LESSON SEVEN The Charmed Birds another folk-tale from The Faithful Parrot. If you like this story, and the other one This is ‘One, why not read the whole book? in Lesson nchanted forest of Hind where animals behave like humans, there var from tree to tree, carried by Hawa, the wind, from one blazing branch to the next, eating up the entie jungle in a gigantic bonfire. All who could Once upon a time, in the e was a great fire. Ag, the fire, began to ro: ran for their lives. The birds flew away, the rats dug holes in the ground, the monkeys swung from tree to tree as fast as they could, the deer jumped bounding off as fast as lightning. All Were running away from Ag, to safety. ‘All, except poor Jarita, the bird. It happened that Jarita had made her nest in the enchanted forest of Hind. Jarita was a bird who had been abandoned by her mate. She had had to build her nest all by herself in a tall banyan tree so that she could lay her eggs. When the nest was ready, Jarita laid four eggs which she had to hatch all by herself, without help from anybody. Naturally, when the chicks were bom, larita was fonder and prouder of them than almost any mother cam be. Jarita called the eldest chick Mandapala and the other three Manda, Dapa and Pala. Mandapala was the wisest of the four, which was only right since he was the eldest. 35yy When Ag came to eat up the forest, Jarita’s four chicks were still fat oy young to fly, Their little bodies were covered with soft down but nae ee hers and no wings. The Poor arita was terrifies e di t know how to save her chicks. : Pose vias ape a! My dear children, what shall we do? Ag the fire is comin, nearer and nearer. Soon he will be upon us and eat us! Already the trees are falling to the ground like arrows. The air is filled with smoke. How can I save you? You cannot fly and your mother is too weak to fly you away. You poor wingless babies, deserted by your father even, before you were born!” and Jarita began to sob. The chicks were doing their best to comfort their mother. ‘Do not worry, dear mother, please do not cry,’ said Mandapala, the eldest. ‘Leave us to our fate. You have done more for us already than most mothers. If our fate is to die now, we shall be reborn to a better future life, for we have done harm to no one. So weep not, dear mother. You have a duty to think of yourself. You must leave us to our fate and fly away to safety. There you must make a new home and raise another family. Soon you will have a nestful of chicks and you will forget us and you will be happy again. Mother, please do not lose your head for our sake; remain calm and fly away before it is too late.’ Poor Jarita was heart-broken. She could not bring herself to abandon her children and follow Mandapala’s advice, not even when Manda, Dapa and Pala chirped in, away and make a new home.’ ‘No,’ said Jarita, ‘I shall stay with you and let Ag on the nest she suddenly remembered something. “Children! I have just had an idea. Remember the rat hole at the bottom of our tree. I can carry you one by one to the rat hole. Then I can close up the hole with earth and the fire will not be able to get at you. Then I shall fly away and when Ag has gone I will come back and set you free from the hole. What do you say to this idea?” “No mother,’ said all four chicks at once, and speaking for them all Mandapala explained, “Ifyou put us in the rat hole, the rats will eat us. We prefer to be eaten by Ag than by rats.’ Jarita tried to cheer them up. ‘I saw an eagle eat the rat in the rat hole only the other day. There is no danger from rats for you now in that hole.’ But the chicks insisted that other rats would come and eat them. They said again they wanted to be left to their fate and begged their mother to fly away before the tree caught fire. “We have done nothing for you. Why should you risk your life for us?” we have brought you nothing but sorrow and worry. Make another home an If Ag spares us, then you will find us here afterwards. its fate. Remember that if we die, we shall onl not, mother.” ‘Please, mother dear, fly eat me up.’ But as she was settling down they asked. ‘So far d live happily there. Everything that lives has to be left to ly be reborn into a happier future life, so weepWith great sorrow in her heart Jarita flew away. It was not a minute too soon. Ag was coming over in a roaring, storming, crackling, smouldering, thundering rage. Mandapala, Manda, Dapa and Pala remained quite calm in their nest. As Ag kept creeping nearer and nearer, they began to chirp louder and louder to keep each other's courage up. Mandapala explained cheerfully to his three brothers, ‘What matters, in times of danger, is to keep one’s head.” *You are old and wi *You are old and wise," said Dapa. *You are old and id Pala and he added, *We trust you, eldest brother.” ‘Their little beaks smiling bravely, the four chicks greeted Ag when, towering over their nest, he blazed his thousand mouths at them. Speaking for his brothers Mandapala said, ‘Oh Ag, Jarita our mother has left us. We do not know who our father is. He left before we were born. Here we are wingless, helpless, defenceless, friendless, orphans. You alone, Ag, can be our friend. There is no one else to care for us now. We throw ourselves upon your mercy. Ag, save us! Ag, the roaring, scorching destroyer of nature, took pity on the brave little chicks. He ate up the entire forest, but he left the tree with the nest untouched. And when Jarita flew back, she found her children safe and sound, without even the tiniest little fluff of down singed. ¢ Mandapala,” said Manda. Comprehension and Vocabulary A These words are taken from the passage. For each one give another word of opposite meaning: great, fast, tall, eldest, young, weak, safety, bottom, close, sorrow. B List A contains words taken from the passage. Find a word or phrase in List B with a similar meaning to each word in List A as used in the passage. List A List B enchanted very big gigantic children with no parents abandoned under a magic spell terrified left behind fate whatever is to happen in the future prefer like better orphans very frightened C Answer these questions in short, simple sentences: What tells us that the forest was enchanted? Why did Jarita build her nest all by herself? Why was Jarita fonder and prouder of her chicks than most mothers? Why was Jarita not able to run away from Ag? What did her chicks tell her to do? Why did the chicks not want to be left in the rat hole? Why did Jarita think they would not be eaten by the rat if they were left in the rat hole? What do you think Madapala meant when he advised the others to ‘keep one’s head’? eIAKNALNE aLanguage Structure Questions, Commands and Requests So far we have been talking about only one kind of sentence, the statement. But there are other kinds: Statements: The car arrived. I saw the boy. Questions: Have you finished? What did he say? Commands and Requests: Stop that! Will you please wait? Exclamations: What a nice person! How hot it is! In this lesson we shall revise (go through again) how questions, commands and requests are formed. Questions With certain verbs the order of the words is changed: Statement Question You have finished. Have you finished? He will go. Will he go? You can see. Can you see? They were waiting. Were they waiting? With other verbs DO, DOES or DID is used: Statement Question I like swimming. Do you like swimming? He wants to go. Does he want to go? We saw the accident. Did you see the accident? A Change these sentences into questions by changing the word order: 1 She is pleased. 2 The teacher is happy. 3 They have finished. 4 His father was there. 5 They were laughing. 6 I shall go. 7 He will tell us. 8 We must hurry. 9 We may stop work now. 10 Mr. Roy ought to wait. 11 She would have waited if we had asked her. 12. Your sister can tell us. B_ Change these sentences into questions using Do, Does or Did: 1 Your mother knows her. 2 They like being here. 3 They wanted to see him. 4 He arrived yesterday. 5 The little boy saw the Queen. 6 He made a wooden box. 7 My friend knows the answer. 8 Your father knows that you are here. 9 We heard the news yesterday. 10 He thinks she is wrong. Commands and Requests To give a command or order we use a verb. There may be other words following it: STOP! SIT down! WAIT for me! PUT your shoes on! 38We can make these orders polite by addding please: Please stop. Please sit down. Please wait for me. or: Stop, please. Sit down, please. Wait for me, please. As you see, please may go after or before the verb. Changing the sentence into questions using Will you . . . ? makes them more polite: Will you please stop? Will you stop, please? Would you... ? is even politer: Would you wait for me, please? Would you please wait for me? The politest way of making a request is to use the phrase Would you mind... ? Would you mind closing the window? Would you mind if I asked you a question? C Change these orders into requests using all the possible ways. Begin with the least polite and finish with the most polite: Wajt! Begin! Goon! Help me! Do it again! Put it over there! Bring it back tomorrow! Exampte: Wait! Pleasé wait! Wait, please. Will you please wait? Will you wait, please? Would you please wait? Would