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Question
Read the following extract and do the activities.
I remember the night my mother
was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours
of steady rain had driven him
to crawl beneath a sack of rice.
Patting with his poison – flash
Of diabolic tail in the dark room -
he risked the rain again.
The peasants came like swarms of flies
And buzzed the name of God a hundred times
to paralyse the Evil One.
With candles and with lanterns
throwing giant scorpion shadows
on the mud-baked walls
they searched for him: he was not found.
They clicked their tongues.
With every movement that the scorpion made his poison
moved in Mother’s blood, they said.
(A1) Choose the correct option for the following.
(1) The incident in the poem took place in
(i) the morning (ii) the night
(iii) the afternoon (iv) the evening
(2) ‘The Evil’ mentioned in the poem was
(i) the peasant (ii) the God
(iii) the scorpion (iv) the mother
(3) The scorpion crawled beneath a sack of
(i) sugar (ii) a wheat
(iii) corns (iv) rice
(4) The peasants are compared with
(i) flock of sheep (ii) group of monkeys
(iii) swarms of flies (iv) herds of cattle
(A2) Write the reactions of the people when they knew that the mother was stung by a scorpion.
(i)..................................................................
(ii)................................................................
(iii)...............................................................
(iv)...............................................................
(A3) Write down the rhyming words from the stanzas for the following.
(i) fight - (ii) clash -
Solution
(A1) 02
(1) The incident in the poem took place in the night.
(2) ‘The Evil’ mentioned in the poem was the scorpion.
(3) The scorpion crawled beneath a sack of rice.
(4) The peasants are compared with swarms of flies.
(A2) The reactions of the people when they knew that the mother was stung by scorpion……. 02
(i) By hearing about the incident, they came into the poet’s house like a swarms of flies.
(ii) They prayed to God countless times to immobilize the evil creature.
(iii) They searched the scorpion with candles and lanterns.
(iv) They found it is necessary for the scorpion to stay still to reduce the pains of the poet’s mother.
(A3) (i) fight - night (ii) clash - flash 01
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Brainstorm what you know about Scorpions. Use the points given below.
After reading the poem, complete the following. What happens? There are three main parts of the poem. Do you know what they are about? The first one is done for you.
| Lines | What is happening? |
| 1-7 | The scorpion comes into the home to escape the rain and stings the poet’s mother. |
| 8-33 | |
| 34-48 |
Choose the correct alternative.
This is a _____________ poem as it tells a story.
Choose the correct alternative.
Using the first person gives the feeling that it is told from ______________.
Choose the correct alternative.
‘The scorpion picked on me. And spared my children’ depicts ____________.
Choose the correct alternative.
The poem is titled ‘Night of the Scorpion’, for, the major part of the poem _______________.
Choose the correct alternative.
The peasants chant the name of God to _______________.
Choose the correct alternative.
The click of tongues reflects their __________ to the predicament.
Read the poem and complete the table showing the qualities of the father and mother giving sufficient evidence from the poem.
| Qualities | |
| Father | Mother |
Read the following extract and complete the given activities:
A1. From the following extract of the poem provide evidence that it set in a rural background:
Evidence:
- ______
- ______
|
With candles and with lanterns May he sit still, they said |
A2. How did the peasants console the poet’s mother? (02)
A3. Pick out an example of Antithesis from the extract: (01)
