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Class: X Subject: English Two Stories About Flying-His First Flight (Liam O' Flaherty)

The young seagull was afraid to take his first flight despite seeing his siblings fly fearlessly. He was left hungry by his parents to compel him to fly. When he saw his mother with a fish, his hunger overcame his fear and he took flight. His family celebrated and he realized flying was possible.

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4K views

Class: X Subject: English Two Stories About Flying-His First Flight (Liam O' Flaherty)

The young seagull was afraid to take his first flight despite seeing his siblings fly fearlessly. He was left hungry by his parents to compel him to fly. When he saw his mother with a fish, his hunger overcame his fear and he took flight. His family celebrated and he realized flying was possible.

Uploaded by

ANANYA CHUGH
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Class : X

Date: April 17,2020 Subject : English

Two Stories about Flying-His First Flight


(Liam O’ Flaherty)

===============================================
Introduction
The story by “Liam O’ Flaherty” is an account of a young bird that is afraid to fly
for the first time. He believes that his wings would not support him. Despite his
younger siblings flying fearlessly with much shorter wings, he could not gather
the courage to do the same. He was punished to stay hungry if he did not try.
Thus, it was his mother that compelled him to fly by using food as a trap. The
lesson reflects how one hesitates to take the first step and that fear is all in the
mind. One should trust one’s abilities because “the fear of suffering is worse than
the suffering itself”.

Summary
The story “His First Flight” by “Liam O’ Flaherty” is about a young seagull who is
afraid to fly. All his younger siblings despite their much shorter wings flew
fearlessly while he could not gather the courage to trust his own wings. The
young seagull became sad when he saw his parents perfecting his younger
siblings in the art of flying. His parents scold and taunt him for not even trying.
They even call him a “coward”. They tell him a lot to at least try and also threaten
him to leave him alone and hungry if he does not. The following day, he is left in
isolation and upon feeling hungry; he tries to seek the attention of his family
members. Only his mother, who is withering a fish in an attempt to eat it, notices
his son. The young seagull cries out of starvation hoping his mother would help.
On seeing his mother come to him with the fish, he gets excited. But on noticing
that his mother stopped mid-way, he gets maddened out of hunger and takes a
dive at the fish, forgetting for a moment that he is afraid to fly. Finally, he took
his first flight. All the family members celebrate his victory by cheering and
dancing around him. He also attempts at floating in the sea that he was once
afraid of. Thus, he overcomes his fear and realises that it is all in the mind.
NCERT Questions and Answers
Q1. Why was the young seagull afraid to fly? Do you think all young birds are
afraid to make their first flight, or are some birds more timid than others? Do you
think a human baby also finds it a challenge to take its first steps?
Ans. The young seagull was afraid to fly because it was his first flight. He
doubted that his wings would not be able to support him. We are well aware that
“Journey to a thousand miles begins with a single step” and it is very difficult to
take that first step. Thus, I think all birds must be hesitating before taking their
first flight, some more than others. Yes, just like young birds, human babies also
hesitate while taking their first step.
Q2. “The sight of the food maddened him.” What does this suggest? What
compelled the young seagull to finally fly?
Ans. On not being able to gather courage to fly and acting like a coward, the
young seagull’s family left him alone. As a result, he was starving since he could
not fly to get his own food. When he saw his mother coming near him with fish,
he got excited and dived straight at the fish, forgetting for a moment that he was
afraid of flying. Thus, he got so maddened by the sight of food because he was
starving, which compelled him to take his first flight.
Q3. “They were beckoning to him, calling shrilly.” Why did the seagull’s father
and mother threaten him and cajole him to fly?
Ans. Unlike his younger siblings, the poor seagull could not gather enough
courage to take his first flight. Thus, his parents taunted him for being a coward.
They even threatened it to let it starve if he did not try. They thought hunger
would make him fly looking for his food. They did all of this because they wanted
him to fly.

Assignment for Self Assessment


Question 1. The young seagull was alone on his ledge. His two brothers and his sister had
already flown away the day before. He had been afraid to fly with them. Somehow when he
had taken a little run forward to the brink of the ledge and attempted to flap his wings he
became afraid. The great expanse of sea stretched down beneath, and it was such a long
way down miles down. He felt certain that his wings would never support him; so he bent
his head and ran away back to the little hole under the ledge where he slept at night.

(a) Why was the young seagull afraid?


(b) What did the young seagull feel about his wings?
(c) Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as ‘the verge’.
(d) Pick out the word from the passage which means ‘a narrow flat piece of rock that sticks
out from a cliff’.
Question 2.Then a monstrous terror seized him and his heart stood still. He could hear
nothing. But it only lasted a minute. The next moment he felt his wings spread outwards.
The wind rushed against his breast feathers, then under his stomach, and against his
wings. – He could feel the tips of his wings cutting through the air. He was not falling
headlong now. He was soaring gradually downwards arid outwards, He was no longer
afraid.
He just felt a bit dizzy. Then he flapped his wings once and he soared upwards. “Ga, ga, ga,
Ga, ga, ga, Gaw-col-ah,” his mother swooped past him, her wings making a loud noise. He
answered her with another scream. Then his father flew over him screaming. He saw his
two brothers and his sister flying around him curving and banking and soaring and
diving. [CBSE 2016]

(a) What did the young seagull feel the next moment?
(b) What did the young seagull’s mother do?
(c) Find out the word from the passage that means the same as ‘fly high in the air’.
(d) Find out from the passage a word that means ‘to grab’.
Question 3. His parents and his brothers and sister had landed on this green flooring
ahead of him. They were beckoning to him, calling shrilly. He dropped his legs to stand on
the green sea. His legs sank into it. He screamed with fright and attempted to rise again
flapping his wings. But he was tired and weak with hunger and he could not rise,
exhausted by the strange exercise. His feet sank into the green sea, and then his belly
touched it and he sank no farther. He was floating on it, and around him his family was
screaming, praising him and their beaks were offering him scraps of dog-fish.

(a) What does the phrase, ‘this green flooring’ refer to?
(b) What made the young seagull tired?
(c) Find out the word that means the same as ‘inviting’.
(d) The word ……… means a small piece/amount of something
 Answer the following questions:
1. How did the young seagull and his family celebrate his first flight? [CBSE 2016]
2. Describe the first flight of the young seagull.
3. How did the mother make the young seagull come out of his fear and teach him the
art of flying?

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