabbered about
the same thing repeatedly.

Question 9:

(i) The eight Princesses made an offer to Princess September. What


was it?

(ii) Why, in your view, did they do it?

Answer:
The eight Princesses were jealous of Princess September’s singing bird.
Hence, they made an offer to buy her a lovely green and yellow parrot by
contributing from their pocket-money together.

The other Princesses made this offer to Princess September since they were
not happy as everyone praised her singing bird. Their parrots appeared sad
and repeated the same phrases over and again. Out of jealousy, they offered
to contribute some money to their younger sister to buy a parrot similar to
theirs.

Question 10:

What did the sisters advise the Princess to do about her bird?

Answer:

The sisters were very jealous of Princess September’s singing bird. With an
evil intention, they advised her to keep the bird in a cage, otherwise, it would
fly away forever.

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