NCERT Solutions 09th English Chapter 3 The Little Girl

1. Why was Kezia afraid of her father?
Answer:
Kezia was afraid of her father because he was very strict. He used to talk to her harshly. He was in a habit of finding out her mistakes.
2. Who were the people in Kezia’s family?
Answer:
Kezia had her mother, father and grandmother in her family.
3. What was Kezia’s father’s routine
(i) before going to his office?
(ii) after coming back from his office?
(iii) on Sundays?
Answer:
(i) Before going to his office, Kezia’s father went into her room to give her a casual kiss.
(ii) After coming back from his office, he would ask for newspaper and tea.
(iii) On Sundays, he would stretch out on the sofa. He would cover his face with his handkerchief, put his feet on one of the cushions, sleep soundly and snoring.
4. In what ways did Kezia’s grandmother encourage her to get to know her father better?
Answer:
Kezia’s grandmother encouraged her to get to know her father better by sending her to the drawing room to talk to her parents on Sundays. She also suggested Kezia to make a gift of a pin-cushion on her father’s birthday.
5.Kezia’s efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him very much. How did this happen?
Answer:
Kezia efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him. On every Sunday, her grandmother sent her down to the drawing room to have a nice talk with her father and mother. But her father always got irritated with her. He used to call her 'little brown owl'. One day her grandmother suggested her to make a gift of a pin-cushion on her father’s birthday. Kezia stuffed her pin-cushion with papers. But the sheets she had torn and filled in the cushion were her father’s speech for the Port Authority. He scolded her and punished her by hitting her palm with a ruler.
6.Kezia decides that there are “different kinds of fathers”. What kind of father was Mr Macdonald, and how was he different from Kezia’s father?
Answer:
Mr. Macdonald was a loving father. He would play ‘tag5 with his children. He would put the baby Mao on his shoulders. Two girls would hang on to his pockets. He would run round and round the flower beds laughing. He was very nice and friendly with his children. He was just opposite to the Kezia's father. He never punished his children. He played with them whenever he was free. Kezia’s father, on the other hand, never played with her. He always looked angry and harsh.
7.How does Kezia begin to see her father as a human being who needs her sympathy?
Answer:
One day, Kezia's mother became ill, and she and her grandmother went to hospital. Kezia was left at home in the care of Alice, the cook. At night, when Alice put her to the bed she had a nightmare. She saw a butcher with a knife and a rope. He came close to her with a dreadful smile. She could not move but cried out. But, to her surprise, she found her father standing near her bed. He took her in his arms and made her sleep by his side.
After some time, still half asleep, she crept close to him, snuggled her head under his arm and held tightly to his shirt. Now she felt comfortable. Her father told her to rub her feet against his legs and get them warm. This made her realise that he had to work hard every day due to which he got too tired to play with her like Mr Macdonald. She expressed her feelings for her father by telling him that he has a 'big heart'.