Prose 3 The Little Girl
Prose 3 The Little Girl
Prose 3 The Little Girl
NEETA HUIREM,
JNV-THOUBAL
&
SHANTA KANGJAM,
JNV-BISHNUPUR
TOPIC : “THE LITTLE GIRL”
Q7. What did Kezia’s father do to her after Kezia told that she had
torn his speech?
Ans: Kezia’s father was very angry. He went to Kezia’s room and beat
her on her little hands. He did so to teach her not to touch anything
that didn’t belong to her.
SLOW LEARNERS MATERIALS & HOTS BASED
QUESTIONS.
• Q8. Describe the Macdonald family that lived next
door.
• Ans: The MacDonald family had five children Kezia
would look at the children playing with their father.
The baby, Mao would sit on the father’s shoulders;
two little girls would hang on their father’s coat
pocket and ran round and round. They played and
laughed together.
• Q9. Why was Kezia alone in the house with Alice?
• Ans: One day Kezia’s mother fell ill, she had to be
hospitalised. Kezia’s grandmother was with her. So
Kezia was alone with Alice, the cook.
SLOW LEARNERS MATERIALS & HOTS BASED
QUESTIONS.
• Q10. What did Kezia usually see in the nightmare? What
would grandmother do to her?
• Ans: Kezia saw a butcher with a knife and a rope in the
nightmare. He came nearer to her while she could not
move. She would then cry out when she had the nightmare.
Grandmother would take her into her bed.
• Q11. What happened when Kezia had a nightmare?
• Ans: Kezia had a nightmare. She saw a butcher with a knife
rope. He came nearer, but she couldn’t move. She
screamed and woke up her father. Father came to her bed.
He asked what the matter was. Then he took her with him
SLOW LEARNERS MATERIALS & HOTS
BASED QUESTIONS.
• Q12. What did Kezia’s father do to Kezia after she had a nightmare?
• Ans: Kezia’s father took her to his bed. He tucked her up carefully. He
lay down beside her. Kezia crept close to her father fearing the
butcher and the knife. She held her father’s shirt tightly. He asked
her to rub her feet against his legs to get warm.
• Q13. “A funny feeling came over her”. What was that funny feeling
that came over Kezia?
• Ans: When Kezia was lying close to her father she saw a different
father in her father. She understood her father now. She fell that he
was really poor. He had no one to look after him. He had to work
every day and was too tired to be a Mr Macdonald. She had torn his
beautiful writing. She told him that he had a very kind heart.
SLOW LEARNERS MATERIALS & HOTS
BASED QUESTIONS.
• Q14. What is the moral of the lesson: the little girl”?
• Ans: The lesson “the little girl” teaches that parents cannot be bad
as Kezia thinks. When there is a problem parents come to their help
as Kezia’s father does. Thus the story teaches that children should
understand their parents.
• Q15. The little girl sobbed. “What did god make fathers for”? Explain
the statement.
• Ans: Kezia was a little girl. She was afraid if her father. He never
spoke to her with love. He scolded her every time he looked at her.
She wanted him to be like their neighbour Mr. Macdonald. Mr
Macdonald used to laugh and play with his children. Kezia also
wanted her father to do the same. One day she tore up the papers to
stuff into the pin-cushion. She had made it for her father’s birthday.
But it had her father’s important speech on it. The father beat her for
tearing his speech. She sobbed and asked her grandmother as to
what for were fathers’s made by god. It shows her strong dislike for
such a father as her father is.
SLOW LEARNERS MATERIALS &
HOTS BASED QUESTIONS.
• Q16. Kezia slept one night with her father and changed her
opinion about him. What was her opinion about her father
before?
• Ans: One day Kezia had to stay a night in the house with
her father only. She used to have nightmares. She went to
bed with great fear on her mind. She had a nightmare. She
woke up shivering and crying. Her father came when he
heard her cry. He took her in his arm and carried her to his
bedroom. He laid her on his bed beside himself. He even
asked her to rub his feet on his legs to make them warm.
The little girl was touched by her father’s love and concern;
she began to understand her father better. She knew that
her hatred for her father had been all wrong. Her feelings
for her father changed from fear to understanding. She was
not afraid of him now.
QUESTION BANK
• Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words each.
• Why was Kezia afraid of her father?
• How did Kezia’s father behave with her? Why?
• What did Kezia’s grandmother ask Kezia to do on a Sunday
afternoon?
• How did Kezia’s father react when he saw Kezia staring at him on a
Sunday afternoon?
• Why did Kezia’s father beat her one day? How did Kezia react to it?
• Why was there a hue and cry one night in the house?
• What happened to the speech if Kezia’s father? How did he punish
Kezia?
• How did the Macdonald family spend their time? What did Kezia
think of it?
• What did Kezia see in the nightmare? What did her father do to
her?
• How did Kezia’s feeling for her father undergo a change?
QUESTION BANK
• ANSWER THE FOLLOWING IN ABOUT 80
WORDS EACH.
• What made Kezia fear her father? How did she show her
fear?
• Why did Kezia’s father beat her? What did she think of after
that?
