“The Happy Prince” is a lesson of Textbook “Blossom” approved by West Bengal Board of Secondary Education for the Students of Class 8. Here all the Activity Questions are done by English teachers.
Activity 1
Rearrange the following sentences in the correct order and put the numbers in the given boxes:
(1) All the friends of the Swallow had left for warm Egypt. [3]
(2) The Happy Prince asked the Swallow to take the ruby out of his sword – hilt. [6]
(3) The Swallow took shelter beneath the statue of the Happy Prince. [4]
(4) The woman’s son was suffering from fever. [5]
(5) The Happy Prince lived in the wonderful palace of Sans-Souci. [1]
(6) The town built the statue of the Happy Prince. [2]
Activity 2
Complete the following sentences with information from the text:
1.) The young mother told her child not to cry because the Happy Prince never cries for new things.
2.) The Swallow took shelter beneath the statue of Happy Prince because it wanted to protect itself from the cold.
3.) The Swallow mistook the tears of the Happy Prince for rain.
4.) The statue of the Happy Prince could see the poor people and all the ugly things in his land.
Activity 3
Answer the following question:
1.) Why does the Swallow think that the statue of the Happy Prince has ‘ a golden heart’?
Answer: The Swallow realized that the Happy Prince had a sympathetic heart for the miserable and poor people.
Activity 4
Write “T” for true and “F” for false statements in the given boxes. Give supporting statements for each of your answers:
1.) The Swallow didn’t want to help the Happy Prince. [False]
Supporting Statement: Swallow : I will help you.
2.) The Happy Prince wanted to leave for Egypt. [False]
Supporting Statement: Swallow: I will leave for Egypt tonight.
3.) The Happy Prince asked the Swallow to take a sapphire from one of his eyes to the playwright. [True]
Supporting Statement: Statue: Little Swallow take one of my sapphire eyes and give it to him.
4.) The girl in the Town Square had no shoes. [True]
Supporting Statement: Statue: She has no shoes.
Activity 5
Answer the following questions:
1.) Why did the Swallow agree to help the Happy Prince?
Answer: The swallow couldn’t say no to people and he couldn’t see the Prince being sad so he agreed to help the Happy Prince.
2.) Why did the Swallow feel warm?
Answer: The Swallow did something good to help someone so he felt warm.
3.) What made the playwright say, ‘Now I can finish my play’?
Answer: The playwright could not continue his writing anymore because he was hungry. After getting the sapphire from the Swallow he could manage to have some money to support himself. So the playwright said the given words.
Activity 6
Fill in the following chart with information from the text:
| Cause | Effect |
| (i) The Swallow drops the sapphire into the girl’s hand. | The little girl was happy |
| (ii) The Happy Prince was then completely blind. | Though it was cold, the Swallow stayed on with the Happy Prince |
| (iii) The Swallow told the HappyPrince that it saw many unhappy and unfed people. | The Happy Prince told the Swallow to take all the gold from his body and give it away to those poor people. |
| (iv) The Mayor didn’t find thestatue beautiful anymore. | He gave an order to take the statue away and melt it in the furnace. |
Activity 7
Answer the following questions:
1.) What new law did the Mayor propose?
Answer: The Mayor proposed that no bird can die in town square, or near the Happy Prince.
2.) Why did the Mayor and the Town Councillors think the statue of the Happy Prince was not beautiful anymore?
Answer: The Mayor and the Town Councillors thought the statue of the Happy Prince was not beautiful anymore because the statue didn’t have the Ruby on his sword, the sapphire in his eyes and the golden dress which he had.
3.) Where was the Happy Prince taken?
Answer: The shabby statue of the Happy Prince was taken to the furnace for melting.
4.) Why did the Mayor and the councilors want statues of themselves?
Answer: The Mayor and the Councillors wanted to be respected by the people in the same manner as the Happy Prince was by the common people.
Activity 8 (a)
Read the following pairs of sentences and write down the changes that have taken place under the appropriate heads in the tables given below. The first one is done for you.
Answer:
(i) The child said, “I am going home.”
The child said that he was going home.
| Subject | Verbs | Words | Punctuation Marks | ||
| Direct Speech | i (a) | I | am | Going home | Inverted commas |
| Indirect Speech | i (b) | He | was | No change | No inverted commas |
(ii) He said to me, “Yesterday was a holiday.”
He told me that the previous day had been a holiday.
| Subject | Verbs | Words | Punctuation Marks | ||
| Direct Speech | Ii (a) | Yesterday | was | a holiday | inverted commas |
| Indirect Speech | Ii (b) | the previous day | had been | a holiday | no inverted commas |
(iii) The teacher said to the students, “Tomorrow we will go to the museum.”
The teacher told her students that they would go to the museum the next day.
| Subject | Verbs | Words | Punctuation Marks | ||
| Direct Speech | Ii (a) | We | Will go | to the museum | inverted commas |
| Indirect Speech | Ii (b) | They | Would go | to the museum the next day | no inverted commas |
Activity 8 (b)
Change the following sentences from Direct to Indirect Speech:
1.) The Swallow said to the statue, “I am staying with you.”
Answer: The Swallow told the statue that he was staying with him.
2.) My mother said to me, “Please wait for me here.”
Answer: My mother requested me to wait for her there.
3.) Raja said, “Oh! How cold the wind is.
Answer: Raja exclaimed that the wind was very cold.
4.) The old man said to the little girl, “May God bless you.”
Answer: The old man prayed that God might bless the little girl.
5.) The man said to him, “Go away.”
Answer: The man ordered him to go away.
Activity 9
Write down the antonyms of the underlined words:
1.) The Swallow will sing forever.
Answer: The Swallow will never sing.
2.) The actor enters the stage.
Answer: The actor exits the stage.
3.) The student laughed aloud.
Answer: The student cried aloud.
4.) I can see all the beautiful things in my land.
Answer: I can see all the ugly things in my land.
Activity 10 (a)
Write an imaginary dialogue in about eighty words between two birds in winter, one of whom is flying away to a warm country and the other who is stuck in a cold land.
Answer:
Dove : Hello, how have you been?
Woodpecker : I’m good. How are you?
Dove : I’m feeling very cold these days.
Woodpecker : Yes. I know. This is why I’m flying away to a warm country. I can’t stand this cold weather.
Dove : That is a good idea. Where are you going?
Woodpecker : I’m leaving for India tonight. It would be much warmer there.
Dove : I wish to come. But I’m stuck here as I have my family to take care of.
WoodPecker : Do come when you feel like it. For now, I will take your leave. Bye.
Dove : See you.
Activity 10 (b)
Recently you gave up your seat in a crowded bus to an old, ailing person. Write a letter in about eighty words to your friend describing how you felt after having helped the person.
Answer:
Tufanganj
26.02.2022
Dear Mithu,
I hope you are doing well. I want to share something with you. Recently I was going to a market. When I got on the bus, I saw that the bus was very much crowded. But thankfully I got a seat which was the only vacant seat. After some time, at the next stop, an old and ailing man got on the bus. The saddest thing is that he couldn’t even walk properly and no one showed the humanity of offering him the seat. I gave the man my seat and you know how thankful he was. He kept thanking me a lot of times, but for me it was my duty. I cannot tell how happy I was that day since I was able to help him. It gave me immense satisfaction to help that man.
Give my regards to your parents and elders.
Yours lovingly,
Adrija
Mithu Sarkar
c/o : Sujit Sarkar
Jalpaiguri
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