Roger Skunk’s mummy was angry with him because she did not like her son smelling of roses. Roger was a skunk and so he must smell like one. She did not care for the fact that all the other animals kept away from him because he smelled badly. She decided to take him back to that ‘awful’ wizard so that he could get back his old smell.

Jo thought Roger Skunk was much better off with the new smell because of which he had been able to find so many friends and played with them happily. For her Roger Skunk’s story should have ended on a happy note with his pleasant smell because of which he was accepted by the other creatures as their friend.

Jo was not convinced with the ending of the story and coaxed her father to retell the story the next day giving the story a predetermined path that she had set. According to her, neither Roger Skunk nor the wizard was wrong in the story. Jo refused to accept the end where Roger Skunk's mother hit the wizard and that too without being hit back. She wanted the story to end with the wizard hitting back the mother skunk with his magic wand on her head.

The servants decided to leave Sadao's house as the felt that their lives were in danger because of nursing a prisoner of war in the house. They were already so poor that they didn't wanted to get into trouble with the authorities.

Sadao was a famous surgeon and scientist. He had mastered the art of healing wounds. The old General of Japan had full faith in his abilities as a surgeon. He did not believe any other doctor. He was not keeping good health and could require a surgery any time, so Sadao was not sent with the troops abroad.

Sadao’s education had been his father’s chief concern, who even sent him to America at the age of twenty-two to study surgery and medicine. Sadao’s father was a true patriot and took immense pride in Japanese culture and traditions. That is why Sadao married Hana only after confirming that she was a Japanese, as he did not want to upset his father. This suggests that Sadao’s father’was a very traditional and conventional man.

Hana was very much helpful while the operation was on. She dipped a small clean towel into the steaming hot water and washed his face. She was requested to give the anaesthetic if needed. With the help of instruments from his emergency bag, Sadao made a clean and precise incision. The bullet was out and the doctor declared that the man would live.

Well, Dr. Sadao treated the American soldier for two reasons. Firstly, he had been morally bound by the Hippocratic oath to treat any patient irrespective of their nationality, colour, creed, or religion. Secondly, he had spent eight years of his years learning medicine at America. He had a soft corner in his heart for a man who belonged to the country where he had learnt so much; he owed meeting Hana, his wife and love, to America. So the above mentioned two points impelled Dr. Sadao to treat the American prisoner of war.

Answer:
1. The phrase, ‘familiar ache’ means a pain or fear that the poet has had at a point of time. It is the emotional pain the poet feels due to the realisation that her mother was growing old and pale.
2. The poet’s childhood fear was that her mother would get old and die and she would lose her mother and thus be separated from her.
3. The first two lines reveal that the poet loves her mother dearly and so she has many insecurities in regard to her mother.

4) The 'smile' on the poetess face exhibits the helplessness that she is undergoing. she fails to express her fear or love in words to her mother. She only manages to smile helplessly. 

(a) When we look out of a moving vehicle, we see the objects moving in the opposite direction. This motion is referred to as 'sprinting' by the poetess, who when looked out of her moving car, felt as if the trees were running.

(b) The poetess looked at her mother again to reassure herself of her mother’s presence.

(c) The poetess observed that her mother looked pale and weak.

(d) The poetic device that is used in these lines is personification and simile.

The writer has highlighted the fact that a petty peddler-cum thief gets an opportunity to rise himself to the standard of a real captain through the goodness, sympathy, love and considerate behaviour of Edla Willmansson. His philosophical attitude towards life is changed and he turns out to be a reformed man.

At her father’s request, Edla brings the peddler to her house for the Christmas Cheer since her father has considered him to be his old aquaintance of a regiment. While on his way to the manor house, the peddler realises that he has voluntarily offered himself to the lion's den. After reaching the ironmaster's house, the peddler is beautifully dressed and shaved by the valet. When he enters for the breakfast, the ironmaster realises his mistake about him. The truth is exposed and the ironmaster threatens to call for the Sheriff. But here Edla plays a significant role. She intercedes for the vagabond and pleads that the peddler hardly finds a single home where he is welcome. He is always chased away. She advocates to let him enjoy a day of peace in their company. She even does not think it nice to chase away a man whom they have themselves invited for Christmas cheer. The rattrap man does not utter a word but goes on looking at the girl in utter astonishment. All these circumstancial events go on jolting the peddler from his evil ways. In a way the ironmaster has declared the peddler a thief. When they return from the church service, they find everything infact. The valet tells about a package has been left by the peddler while leaving the house. She finds a letter a rattrap and a thirty Kroner bill. She feels utmost happy since the peddler has shown true faith in her. His letter states that the rattrap is a Christmas present from a ‘rat’ who would have been caught if he had not been raised to a captain.

Answer:
When the ironmaster heard that the Crofter had been robbed by the Peddler, he concluded that the Peddler would probably steal all the silver cutlery in the ironmaster’s home and run away.

Edla pleaded her father not to send the vagabond away as she became sympathetic seeing the plight of the poor peddler. She requested her father to allow him to spend one day with them in peace as a respite from the struggle he had to endure round the year.

The owner of that mill was a very prominent ironmaster. His greatest ambition was to ship out good iron to the market. He insisted on quality and kept a watch on the work both night and day. He came to the forge on one of his nightly rounds of inspection.

Initially the stranger declined the ironmaster’s invitation. He had the stolen thirty kronors on him and thought it was like going into the lion’s den. But then he accepted the ironmaster’s invitation because Edla’s sympathy and compassion allayed his fears and her friendly manner made him to have confidence in her.

