A Legend of the Northland Important Questions and Answers Class 9 English Poem

A Legend of the Northland Important Questions and Answers Class 9 English Poem is given below. You can read and download the PDF of the Class 9 important questions from our site. Going through these important questions enhances your understanding level, knowledge about the concept, speed, accuracy & time management skills. Learning the answers of these important questions will help you to get excellent marks in the exams.

A Legend of the Northland Class 9 Important Questions

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1: Why does the poet say that the hours of the day are few?

Answer: In the poem, the poet uses a name Northland. In the area of Northland, the nights are longer and the days are shorter. As a result there are very few hours in a day.

Question 2: Who came knocking at the door of the old woman? Why was he there?

Answer: In the Northland an old lady Lived in a cottage. She was baking cakes when St. Peter came knocking at her door. He had become weak with fasting and travelling. He was looking for food

Question 3: Is this a true story? Which part of the poem do you think is really important?

Answer: This is a legend. It is not a true story. Even the poet feels that it is not true. The most important part of the poem is the point when we realize that the old woman is very greedy. She could not part with her cakes for a hungry man.

Question 4: Is this poem correct in being known as a legend? Explain.

Answer: A legend is a semi true story which has been passed on from person-to-person through ages. This legend has an important meaning or symbolism for the culture in which it originates. A legend includes an element of truth or is based on historic facts but with mythical qualities. The saint in turn curses the old woman. This poem can also be regarded as a folktale which again is a story told from one generation to another.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1. A holy man should not curse the lady. Justify this statement in the context of the poem ‘A Legend of the Northland’.

Answer: A holy man is known for his wisdom. He teaches moral lessons to the people whether they are liberal or greedy. All are equal in his eyes. In the present story, Saint Peter is a holy man. He is also famous for his preaching. He has preached and travelled a lot. So, he is hungry. He asks the lady for some food but she does not share her food with him. Finally, the saint becomes angry and curses her. In fact, he should have shown some mercy and the example of his wisdom. Therefore, it is appropriate to say that a holy man should not curse the lady.

Question 2. How can you say that the old lady was greedy?

Answer: The old lady was running a bakery. Saint Peter was a wise saint. He had travelled and preached a lot so he was tired and hungry. He had arrived at her door for some food. Still the lady made him wait for the cake for a long time. Every time she tried to bake too small cake but unfortunately the cake often seemed to her of a bigger size. The old lady did not want to share the cake of this size with the saint. At last, the saint grew angry and cursed her. So, it can be said that her greed had no limit.

Question 3. Why was St. Peter forced to curse the greedy little woman? Do you justify the action of St. Peter?

Answer: St. Peter was a holy man. He was a Christian saint. He spent his time moving around places and preaching the people there. Saints generally bless the people. They don’t curse them. However, these holy men resort to cursing when people defy good sense and become evil. The little woman in the story was extremely selfish and greedy. After much travelling and preaching, St. Peter had become tired. He had become weak and hungry after the fast. He came to the cottage of the little woman for food. Seeing her baking cakes, St. Peter asked her to give one from her store of cakes. The greedy woman made a very little piece of cake for him. Even that small piece looked too large to be given away to the saint. Hence, she went on making it smaller and smaller. The hungry St. Peter cursed the selfish and greedy woman. She was cursed to be a woodpecker boring and struggling for her scanty food. St. Peter was justified in cursing her. She had deprived a tired and hungry saint even from a small piece of cake. She was rightly punished for her greed.

Question 4. Why was the little woman cursed particularly to be a woodpecker and not another bird? How did she struggle to get her scanty food?

Answer: The little woman aroused the anger of a holy man. The saint spend most of his time in travelling and preaching. Constant fasting had made him hungry and weak.

Saint Peter asked for a small piece of cake when he saw a little woman baking cakes. The greedy woman could have easily given a piece of cake to the saint. But the selfish woman thought that even a very little piece was too large to be given away to him. She denied even this little offering. The saint cursed her to be a woodpecker. A woodpecker has to bore for a long time to get even a scanty food. She was cursed to labour hard by boring into the tree to get even her scanty food as she had made the saint to wait so long for such a small piece of cake.

Value Based Questions

Question 1: Why did the woman bake a little cake?

Answer: The woman in the poem has been shown as a highly stingy, miserly, greedy and mean by nature. Whenever, she took out cake from the hearth, they appeared to be larger than the original size. Hence, she baked a very small cake for Saint Peter.

Question 2: Greed is a quality which God does not like. Discuss it in the context of the poem.

Answer: Greed is considered to be a sin. This has been clearly brought out in the poem. In a legend of the Northland greed has no end. This is evident in the behaviour of the old lady when she was asked for a cake by St. Peter. She could not even give him a wafer thin slice. This angered St. Peter and he cursed her to be a woodpecker. One should always be able to share with others as God has been so kind to give us so much.

Extract Based Questions

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

Question 1: He came to the door of a cottage
In travelling round the earth
Where a little woman was making cakes
And baking them on the hearth

  1. Who does “he” refer to in the first line?
  2. What request did “he” make to the woman?
  3. Was the little woman rewarded or punished? Why?

Answer:

  1. “He” refers to Saint Peter in the first line.
  2. “He” requested the woman to give him a cake.
  3. The little woman was punished since she was highly stingy, miserly, greedy and mean.

Question 2: He came to the door of a cottage
In travelling round the earth
Where a little woman was making cakes
And baking them on the hearth.

  1. What was Saint Peter doing?
  2. What was the little woman making?
  3. What is a hearth?

Answer:

  1. Saint Peter was travelling.
  2. The little woman was baking cakes.
  3. Hearth is a fire-place.

Question 3: Then Saint Peter grew angry
For he was hungry and faint ‘
And surely such a woman Was enough to provoke a saint

  1. Why was Saint Peter about to faint?
  2. How did the woman provoke Saint Peter?
  3. What is the rhyming scheme of the given stanza?

Answer:

  1. Saint Peter was about to faint as he had been preaching and fasting.
  2. The woman provoked Saint Peter by not giving him the cakes that were baked for him.
  3. abcb.

Question 4: And being faint with fasting
For the day was almost done
He asked her, from her store of cakes,
To give him a single one.

  1. Who is “He” in the extract?
  2. What did he ask her to*give him?
  3. Trace a word from the extract that means “weak”.

Answer:

  1. “He” referred to in the extract is Saint Peter.
  2. He asked her to give him one cake from her store. ‘
  3. Faint

Question 5: And being faint with fasting,
For the day was almost done,
He asked her, from her store of cakes,
To give him a single one.

  1. Who is “He” in the passage?
  2. Why was he fainting?
  3. What is meant by “the day was almost done”?

Answer:

  1. “He” in the passage is Saint Peter.
  2. He was fainting due to fasting.
  3. “The day was almost done” means that the day had finished or passed.