A Legend of Northland- Poem
A Legend of Northland is a ballad written by Phoebe Cary.
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;
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:
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.
Once, when the good Saint Peter
Lived in the world below,
And walked about it, preaching,
Just as he did, you know,
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;
And being faint with fasting,
For the day was almost done,
He asked her, from her store of
cakes,
To give him a single one.
So she made a very little cake,
But as it baking lay,
She looked at it, and thought it
seemed
Too large to give away.
Therefore she kneaded another,
And still a smaller one;
But it looked, when she turned it
over,
As large as the first had done.
Then she took a tiny scrap of dough,
And rolled and rolled it flat;
And baked it thin as a wafer —
But she couldn’t part with that.
For she said, “My cakes that seem too
small
When I eat of them myself
Are yet too large to give away.”
So she put them on the shelf.
Then good Saint Peter grew angry,
For he was hungry and faint;
And surely such a woman
Continue reading the poem
Was enough to provoke a saint.
And he said, “You are far too selfish
To dwell in a human form,
To have both food and shelter,
And fire to keep you warm.
Now, you shall build as the birds do,
And shall get your scanty food
By boring, and boring, and boring,
All day in the hard, dry wood.”
Then up she went through the chimney,
Never speaking a word,
And out of the top flew a woodpecker,
For she was changed to a bird.
She had a scarlet cap on her head,
And that was left the same;
But all the rest of her clothes were
burned
Black as a coal in the flame.
And every country schoolboy
Has seen her in the wood,
Where she lives in the trees till
this very day,oring and boring for food.
A Legend of Northland- Summary
The poem is a legend about an old lady who angered
Saint Peter because of her greed. The story goes on like this. One day, Saint
Peter was preaching around the world and reached the door of a cottage where
this woman lived. 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
that and instead, she baked another smaller one. That also appeared to be big
so she did not give him that also
Read more
The second time she baked yet another smaller
cake but found it too big to give away. In the third attempt, 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 bird who had to bore in hard,
dry wood to get its scanty food. She can be seen in the trees all day boring
and boring for food.
A Legend of Northland- Question Answers
1. Which
country or countries do you think “the Northland” refers to?
Ans:- Northland refers to
the cold extreme-northern countries of the northern hemisphere, near and Arctic
circle. Since the poet is American, she could be referring to Alaska.
2. What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for?
Ans:- Saint Peter asked the
old lady for a single cake from her store of cakes.
In response to this request,
the old lady proceeded to bake Saint Peter a tiny cake.
3. How did he punish her?
Ans:- Saint Peter punished the lady by
turning her into a woodpecker bird which would have to get her food by boring
into the tree all day.
4. How
does the woodpecker get its food?
Ans:- As the name suggests,
the woodpecker pecks into wood of trees, boring in and out till it catches some
inspect living inside the tree.
5. Do
you think that the old lady would have been so ungenerous if she had known who
Saint Peter really was? What would she have done there?
Ans:- No, I believe if the
old lady knew the true identity of Saint Peter, she would not have been so
ungenerous.
She might have even shared her biggest
and tastiest cake with him. Or if her miserly mind set prevented her from doing
that, at the very least she would have given him one cake as he had asked for.
See more
6. Is
this a true story? Which part of this poem do you feel is the most important?
Ans:- No, this is not a true story but a legend.
The part of the poet which I felt being so selfish, even when Saint Peter chided the woman for being so selfish, even when she had excess to spare, and when he turned the ungenerous lady into a woodpecker so as to teach her a lesson. This goes on to show just how easy our life is compared to the birds and the animals. Unlike us, they have to scourge the entire day for the tiniest scarp of food. Yet we humans finish at the idea of having to share our opulence with people less fortunate than us.
Continue reading
1. What
is a legend? Why is this poem call a legend?
Ans:- A legend is a non-historical or unverifiable
traditional old story that has been passed down through the ages.
This poem is called a legend
because it is a traditional story popular in the northern countries, which has
been told through the ages, but has no historical evidence of being true.
2. Write the story of “A legend of the Northland” in about ten sentences.
Ans:- Once upon a time, when Saint Peter lived on earth he moved from place to place spreading the word of the Lord. During one such travel, he arrived at the door of a woman who was baking cakes. Tired and hungry from fasting, he asked her for a single cake. Not wanting to part with her big cakes, the miserly woman made him a little cake.
However, she found it too; too big to
give away and hence made an even smaller one. This went on until she made a
wafer-than tiny cake. Her greed did not allow her to give him this too, and she
said to herself that cakes that appeared too small when she ate them, seemed
too large for giving away, and set all the cakes on the shelf. Saint Peter was
enraged at the woman’s penurious nature and pronounced that she did not deserve
to be a human and enjoy the comforts of life. He decided that she would now
have to bore through wood to get even scanty food. Saying so he transformed her
into a woodpecker, and to this day she pecks wood in the forests to look for
food.
