Literature Workbook
The Best Christmas
Unit 1 Present in the World
About the Author
Michael Morpurgo (October 5, 1943–) is an
English author, poet, playwright and librettist
(a person who writes all the words and
directions needed to stage an opera). He
is best known for children’s novels such as
‘War Horse’. His writing career was inspired
by Ted Hughes who was his friend, mentor
and neighbour. He became the third British
laureate from 2003 to 2005.
About the Chapter
Part I
The author noticed a roll-top desk in a junk shop in Bridport. It was of early nineteenth
century origin in oak, but in bad condition. One leg was badly mended; burn marks were
all over, but the author decided to buy it as it was cheap and he thought of repairing it
himself and set out to do so, on Christmas Eve.
He removed the roll-top and tried hard to pull out the drawers one of which had jammed.
With brutal force, he was able to pull out the last drawer which in turn had a secret drawer
underneath. He reached in and took out a small black tin box.
There was a notepaper written on the box: “Jim’s last letter received January 25, 1915.”
The letter writer had wished the letter to be buried with her. The author could not contain his
curiosity and opened the tin box. It had an envelope with the address. Mrs. Jim Macpherson,
12 Copper Beeches, Bridport, Dorset.” The letter was dated December 26, 1914.
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Part II
The letter had been written by Jim to his wife Connie. He was the
captain of the English troops set against the Germans during the First
World War. He expressed his happy state of mind as something
wonderful had happened. It was a typical Christmas morning, cold
and frosty when Jim saw the German soldiers waving the white
flag and emerging from their trenches to wish the English soldiers
‘Happy Christmas’. Though pleasantly surprised, the English
soldiers too, wished them in return. Earlier they had thought
this to be some kind of a trick but it wasn’t.
The German leader said that they wanted to celebrate Christmas.
Jim too, allowed his men to join and it was a sight of mingling
of grey and khaki coats! Hans Wolf, the Fritz officer of Germans
had taken the initiative. He said that before joining the army, he used to play the cello in an
orchestra. Jim had been a school teacher in Dorset, West of England. Hans Wolf pretended
that he knew all about the place Dorset but in reality, he knew about that place only through
Thomas Hardy’s novel, Far from the Madding Crowd.
The huddles of khaki and greys were all around in no man’s land merry-making and enjoying
to the hilt. Jim wrote to Connie that Hans loved that tasty marzipan on the cake prepared
by her— whatever was left of that Christmas cake. He had further written that he had never
seen or imagined a Christmas party like that. Both Jim and Hans agreed on one point that the
countries should not go for wars, as wars left behind orphans and widows but they should
resolve all their issues by playing games like cricket or football. No one dies in a game.
Everything came to an end. The grey-coated men drifted back to their trenches. Exchange of
carols took place for a while followed by silence. Jim wrote that it was a time of peace and
goodwill, a time that he would treasure for the rest of his life. They parted with the hope
that they would be with their families as soon as the war ended.
Part III
The author put the letter back into the envelope and decided to drive down to Bridport to
hand over the letter to Connie (Mrs Macpherson). It transpired that she was moved to a
nursing home on the other side of the town as her house had caught fire but she was saved.
She was now 101 years old wheel-chair bound and suffering from memory lapses.
Upon meeting her, he wished her ‘Happy Christmas’ and gave the letter to her. Her eyes
shone bright as she recognized her husband’s letter and she beamed with joy seeing the
author as she mistook him to be Jim, her husband. She kissed him on his cheek and asked
him to read the letter to her. She was delighted that Jim had come on Christmas as promised.
She wanted to hear his voice. She said that he (Jim) was the best Christmas present to her
in the world.
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Understanding the Chapter
Reference to the context.
Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow.
1. I removed the roll-top completely and pulled out the drawers. The
veneer has lifted almost everywhere—it looked like water damage to
me. Both fire and water had clearly taken their toll on this desk. The
last drawer was stuck fast. I tried all I could to ease it out gently.
In the end, I used brute force. I struck it sharply with the side of my
fist and the drawer flew open to reveal a shallow space underneath,
a secret drawer. There was something in there. I reached in and
took out a small black tin box.
(i) What had caused the veneer to come off almost everywhere on the roll-top desk?
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(ii) How was the author finally able to open the drawer?
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(iii) What did he find in a secret drawer? Who do you think had put it in there? [NCERT]
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(iv) The phrasal verb ‘pull out’ means—
(a) keep out (b) stay out
(c) take out (d) push back
(v) One of the words given below is an antonym of ‘reveal’. Find it.
