Comprehension

A. 1. 'Hills dark with the woods' means- 

   a. The hills look dark because of the thick forest.

2. 'scarred with the torrents' means- 

    a. The hills have cuts made by the flowing river.

3. Why did Govinda throw the gold bangles into the river?

    c. To make Raghunath understand the unimportance of wealth.

B. 1. Describe the place where Govinda sat reading the scriptures?

Ans. The place where Govinda was sitting and reading scriptures was very calm and peaceful. He sat on a rock on the shore of the river Ganga. It was flowing very swiftly. Its water is pure and clean. Near the river, there were hills which was dark because of the thick forest. And in the middle of the forest, there were many small streams flowing.

2. What did Raghunath do when Govinda threw the bangles into the river? What does this tell about Raghunath?

Ans. When Govinda threw the bangles into the river, Raghunath within a wink of eye jumped into the river to find it out.

      This incident informs us that Raghunath is very materialistic and he does not have any sense spirituality. He loves wealth and money. He wants to show his wealth to his guru.

C. 1. In not more than 60 words, explain the message that Govinda tried to give his disciple by throwing the bangles into the river.

Ans. Govinda as a teacher tried to give his best lesson to his disciple. He wanted to show that when you want to get Salvation or spirituality, you need to be detached from any materialistic things. You should concentrate only on God, not on wealth and money. So, he three the bangles which are used here as a symbol of materialistic pleasure.

A. Complete these sentences in your own words:

1. When the Giant saw the children playing in his garden, he became very angry and scolded them in a very rough voice.

2. As he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden, the Giant wondered why the Spring is so late to come in his garden.

3. The Giant's heart melted because he saw the garden was full of flowers and the birds were singing and chirping beautifully.

B. Who said these words and why:

1. My own garden is my own garden.

---The Giant said these words, because he was very selfish and he wanted to enjoy the beauty of the garden alone.

2. Spring has forgotten this garden, so we will live here all the year round.

--- The Snow and the Frost said these words because they were very happy seeing that Spring had not come to the Giant's garden. They could live there the whole year and enjoy it.

3. How happy we were there!

--- The children said these words because they could not enter the garden after the Giant came back and they were sad as they did not have any place to play with each other.

4. This is a delightful spot, we must ask the Hail to visit us.

--- The North Wind said these words because the garden was full of snow and North Wind was roaring all day long, so if he would invite another friend of theirs, it would be more enjoyable and mose pleasant for them 

5. Climb up, little boy!

--- The Giant said these words because the tiniest boy in the garden could not climb on the tree and the Giant was already changed. So he tried to help the boy to enjoy the beauty of the garden.

C. Answer these questions:

1. Why did Spring not come to the Giant's garden?

--- Spring did not come to the Giant's garden because he was selfish and did not allow the children to come inside the garden. So Spring felt bad for them and decided not to come.

2. What did Frost said Snow do in the garden?

--- Frost painted all the trees silver and Snow covered up the grass with her 'great white cloak'.

3. What made the Spring finally visit the garden?

--- The Spring finally came to the Giant's garden because she saw the children entered the garden through a hole of the wall and enjoyed the beauty of the garden.

4. "How selfish I have been!" From this statement we know that the Giant has realised his mistake.

a. What was his mistake?

--- His mistake was to be a selfish one. He wanted to enjoy the beauty alone.

b. What made him realise his mistake?

--- He realised his mistake when he understood that Spring was late to come in his garden because of the children's misery.

5. How do we know that the Giant sincerely felt sorry for his action?

--- When the Giant helped the little child to climb up the tree, it becomes clear to the readers that he felt sorry for his action.

D. Think and answer:

1. Is there a moral in this story? If yes, what is it?

---- Yes, there is a moral in this story i.e. selfishness never brings joy in our life. If we share our things with others, it will give us immense peace, happiness and satisfaction.

2. In the story, the first letters of the names of seasons and natural phenomena (snow, frost, hail) have been capitalised. Why do you think this has been done?

--- The first letters of the names of seasons and natural phenomena have been capitalised in this story because they are personified here. They all are given the qualities of the human being to make the story more interesting and lively.

3. What do Spring and Winter symbolise in this story?

--- In the story, "The Selfish Giant", Spring symbolises all the positive energy and thing like happiness, helpfulness, selflessness etc. On the other side, Winter symbolises selfishness, haters, anger, sadness etc.