1.5 His First Flight

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1.

5 His First Flight

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. 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. Even when each of his brothers and his little sister, whose
wings were far shorter than his own, ran to the brink, flapped their wings, and flew away, he failed
to muster up courage to take that plunge which appeared to him so desperate. His father and
mother had come around calling to him shrilly, upbraiding him, threatening to let him starve on his
ledge unless he flew away. But for the life of him he could not move.

That was twenty-four hours ago. Since then nobody had come near him. The day before, all day
long, he had watched his parents flying about with his brothers and sister, perfecting them in the art
of flight, teaching them how to skim the waves and how to dive for fish. He had, in fact, seen his
older brother catch his first herring and devour it, standing on a rock, while his parents circled
around raising a proud cackle. And all the morning the whole family had walked about on the big
plateau midway down the opposite cliff taunting him for his cowardice.

The sun was now ascending the sky, blazing on his ledge that faced the south. He felt the heat
because he had not eaten since the previous nightfall.

He stepped slowly out to the brink of thee ledge, and standing on one leg with the other leg
hidden under his wing, he closed one eye, then the other, and pretended to be falling asleep. Still
they took no notice of him. He saw his two brothers and his sister lying on the plateau dozing with
their heads sunk into their necks. His father was preening the feathers on his white back. Only his
mother was looking at him. She was standing on a little high hump on the plateau, her white breast
thrust forward. Now and again, she tore at a piece of fish lay at her feet and then scrapped each side
of her beak on the rock. The sight of the food maddened him. How he loved to tear food that way,
scrapping his beak now and again to whet it.

“Ga, ga, ga”, he cried begging her to bring him some food. “Gaw-col-ah”, she screamed back
derisively. But he kept calling plaintively, and after a minute or so he uttered a joyful scream. His
mother had picked up a piece of the fish and was flying across to him with it. He leaned out eagerly,
tapping the rock with his feet, trying to get nearer to her as she flew across. But when she was just
opposite to him, she halted, her wings motionless, the piece of fish in her beak almost within reach
of his beak. He waited a moment in supervise, wondering why she did not come nearer, and then,
maddened by hunger, he dived at the fish. With a loud scream he fell outwards and downwards into
space. 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 and
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 curveting and banking and
soaring and diving.

Then he completely forgot that he had not always been able to fly, and commended himself to
dive and soar and curve, shrieking shrilly.

He was near the sea now, flying straight over it, facing straight out over the ocean. He saw a vast
green sea beneath him, with little ridges moving over it and he turned his beak sideways and cawed
amusedly.

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 father. He was floating on it, and around him his
family was screaming, praising him and their beaks were offering him scraps of dog-fish.

He had made his first flight.

-Liam O’ Flaherty

Meanings

Ledge – a narrow horizontal shelf projecting from a wall (or here) a cliff

Brink – the edge of a steep place

Expanse – a stretch

to muster up courage – to gather courage

to plunge – jump or dive quickly and energetically

shrilly – sharp, in a high pitched sound

upbraiding – finding fault with (someone), scolding

to skim – to move lightly just above a surface (here) the sea

herring – North Atlantic’s soft finned sea fish

to devour – to eat up hungrily or greedily


cackle – clucking of hen, (here) utter a shrill

plateau – tableland; .

cliff – a high, steep face of rock

cowardice – lack of courage to face danger, faint-heartedness

ascending – climbing, rising

blazing – shining brightly

nightfall – the onset of night, dusk

preening – making an effort to maintain feathers, cleaning and trimming with the beak.

hump – rounded rise of ground

scrapped – rubbed

to whet - to sharpen– made insane, driven mad

derisively – in a manner showing someone that she / he is stupid

plaintively – expressing sorrow, being mournful

monstrous – shocking, like a monster

seized - taken hold of suddenly, grabbed

soaring – rising or flying upwards into the air

dizzy – having an uncomfortable feeling of spinning around and losing one’s balance, giddy

Swooped – dived down through the air

curvetting – leaping like a horse

banking – flying with one wing higher than the other

shrieking – making a loud cry, screaming

ridges – a chain of hills

amusedly - pleasurably, displaying amusement

beckoning – directing by a gesture of the head or hand, calling by gesture

exhausted – worn out, use up

farther – more far


flight – flying

Language Study

1. Make four words each (minimum 3 letters) using the letters in the given word :

curvetting

curve, vet, ring, cut.

