NCERT SOLUTIONS FOR CLASS 10 - ENGLISH NOTES - THE FROG AND THE NIGHTINGALE - VIKRAM SETH - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - CBSE

 

THE FROG AND THE NIGHTINGALE

VIKRAM SETH

 

a) How did the creatures of Bingle bog react to the nightingale’s singing?

Ans: The creature of Bingle Bog appreciated the sweet voice of the nightingale. They, in fact, crowded the places where they could see and hear the nightingale’s song. Animals and birds came from long distances to hear her sweet and melodious song.

 

b) Which are the different ways in which the frog asserts his importance?

Ans: The frog asserts his importance as a musician and an art critic. He also shows his importance that he owns the Bingle Bog and reigns supreme in it. He also tells her that if she gets training from him, she would scale new heights in singing.

 

c) Why is the frog’s joy both sweet and bitter?

Ans: The frog’s joy is sweet because he is earning a lot of money from the nightingale’s songs. But his joy turns bitter because he became jealous of the nightingale’s popularity.

 

d) Why was the frog angry?

Ans: The frog was angry because the nightingale didn’t sing sweetly to enable him to earn more. Secondly, her voice was becoming ‘uninspired’ as her song now zipped, trilled and bounced along.

 

e) How did the frog become the unrivalled king of the bog again?

Ans: The frog became the unrivalled king of the bog again after the death of the nightingale. Now no bird or animal could rival him in singing. Secondly, all of them over there were greatly scared of him.

 

Discuss the following questions and write the answers in your note-books.

a) Bring out the irony in the frog’s statement – ‘your song must be your own’.

Ans: When the nightingale said that her song was her own, the frog remarked that she should not boast about that and gave lessons to improve her. Later when she died, frog hypocritically stole her statement and told the audience that he taught her to be original in her song.

 

b) Do you think the end is justified?

Ans: No, the end is not justified because the revenge of the nightingale’s ruthless killing could not be taken as nobody could know frog’s reality.

 

c) Do you think the nightingale is ‘brainless’? Give reasons for your answer.

Ans: Yes, the nightingale is truly brainless because she could not understand the craftily scheme of the frog. Let herself be dominated by the frog, trusted him blindly, was not confident about her talent, and relied on frog.

 

d) In spite of having a melodious voice and being a crowd puller, the nightingale turns out to be a loser and dies. How far is she responsible for her own downfall?

Ans: The nightingale herself is responsible for her own downfall as such men are bound to fall before the crafty and deceitful persons. She has no capacity to judge and evaluate the persons from their sweet tongues. That’s why, she is killed by the evil designs of the frog who ploys her to her death.

 

e) Do you agree with the frog’s inference of the nightingale’s character? Give reasons.

Ans: No, I am not completely convinced by the inference that the frog has about the nightingale character. The nightingale is, in reality, a gullible bird but the frog portrayed her as greedy and untalented bird. She won over the heart of her audience time and again with her origin lyrics and compositions whereby the frog charged her with being stale. She was much better singer than the frog but he made her take lessons from him. The frog presented the nightingale exactly the opposite to what she really was.