The Snake and the Mirror & A Legend of the Northland

Given: The doctor is alone in his room at night.

Answer: The doctor heard the sound of something falling in the room — a dull thud. He thought it was a rat or a frog that had fallen from the roof. He heard the sound at least twice (the text mentions it more than once). The sounds stopped when the doctor realised that a snake had fallen from the roof and coiled itself around his arm. At that point, all his attention was fixed on the snake and he no longer noticed any other sounds.

Given: The doctor is sitting before a mirror, admiring himself.

Answer: While gazing into the mirror, the doctor took two 'important' and 'earth-shaking' decisions:
1. He decided to grow a thin moustache to improve his looks.
2. He decided to remain a bachelor — but later changed this and decided to marry a woman doctor who had a good medical practice, so that his financial worries would be solved.

These decisions reflect his vanity and his desire for a comfortable life.

Given: Two instances of the doctor smiling at himself in the mirror.

(i) First smile: When the doctor first smiles, he is full of vanity and self-admiration. He thinks he is handsome and attractive — 'It was an attractive smile.' He is pleased with his own appearance and feels confident.

(ii) Second smile: The second smile is a feeble one. By this time, a snake has coiled itself around his arm and is sitting on his shoulder, close to his face. He is terrified. He smiles not out of pride but out of helplessness and fear — he has momentarily forgotten his danger and smiled weakly at his own pitiful reflection.

Change in thoughts: Between the two smiles, a cobra lands on him and coils around his arm. His mood shifts completely from pride and vanity to sheer terror. The contrast between his earlier self-confidence and his present helplessness makes the second smile ironic and feeble.

Concept: Humour arises from the contrast between what a person imagines or desires and what actually happens.

1(i) The kind of person the doctor is (money, possessions):
The doctor is poor. He lives in a small, dingy room that is infested with rats, frogs, and cockroaches. He has very few possessions — so few that when a thief breaks in, there is almost nothing to steal. His only prized possession seems to be a dirty vest.

1(ii) The kind of person he wants to be (appearance, ambition):
Despite his poverty, the doctor is extremely vain. He sits before a mirror admiring his looks, plans to grow a moustache, and considers himself handsome and attractive. The gap between his shabby reality and his grand self-image is comic.

2(i) The person he wants to marry:
The doctor dreams of marrying a woman doctor who has a good, established medical practice. He wants a wife who will solve his financial problems and also be beautiful and slim.

2(ii) The person he actually marries:
The doctor ends up marrying a fat woman who is the exact opposite of his dream. She is domineering and not at all the ideal he had imagined. The contrast between his fantasy and reality is deeply humorous.

3(i) His thoughts when he looks into the mirror:
When he looks into the mirror, the doctor is lost in vanity and grand plans. He thinks about his good looks, his moustache, and his ideal wife. He is calm, self-satisfied, and dreamy.

3(ii) His thoughts when the snake is coiled around his arm:
The moment the snake coils around his arm, all his vanity vanishes. He is paralysed with fear, unable to move, and desperately praying to God. His grand dreams are replaced by the single desperate wish to survive. The sudden shift from pride to terror is the core of the story's humour.

1. 'I was turned to stone.' → (a) was afraid of the snake — He was so frightened he could not move.

2. 'I was no mere image cut in granite.' → (d) was no longer afraid of the snake — He realised he was a living person and could act; the fear had passed.

3. 'The arm was beginning to be drained of strength.' → (a) was afraid of the snake — Fear and the snake's weight were draining him physically.

4. 'I tried in my imagination to write in bright letters outside my little heart the words, "O God".' → (a) was afraid of the snake — He was desperately praying, showing extreme fear.

5. 'I didn't tremble. I didn't cry out.' → (d) was no longer afraid of the snake — He had controlled his fear and was composed.

6. 'I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile.' → (b) was proud of his appearance — He admires his own smile, showing vanity.

7. 'I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood.' → (d) was no longer afraid of the snake — He had overcome his frozen fear and felt alive again.

8. 'I was after all a bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it!' → (b) was proud of his appearance — He is pleased with his status and eligibility, showing self-satisfaction.

9. 'The fellow had such a sense of cleanliness...! The rascal could have taken it and used it after washing it with soap and water.' → (c) had a sense of humour — He jokes about the thief leaving behind his dirty vest.

10. 'Was it trying to make an important decision about growing a moustache or using eye shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead.' → (c) had a sense of humour — He humorously imagines the snake admiring itself in the mirror just as he had done.

Given: The story describes the doctor's terror when the snake coils around his arm.

1. I was turned to stone.
2. I sat there holding my breath.
3. In the light of the lamp I sat there like a stone image in the flesh.

