Summary on the poem the legend of the northland
Answers
‘A legend of the Northland’ is a ballad. A ballad is a poem narrating a story in short stanzas. Ballad is such kind of poem which tells a story in short stanzas and in the poem all the stanzas comprise four lines. In total, there are 16 stanzas in this poem and these stanzas will tell us a story. Ballads are a part of folk culture or popular culture and are passed on orally from one generation to the next. (Folk culture is a story of any area and is known as ballad). Folk culture comprises of traditional stories which are passed on from one generation to next generation.
Stanza 1
Away, away in the Northland,
Where the hours of the day are few,
And the nights are so long in winter
That they cannot sleep them through;
In the region around the North Pole (Northland), the duration of the day is very less because its position is such that the Sun’s rays reach for a very less time. When this area is experiencing winter season, the duration of night is very long, and the day time hours are very less. In line 4, ‘they’ refers to the people who live in this region. The poet says that the duration of the night time is so long that the people cannot sleep them through. If they go to bed, take a few hours of sleep and then, they wake up, it is still night time. He wants to emphasize on the fact that the duration of the night is very long.
Stanza 2
Where they harness the swift reindeer
To the sledges, when it snows;
And the children look like bear’s cubs
In their funny, furry clothes:
Sledges: a vehicle on runners for conveying loads or passengers over snow or ice, often pulled by draught animals.
To harness means to tie the reindeers with a rope to a sledge so that it can be used for transportation.
Swift: something which runs very fast
The Northland region experiences severe cold conditions. It is a snowy area. The reindeer is an animal which is found in this polar region. People tie the reindeers to sledges and then the reindeers pull the sledges. He adds that the children look like young ones of a bear because they wear funny looking clothes made of fur which is like the furry skin of a bear.
Stanza 3
They tell them a curious story —
I don’t believe ’tis true;
And yet you may learn a lesson
If I tell the tale to you.
Curious: strange
In line 1 ‘they’ refers to the parents or elders and ‘them’ refers to the children or the younger generation. The elders of the Northland region tell a strange and interesting story to the younger generation. The poet says that he doesn’t think that the story is true, but if he tells the story to the reader, maybe the reader could learn a lesson from it. The story gives an important message.

Stanza 4
Once, when the good Saint Peter
Lived in the world below,
And walked about it, preaching,
Just as he did, you know,
Saint Peter: an apostle of Christ, a disciple or follower of Jesus Christ
Preaching: to give a religious talk
The story is about Saint Peter. When Saint Peter used to live in the world and went around, giving religious lectures to the people just like all saints do, then an incident happened.

Stanza 5
He came to the door of a cottage,
In travelling round the earth,
Where a little woman was making cakes,
And baking them on the hearth;
hearth: fire place where you do cooking
When Saint Peter was moving around the world, giving religious lectures to the people, he reached the door of a cottage where a small woman was making cakes. She was baking the cakes in the fireplace.
'A Legend of Northland' is a ballad written by Phoebe Cary. It deals with the Northland, a polar reigon covered with snow.
Once upon a time, Saint Peter was on his usual round of travelling and preaching people. Suddenly he felt hungry. He came across an old cottage where a little old woman was baking cakes. Saint Peter approached the woman and asked for some cakes to eat. She started to bake a small cake for Saint Peter. But when it was done she found it to0 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 did not give it to Saint Peter as she was too greedy to part with a single morsel of food. This angered him. He said that she did not deserve to dwell in human form. He made her a bird to live searching for scant food in the forest. Besides, she would bore all day in the dry, hard wood. Finally, the greedy woman changed into a woodpecker with ugly features The poem conyeys the message that one should not be greedy and always help the needy.
(Hope it's helpful ^^)