you wait, please? Would you mind waiting? Punctuation Write out the following passage adding punctuation marks and capital letters where necessary: my dear children said jarita what shall we do do not worry dear mother said mandapala the eldest leave us to our fate yes said the others please fly away mother dear and make a new home no said jarita i shall stay with you and let ag eat me up Composition Pretend that you are Jarita. Tell the story briefly as it happened to you. Useful Words and Phrases Question Tags Statements can be changed into questions by adding ‘question tags’. It is hot, isn’t it? Thave told you, haven't 1? It isn’t here, is it? He has been here before, hasn't he? You can come, can't you? He hasn't been here before, has he? 392 ‘ou like it, don't you? You can’t come, can you? tas Cea He will help, won't he? ti He won't help, will he? He ae nee Thaven't told you, have I? He di . Exercise gh several times. Then change these statements into Questions by Read these examples throu; adding question tags: A *¢ wail i 4 They won't come back. 5 We hayer» 1 We can begin. 2 They can't wait. 3 You will tell me. : ven’ finished. 6 I have seen it. 7 She has done it. 8 He hasn’ t stopped. 9 They waited. 10 He Speaks well. 11 She didn’t see it. 12 He ran very fast. 13 I made a mistake. 14 It is true. 15 It isn’t here, 16 You don’t know. 17 They know. 18 He did it well. Pronunciation and Reading Practice Bud and Bird Make these sounds short: bud, bun, gull, cut, bust, hub, hull, hut, shut, ton, stun, study. Make these sounds long: bird, burn, girl, curt, burst, herb, hurl, hurt, shirt, turn, stern, sturdy. Now say: bud, bird; bun, burn; gull, girl; cut, curt; bust, burst; hub, herb; hull, hurl; hut, hurt; shut, shirt; ton, turn; stun, stern; study, sturdy. Read aloud: There is an English proverb that says: ‘The early bird catches the worm.’ I think that Herbert must have heard it for on the day of his birthday he got up very early indeed, not to catch a worm but to see the birthday presents that he had been promised. The first thing he saw was a new shirt from his mother. Then he saw what he had been expecting, a sturdy-looking new bicycle. Soon he and his two friends were taking turns to ride it. His sister wanted to have a tum as well, but Herbert said no. It was a boy's bicycle and it would be absurd for a girl to ride itLESSON ELEVEN The Scholars and the Lion This tale from India is taken from The Tiger's Whisker, a collection of Asian stories. It teaches us that learning is of no use, and indeed can be dangerous, if we do not show wisdom in using it. There were once four men who were friends. Three of them were wise and learned in books. But the fourth was not a scholar. All he had was common sense. PU SIGS RADAR * Ay RSD oo Me i. a =. SAG Ss NS WE SWS ~ Baye 57alki ether. They spoke of how nice : that the four men were talking ee id. ‘What good are books i. it ou Te hap aroft places and see something Ot Ot hers said, ‘the earat We don, be to travel 10 ot ane one of them said. “Yes, ; arming wet sand use our learning?” one >IT, 7 Erato ret Be se 8 Ces ‘nd food and began their journey. And g a selves wil L ge lean 7 So they prepared ee along the road, one of the three lead men declareg, "® Sa "Three of us have spent our lives in study. 7 ave Sat up latest ‘Thave been unin rr amps until our eyes have closed with weariness. Now ma reading by the light of ou ur knowledge useful. With the things we have leameq ae ey ato the world to make 0 d 7 i 7 going out into - ee sxtoath man with us, our unleamed friend. Has he studies wil ‘come ricl prepared for this day? No, he cannot help us at all ‘Why should he come along and shia hard-earned good luck? ae Sie dil os answered, ‘These are wise and j s." He tumed to ee arene a ie hm: “Good friend, you are n0 scholar. Please leave us an The third scholar spoke. He said, ‘No, this isn’t right. He is no scholar, as we all know. But he has been our friend since childhood. Let him come and share with us the great treasures we iscover through our wisdom.” wey finaly decided tha their unleamed fiend could come along and share with them, een though he had nothing at all to offer but common sense. : The four men continued their journey, travelling from place to place in search of wealth and fortune. They passed through a forest, and came to a clearing where the bones of a dead lion were scattered on the ground. They stood looking at the bones of the dead animal. One of the scholars said: “See what a wonderful chance lies here before us. With these bones we can test the value of our learning. Isn’t our great scholarship able to