Q. 1. Was it a dark night? 

Ans: Yes, it was a dark night.

Q. 2. Had it been raining for long?

Ans: Yes, it had been raining for last 10 hours.

Let us, now, read the following lines once again:

I remember the night my mother

Was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours

Of steady rain had driven him

To crawl beneath a sack of rice.

Parting with his poison-flash

Of diabolic tail in the dark room (-)

He risked the rain again.

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Q.1. What drove the scorpion inside the house?

Ans: Continuous rain drove the scorpion inside the house.

Q. 2. Where did the scorpion crawl?

Ans: The scorpion crawled under a sack of rice.

Q. 3. Choose the correct option to complete the following sentence.

The word ‘flash’ means:

(i) a cowardly action 

(ii) a quick and sudden action

(iii) a wicked action

Ans: (ii) a quick and sudden action.

Q. 4. Why does he call the tail ‘diabolic’? 

Ans: He call the tail diabolic because it poisons the person it stings.

Let us read further:

The peasants came like swarms of flies 

And buzzed the Name of God a hundred

Time to paralyse the Evil one.

With candles and with lanterns 

Throwing giant scorpion shadows

On the mud-baked walls 

They searched for him; he was not found 

They clicked their tongues.

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Q. 1. Who came into the house?

Ans: The peasants came into the house.

Q. 2. What is the scorpion referred to in the third line?

Ans: In the third line the scorpion is referred to the evil one.

Q. 3. Why did the peasants say the name of God a hundred times?

Ans: The peasants say the name of God a hundred times to paralyse the evil one.

Q. 4. Whose shadows were thrown on the walls?

Ans: The shadows of peasants were thrown on the wall.

Q. 5. Choose the correct option

The phrase ‘clicked their tongues’ express

(i) The peasants’ worries about the sting

(ii) The peasants’ sorrow for the mother. 

(iii) The peasants’ failure to find the scorpion.

Ans: (ii) The peasants’ failure to find the scorpion.

Q. 6. Pick out a simile and a metaphor from the above lines.

Ans: Simile: peasants came like swarm of flies.

Metaphor: giant scorpion shadows.

Let us read on:

With every movement that the scorpion made

his poison moved in Mother’s blood they said

May your suffering decrease 

the misfortunes of your next birth, they said.

May the sum of evil

balance in this world

against the sum of good

become diminished by your pain 

May the poison purify your flesh

Of desire, and your spirit of ambition, 

They said, and they sat around 

On the floor with may mother in the center, 

The peace of understanding on each face.

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Q. 1. (a) How many times they said’ has been repeated?

Ans: They said’ has been repeated six times. 

(b) Who are ‘they’ in the the above lines?

Ans: “They are the peasants in the above lines.

(c) Why did they want the scorpion to sit still ?

Ans: The peasants had a belief that with the movement of the scorpion the poison would move into mother’s body, so they wanted the scorpion to sit still.

The peasants, in the above lines, are praying for the woman. They begin each prayer with the world ‘may’.The repetitive use of the word is known as chanting. It also shows here the peasant’s concern for the suffering woman. 

Q. 2. List the prayers that the peasants make for the mother

Ans: (i) May your suffering decrease the misfortunes of your next birth. 

(ii) May the sum of evil against the sum of good become diminished.

(iii) May the poison purify your flesh.

(iv) May he sit still. 

(v) May the sins of the previous birth be burned away.

Let us read further:

More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours

more insects, and the endless rain.

My mother twisted through and through

groaning on a mat

My father, sceptic, rationalist

trying every curse and blessing.

powder, mixture, herb and hybrid.

He even poured a little paraffin 

upon the bitten toe and put a match to it. 

I watched the flame feeding on my mother 

I watched the holy man perform his rites 

to tame the poison with an incantation.

After twenty hours 

It lost its sting.

My mother only said

Thank god the scorpion picked on me 

and spared my children.

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Q. 1. The poet says that his father who was a rationalist tried everything. Why did he do so? Pick out the correct answer from the options given below:

(i) because the father had changed

(ii) because the father wanted to do what others were doing

(iii) because the father was deeply concerned

Ans: (iii) because the father was deeply concerned.

Q. 2. Why did the mother feel relieved?

Ans: The mother felt relieved because the scorpion bit her and spared her children.