The Flower And The Quails
Introduction
Someone has rightly said, “Unity is strength.” When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved. It has a great value in all walks of life. When we are united then we can surmount any challenges and accomplish any goal. If we co-operate with each other, no one will be able to break us. But if we quarrel among ourselves, our enemies will take advantage of this and defeat us. This chapter, very beautifully, highlights the same fact.
Summary
Once upon time thousands of quails lived together in a forest. The wisest of all of them was their leader. A man lived close to the forest and earned his living by catching and selling quails. Day after day he listened to the note of the leader calling the quails. The fowler used to imitate the note of the quails to attract the birds together. He was able to summon the quails. The quails assumed it was their leader who called after reading the note. The fowler threw his net over them and catch all of them at once when they were crowded together, and he went off into a town where he soon sold all the quails he had caught.
As this had created havoc among quails, the wise leader understood the fowler’s plan to capture the quails. He advised all the quails to put their heads through the net and together they must fly away with the net to a far off place and let the net down on the thorn-brake. During this, they were able to escape from the fowler’s net. Thus, fowler had to return home empty-handed. His wife became angry and said to him that he had second-establishment to keep up elsewhere. The fowler only said to her that quails would not live in unity always. As soon as they would start quarrelling among themselves, he would catch them.
After few days a quail accidentally trod on another quail’s head. This led to a fight among them. Seeing this, the leader quail made a decision not to stay with a quarrelsome lot and flew to another place. When the fowler came back after a few days, he flung his net over them. But the quails started fighting among them instead of lifting the net. While they were fighting with each other, the fowler lifted them and crammed them into the basket.
Questions and Answers
Q. 1 . How did the fowler catch the quails?
Ans. The fowler listened to the note of the leader quail calling the quails. In order to attract the birds together, the fowler used to imitate the note . The quails assumed it was their leader who called after reading the note and they crowded together. The fowler threw his net over them and catch all of them at once
Q. 2. What trick did the quails play on the fowler?
Ans. When the fowler put his net over the quails, the birds put their heads out through the small holes in the net and flapped their wings. After doing this, they flew off to the nearest thorny brake and put the net over it. Once again, they put their heads out of the net and escaped from under it.
Ans. When the Fowler returned home empty-handed, his wife became angry and said to him that he had second-establishment to keep up elsewhere.
Q. 4. Why did the quails’ wrangle?
Ans. The quails wrangled because one of the quails cried angrily to the quail who walked upon her. The exchange of bitterness in words continued that gave rise to the quarrel.
Q. 5. Why did the leader quail decide to leave?
Ans. The leader quail decided to leave the spot because her followers quarrelled with one another and the leader quail found herself unsafe.
Q. 6. What made fowler successful in the end?
Ans. The fowler never gave up hope and was never affected by the failure. He tried his best every day to succeed in catching his prey back home. Finally, when there was disunity among quails, the fowler was successful in catching them in the end.
(B) Who said the following and to whom? (One is done for you.)
1. “This fowler is creating havoc among our kinsfolk.”
Ans. Leader Quail said to Quails
2. “Day by day you return empty-handed.”
Ans. Fowler’s wife to the fowler.
3. “I’ve no second establishment to keep up.”
Ans. Fowler to his wife.
4. “Who trod on my head?’’
Ans. The later quail to the first quail.
5. “There’s no safety with one who is quarrelsome.”
Ans. The leader quail to the quails.
(C) Fill in the blanks with the right word given in the brackets:
(a) We _____________ to God. (prey/pray)
(b) We should not _____________ rules. (brake/break)
(c) My grandmother told me an interesting _____________ (story/storey)
(d) Have you read the Jataka _____________? (tails/ Tales)
(e) The boy is playing in the lawn at the _____________. (movement/moment)
(D) Find from the lesson words which mean the following:
a) to try to follow the manner, style, character, etc.
Ans. Imitate
b) a distinctive vocal sound, as of a species of bird or animal.
Ans. Note
c) to strike a thing with several strokes of a strap, rod, etc.
Ans. Huddle
d) force into a container with more than it can hold.
Ans. Cram
e) the next day.
Ans. Morrow
Language Work
Give one word for the following. The first one has been done for you:
1) popular, often for a short period; trendy
Ans. Fashionable
2) area of a city where there are factories I ———- t ———– l
Ans. Industrial
3) pretty to look at B ———- t ———- l
Ans. Beautiful
4) kind and thinks of others T———– t ——– l
Ans. Thoughtful
5) well known F ——— u ———-
Ans. Famous
6) something or someone you can trust T ———– t ———— y
Ans. Trustworthy
7) people with nowhere to live are H ——— l ———- s
Ans. Homeless
8) something that saves your money is E ———– m ————- l
Ans. Economical
Grammar Work
You have read in Class IV about the sentence and its kinds. Now rearrange the following words into meaningful sentences in the space provided and also say what kind of sentences they are as shown in the example below:
i. Give your me please pen?
Ans. Give me your pen please. (Imperative sentence)
1. Sky the blue is.
Ans. The sky is blue. (Assertive-affirmative)
2. In read I standard fifth.
Ans. I read in fifth standard. (Assertive-affirmative)
3. Under cat table the is.
Ans. The cat is under the table. (Assertive-affirmative)
4. Did this where you from get?
Ans. From where did you get this? Or Where did you get this from? (Interrogative sentence/Question)
5. Go you should to a doctor good.
Ans. You should go to a good doctor. (Imperative sentence )
6. A great idea what is it!
Ans. What a great idea! (Exclamatory sentence)
7. Do you where live?
Ans. Where do you live? (Interrogative sentence/Question)
8. What beautiful house is it a!
Ans. What a beautiful house it is! (Exclamatory sentence)
9. Wish I a were writer!
Ans. I wish I were a writer! (Optative sentence)
10. May live long you!
Ans. May you live long! (Optative sentence)