• Kezia’s effort to please her father resulted in displeasing him
very much. How did this happen?
• Kezia decided that there were different sorts of father. How?
Which kind do you consider better. Why?
• When and how did Kezia’s feelings about her father change?
GRAMMAR RELATED EXERCISE
• Verbs of reporting.
• Study the following sentences.
• “What!” screamed mother.
• “N-n-no,” she whispered.
• “Sit up,” He ordered.
• The underlined words are verbs of reporting. We quote or report
what someone has said or thought by using a reporting verb.
Every reporting clause contains a reporting verb.
• For example:
• He promised to help in my project.
• Seema asked, “How are you doing?”
• We used verbs of reporting to advise, order, report statements
thoughts, intentions, questions, request, apologies, and manner
of speaking and so on.
GRAMMAR RELATED EXERCISE
• EXERCISE-I: UNDERLINE THE VERBS OF
REPORTING IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.
• He says he will enjoy the ride.
• Father mentioned that he was going on a
holiday.
• No one told us that the shop was closed.
• He answered that the price would go up.
• I wondered why he was screaming.
• Ben told her to wake him up.
• Rattan apologise for coming late to the party.
ANSWERS: (1) says (2) mentioned (3) told (4) answered
(5) wondered (6) told (7) apologised.
GRAMMAR RELATED EXERCISE
• EXERCISE-II: SOME VERBS OF REPORTING ARE
GIVEN IN THE BOX CHOOSE THE APPROPRIATE
VERBS AND FILL IN THE BLANKS IN THE
FOLLOWING SENTENCES.
Were complaining shouted replied
Remarked ordered suggested
•“I am not afraid,” ____________ the woman.
•“Leave me alone,” my mother _________ .
•The children _________ that the roads were crowded and noisy.
•“Perhaps he is not a bad sort of a chap after all,” _________ the
master.
•“Let’s go and look at the school ground,” _________ the sports
teacher.
•The traffic police _________ all the passes-by to keep off the
road.
GRAMMAR RELATED EXERCISE
• Answers: (1) remarked (2) shouted
(3) were complaining (4) replied
(5) suggested (6) ordered.
Skit of ‘The little girl’
- Katherine Mansfield
Characters
Scene II Inside the house when Kezia was kept indoors with a cold.
Grandmother: My dear why don’t you make a pin cushion for a gift for your
father’s birthday?
Kezia: Sure Granny. I will stitch this beautiful yellow silk to make the
cushion. But what to fill it with. I will take these papers from my father’s
table and tear them into pieces. I will stuff my case and sewed up the fourth
side. O, my pin cushion is ready.
On that night
Father: (with angry protest) where are the papers I have kept on my table?
Mother asked the servants and look for it
Father: Sit up and hold your hands. You must be taught once and for all not
to touch what does not belong to you.
Kezia: But it was for your b- b- birthday
Father: [ignoring her] Now take this (beat her)
Grandmother: (Hugging), Oh my baby stop crying pet. Here’s a clean hanky,
darling. Blow your nose. Go to sleep. You’ll forget all about it in the morning. I
tried to explain to father but he was too upset to listen tonight.
Kezia (sobbing): What did God make father's for?
Scene III
In the garden of Mr. Macdonalds who were Kezia’s neighbour. He had five
children.
Mr. Macdonald: Come on darlings. Lets play ‘tag’
Daughters: Papa, Papa, we are coming to catch (with laughs) you.
Sons (turning the hose on him): Papa how is it?
Mr. Macdonald (laughing): I am coming to catch you
Kezia (watching the Macdonalds): Oh there are different kinds of fathers
One day mother became ill suddenly, and she and grandmother went to
hospital.
Alice: Well, Kezia let me take off your socks. You just go to sleep, child and
don’t you scream and wake your poor Pa.
Kezia: What’ll I do if I have a nightmare? I often have nightmares and Granny
takes me into her bed. I can’t stay in the dark….it all gets whispery….
Kezia (while sleeping): Grandma ! Grandma !
Father: (Beside her bed, a candle in his hand) What’s the matter?
Kezia: Oh, a butcher___a knife___I want Granny.
Father (carrying her): Come sleep in my room ( carefully tucked up the child
he lay down beside her. Kezia crept close to him, smuggled her head under
his arm. The dark did not matter). Here, rub your feet against my legs and
get them warm.
Kezia: (with a funny feeling perhaps of understanding. Poor father, not so big
and with not one to look after him. Everyday he had to work and was too
tired to be a Mr. Macdonald. Oh, I had torn all his writing) Sighs.
Father: What’s the matter? Another dream (with concern)
Kerzia: Oh no, my heads on your heart. I can hear it going. What a big heart
you’ve got Father dear
Mother: Kezia, I suppose you didn’t see some papers on the table in our
room?
Kezia: Oh yes, I tore them up for my surprise
Mother: [screaming] what! Come straight down to the dining-room this instant
1. Group discussion.
Was Kezia’s father right to punish her? What kind of father was he?
2. Speaking.
Prepare a speech on
Relationship between children and parents