Question

Read the following passage carefully and answer the

questions that follow:



The King and the Queen of Siam had so many daughters
that they decided to name their daughters January,
February, March till they named their youngest daughter
September. The King had a strange habit of giving away
gifts on his birthday instead of receiving them. He thus
gifted all of his daughters a green parrot in a golden cage.
The Princesses gave the parrots an hour each day and
taught them to say ‘God save the King’ and ‘Pretty Polly’ in
no less than seven Oriental languages.
Princess September’s parrot died one day and she got very
upset. She kept on crying and nothing her Maid of Honours
did comforted her. They consulted the Queen who advised
them to put her to bed without any supper. The Maids of
Honour did it and left her alone. The Princess did not stop
crying and suddenly, she noticed a little bird sitting on her
window. The bird sang so beautifully that she jumped up to
sit in her bed. It even made her forget about the parrot and
that she was hungry because she had missed her supper.
The little bird asked the Princess to let him be her pet bird.
Princess September got delighted and the bird sang her to
sleep that night. Next day, when the Maids of Honour
brought her breakfast, she fed the bird rice with her hands
and bathed him in her saucer. She then decided to show the
bird to her family. Thus, she went about the palace and the
little bird sang a different song for everyone. The King and
the Queen were delighted on seeing the melodious bird. The
Queen felt it was right for her to send the Princess to sleep
without supper. The King, on the other hand, felt happy on
seeing the bird sing as he was tired of listening to the
parrots say ‘Pretty Polly’ in seven different languages. It
reminded him of his councillors who could also say the
same thing in seven different ways without making sense in
any one of them. This made the eight sisters unhappy. The
eight sisters put their heads together and went to see
Princess September. They offered to buy her a parrot like
theirs but September refused as she was happy with her
little singing bird. The princesses then provoked Princess
September to lock him in a cage when he returned as this
way, she can be sure of his possession. This made
September uneasy and upon hearing that the bird almost
did not come back that night, she locked the bird telling
him that her mother’s cats were prowling around that night.
(a) Give the meaning of each of the following words as used in
the passage. One word answers or short phrases will be
accepted



(i) supper
(ii) melodious
(iii) provoked
(b) Answer the questions briefly, in your own words.
(i) How many daughters did th King and Queen of Siam have? What
did he gift each of his daughters?


(ii) What strange habit did the King possess? Why is it regarded to
be strange?


(iii) Did the queen care for her daughters? How do you know?
(iv) What does the King compare his councillors to? What does this
tell you about the opinion the King had for his councillors?


(v) State the sentence from the passage that tells us that Princess
September’s sisters were cunning and manipulative.



(c) In not more than 50 words, state how the little bird made
Princess September happy.

Answer 1

Answer:

b (I) Eight he gave each of his daughter a green parrot only know one answer