A Legend of the Northland
Thinking about the Poem
I.1.Which country or countries do you think “the Northland” refers to?
Answer: “The Northland” refers to the extremely cold northern regions near the North Pole. The description of long winter nights, short days, snow-covered land, reindeer and sledges suggests a very cold northern country or region.
2. What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the lady’s reaction?
Answer: Saint Peter was tired and hungry after fasting all day, so he asked the old lady for one cake. She repeatedly made smaller cakes, but each one seemed too large to give away. Finally, she refused to give him any cake.
3. How did he punish her?
Answer: Saint Peter punished the old lady for her greed and selfishness by changing her into a woodpecker. He condemned her to live in the woods and earn her food by boring into hard, dry wood.
4. How does the woodpecker get her food?
Answer: The woodpecker gets her food by boring holes into hard and dry wood with her beak. She has to work for a long time to find the little food hidden inside the wood.
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: If the old lady had known who Saint Peter really was, she might have behaved more generously. She might have offered him a cake willingly, either out of respect, fear or the hope of receiving a blessing in return.
6. Is this a true story? Which part of this poem do you feel is the most important?
Answer: No, this is not a true story. It is a legend told to convey a moral lesson.
The most important part is the old lady’s punishment because it clearly teaches that greed and selfishness bring suffering, while generosity and kindness are valuable human qualities.
7. What is a legend? Why is this poem called a legend?
Answer: A legend is a traditional story passed from one generation to another. It may not be historically true, but it usually carries a moral or cultural message.
This poem is called a legend because it tells an old traditional tale about Saint Peter and the transformation of a greedy woman into a woodpecker. Its main purpose is to teach a lesson against selfishness.
8. Write the story of ‘A Legend of the Northland’ in about ten sentences.
Answer: Saint Peter once travelled through the world preaching his message. One day, after fasting for a long time, he became weak and hungry. He came to a cottage where an old woman was baking cakes.
Saint Peter asked her to give him one cake. The woman made a small cake, but she thought it was too large to give away. She made another smaller one, but again refused to part with it. Even a very thin cake seemed too large to her.
Saint Peter became angry at her extreme selfishness. He said that she did not deserve to enjoy the comforts of human life. He changed her into a woodpecker and sent her to live in the woods.
Since then, the woodpecker has had to bore into hard, dry wood to find food. The story teaches us that we should be kind, generous and ready to help those in need.
II.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’ Find more such rhyming words.
Answer: Some more rhyming words from the poem are:
- earth — hearth
- done — one
- lay — away
- flat — that
- myself — shelf
- faint — saint
- form — warm
- food — wood
- bird — word
- same — flame
ADDITIONAL QUESTION-ANSWERS
Q.1. Name the poet of the poem, ‘A Legend of the Northland’?
Answer: Phoebe Cary is the poet of the poem ‘A Legend of the Northland’.
Q.2. Does the poet believe the story?
Answer: No, the poet does not claim that the story is historically true. She presents it as an old legend that has been told for a long time because it contains an important moral lesson.
Q.3. Why did Saint Peter walk about the world?
Answer: Saint Peter walked about the world preaching and teaching people about religion and goodness.
Q.4. When are the reindeer harnessed to the sledges?
Answer: The reindeer are harnessed to the sledges when snow covers the ground and people need them to travel across the snowy land.
Q.5. What kind of clothes do the children in Northland wear? How do they look?
Answer: The children in the Northland wear thick, furry clothes to protect themselves from the severe cold. Dressed in these heavy clothes, they look like little bear cubs.
Q.6. How did Saint Peter come to the door of the Cottage?
Answer: Saint Peter came to the door of the cottage while travelling around the world and preaching. He was tired and hungry after fasting all day when he reached the old woman’s cottage.
Q.7. To what bird was the women changed?
Answer: The woman was changed into a woodpecker.
Q.8. How did the women provoke Saint Peter?
Answer: The woman provoked Saint Peter by refusing to give him even a small cake despite having enough food. Her repeated refusal revealed her extreme greed and selfishness.
Q.9. What is the appearence of a woodpecker?
Answer: According to the poem, the woodpecker has a scarlet colour on its head, while the rest of its body appears dark or black.
Q.10. Why could not the woman give Saint Peter any cake?
Answer: The woman could not give Saint Peter any cake because she was extremely greedy and selfish. Every cake she made seemed too large to give away, even when she made it smaller and thinner.
Teacher Generate Question Answer
I.1.Which country or countries do you think “the Northland” refers to?