bring this creature back to life? For my par, Ican put together the bones of the animal, each in its right place.” The second scholar said, ‘T too have learning on this subject. I can cover the bones with flesh, blood and skin.” And the third scholar said: ‘As for me, I can give this creature life and make it breathe.” The fourth man, who was no scholar at all, was humble and silent before such tremendous leaming. So the first scholar put together the flesh and skin over the lion, and pi business of bringing the lion to life At this moment the fourth man, the fellow wi ‘ing in hi ied to stop eae without any learning in his head, trie “My dear friends, think wh: life isa lion! If you are successful, he will , rise The third scholar, busily using all hi: - if it isn’t used?” ee ‘Tplead with you, think again!” the fo with you, "the fourth man said, « through with it a least wait until Ihave climbed asec cli xd + a cae times a sain ite branches. Then the third scholar continued his es fits wane earn 0 other scholars stood close by, watching everything “ rest. The thi Tis done!’ he exclaimed proudly, "4 Solar stepped back in triumph. bones of the lion. The second scholar put a covering of ut blood in the body. Then the third scholar began the St You are about to do! This animal that you are bringing back 0 up and kill us all ! i n knowledge, shouted, ‘What good is leaming ut if you are really determined to £ 58The lion opened its eyes, switched its tail nervously, and got to its feet. And then without warning, it sprang upon the three learned men and killed them. The fourth man, the one who had never studied books, waited in the tree until the lion had gone away. Then he came down and returned alone to his village. Comprehension and Vocabulary A Fill in the missing words or phrases: Three of the men were , but the fourth had only , , . The three scholars wanted to their learning so they decided td , . After they had started, one of them pointed out that the fourth man was , and asked why he should be allowed to share their , , , but they , decided that he should come with them. When they saw the bones of the lion ,’on the ground they decided to them together, , them with flesh, blood and skin, and give the animal , . The fourth man tried io , them but they were determined to , their learning. The ending of the story shows that , is more important than ,. B Answer these questions in complete sentences: 1 ‘The learning we have is much too great to be used in this little village.” What do these words tell us about the three scholars? There is another word, of opposite meaning, used to describe the fourth man. Which word is this? (It begins with h.) 2 What did the scholars hope to obtain with their learning? Explain in your own words why the first and second scholar thought that the fourth man should not go with them. Why did they finally decide to let him come? Why did the scholars decide to bring the lion back to life? What was the big mistake they made? What lesson do you think we can learn from this story? Aue Language Structure The Simple Present Tense VYouWe | write every day. He writes every day. They play once a month. She plays once a month. The boys | go there | twice a week. Tapan | goes there | twice a week. This is the Simple Present tense. We use it mainly for things that we do as habits: We come to school every day. He cleans his teeth every morning. She speaks English well. They often go there. We never swim in the river.—————————ts—~—“‘“ iS ir ays (rue: It is also used for things that are always Two and two make four. The earth moves round the sun. Too many cooks spoil the broth. se are the most important. Present tense and adverbs and adverbial pha, ce a day, twice a day, three timesa est There are other uses but thes ions using the Simpl A. Reply to these questions using the Simple Hie teens: never alwys, avery da every wath 0% Exampues: When do you come to school? / come 10 school every day. When do you play hockey? J never play hockey. indo you....? Te lean your teeth? 2... goto sleep? 3... get out of bed? 4. - - eat a meal 75... English lessons? 6... do your homework? 7. . . read a newspaper? 8... drink tea?9.. jj tonat sweets? 10... read a book? 11... go toa library? 12... buy a new dress? 13 anew shirt? 14... watch a play? 15... listen to the wireless? {tense of fo write again you will see that an s is added after If you look at the Simple Present he, she and it: He writes. She writes. It writes or The pen writes, Remember this when doing the next exercise. B Reply to these questions: 1 When does your father go to work? 2 When does your mother prepare a meal? 3 When does your teacher come to school? 