A Legend of the Northland

 A Legend of the Northland

[A] Comprehension

Read the stanzas carefully and answer the questions based on them.

1. Once when the good ...... you know.

1. Good Saint Peter lived in the world , in the cold region of the Northland to be more precise , in ancient times.

2. He walked about the world to preach.

3. He preached.

4. 'Know' rhymes with below.

2. And being faint..... a single one.

1. Fasting made the Saint weak.

2. It was evening.

3. The saint asked the woman to give him a cake. 

4. No , he didn't ask for the whole store of cakes. He asked for a single cake only.

3. Then she took .... part with that.

1. She took a tiny scrap of dough then.

2. She rolled and rolled it to make it flat .

3. She baked a cake which looked as a thin wafer .

4. No , she didn't give the wafer to the saint.

4 . And he said ...... keep you warm.

1. Here ' you ' refers to the woman.

2. The woman is too selfish.

3. She should not dwell in a human form.

4. The rhyming words are form and warm .

5. She had a ...... in the flame.

1. Her cap was scarlet ( red ).

2. Yes , the cap remained the same.

3. All her clothes burned black .

4. The burnt clothes of the woman are compared to a black coal here.

Central Idea 

The poem is a ballad and narrates a folktale of the Northland. A selfish and miser woman is turned into a woodpecker as punishment for not helping a person in need. Weak with fasting, Saint Peter asked her to give him a single cake . But she repeatedly rolled the dough to make it thinner and thinner . Even then she could not give it to him. It angered the saint and he cursed her to be a woodpecker.