(‘the Northland’ মানে কোনবোৰ দেশক বুজাইছে বুলি ভাবা?)
Answer: ‘The Northland” might refer to England and its nearby countries.
(‘the Northland’ বুলি সম্ভৱতঃ ইংলেণ্ড আৰু ইয়াৰ ওচৰৰ দেশসমূহক বুজাইছে)
2. What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the lady’s reaction?
(চেইন্ট পীটাৰে বুঢ়ি মানুহগৰাকীক কি খুজিছিল? বুঢ়ী মানুহগৰাকীয়ে কেনে ব্যৱহাৰ কৰিছিল?)
Answer: Saint Peter asked the old lady for a single cake from her store of cakes. The lady looked at the cakes which seems too large to give away.
(চেইন্ট পীটাৰে বুঢ়ী মানুহগৰাকীক তেওঁৰ কেকখিনিৰ পৰা এটা কেক খুজিছিল৷ বুঢ়ী মানুহগৰাকীয়ে কেকবোৰলৈ চাই ভাবিছিল যে সেয়া আনক দিবৰ বাবে যথেষ্ট ডাঙৰ)
3. How did he punish her?
(তেওঁ মহিলাগৰাকীক কেনেদৰে শাস্তি দিলে?)
Answer: He punished her by transforming her to a woodpecker.(তেওঁ মহিলাগৰাকীক এটা কাঠৰোকা চৰাইলৈ ৰূপান্তৰিত হোৱা শাস্তি দিলে)
4. How does the woodpecker get her food?
(কাঠৰোকাই নিজৰ খাদ্য কেনেদৰে যোগাৰ কৰে?)
Answer: The woodpecker gets her food by boring all day in hard, dry wood.
(কাঠৰোকাই কঠিন শুকান কাঠ ৰোকি খাদ্য যোগাৰ কৰে)
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?
(তুমি ভাবা নে যদিহে মহিলাগৰাকীয়ে জানিল হেঁতেন যে চেইন্ট পীটাৰ প্ৰকৃততে কোন হয়, তেতিয়া তেওঁ এনে অপব্যৱহাৰ নকৰিলে হেতেঁন? তেওঁ তেতিয়া কি কৰিলে হয়?)
Answer: If the old lady had known who Saint Peter really was she might have not been so ungenerous. Then she would have given Saint Peter a share of her cakes and would ask him for favors in return due to her greed.
(যদিহে মহিলাগৰাকীয়ে জানিলহেতেঁন যে চেইন্ট পীটাৰ প্ৰকৃততে কোন হয়, তেতিয়া তেওঁ হয়তো তেনে অপব্যৱহাৰ নকৰিলে হেতেঁন৷ তেওঁ চেইন্ট পীটাৰক কেকৰ এটা অংশ দিলে হেতেঁন আৰু তাৰ বিনিময়ত তেওঁ নিজৰ লুভীয়া স্ৱভাৱৰ বাবে অন্য প্ৰতিদান বিচাৰিলে হেতেঁন)
6. Is this a true story? Which part of this poem do you feel is the most important?
(এয়া এক সচাঁ কাহিনী হয়নে? ইয়াৰ কোন অংশ তুমি বেছি প্ৰয়োজনীয় বুলি ভাবা?)
Answer: It is not a true story. According to me the most important part of this poem is its moral.
(এয়া এক সচাঁ কাহিনী নহয়৷ মোৰ মতে ইয়াৰ নীতিশিক্ষা অংশ আটাইতকৈ বেছি প্ৰয়োজনীয়)
7. What is a legend? Why is this poem called a legend?
(কিংবদন্তি মানে কি? এই কবিতাটো কিয় এক কিংবদন্তী?)
Answer: A legend is a historical but unauthenticated story about the characters that bear special features. The poem is called a legend because:
i) It is a historical story told orally.
ii) It glorifies the character of Saint Peter.
iii) It has a long narrative structure.