2. Give the Homophones of the following :

a) blue b) bear c) beet d) to e) son

Ans. a) blue – blew b) bear – bare

c) beet – beat d) to - two

e) son - sun

3. State whether the following statements are True or False :

1. The young seagull was not confident about the ability of his wings.

Ans. True

2. The young seagull’s parents guided and improved his sibling in the art of flying.

Ans. True

3. The wings of the young seagull were not as short as his own.

Ans. False

4. The whole family of seagulls commended him for his cowardice.

Ans. False

4. Read the following words carefully, know their meanings and fill in the blanks by using
appropriate words given in the brackets : (Answers are directly given.)

(afraid, plunged, appeared, shrilly, skimmed, devoured, cowardice)

1. Arun is full of cowardice.


2. The violin played very shrilly and merrily.

3. Ravi said, “Are you really afraid of the dark ?”

4. The whole village plunged into darkness.

5. The lions devoured their prey, hungrily.

6. He skimmed through the report.

7. One by one, the stars appeared in the sky.

5. Pick out from the passage the Homophones for the following :

1. see 2. wood 3. there 4. scene

Ans. 1. see - sea 2. wood - would

3. there - their 4. scene - seen

6. Explain how the underlined Homographs defer in meaning :

1. a) He saw his two brothers.

b) The woodcutter cut the weakened branch with his sharp saw.

Ans. a) In the sentence (a) the Homograph ‘saw’ is the past tense of the word ‘see’.

b) In the sentence (b) the Homograph ‘saw’ means a tool of a carpenter used for cutting wood.

2. a) The bird injured his wing.

b) He lives in the ‘C’ wing of the building.

Ans. a) In the sentence (a) the Homograph ‘wing’ means the part of the body of a bird used for
flying.

b) In the sentence (b) the Homograph ‘wing’ is one of the parts of a large building.

3. a) The aeroplane will land at 9.00 pm. Sharp.

b) He owns 10 acres of land.

Ans. a) In the sentence (a) the Homograph ‘land’ means to come down through the air onto the
ground.
b) In the sentence (b) it means an area of ground used for some purpose.

4. a) The head of the institution was on leave.

b) He bend his head down with respect.

Ans. a) In sentence (a) head means the person in charge of an institution / organization.

b) In sentence (b) head means the part of the body on top of the neck.

7. Write the meanings of :

1. muster up courage 2. Cliff

3. cowardice 4. amusedly

Ans. 1. To gather courage

2. a high steep face of a rock

3. lack of courage to face danger, faint-heartedness

4. pleasurably, displaying amusement

8. Say whether the following statements are True of False :

1. When the young seagull pretended to be falling asleep, his parents took notice of him.

Ans. False

2. Flying across the young seagull, the mother dropped into his beak a piece of fish.

Ans. False

3. The young seagull was fed a piece of fish by his mother.

Ans. False

4. The young seagull’s father was preening the feathers on his white back.

Ans. True
9. Match the words in Column ‘A’ with their meanings in Column ‘B’ :

‘A’ ‘B’
a) ascending i) shining brightly
b) maddened by hunger ii) shocking
c) monstrous iii) made one very angry
d) blazing iv) rising up
Ans. a) ascending - rising up

b) maddened by hunger - made on very angry

c) monstrous - shocking

d) blazing - shining brightly

10. Pick out from the passage the Homophones for the following :

1. won 2. I 3. peace 4. threw 5. knot

Ans. 1. won - one 2. I - eye

3. peace - piece 4. threw – through

5. knot - not

11. Match adjectives given in Column ‘A’ with the nouns given in Column ‘B’ :

A B
a) high i) scream
b) joyful ii) nightfall
c) monstrous iii) hump
d) previous iv) terror

Ans. a) high - hump

b) joyful - scream

c) monstrous - terror

d) previous - nightfall

12. Read the following words and fill in the blanks by using appropriate words given in the
brackets : (Answers are directly given.)

