Class 8 Chapter 10 Solution
Tales of Childhood
1. Very Short Question Answer
1. What happened to Harold Dahl at the age of fourteen?
Ans: Harold Dahl had lost an arm at the age of fourteen.
2. What was the only fuel used by ships in those days?
Ans: In those days, the only fuel that was used by ships, was coal.
3. What is a sty?
Ans: A sty is a place where pigs are kept.
4. For what purposes were the horses used?
Ans: The horses were used for pulling the ploughs and hay-wagons.
5. Who was Astri?
Ans: Astri was the narrator’s eldest sister who died at the age of seven from appendicitis.
6. How old was the narrator’s father when he died?
Ans: The narrator’s father was fifty-seven years old when he died.
5. How old was the narrator when Astri died?
Ans: The narrator was three years old when Astri died.
6. How was Cumberland lodge?
Ans: Cumberland lodge was nothing more than a pleasant medium-sized subarban villa.
7. How old was the narrator when he went to his first school?
Ans: The narrator was six years old when he went to his first school.
8. How old was Astri when she died?
Ans: Astri was seven years old when she died from appendicitis.
9. What was the name of the narrator’s first school?
Ans: The name of the narrator’s first school was the Elmtree House.
10. What was the name of the narrator’s first school?
Ans: The name of the narrator’s first school was the Elmtree House.
2. Short Question Answer
1. What was Harold Dahl’s father?
Ans: Harold Dahl’s father was a fairly prosperous merchant who owned a store in Sarpsborg and traded in just about anything from cheese to chicken-wire
2. Who was Harold Dahl?
Ans: Harold Dahl was Roald Dahl’s father, a Norwegian who came from a small town near Olso, called Sarpsborg. Besides it, he was a successful shipbroker.
3. What does a shipbroker do?
Ans: A shipbroker is a person who supplies the ship with everything it needs when it comes into port – fuel and food, ropes and paint, soap and towels, hammers and nails, and thousands of other little items.
4. Who was the narrator’s mother? When did Harold meet her?
Ans: The narrator’s mother was Sofie Magdalene Hesselberg. Harold met her during the summer of 1911.
7. Describe the country mansion beside the village of Radyr.
Ans: The country mansion beside the village of Radyr was a mighty house with turrets on its roof and with majestic lawns and terraces all around it. There were many acres of farm and servant cottages.
5. Do you think that the narrator was happy living in the imposing mansion?
Ans: The narrator’s father moved into an imposing mansion. I think that the narrator was happy living in the imposing mansion because there were all amenities, luxuries and comfort.
6. Why was pneumonia a very dangerous disease?
Ans: As there was no penicillin or any other magical antibiotic cures in those days, pneumonia was a very dangerous disease.
7. . What made the narrator’s father reluctant to fight against the disease?
Ans: The narrator’s father was thinking of his beloved daughter, Astri who died at the age of seven from appendicitis and he was wanting to join her in heaven. It made the narrator’s father reluctant to fight against the disease.
8. Why did the narrator’s mother sell the mansion?
Ans: The narrator’s mother had lost a daughter and her husband in the space of a few weeks. Suddenly he faced the gravest problems and responsibilities. Addition to this, she had five children to look after. This is why the narrator’s mother sold the mansion.
9. Describe the narrator and his eldest sister’s tricycle rides.
Ans: The narrator and his eldest sister used to go racing at enormous speeds down the middle of the road and when they come to a corner, they would lean to one side and take it on two wheels.
10. Why was it safe for tiny school children to go tricycling on highways?
Ans: It was safe for tiny school children to go tricycling on highways because the sight of a motor car on the street was an event in the old days.
11. Which blurred memory does the narrator have of his early days?
Ans: The narrator has a blurred memory of sitting on the stairs of his kindergarten school and trying over and over again to tie one of his shoelaces.
12. How did the narrator enjoy his journeys to and from school?
Ans: The narrator’s journeys were tremendously exciting. The excitement centred around his new tricycle. He and his eldest sister used to race their way to and from school on their tricycles.
13. “It’s not much, but it’s all there is left” – Why, according to you, did the narrator make this comment?
Ans: The narrator went to his kindergarten school sixty two years before. So it was impossible to remember all incidents before the age of seven or eight though he described some joyous moments from his kindergarten school. This is why the narrator made this comment.
3. True And False
1.(a) F In 1920, when I was still only three, my mother’s eldest child, my own sister Astri, died from appendicitis.
(b) T He (The narrator’s father) adored her (Astri) beyond measure.
(c) F He was so overwhelmed with grief that when he himself went down with pneumonia a month or so afterwards…
(d) T She sold the big house and moved to a smaller one a few miles away in Llandaff.
2.(i) F My father, Harold Dahl, was a Norwegian who came from a small town near Oslo, called Sarpsborg.
(ii) T He set up a shipbroking farm at Cardiff of South Wales.
(iii) T My father had lost an arm when he was fourteen, but had became a successful
shipbroker.
(iv) F In 1920, when I (the narrator) was still only three, my mother’s eldest child, my own sister Astri, died from appendicitis.
(v) F My father refused to fight.
(vi) F My mother had now lost a daughter and a husband all in the space of a few weeks.
(vii) F She sold the big house and moved to a smaller one a few miles away in Llandaff.
(viii) T A shipbroker is a person who supplies the ship with everything it needs.
(ix) F … the most important item he supplies to them is the fuel on which the ship’s engine run – in those days, only coal.
(x) F … but with no penicillin or any other magical antibiotic cured …
(xi) F He was thinking, I am quite sure, of his beloved daughter, and he was wanting to join her in heaven.