Summary of the lesson THE LOST CHILD...
Answers
The child’s joy knew no bounds. He left the footpath and entered into the mustard-field and began to chase butterflies and dragon flies and tried to catch them if possible. His mother warned him not to go far away and asked him to be with them. He joined his parents and walked along them with side be side but again left them being attracted by a number of little worms and insects. He was once again called back by his parents who were sitting on the edge of a well in a grove. They were seated under a huge banyan tree which stretched its branches over smaller trees such as the jack, champak and gulmohur. When the child moving towards his parents with capers under the banyan tree where he lost his way and found himself in the fair again.
Once again he came back to the fair unexpectedly. In the fair the child was attracted by the cries of a sweetmeat seller. His mouth watered for the burfi which was favourite to him. He knew very well that his desire would not be fulfilled, yet he spoke of it in a whisper then moved on without waiting for an answer. Then he came across flower seller, a balloon seller and a snake charmer who was playing on a flute before a snake. But the child had to pass on knowing that his parents were not ready to satisfy his desires. At last he came to a place which gave him the greatest attraction. It was a roundabout. He watched it going round and round with merry band of men, women and children on it. As soon as it stopped he boldly asked his parents for the pleasure of a ride on the roundabout. There was no answer from his parents. He turned round to see his parents but his parents were nowhere.
Upon finding himself alone and bereft of his parents, he ran here and there with no respite in sobbing. His turban came off and clothes became shabby with sweat and dust. He tries to find his parents in the people who are busy in laughing, jesting and moving all round. Tired from running the little boy stood sobbing for some time and then started running again. He ran desperately through people’s legs, crying ‘mother, father’. At the door of the temple the crowd was so thick that he was knocked down and was about to be trampled when he was picked up by a man in the crowd. The man came out of the crowd with the boy and asked him whose boy he was. The child only cried bitterly, saying that he wanted his father and mother. The kind hearted man tried to console the child by offering him a ride on the roundabout, but the child repeated his cry for his parents. Next The man took him to the snake-charmer but he refused to listen to his flute; then he offered to buy him the bright coloured balloons. Finally, the man tried to console him with some sweets, but all his efforts failed. The child only sobbed ‘I want my mother, I want my father.’
Answer:
The Lost Child is an interesting story written by Mulk Raj Anand. In this story, a child visits a spring fair with his parents. The place was crowded with people and there were different kinds of stalls set up in the fair. The child was overjoyed when he saw the toys in the shops and pleaded to his parents to buy him a toy. But his father gave him a stern look upon hearing his request. Meanwhile, his mother asked him to see the mustard field which looked like a field of gold. A group of dragon-flies were fluttering their colourful wings over the mustard flowers. The child tried catching one of those colourful insects, but as his mother called him to the footpath and he ran towards his parents gaily. He heard the cooing of doves and picked up some petals in the grove. But again as his parents called him, he made his way towards them while he was running around the banyan tree.
When the child reached the fair with his parents, he saw a sweetmeat seller calling out ‘gulab-jaman, rasagulla, burfi, jalebi’. His mouth watered seeing the tasty sweets and he asked his father to buy him a sweet. But no one paid heed to his request. As he went ahead with his parents, he heard a flower-seller selling ‘A garland of gulmohur’. He saw the basket of flowers and wanted to buy a garland. However, he knew his parents would not buy him the flowers, so he moved on with them. Then, he noticed a balloon-man selling rainbow colour balloons. He wanted to buy those balloons but he knew that his parents would refuse, considering he was comparatively older to play with those colourful balloons. Hence, he walked past the balloon-man with his parents.
As he moved forward, the child noticed a snake-charmer who was playing a flute to a snake coiled in a basket. He went closer to the snake-charmer, but he knew his parents wouldn’t approve of his listening to such coarse music. So, he walked further and saw a merry-go-round. He observed that many people were enjoying the ride and called out to his parents that he wanted to take a ride. But there was no reply from them. When he turned around, he couldn’t find his parents nearby. The child desperately looked out for his parents, but they were nowhere to be found. He understood that he was lost so he started sobbing.
The child gave out a loud deep cry and tears started rolling down his eyes as he searched for his parents everywhere. He cried loudly and ran to and fro, but he couldn’t find his parents anywhere. The place was very crowded and he ran to the shrine if he could find them there. Unfortunately, he was lost and as he was little, he went ahead crossing many people who were huge in size there.
Suddenly, a man heard his cry and lifted him up in his arms. The child was fortunate that he was picked up by an affectionate man. The kind man asked him about his parents, but the child replied sobbingly not knowing their whereabouts. The man tried to pacify the child and asked him if he would like to take a ride on the merry-go-round. But the child replied that he wanted his parents only. Soon, the man took the child to the balloon-man, sweet shop and flower-seller and asked if he would like to buy any of those, but the young boy refused. He was adamant that he wanted nothing, but his parents. The child turned his face away from all those things which he wanted to buy earlier. Thus, the child only shouted, ‘I want my mother, I want my father!’