Question

Summary in 10 lines of poem 'A legend of the Northland'

Answer 1

The poem is a legend about an old lady who angered Saint Peter because of her greed. The story goes’ on like this. In Northland lived a lady who was very selfish and greedy. Saint Peter while preaching the world reached her door one day. She was making cakes and baking them on a hearth. St. Peter was fainting with hunger. He asked the lady to give him a piece of cake. The cake that she was baking then appeared to be too big so she did not give him a piece from that and baked another small one. That also appeared to be big so she did not give him that also. Now she took an extremely little scrap of dough and rolled it flat. She had it as thin as a wafer but was unable to part with that also. This angered St. Peter a lot. He said that she was not fit to live in human form and enjoy food and warmth. He cursed her and transformed her into a woodpecker who has to bore in hard and dry wood to get its scanty food. She can be seen in the trees all day boring and boring for food.

Answer 2

The Northland  is a polar region It is a very cold region covered with snow.The poem is set in the backdrop of Scotland, which is near the northern tip of the United Kingdom. This place is also somewhat nearer to the northern pole. Closeness to the north-pole gives this place a cold weather with very few hours of sunlight. The poet has written that here hours of the day are few and nights are so long in winter that people are unable to spend the whole night sleeping. When it snows in Scotland people harness their reindeers to pull their sledges. Because of extreme cold children look like bear’s cubs in because of funny and furry clothes. A story is quite famous and has been passed on through generations in the Scotland. The poet doesn’t believe in the authenticity of the story but yet is tempted to share the story. Mythological stories may not relate to realities but they always carry some good messages with them and that is why the poet is narrating the story. Once Saint peter was on his usual round of travelling and preaching people, he felt hungry. He chanced upon an old cottage where a little woman was making cakes. Saint Peter went near the woman and asked for some cakes to eat. The little woman started to bake a small cake for Saint Peter. After the cake was done she found it too big to be given for free. So she decided to bake an even smaller cake. This went on and on till she made a paper thin wafer for Saint Peter. She even kept that wafer instead of giving it to Saint Peter because she was too greedy to part with a single morsel of food. On observing her greed Saint Peter became very angry at her. He said that she was too selfish to dwell in human form. He cursed her to become a bird and live searching for scant food in the jungle, by boring all day in the dry and hard wood. After Saint Peter’s curse the little woman went up through the chimney and got changed to a woodpecker. Her whole body turned to coal black because of going up through the chimney. Her red cap turned to red plumage of the woodpecker. After that people have been seeing her in the wood where she lives by boring and boring the dry wood in search of food. This poem  put forth the theme that we should not selfish and always help the needy. Hope this helps!