(commended, attempted, exhausted, soared)


1. The rocket soared up into space.

2. Our achievements in Science Exhibition was highly commended by our Principal.

3. He was totally exhausted after a day’s tedious work.

4. The thief attempted to give the slip, but was caught by the police.

13. Match the words in Colum ‘A’ with their meanings in Column ‘B’ :

Column ‘A’ Column ‘B’


a) ridge i) wear out
b) exhaust ii) small and thin pieces
c) shriek iii) a chain of hills
d) scraps iv) make a loud cry

Ans. a) ridge - a chain of hills

b) exhaust - wear out

c) shriek - make a loud cry

d) scraps - small and thin pieces

14. There are words that have the same pronunciation but differ in spelling. They are
called Homophones. For example, a) fair-fare b) know-no

Sometimes the words have the same spellings and pronunciation but can have different meanings in
different situations.

They are called Homographs. For example, a) watch-observe watch-shows time

b) fair – not very good, not very bad.

fair – an exhibition and sale of items

fair – of complexion, skin tone.

Note – Homophones and Homographs are together known as Homonyms.

Adverb

An adverb is a word that tells us something more about a Verb, an Adjective, or another Adverb.

About a Verb : He runs fast.

The girls sang sweetly.


Suddenly the baby started crying.

About an Adjective : This chain is very sturdy.

The tea is too hot.

About another Adverb : You should run very fast.

About a Phrase or Sentence : Unfortunately, your answer is incorrect. Adverbs give us information
about:

Place, for example, Go there, come in.

Time, for example, I will do my homework tomorrow.

I need a pencil now.

Manner or the way something is done, for example,

Read slowly, write well

Degree, for example, the water is too cold.

Many adverbs end with – ly, such as ‘slowly’ actually, surprisingly etc. Like adjectives, adverbs can
also be used in comparative and superlative degree forms. Examples :

* He spoke most impressively.

* They danced more gracefully.

Passive :

Many actions involve two people/things - one that performs the action and one that is affected by
the action. Example : Geeta ate the apple. Here, the action of eating involves Geeta (who eats) and
the apple (which gets eaten). Geeta is the subject and ‘apple’ is the object of the verb ‘eat’. When
you want to talk about who performed the action, the doer of the action is the subject.

Sometimes, you want focus on the object - the thing affected by the action. Then you make it the
subject of that sentence.

Example : The apple was eaten.

You may or may not mention the doer - here, Geeta or the person who ate it. This is passive
construction or passive voice. In this type of construction, the thing affected by the verb is the
subject of the sentence, the verb is in the passive form (be + past participle), and the ‘doer’ of the
action may or may not be mentioned. In the following examples of passive voice, the ‘doer’ of
action is not mentioned.

Examples : • The plants are pruned.

* A cup of tea is offered to any guest ...


*l Many anecdotes, related to Mark Twain, are told ...

If we wish to mention the ‘doer’ in passive sentences, we mention it by adding ‘by’ before it.
Example : This pen was given to me by my Aunt.

Note that only transitive verbs can be used in the passive voice.

15. Answer the following question

I. What did the young seagull feel ?

II. Why did the young seagull feel hot ?

III. What were the young seagull’s parents doing?

IV. What were the young seagull’s brothers and sister doing ?

V. How did the young seagull learn his first flight?

VI. How did the family welcome the young seagull’s first flight ?

VII. What did the young seagull forget ?

16. Your Response

Read the questions given below and give your personal response to them :

Q 1. What role does your family play in helping you achieve your goals ?

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