(কিংবদন্তি মানে হ’ল কিছুমান বিশেষ চৰিত্ৰৰ বিষয়ে প্ৰচলিত এক ঐতিহাসিক কাহিনী যাৰ সত্যতাৰ কোনো প্ৰমাণ নাই৷ এই এই কবিতাটো এক কিংবদন্তী হোৱাৰ কাৰণ হ’ল :
i) এয়া কথিত ৰূপত থকা এক ঐতিহাসিক কাহিনী
ii) এয়া চেইন্ট পীটাৰৰ মহানতাৰ ওপৰত গুৰুত্ব আৰোপ কৰা হৈছে
iii) ইয়াৰ গঠন এক দীঘলীয়া পদ্যমূলক)
8. Write the story of ‘A Legend of the Northland’ in about ten sentences.
(‘A Legend of the Northland” ৰ কাহিনীটো দহশাৰী মান বাক্যত লিখা)
Answer: The story ‘A Legend of the Northlsnd’ is about a greedy old woman and Saint Peter. Saint Peter was preaching around the world. One day he came to the door of a cottage where he saw an old woman was making cakes on a hearth. Saint Peter was exhausted by fasting by that time. So he asked the lady for a single cake from her store of cakes. The lady baked a little cake and when it was done, she saw it and thought it too large to give away. Therefore, she again made another small cake and this time too, she saw it as too big to give it to the Saint. Then the lady told that she saw the cakes as small for her but too big to give others. Saint Peter was, who was already tired grew angry and punished her to leave the human body and become a bird. He said that she was a ungrateful, selfish woman who did not know to help other human being in their need. So she did not deserve to live the human life with ease and comfort. Therefore, she was transformed to a woodpecker who have to bore the dry and hard wood to get food. She only had a scarlet hat on and her other clothes were burnt down. The story’s moral is we should be grateful for having a human life with such comfort and always help other beings.
(‘A Legend of the Northland’ কাহিনীটো এক লুভীয়া বুঢ়ী মহিলা আৰু চেইন্ট পীটাৰৰ বিষয়ে৷ চেইন্ট পীটাৰে সমগ্ৰ পৃথীৱীত ঈশ্বৰৰ বাণী বিলাই আছিল৷ তেনেতে তেওঁ এদিন এটা পজাঁৰ দুৱাৰমূখত ৰ’ল য’ত এগৰাকী বুঢ়ী মহিলাই চৌকাত কেক বনাই আছিল৷ চেইন্ট পীটাৰ ভোক আৰু পিয়াহত আতশৰ হৈ পৰিছিল বাবে তেওঁ মহিলাগৰাকীক তাৰে মাজৰ পৰা এটা কেক খুজিলে৷ মহিলাগৰাকীয়ে এটা সৰু কেক বনালে আৰু দেখিলে যে সেয়া তেওঁ আনক দিবৰ জোখেৰে যথেষ্ট ডাঙৰ৷ সেইবাবে তেওঁ পুনৰ কেক বনালে আৰু দিখিলে যে এইবাৰো কেকটো ডাঙৰ আকাৰৰ হৈছে৷ মহিলাগৰাকীয়ে ক’লে যে তেওঁৰ কেক কেইটা নিজৰ বাবে সৰু যেন লাগিছে যদিও আনক দিবৰ বাবে ডাঙৰ হৈছে৷ তেওঁৰ লুভীয়া স্ৱভাৱ দেখি ইতিমধ্যে ভাগৰত লালকাল হৈ থকা চেইন্ট পীটৰৰ অতি খং উঠিল আৰু মহিলাগৰিকীক মানুহৰ শৰীৰ এৰি চৰাইৰ শৰীৰলৈ ৰূপান্তৰিত হোৱাৰ শাস্তি প্ৰদান কৰিলে৷ তেওঁ ক’লে যে তেওঁ এগৰাকী কৃতজ্ঞতাহীন লুভীয়া মহিলা যি মনুষ্যৰ সহজ জীৱন যাপন কৰাৰ যোগ্য নহয়৷ সেইবাবে তেওঁ মহিলাগৰাকীক এটা কাঠৰোকা চৰাইলৈ সলনি কৰিলে যিয়ে শুকান কঠিন কাঠ ৰুকি নিজৰ খাদ্য যোগাৰ কৰিব লাগিব৷ তেওঁৰ গাত কেৱল এটা ৰঙচুৱা টুপি আছিল আৰু অন্য কাপোৰবোৰ জ্বলি গৈছিল৷ এই কাহিনীটোৱে এয়াই নীতিশিক্ষা দিয়ে যে আমি মানুহৰূপে জন্ম লাভ কৰাৰ বাবে কৃতজ্ঞ হোৱা উচিত আৰু আনকো সাধ্যানুসৰি সহায় কৰা উচিত)
II.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’ Find more such rhyming words.
(কবিতাটোৰ পৰা একেই ছন্দযুক্ত শব্দবোৰ বিচাৰি উলিওৱা)
Answer: Some more rhyming words are: earth: hearth, done: one, lay: away, flat: that, myself: shelf, faint: saint, form: warm, food: wood, bird: word, same: flame.
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