Question

short summary of princess September
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Answer 1

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The lesson “Princess September” by Somerset Maugham revolves around the youngest daughter of the King and Queen of Siam named 'September'. It all begins when her parrot dies and a singing bird comes in its place. Her sisters then provoke her to lock the free bird in a cage if she did not want to lose him.

Answer 2

• Princess September was written by William Somerset Maugham. It is the story about a princess named September. She had eight elder sisters who were named after months of the year. The King of Siam had a strange habit of giving gifts on his own birthday. So, he and his wife, the Queen had gifted a parrot in a golden cage to each of their nine daughters. All the princesses were happy to receive their gifts and they would spend an hour with their pet daily. All the parrots could say ‘God save the King’ and some could even say ‘Pretty Polly’ in seven different Oriental languages.

• One day, Princess September went to meet her parrot and found it lying dead in its golden cage. She burst into tears seeing her dead pet. Her Maids of Honour could do nothing to comfort her. They informed the Queen who told them to put the little princess to sleep without supper. They had to go to a party, so they put the little girl to bed quickly and left her crying all by herself. As she was crying, she noticed a little bird hop into her room. He started singing a beautiful song near the lake in the King’s garden with the willow trees looking at themselves in the still water and the goldfish gliding in and out of the branches, that were reflecting in the water. She was so engrossed in the bird’s song that she completely forgot that she didn’t have her supper. She praised the little bird when he finished his song.

• The little bird bowed to the princess and asked her if she would like to keep him in her parrot’s place. He admitted that he wasn’t as pretty as other birds, but he could certainly sing beautiful songs for the princess. Princess September clapped her hands delightfully and as the bird sang another song, she quickly fell asleep. The next morning, she found that the bird was still there and she bathed the bird in her saucer and fed some rice to him with her own hand. Soon, she took the bird to the King, Queen and her sisters. Everyone was surprised and delighted when they heard his song. The King particularly mentioned that he was fed up with hearing ‘God save the King’ and ‘Pretty Polly’ from the parrots. He compared these words to his Councillors who would always say the same thing repeatedly. Listening to the beautiful song of the little bird was a lovely surprise for him too.

• The other princesses were vexed and started feeling jealous of Princess September’s little singing bird. The bird flew and sang around the rooms of the palace like a nightingale. The princesses suggested Princess September buy a new parrot, but she responded that she already had a pet bird who could sing beautiful songs for her. They also told her that since the bird was free, he could fly away from her anytime. They advised her to keep him in a cage to prevent him from flying away. However, the little princess trusted her bird and believed that he would never betray her.

• Once it so happened that the little bird went to visit his father-in-law but took longer than usual to return to Princess September. She was so worried that she popped him into the cage right away when he returned. When the bird asked why she put him in, she replied that this would keep him safe from the cats roaming in the palace. The next morning, the little bird requested the princess to open the cage, but she refused to let him out. Princess September asked him to sing for her, but he could not do so. On insisting, he said that he wanted to see the trees, the lake and the green rice fields. He did not eat food as well.

• Princess September listened to her sisters’ advice and kept the bird locked in the golden cage. In due course of time, the bird stopped singing and didn’t sing songs like he used to before. The princess enquired why he didn’t sing. The bird replied that he could not sing if he was not set free, he would die if he was kept locked inside the cage for a long time. Princess September didn’t want to lose her little friend like her pet parrot so she set him free. The bird flew away and promised to return soon. The princess kept her window open and the bird would visit her often. He sang lovely melodious songs for her.

• As years passed, Princess September grew up to be a very beautiful young lady due to exposure to natural sunlight and air coming through her window. Later, she got married to the King of Cambodia. However, her sisters were not pretty at all and were married to the King’s Councillors with a Siamese cat and a pound of tea.

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