The Little Girl. Questions Answers

 The Little  Girl 

[A]  Comprehension 

1.

a.To the little girl ,he was a figure to be feared and avoided.

b.Every morning before going to work he came into her room and gave  her a casual kiss.

c.She responded with "goodbye ,father".

d.She felt a glad sense of relief when she heard the noise of the carriage growing fainter and fainter down the long road.

2.

a.His mouth looked big, when he yawned .

b.Thinking  about him alone was like thinking about a giant.

c.Grand mother sent her down to the drawing room to have a nice talk with father and mother.

d.The little girl always found Mother reading and father stretched out on the sofa,his handkerchief on his face,his feet on one of the best cushions,sleeping soundly and snoring.

3.

1.She was dragged down to where father was pacing to and fro ,hands behind his back.

2.The father stopped and stared at the child.

3.He asked if she had done that.

    Or

He asked "Did you do that?

4.She whispered because she was scared of her father.

4.

1.The girl clung to her  soft body.

2.She thought "What did God make father for ? "

3.Grandmother gave the girl a clean hanky to blow her nose.

4.When the grandmother tried to explain , father didn't listen to her because he was too upset to listen tonight.

 

5.

1.No,the  girl did not see a butcher and a knife . That was only a nightmare .

  2.The father blew out the candle, bent down and caught up the child in his arms.

3.A newspaper was there on the bed.He put  it away .

4.The girl finally crept close to him, snuggled her head under his arm,held tightly to his shirt.

[B] Short Answer Type Questions 

1.The little girl was afraid of her father.  She felt a glad sense of relief when she heard the

noise of his carriage growing fainter and fainter down the long road.

2.When her father came back in the evening  , he ordered to bring tea, paper and his slippers.

3. Kezia,  the little girl, was ordered to take off her father's shoes. 

4. No , she didn't always stutter. She stuttered only before her father. 

5. ' He was so big — his hands and his neck,

especially his mouth when he yawned.' This sentence of the little girl shows that the father was so big in size. 

6. Grandmother sent her down to the drawing room on Sunday afternoons to have a nice talk to her parents. However when she went there she found mother busy reading and father sleeping .

7. Grandmother suggested to Kezia that she should make him a pin-cushion for a gift out of a beautiful piece of yellow silk for her father's birthday falling next week.

8. When Kezia was preparing her surprise gift , she ignorantly  tore into pieces the important papers containing an important speech of her father and stuffed them into the cushion. 

9. Father punished the little girl by beating her palm with a ruler. 

10. Contrary to the grandmother's hope , the little girl did not forget the episode of punishment.  When she saw her father next time, she hid her hands behind her back in fear. 

11. Mr Macdonald had three children. On peeping through a hole in the fence,  she saw him playing 'tag' happily with his children. 

12. The same old nightmare which came to her was — "the butcher with a knife and a rope, who came nearer and nearer, smiling that dreadful smile, while she could

not move, could only stand still, crying out,

“Grandma! Grandma!”

13. On waking up from the nightmare , she saw her father standing beside her bed with a candle. He blew out the candle,  took her to his bed and tucked up . He kept half-awake to make sure she didn't get afraid again. 

14. Her attitude to her father had changed then . She thought that he was not so hard and uncaring. He looked to have a big heart to her after his kind and careful treatment at night. 

[C] Long Answer Type Questions 

1.Kezia,  the little girl, was afraid of her father. She felt a glad sense of relief to hear the sound of his father's carriage going away.  When he returned home, she didn't go near him willingly. When asked to take off his shoes, she did it slowly and fearfully. When father asked her if she had been a good girl,  she stuttered in fear ," I d-d-don’t know, Father"

She put her hands behind her back in fear to see her father after the incident of getting punished for her mistake. She had torn and stuffed his important papers into the gift cushion.  These incidents show that she was afraid of her father. 

2. When Kezia looked into her neighbour's house she saw the children playing ' tag ' with their father Mr Macdonald.  The father with the baby, Mao, on his shoulders, two little girls hanging on to his coat pockets ran round and round the flower-beds, shaking with laughter. Once she saw the boys turn the hose on him—and he tried to catch them laughing all the time.

Then she made a conclusion  that there were different sorts of fathers.

3. Kezia,  a little girl , was afraid of his father.  She thought that he was hard ,strict and unloving. She was glad at his leaving but sad at his returning  home. She didn't like to face him and stuttered before him. In fear she behaved improperly and stupidly before his father which irked him and he scolded her now and then. 

Once her grandmother advised her to prepare a silk cushion as a gift for her father's birthday.  She tore his important papers into pieces and stuffed them into the cushion. Father beat her with a ruler as punishment.  She cried a lot and became more afraid. Thereafter she used to put her hands behind her back , whenever she saw him .

One day her mother was unwell and was admitted to hospital. Grandmother stayed there to look after her . Kezia stayed at home with her father and  Alice , the cook . She had the same nightmare again that night and started crying. On opening her eyes, she found her father standing there with a candle in his hands.  He consoled her and took her up in his arms . The rest of the night he lovingly made her sleep beside him on his bed. 

That night she realized that his father was actually a nice and loving father.  Her perception had changed. 

4. Give a brief character sketch of Kezia. 

Answer - Kezia was a little girl.  She was innocent and immature. She  initially mistook her father to be hard and loveless and feared him but later realized that he was actually a loving father. 

Innocent and Immature  - Like some other girl of her age , she believed what she saw . She got afraid of her father's hugeness and strict behaviour. 

Sensitive and caring - Whenever she got a chance,  she tried to please her parents.  She prepared a gift cushion for her father's birthday.  She tried to remain obedient .

Wise - She was wise enough to see the truth at the end of the story. Left alone at home , when she got afraid to have her nightmare at night,  father consoled and looked after her. Then she understood that his father had a big loving heart. 

Thus we see that though she was an immature and timid girl at first but wisely realized the truth about her father's nice hardness.