4 When does the Principal of your school speak to you? 5 When does the school close? 6 When does a policeman stop the traffic? 7 When does your best friend see you? 8 When does your science teacher give you a lesson? 9 Weaeh does your teacher give you homework? Three common verbs are a little different in the Simple Present tense: Ido Thave lam . You do You have You are He, she, it does He, she, it has He, she, it is = We do We have We are They do . They have They are : C Change these sentences into the singular: = ree Exampte: They do not come here often. es = He does not come here often “ The pupils have work t pi rk to do. so The pupil has work to do. 4 The players have coloured shits. 2 My friends do not like swimming. 3 My teachers Ha? a naxes are green. 5 The dusters are for cleaning the blackboard. 6 60.men do not work in the afternoon. 7 The girls have smart uniforms. 8 We have a new teacher. 9 We do English every day. 10 The workmen have a lorry. One more use of the Simple Present tense should be noted: Please give him this message when you see him. I will give him the message if he is there. Don’t begin until I rel you. As these sentences show, the Simple Present tense is sometimes used for a future action. The whan see, is, tell, all refer to something in the future. Complete these sentences by adding the Simple Present tense of the verb given: You can tell her when she 1, back. (come) If you , hard, you will do well. (work) I shall fot leave until the concert , . (end) I wih buy the paper as soon as yo! , me how much you want. (tell) Unless he , quickly, it will be too late. (act) wRone Spelling Spelling Rule No. 6. Rs i all to the begitnings of these words: yt c were rhost, ways, “haigh, ‘ready, $0, a B Add full to the ends of these words: J thought, hope, cheer, peace, doubt, fear, help. C’Join these pairs of words to make single words: skill, full; well, come; fare, well; full, fill; be, fall; ifl} will; down, fall; un, well; en, roll. Passage for Dictation We all felt very cheerful when we were given the welcome news of the holiday. We had been hopeful for some time although our teacher had been doubtful, but now at last the joyful news had arrived. We should say farewell to school for two weeks, not returning until the end of the month. This was to give new pupils time to enrol. Already some of my friends were gathering their books together, being careful to leave none behind. Others were looking more thoughtful. They had begun to recall their teacher’s helpful advice on what work to do during the holidays. ‘All right," said the teacher. ‘Off you go!” Composition Write an account of how you usually spend your spare time. If you like you can write threehat you do in the long holidays. The second il Para, aragraphs, The first can deserve weekends. Inthe third you could say whay yout could deal with your spare time over t! the evenings. : Use such adverbs and phrases as: usually, always, often, once a week, etc. Use the Simple Present tense. sometimes, every day, each evenn 8, Useful Words and Phrases Yes, | do. No, | don't. When replying to questions we often use short answers. If asked: ‘Do you clean Your teeth every day?" We do not reply: “Yes, I clean my teeth every day.’ We use short forms. We say: “Yes, I do,’ or ‘No, I don’t.” Exercise Reply to these questions using either Yes, I do or No, I don't: 1 Do you ride to school on a bicycle? 2 Do you come by car? 3 Do you come by bus? 4 Do you walk to school? 5 Do you come to school by aeroplane? 6 Do you like school? 7 Do you work hard? 8 Do you play football? 9 Do you play hockey? 10 Do you play netball? 11 Do you like swimming? 12 Do you like taking medicine? Pronunciation and Reading Practice Brick and Break Make these sounds short: brick, lick, dim, tick, fill, hill, drip, it, fit, sill, slit, Make these sounds long: break, lake, dame, take, fail, hail, drape, ate, fate, sail, slate. Now say: brick, break; lick, lake; dim, dame; tick, take; fill, fail: hill. hail: dr; + it, ate; fit, fate: Pita she ie ail; hill, hail; drip, drape; it, ate; fit, Read aloud: They were sailing across the Straits and it was like sail as flat ats Suen witty eee sing on ake fob sn slate, and a gale sprang up. Waves, eight feet high, came inece the sides of the boat, making ix difficult to steer: Luckily they had a pail inthe boat and the tae aly began to bail out th Water, They decided to make fora litle bay, and there they sn ntl the gale had blown 0°" Then they dragged the boat up on to the be: ipa eased i ‘ach, drained out all the water and set sail agai"-