The four meanings to match:
- is very frightened
- is too scared to move
- is frightened by something that happens suddenly
- makes another feel frightened

1. *I was scared out of my wits.* → is very frightened *(already done as example)*

2. *I got a fright* when I realised how close I was to the cliff edge. → is frightened by something that happens suddenly (the sudden realisation caused a sudden fright)

3. *He nearly jumped out of his skin* when he saw the bull coming towards him. → is frightened by something that happens suddenly (a sudden shock causing a startled reaction)

4. *You really gave me a fright* when you crept up behind me like that. → makes another feel frightened (one person causes fright in another)

5. *It will make your hair stand on end.* → makes another feel frightened (the story will cause fear in the listener)

6. *Paralysed with fear*, the boy faced his abductors. → is too scared to move (paralysed = unable to move due to fear)

7. *Not moving a muscle* → is too scared to move (completely still due to fear)

Concept: Questions beginning with 'do/does/did/will/can/have/are' are reported using if/whether. Present tense changes to past tense.

Reported speech:
Meena asked her friend whether/if she thought her teacher would come that day.

Concept: Questions beginning with 'where' are reported using the same question word. 'Will' changes to 'would'; 'this summer' changes to 'that summer'.

Reported speech:
David asked his colleague where he/she would go that summer.

Concept: Questions beginning with 'why' are reported using 'why'. 'Are studying' changes to 'was studying'.

Reported speech:
He asked the little boy why he was studying English.

Concept: Questions beginning with 'when' are reported using 'when'. 'Are going to leave' changes to 'were going to leave'.

Reported speech:
She asked me when we were going to leave.

Concept: Questions beginning with 'have' are reported using if/whether. 'Have finished' changes to 'had finished'.

Reported speech:
Pran asked me whether/if I had finished reading the newspaper.

Concept: Questions beginning with 'how' are reported using 'how'. 'Have lived' changes to 'had lived'; 'here' changes to 'there'.

Reported speech:
Seema asked her how long she had lived there.

Concept: Questions beginning with 'are' are reported using if/whether. 'Are' changes to 'were'.

Reported speech:
Sheila asked the children whether/if they were ready to do the work.

Answer:

To rewrite the story as a purely frightening incident, the following humorous elements would be left out:

1. The doctor's vanity — All references to him admiring himself in the mirror, planning to grow a moustache, and considering himself handsome would be removed.
2. His matrimonial plans — His comic deliberations about marrying a rich, beautiful woman doctor would be omitted.
3. The comparison of the snake to himself — The humorous idea that the snake, too, was 'taken with its own beauty' would be cut.
4. The remark about the thief and the dirty vest — The joke about the thief leaving behind the dirty vest as an 'insult' would be removed.
5. Self-deprecating asides — Any ironic or self-mocking comments by the narrator would be left out.

What would remain is a straightforward, tense account: a doctor alone at night, a cobra falling from the roof, coiling around his arm, sitting on his shoulder near his face, and his desperate, silent wait until the snake moves away — followed by his terrified flight from the room.

Note: The image shows a monkey looking at its reflection in a piece of mirror in the Delhi ridge.

Sample Paragraph:

Deep in the Delhi ridge, a young monkey had found a shiny piece of mirror lying among the leaves. Curious, it picked it up and peered into it. Suddenly, it saw another monkey staring back at it! It bared its teeth — the other monkey bared its teeth too. It tilted its head — so did the stranger. Slowly, the monkey began to realise that the face in the mirror was its own. It spent a long time gazing at itself, smoothing its fur, turning its face this way and that. Perhaps it was thinking: 'I am the most handsome monkey in the whole ridge. No wonder all the others follow me!' Just like the doctor in the story, the monkey was completely taken with its own beauty — lost in a world of self-admiration, with no snake to interrupt it.

Comparison:

| Feature | Translation A | Translation B |
|---|---|---|
| Tense of narration | Past tense ('rang', 'was', 'wanted') | Present tense ('I'm', 'calls', 'is done') |
| Short, incomplete sentences | Not present; sentences are complete | Present: 'Perfect spaghetti-cooking music!' is a short, incomplete sentence |
| Sentence length | Longer, more complex sentences | Shorter, crisper sentences |

Personal preference (sample answer):

I prefer Translation B because the use of the present tense makes the narration feel immediate and lively, as if the events are happening right now. The short, punchy sentences like 'Perfect spaghetti-cooking music!' give it an energetic, conversational tone that draws the reader in. Translation A is more formal and literary, which suits a different kind of reader, but B feels more modern and engaging.