The writer has highlighted the fact that a petty peddler-cum thief gets an opportunity to rise himself to the standard of a real captain through the goodness, sympathy, love and considerate behaviour of Edla Willmansson. His philosophical attitude towards life is changed and he turns out to be a reformed man.

At her father’s request, Edla brings the peddler to her house for the Christmas Cheer since her father has considered him to be his old aquaintance of a regiment. While on his way to the manor house, the peddler realises that he has voluntarily offered himself to the lion's den. After reaching the ironmaster's house, the peddler is beautifully dressed and shaved by the valet. When he enters for the breakfast, the ironmaster realises his mistake about him. The truth is exposed and the ironmaster threatens to call for the Sheriff. But here Edla plays a significant role. She intercedes for the vagabond and pleads that the peddler hardly finds a single home where he is welcome. He is always chased away. She advocates to let him enjoy a day of peace in their company. She even does not think it nice to chase away a man whom they have themselves invited for Christmas cheer. The rattrap man does not utter a word but goes on looking at the girl in utter astonishment. All these circumstancial events go on jolting the peddler from his evil ways. In a way the ironmaster has declared the peddler a thief. When they return from the church service, they find everything infact. The valet tells about a package has been left by the peddler while leaving the house. She finds a letter a rattrap and a thirty Kroner bill. She feels utmost happy since the peddler has shown true faith in her. His letter states that the rattrap is a Christmas present from a ‘rat’ who would have been caught if he had not been raised to a captain.

The owner of a roadside cottage gave shelter to the peddler. He showed him warm hospitality and told him how he earnt thirty kronors by selling cow-milk in his old days. Then the old man took down a leather pouch hung on the nail of a window frame and showed thirty kronor bills to him. Then he stuffed them back into the pouch. The act of showing the kronor bills surprised the peddler since he was a perfect stranger.

What lesson did Douglas learn when he got rid of his fear of water?

Answer : After getting rid of his fear of water, Douglas realised that what one has to fear is fear itself and if he is able to overcome fear, he can achieve anything he wants.

Douglas landed inside the pool in a sitting position, swallowed water and went at once to the bottom of the YMCA pool. On the way down he planned that once his feet would hit the bottom he would make a big jump to come out.

Douglas was not satisfied with his practice so he decided to go to Lake Wentworth. There he was swimming in the middle of the lake, only once did the terror return, but he finally overcame it, and it did not return again.

When Douglas realised that he was sinking he did not lose his wits and thought to make a big jump when his feet touched the bottom, so that he could reach the surface and finally paddle to the edge of the pool.

After the incident at the Y. M. C. A. Douglas felt that entering in the water had become a source of constant trouble. All of his water sports and enjoyments had gone. His fishing trips, canaling, swimming and boating were over. To get rid of it he engaged an expert instructor to teach him swimming and overcoming his fear of water. He practised five days a week. After three months, Douglas realised that the tension was decreasing. Piece by piece he shed the panic. When he swam two miles across the Lake, he was happy to have conquered his fear.

Seemapuri is a place on the outskirts of New Delhi. Those who live there are unlawful residents who came from Bangladesh in 1971. It is a place where about 10,000 rag pickers live. They live without identity and have no basic amenities, yet they are happy here because they get food which is more important than identity. It is a slum where they could find many things and rag picking was their only means of survival.

Rag picking was the means of survival for the rag pickers. According to the author, it is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. Thus, it is equivalent to gold for them. Besides, for the children it is wrapped in wonder for they, at times, chance upon a rupee, even a ten-rupee note.

Some of the children in Seemapuri want to wear shoes. But a large number of them have to stay barefoot as they cannot afford to buy a pair of shoes. They state that it is a tradition to stay barefoot as an excuse to hide their grinding poverty.

 The bangle makers could not organise themselves into a cooperative because they were trapped in the vicious circle of sahukars, middlemen, policemen, up bureaucrats and politicians. If they tried to organise themselves, they would be beaten by up the police and put in jail.

The bangle makers are caught in a vicious web because they

• are compelled by family and traditions to follow the same lineage as their forefathers that too at an early age.
• are exploited at the hands of the Sahukars, middlemen, policemen, law makers, bureaucrats and politicians
• toil day and night, but are notpaid appropriate wages
• cannot form cooperatives for their betterment.

The title ‘Lost Spring’ conveys how millions of children in India lose out on living the ‘spring’ of their lives, that is their childhood. The best phase of life is lost in the hardships involved to earn their livelihood. Poverty forces these young children to work in the most inhuman conditions as a result of which they miss out on the fun of childhood which hampers their growth.

Mukesh belongs to the family of bangle-makers. He tells the writer to become a motor mechanic. He will learn to drive a car and does not hesitate to go to the far off garage. He has no desire to live and become the victim of poverty. He says “Jodo anything else means having some lare and the same is flashing on his face.” In this way Mukesh will surely realize his dream.

Before dismissing the last class, M Hamel turned to the blackboard, and wrote the phrase, 'Vive La France! ' as large as he could. These words meant 'Long live France', and spoke of M Hamel's great love for his country and his deep sense of patriotism

Before dismissing the last class, M Hamel turned to the blackboard, and wrote the phrase, ‘Vive La France!’ as large as he could. These words meant ‘Long live France’, and spoke of M Hamel’s great love for his country and his deep sense of patriotism.