(a) appeal (b) conceal
(c) deal (d) uncover
2. ...So out there in no man’s land, we talked of Bathsheba, and Gabriel Oak and Sergeant Troy
and Dorset. He had a wife and one son, born just six months ago. As I looked about me,
there were huddles of khaki and grey everywhere, all over no man’s land, smoking, laughing,
talking drinking, eating. Hans wolf and I shared what was left of your wonderful Christmas
cake, Connie. He thought the marzipan was the best he had ever tasted. I agreed. We agreed
about everything, and he was my enemy. There never was a Christmas party like it, Connie.
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(i) Explain ‘no man’s land’.
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(ii) Who are ‘we’ in the passage?
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(iii) Who had made the cake and which part of it was liked by the enemy
officer?
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(iv) Choose the right word from the text passage and complete
the sentence.
We agreed about everything, and he was my ___________________ .
(v) The word ‘huddle’ means the same as:
(a) drifting apart (b) separation
(c) form teams together (d) gather closely together
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3. The old lady was sitting in a wheelchair, her hands folded in her lap. She had silver white hair
pinned into a wispy bun. She was gazing out at the garden. “Hello”, I said. She turned and
looked up at me vacantly. “Happy Christmas, Connie”,
I went on. “I found this. I think it’s yours”. As I was
speaking her eyes never left my face. I opened the tin
box and gave it to her. That was the moment her eyes lit
up with recognition and her face became suffused with a
sudden glow of happiness.
(i) Describe the old lady. Who was she?
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(ii) “I found this”. What is ‘this’? And where was ‘this’ found?
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(iii) Write the sudden transformation that took place in the old lady’s expressions.
What brought it about?
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(iv) Which sentence in the text shows that the visitor did not try to hide his identity?
[NCERT]
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(v) Write the noun and adjective of the word ‘vacantly’.
(a) _____________ noun (b) _____________ adjective
For Better Understanding
1. Where did the author spot the roll-top desk and what made him buy that?
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2. What was written on the piece of lined notepaper in a shaky handwriting?
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3. What will not happen if the wars are resolved by playing
games according to Hans and Jim?
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4. What was Connie’s best Christmas present in the world? Was it the letter or the visitor?
Justify your answer.
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Grammar Skills
Collocation
Exercise
1. Match the words in column A with those in
column B to make correct collocations.
Let us Recall
Collocation is a combination of two or more words
Columna A Columna B which describe the relationship between them as
they often appear together. It is an accepted way
(i) busy (a) traffic
of using the words together.
(ii) flourishing (b) speech
Examples: loyal dog, crying shame,
(iii) dedicated (c) steep magnificent building, great idea etc
(iv) slow-moving (d) staff We do not say ‘loyal idea’ or ‘crying building’.
(v) extempore (e) business
(vi) dangerously (f) road
Order of Adjectives
Exercise
2. Unscramble the jumbled adjectives in their correct order to form meaningful phrases.
(i) fat/the/lady/old/grey-haired
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(ii) thin/pencil/the/blunt/useless
Let us Recall
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Adjectives are words used with nouns to describe
___________________________________ their kind, size, age, number, shape, material etc.
When more than one adjective is placed before
(iii) pleasant/that/fair/thin/lady a noun, there is a certain preferred order to be
followed.
___________________________________
Examples:
___________________________________
1. An antique wooden chair
(iv) colourful/flying/small/the/bird. It has the article + adjective + adjective +
noun.
___________________________________
‘antique’ tells us age.
___________________________________ ‘wooden’ tells us material.
2. a beautiful yellow chiffon saree
(v) cold/of/the/water/sea/blue/the
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
___________________________________ article opinion colour material noun
So, the order of placement that the adjectives
___________________________________
follow is:
(vi) a/chair/brown/broken/old Determiners/article (a, an, the) → opinion
(size, age, shape) → colour
___________________________________
Material → noun (main word).
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Word Building
1. Write the synonyms and antonyms of the words given below.
Words Synonyms Antonyms
(i) often __________________ __________________
(ii) traditional __________________ __________________
(iii) contract __________________ __________________
(iv) decay __________________ __________________
(v) flippant __________________ __________________
(vi) lawful __________________ __________________
(vii) defective __________________ __________________
(viii) pause __________________ __________________
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2. Give one word for the phrases given below. Choose the correct answer from the box.
psychiatry, bouquet, blooper, grouchy, tranquilizer, dilapidated, proverb, snippet
(i) bunch of flowers ____________________________
(ii) old and in very bad condition ____________________________
(iii) bad-tempered and often complaining ____________________________
(iv) a well-known phrase that is generally true ____________________________
(v) the study and treatment of mental illnesses ____________________________
(vi) small piece of information or news ____________________________
(vii) a drug used to reduce anxiety ____________________________
(viii) an embarrassing mistake made in public ____________________________
Writing Skills
Notice Writing
You have found a school bag containing books, notebooks and a few other items in the
school playground. Write a Notice informing the students of the same to be put up on the
school Notice board. Invent all other necessary details. You are Reena/Ramesh of VIIIB.
