08: The Blue Bead By Norah Burke : Icse-x-english

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Answers from The Blue Bead by Norah Burke
Read the extract and answer the following questions:

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Section : I
Now, nothing could pierce the inch-thick armoured hide. Not even rifle bullets, which would bounce off. Only the eyes and the soft underarms offered a place. He lived well in the river, sunning himself sometimes with other crocodiles-muggers, as well as the long-snouted fish-eating gharials-on warm rocks and sandbanks where the sun dried the clay on them quite white, and where they could plot off into the water in a moment if alarmed.

Qstn #1
What were sleepers? How can they be dislodged?
Ans : Sleepers are the heavy pieces of timber or stone on or near the ground to support a superstructure. They were lying stuck around the stones in the deep water from which the crocodile came until someone dislodged them and send them on their way or until floods lifted them and jostled them along.

Qstn #2
Describe the grandeur of the giant reptile. OR
Where did the huge crocodile live? Where did it come to rest?
Ans : The huge crocodile lived in the deep black water. It was twice the length of a tall man. It had not to hide. It came to rest in the glassy shallows, among logs with its eyes and nostrils raised above the water. Its tail had irresistible power to move with a vast force in the water. Its mouth ran almost the whole length of its head. It lay closed with an evil smile and where the yellow underside came up to it, it was green in colour.

Qstn #3
How did the huge crocodile rest in the shallows?
Ans : The crocodile came to rest in the grassy shallows, among logs and balanced there on tiptoe on the rippled sand. It raised its eyes and nostrils out of the water to breathe the clean sunny air. Around him broad sparkling water travelled between cliffs and grass and forested hills. The mugger crocodile, blackish brown above and yellowy white under, lay motionless, able to wait forever till food came.

Qstn #4
When and how had the crocodile made water its permanent abode?
Ans : It is assumed that perhaps a hundred years ago, the crocodile had been hatched at the sandbank. Since then in order to protect and support itself, it had made for the water. There it escaped from being becoming the prey of the birds and great carnivorous fishes. It stored the food in holes in the bank until it was rotten. Lukewarm water and plenty of food made it grew to its great length.

Qstn #5
The strength of the crocodile was unbeatable. Pen it down.
Ans : The body of the crocodile was covered with the inch-thick hide that nothing could pierce it. Even the rifles bullets would bounce off. Only the eyes and the soft underarms were exceptions. It was ferocious and formidable. It propelled in the water by the irresistible and unimaginable power of its tail. It lived well with other crocodiles, muggers and fish eating gharials.

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Section : II
Barefoot, of course, and often goosey-cold on a winter morning, and born to toil. In all her life, she had never owned anything but a rag. She had never owned even one anna-not a pice, not a pi, even, to buy, say, a handful of blown glass beads from that stall in the bazaar where they were piled like stars, or one of the thin glass bangles that the man kept on a stick, and you could choose which colour you'd have.

Qstn #1
On which things did crocodile feed?
Ans : The place where the crocodile rested, fed and moved had strange objects around him. In the shoals, beside him there lay a glimmered blue gem. It was actually a sand worn glass that had been rolling about in the river for a long time. It was piercing through the neck of the bottle.

Qstn #2
Which objects were found near crocodile in the river?
Ans : The place where the crocodile rested, fed and moved had strange objects around him. In the shoals, beside him there lay a glimmered blue gem. It was actually a sand worn glass that had been rolling about in the river for a long time. It was piercing through the neck of the bottle.

Qstn #3
Throw the light on Sibia's lifestyle?
Ans : Sibia lived in a mud house in a village above the ford. She was a thin starving child. She had no proper clothes but her body was covered with rags. Her skin was of oiled brown cream colour. Those rags were also torn to make a skirt and a saree. She ate chapatti wrapped round green chilli and rancid butter. It was her best meal. Her hair was black and she had great eyes. She was poor and never owned anything except a rag.

Qstn #4
Why is Sibia called as 'child woman' and how was she born to toil?
Ans : Sibia, the main character or the protagonist of the story, is called a happy immature child-woman at the age of only twelve years just because of her appearance and the burden which she bore to help in household chores. She was marked for work since her childhood. She had to carry the household duties and in them also she found the objects of happiness. She was immature in the sense that in spite of doing all the work, she had not lost her childishness.

Qstn #5
What was Sibia's economic background?
Ans : Sibia belonged to a poor family. She lived in a mud house. She did not possess even one anna, a pice or a pi even to buy a handful of blown glass beads or one of the thin glass bangles from the stall in the bazaar where they were piled like stars or one of the thin glass bangles that the man kept on a stick from where one could choose the colour of his choice. She had been living with her parents and brothers all through the jungle to the little town at the railhead.

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Section : III
But Sibia, in all her life from birth to death, was market for work. Since she could toddle, she had husked corn, and gathered sticks, and put dung to dry, and cooked and weeded, and carried, and fetched water, and cut grass for fodder. She was going with her mother and some other women now to get paper grass from the cliffs above the river. When you had enough of it, you could take it down by bullock cart to the railhead and sell it to the agent who would arrange for its dispatch to the paper mills.

Qstn #1
Where was the bazaar located? While passing through this bazaar, which things or sounds she came across?
Ans : Though Sibia belonged to a poor family, she knew what finery was. She used to go through the jungle with her parents and brothers to the little town at the railhead where the bazaar was located. She walked through all the milling people, and the dogs and monkeys full of fleas, idle human beings spitting betel juice, bargaining and gossiping. On the way she heard the bell of a sacred bull clonking as he lumped along through the dust and hubbub.