Very Short Questions
Question 1 : After what were the king’s nine daughters named?
Answer : The kings daughters were named after the names of the months in a year, but in the Siamese language.
Question 2 : What was the gift that the king gave to his daughters on his birthday?
Answer : The king gifted a green parrot in a golden cage to his daughters on his birthday.
Question 3 : Why did the Maids of Honour put the crying Princess in the bed and went away?
Answer : The Maids of Honour had to go for a party. They, therefore, quickly put the Princess in the bed and went away.
Question 4 : What was the little bird’s song based upon?
Answer : The little bird sang a song about the lake in the king’s garden, the willow trees that reflected its image in the water and the goldfish that glided in and out of the branches in that image.
Question 5 : What did the bird tell the Princess to convince her to be friends ?
Answer : The little bird asked the Princess to take him in place of her parrot. He told her that he was not as beautiful as the parrot, but had a lovely voice.
Question 6 : Whom does the king compare the parrots with?
Answer : The king draws a comparison between his councillors and the parrots. Both of them said the same thing. ‘God save the King’ or ‘Pretty Polly’ without meaning it.
Question 7 : Why were the other sisters weak?
Answer : The eight sisters were vexed because Princess September’s bird sang beautifully whereas their parrots only knew to say two phrases.
Question 8 : Where had the bird gone when the sisters come to meet Princess September?
Answer : The bird had gone to pay a visit to his father-in-law when the sisters came to meet Princess September.
Question 9 : What does the bird do when the Princess puts her into a cage?
Answer : The bird didn’t suspect the Princess to have thought of putting him in a cage. He gets shocked and was unable to say anything when the Princess actually does that.
Question 10 : What reason does the Princess give the bird for putting him into the cage?
Answer : The Princess tells the bird that her mother’s cats had been prowling around and to ensure the bird’s safety she was putting him in the cage.
Short Questions
Question 1 : Why does the Princess get worried about the bird?
Answer : The Princess gets worried about the bird because the bird had been away for a very long time. She fears that the hawks and the snares might have harmed the bird. She also thinks that the bird might have forgotten her or taken fancy to someone else.
Question 2 : Why does the bird stop singing in the middle of the song?
Answer : The bird doesn’t feel comfortable behind the closed bars of the cage. He feels uneasy; though he was unable to comprehend it. Suddenly, in the middle of the song he realises that he couldn’t sing any further and stops singing.
Question 3 : What does the Princess fear the next morning?
Answer : When the Princess woke up next morning and called out the bird, the bird gave no reply. He remained to lie at the bottom of the cage with its eyes closed. The Princess feared that the bird might have died.
Question 4 : What according to the author was very difficult to do?
Answer : According to the author it is very difficult to put the happiness of someone you love before your own. The Princess, however, finally places the happiness of the bird before her own happiness and lets him go, knowing that without him she would become lonely.
Question 5 : What did the little bird say when the Princess released him from the cage?
Answer : The little bird promised the Princess that he would never forget her and would come back as he loved the Princes. He also told the Princess that no matter how far he went , he would always come back to meet and spend time with the Princess.
Long Questions
Question 1 : Why do the sisters end up marrying the people they do?
Answer : When Princess September grew up, she grew extremely beautiful. Her sensitivity for the bird and his freedom and the open breeze made her amicable. She was, therefore, married to the King of Cambodia and was carried on a white elephant all the way to the city in which the King lived. The other sisters grew up to be ugly and disagreeable and were given away to the King’s Councillors.
They tell her that she had given too much freedom to her bird and the bird may never come back. The sisters advise the Princess to put the bird in a cage, as they were jealous of the Princess’s bird.
Value Based Questions
Question 1 : Does the story recommend the idea of birds being made pets?
Answer : No, the idea of birds as pets may sound cute and loveable but the birds should never be turned into pets and thereby put in cages. The inherent nature of birds is to fly.
By putting them behind bars we curb what they are meant for. Unlike human beings and animals that do not have wings, birds are blessed with wings so that they could fly.
By controlling their flight, we are going against the laws of nature.
The bird in the story almost becomes lifeless when he realises that he could be caged forever. The parrot could have also died for similar reasons.
Question 2 : Why did the sisters mock Princess September?
Answer : The eight sisters were jealous of Princess September. When they get to know that Princess September had released her bird, they mock her for her stupidity.
They tell her that her bird would never come back and that she had made a blunder. But, the bird did come back and sang a beautiful song for the Princess. He also ate from her hand and used to love the Princess dearly.