(Word limit 50 words)
Follow the Rules
• Write the name of the School/Institution on top.
• The word ‘NOTICE’
• Heading/Title
• Date of writing the notice (on the left)
• Day, date, time, place, programme etc.
• Name and Designation of the person issuing/writing the Notice.
• Put the Notice in a box.
• Adhere to the word limit.
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The Ant and the
Cricket
About the Poet
Aesop’s Fables is a collection of fables credited to Aesop,
a slave and storyteller who is believed to have lived in
ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE (Before Common
Era). The stories and the poetic works associated with
his name have got popularised in modern times too.
About the Poem
Part I
A silly young cricket would spend all his time in singing and merrymaking. He loved to sing
and sang through the pleasant sunny months of summer and spring. At the onset of bitterly cold
winter, he realized that he had saved nothing for the lean times. There was snow all around, all
the trees and the flowers were covered with snow. The cricket had nothing to eat as he had lacked
the foresight to store food for such times. He moaned as to what was to become of him as he felt
starved.
Wet with rain and shivering with cold, the cricket decided to meet the ant and ask him for food and
shelter. He clearly stated to the ant that he would only borrow
and return the food the next day. The ant replied
that he was the cricket’s servant and friend
but the ants followed the principle of neither
lending nor borrowing, so the ant would not
give him anything. He in fact asked the cricket
why he had not saved for a rainy day.
The cricket honestly admitted that he was busy
singing and enjoying the beauty of nature. The
miserly ant admonished him saying that now he
should dance in those wintry months as he had
been so foolish.
With these words, he turned the poor cricket
away.
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Understanding the Poem
Reference to the context.
Read the following stanzas and answer the questions that follow.
1. His cupboard was empty, and winter was come.
Not a crumb to be found
On the snow-covered ground;
Not a flower could he see,
Not a leaf on a tree.
“Oh! what will become,” says the cricket, “of me?”
(i) Whose cupboard was empty?
_________________________________________________________________________
(ii) What had winter brought with it?
_________________________________________________________________________
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(iii) What is the speaker worried about?
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(iv) The cricket says, “Oh! What will become of me?” When does he say it, and why? [NCERT]
_____________________________________
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(v) Pick out the rhyming words from the above
stanza and write them below.
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2. Says the ant to the cricket,
“I’m your servant and friend,
But we ants never borrow;
we ants never lend.
But tell me, dear cricket, did you lay nothing by
When the weather was warm?”
Quoth the cricket, “Not I!
(i) Write the sentence which the ant said very humbly to the cricket.
___________________________________________
(ii) State the principle followed by ants.
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
(iii) What did the cricket say ‘Not I’ to?
___________________________________________
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(iv) Write the two rhyming pairs from the above stanza.
________________________________________________________________________
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(v) What does ‘lay nothing by’ mean in the poem?
________________________________________________________________________
3. My heart was so light
That I sang day and night,
For all nature looked gay.”
“You sang, Sir, you say?
Go then,” says the ant, “and dance the winter away.”
Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket,
And out of the door turned the poor little cricket.
(i) What do the first two lines suggest about the
activity indulged in by the cricket?
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
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(ii) Was the ant helpful? What did it suggest that the cricket should do?
________________________________________________________________________
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(iii) What kind of treatment was the cricket given at the end? Did he deserve it?
________________________________________________________________________
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(iv) The ant tells the cricket to “dance the winter away”. Do you think the word ‘dance’
is appropriate here? If so, why? [NCERT]
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
(v) Pick out the correct option.
What does the word ‘gay’ mean here?
(a) calm and quiet. (b) happy and beautiful. (c) dull and dreary.
For Better Understanding
1. Is the poem ‘The Ant and the Cricket’ a fable? How can you say that?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Despite the cricket’s promise of repaying the grain,
the ant refused to help. Why?
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
3. Do you think it’s morally right to stick to your
principles even when somebody needs you to lend
a helping hand? Explain.
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
4. State the moral being conveyed through the poem.
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Writing Skills
Compose a Cinquain
Cinquain Form Let us Recall
Cinquain is a short, unrhymed poetic form,
Line 1. has one word (the title)
that has a five-line pattern. It was invented
Line 2. has two words (adjectives that describe the title) by the American poet Adelaide Crapsey
who took her inspiration from Japanese
Line 3. has three words that show action. haiku and tanka. The word means five
(5) in French.
Line 4. has four words that express emotions.
Line 5. has one word that recalls the title.
Example
Read the Cinquain given below.
Mango
Juicy and yellow
Mouth-watering, lip-smacking, slurping
Eating it is messy
Delicious
Exercise
Create a Cinquain poem of your own.
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