Section II : Literature
Unit - 1 Short Stories
Class 11 English
Chapter - 1
The Selfish Giant
Summary
Answer 👉
The story of the "Selfish Giant" is about a giant who lived in a castle with a large, beautiful garden filled with lush green grass and beautiful flowers. The children of the town used to play in the garden every afternoon, but one day the giant returned from a seven-year visit to his friend, the Cornish ogre, and was angry to find the children playing in his garden. He became very selfish and built a high wall around the garden, with a notice board saying "Trespassers will be prosecuted."
The giant's actions caused the children to have nowhere to play and they became sad. The garden also suffered as a result of the giant's selfishness. Although it was spring time everywhere else in the country, the garden remained in winter with no birds singing and the trees failing to blossom. The Snow, Frost, North Wind, and Hail took up residence in the garden, making it even colder and inhospitable.
One morning the giant heard a bird singing outside his window and was filled with joy. He jumped out of bed to find that the children had managed to sneak into the garden and were playing in the trees, which had come to life again, covered in blossoms and with their branches swaying gently above the children's heads. The flowers were laughing, the birds were tweeting, and everything was lively and joyful once more, except for one corner of the garden where it was still winter.
In that corner, there was a small boy who was crying because he was too small to reach the branches of the tree he was trying to play in. The giant went to the boy, picked him up, and placed him in the tree. The tree immediately came to life, covered in blossom, and the boy stopped crying. The giant realized that he had been wrong to be selfish and that happiness comes from sharing and being kind. From that day on, the garden remained in spring, and the giant became kind and hospitable to all the children who wanted to play there.
Answer the following questions.
a. Where did the children use to play?
Answer 👉 The children used to play in the giant's garden before it became a desolate place.
b. What did the Snow and the Frost do to the garden?
Answer 👉 In the story "The Selfish Giant", Snow and Frost wreaked havoc in the giant's garden. They covered the entire garden with ice and snow, causing the flowers and trees to wither and die. The garden became a barren and lifeless wasteland as a result of the Snow and Frost's actions.
c. What did the giant hear when he was lying awake in bed?
Answer 👉 In the story of "The Selfish Giant," the giant hears the laughter of the children playing in his garden when he is lying awake in bed.
d. Why do you think spring season never came to the giant's garden?
Answer 👉 The spring season never came to the giant's garden because the giant was selfish and unkind. He refused to let the children play in his garden and was always looking for something to take away from them. He was so focused on hoarding his possessions that he failed to see the beauty of the world around him and never felt the warmth of the sun. This caused his garden to be cold, dark, and dreary, and spring never came to it.
e. How did the giant realise his mistake?
Answer 👉 In the story of "The Selfish Giant," the giant realizes his mistake when he sees the children playing in his garden and notices how joyous and happy they are. He realizes that he has been depriving them of this happiness and realizes that his selfishness has caused the spring season to never come to his garden. The giant finally understands that love, kindness, and generosity bring joy and happiness and decides to open his garden to the children forever.
A. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
a. “How happy we were there!” they said to each other.
i. Where does ‘there’ refer to?
ii. What does ‘they’ refer to?
iii. Why are they saying so?
Answer 👉 i. "There" refers to the place where "they" were.
ii. "They" refers to the people who were speaking to each other.
iii. They are saying they were happy because they remember a place where they were happy.
b. “I have many beautiful flowers,” he said; “but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all.”
i. Who is the speaker?
ii. Who is he speaking to?
iii. Who are ‘the children’ that the speaker is referring to?
iv. Why is the speaker saying that ‘the children are the most beautiful flowers of all’?
Answer 👉 i. The speaker is a giant.
ii. He is speaking to someone, but it is not specified who.
iii. The children that the speaker is referring to are the children who used to play in the giant's garden.
iv. The speaker is saying that the children are the most beautiful flowers of all because he finds the children more beautiful than the flowers in his garden.
c. When the little child smiled at the Giant, and said to him, "You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise," shortly afterwards, the happy giant dies. What is the coincidence of this event? Describe it in relation to this fairy tale.
Answer 👉 The coincidence of the event is that the giant dies shortly after the little child spoke to him and invited him to Paradise. This is related to the fairy tale because the child represents innocence and kindness, and the giant's death symbolizes the power of love and kindness to transform even the hardest of hearts.
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