Answer: 'The Northland' most likely refers to the cold, northern regions of the world — possibly Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland) or the Arctic regions of North America and Europe. These are lands of extreme cold, short days, and long winters, which matches the description in the poem of a place where 'the children look like bear's cubs in their funny, furry clothes' and where Saint Peter travels in the cold.

Given: Saint Peter is travelling and is faint with fasting.

Answer: Saint Peter stopped at the old lady's cottage and asked her for a single cake to eat, as he was very hungry and faint from fasting.

The old lady's reaction was extremely ungenerous and selfish. She kept baking smaller and smaller cakes, each time thinking the cake was too large to give away. First she made a small cake, then an even smaller one, and finally a tiny one — but she thought even that was too big and put it on the shelf, refusing to give Saint Peter anything at all.

Given: The old lady refused to give Saint Peter even a tiny cake.

Answer: Saint Peter was angry at her selfishness. He punished her by saying that she was too selfish to live as a human being and enjoy human food. He transformed her into a woodpecker — a bird that must bore into hard, dry wood all day long to find its scanty food. She was condemned to live in the trees, wearing her scarlet cap (which became the woodpecker's red crest), and to work hard for every morsel she ate.

Answer: The woodpecker gets her food by boring into the wood of trees — pecking and drilling into tree trunks and branches to find insects and grubs hidden inside. This is hard, laborious work, and the food obtained is meagre. This is the poet's way of showing that the punishment fits the crime: the woman who was too selfish to give away a small cake must now work very hard for the smallest amount of food.

Answer: No, the old lady would almost certainly not have been so ungenerous if she had known that the visitor was Saint Peter, an apostle of Christ. She would have been eager to please him and would have given him the largest and best cake she had. She might even have offered him a full meal. This shows that her generosity would have been motivated by self-interest and fear rather than genuine kindness — which is itself a moral failing. True generosity means being kind to everyone, not just to the powerful or the holy.

Answer: No, this is not a true story. It is a legend — a fictional tale with a moral lesson, passed down through generations.

The most important part of the poem is the punishment of the old lady (stanzas 7–9), where Saint Peter transforms her into a woodpecker. This is the climax of the poem and conveys its central moral: selfishness and greed are punished. It also explains a natural phenomenon (why woodpeckers bore into wood for food) in a creative, imaginative way, which is the hallmark of a legend.

Answer: A legend is an old, traditional story that has been passed down orally from generation to generation. It often involves supernatural or miraculous events and is used to explain a natural phenomenon or to teach a moral lesson. Legends are usually set in the past and may be based loosely on real events or real figures, but they contain fictional and exaggerated elements.

This poem is called a legend because:
1. It involves a supernatural event — a human being transformed into a bird by a saint.
2. It explains a natural phenomenon — why the woodpecker bores into wood for food and has a red cap.
3. It carries a moral lesson — the punishment of selfishness.
4. It is set in a distant, unspecified past ('Away, away in the Northland').

Story of 'A Legend of the Northland':

1. Long ago, in the cold Northland, Saint Peter was travelling on earth, faint with fasting.
2. He stopped at the cottage of a little old lady who was baking cakes on the hearth.
3. He asked her for a single cake to eat, as he was very hungry.
4. The old lady began to bake a small cake, but thought it was too large to give away.
5. She baked a smaller one, but again thought it was too big.
6. She baked an even tinier cake, but still felt it was too large and placed it on the shelf.
7. Saint Peter was angered by her extreme selfishness.
8. He told her that she was too selfish to live as a human being and enjoy human food.
9. He transformed her into a woodpecker, condemned to live in the trees and bore into hard wood for her food.
10. To this day, every country schoolboy can see the woodpecker in the wood, wearing her scarlet cap, boring and boring for food — a reminder that selfishness is always punished.

Given: The poem follows a rhyme scheme where the second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyme.

More rhyming pairs from the poem:

| Word 1 | Word 2 |
|---|---|
| away | day |
| here | year |
| long | strong |
| head | said |
| same | flame |
| wood | food |
| day | away |
| sin | in |
| eat | heat |
| cakes | makes |

These rhyming pairs give the poem its musical, ballad-like quality and make it easy to remember and recite.

Note: This is an activity-based question requiring students to research and share legends from their own region or language. No single fixed answer is possible.

Guidance for students:
- Visit your school or local library and look for books of folk tales and legends from your state or region.
- Talk to grandparents or elderly neighbours and ask them to share traditional stories they know.
- Look for legends that explain a natural phenomenon (like why the sky is blue, why a river flows in a certain direction) or that teach a moral lesson.
- Examples of well-known Indian legends: the legend of the Ganges coming to earth, the legend of Eklavya, regional legends about local rivers, mountains, or festivals.
- Prepare a short narration (5–8 sentences) and present it to the class confidently.