NCERT Solutions Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 6 · ENGLISH

NCERT Solutions

Unit 1: Fables and Folk Tales

NCERT Textbook — Poorvi

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

1 – 38 28 100 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 72 pages

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 6 · ENGLISH · POORVI

NCERT Solutions — Unit 1: Fables and Folk Tales
Complete NCERT Solutions for Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales from the NCERT textbook Poorvi.
Every question from the three texts of the unit — the story A Bottle of Dew by Sudha Murty, the poem The
Raven and the Fox by Jean de La Fontaine and the Tamil Nadu folk tale Rama to the Rescue — is answered,
heading by heading, from pages 1 to 38.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Poorvi (Class 6) 1 – 38

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

28 100

MEDIUM

English

Let us do these activities before we read — Page 1

Page 1 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A Bottle of Dew

BEFORE YOU READ

I Circle the picture that matches with each word. Check your answers by sharing
them with your classmates and teacher. 1. worried 2. plantation 3. sage 4. surprise

1. worried

(a) (b)

2. plantation

(a) (b)

3. sage

(a) (b)

4. surprise

(a) (b)

Page 1 — the two pictures printed beside each of the four words, redrawn. Circle one of
the two in each row.

Two pictures are printed beside each word. Circle the one described below.

Page 2 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WORD CIRCLE THIS PICTURE WHY

1. worried The girl resting her head on her Worry shows on the face — the other girl is
hand, with a sad, thoughtful face smiling happily, so she is not worried.

2. The big field with rows and rows of A plantation is a large area where one kind of crop
plantation crops and banana plants is grown. One single tree is not a plantation.

3. sage The old man with a long white beard A sage is a holy, wise man. The other picture
in saffron robes shows a vegetable seller at his stall.

4. surprise The boy with wide-open eyes and an An open mouth and raised eyebrows are the signs
open mouth of surprise. The other boy simply looks sad.

Tip: All four words come back in the story. Rama Natha's wife is worried, the sage is
Mahipati, the family grows a banana plantation, and Rama Natha gets a surprise
twice — once from the sage's answer and once from the box of gold coins.

II 1 Think of a time when you worked hard. What did you do then?

This is your own experience, so no two answers will be alike. A good answer names one
particular task, says how long you worked at it and what exactly you did — not just “I studied
hard”.

Sample answer: Last year I was very weak in multiplication tables. For one whole
month I practised for twenty minutes every evening after school. I wrote each table
five times, made flash cards from old cardboard, and asked my elder sister to test
me every Sunday. Slowly I stopped counting on my fingers.

II 2 How did it help you?

Say clearly what changed because of the hard work — a result you can measure or point to.

Page 3 of 72

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Sample answer: It helped me finish my Maths paper on time. My marks went up

m l a se
from 14 to 23 out of 25, and now I can do shop bills in my head when my mother
o
sends me.cto buy vegetables. My teacher also asked me to help two
a g classmates with
e m
stables.
l a
ag
their

co m
e m . ag
as
II 3 How did it make you feel?

a g l

co m
m.
Name the feeling and then explain it in one line.

o m l a se
g part was knowing
.c answer: It made me feel proud and confident. The best
a
m
Sample

l a se nobody had given me the marks — I had earned them myself. Now, when a new
that
a g topic looks difficult, I tell myself that regular practice will beat it, just as it did last

s
time.
m a
m .co agl
l a se
g
Link to the story: Rama Natha felt exactly this at the end of A Bottle of Dew. Once he
a
saw that his own hands had built the plantation, he “worked even harder on his

m
plantation from that day on”.
. co
e m
m l as
m .co a g
aseus discuss — Page 3
agAl Bottle of Dew, Part I
Let

se m
COMPREHENSION

com g l a
m . a
ase
agl
1 What did Rama Natha believe?

. com
m a s emany object into gold. The
gl
Rama Natha believed that there was a magic potion that could turn

. co calls it “a funny idea”. a
semHe believed it so completely that he did not spend “even one day looking after his land”,
story

a
agl c
.
although his father had left him large tracts of land. He spent all his time and money trying to
learn about the potion, and even when people cheated him again and again by promising to tell
s e m
m a
. co agl
him the secret, “he did not give up”.

e m
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 4 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this matters: His belief is the problem the whole story has to cure. Everything
the sage later does is aimed at replacing this belief with a better one — that hard
work, not magic, makes wealth.

2 How did the sage help Rama Natha?

Sage Mahipati helped him by giving him a “recipe” for the magic potion that was really a plan for
hard work. He said he had heard in his travels in the Himalayas how such a potion could be
made, and told Rama Natha to:

plant a banana plant and water it regularly with his own hands;
collect the morning dew that forms on the leaves in winter and store it in a bottle;
bring him five litres of dew, over which he would chant magic words.

He also added the key condition — “you must look after them yourself and collect the dew with
your own hands.”

The real help: The sage did not give Rama Natha a potion. He gave him a reason to
work on his own land. As he explains at the end, “If I had told you about this earlier,
you would have not listened to me, so I played a trick on you.”

3 Do you think Rama Natha will be able to collect the dew? Give a reason.

Yes, he will collect it — but it will take him many years.
Two things in the text point to this. First, Rama Natha himself sees the difficulty: “But winter is
only for a few months. It will take me years to collect five litres of dew.” A few drops of dew on a
leaf make a very small quantity of water. Second, the sage gives him the way around it — “You
can plant as many banana plants as you want.” More plants mean more leaves, and more leaves
mean more dew each winter morning.
Above all, Rama Natha has one quality that will carry him through: he never gives up. He kept
believing in the potion even after people cheated him many times. That same stubbornness will
now be spent on something useful.

Check it yourself: Read on to page 4. He gets his five litres at the end of six years —
exactly as predicted.

Page 5 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Let us discuss — Page 5
A Bottle of Dew, Part II

COMPREHENSION

1 Why was Rama Natha angry?

Rama Natha was angry because the “magic potion” did not work. He carried the bottle of dew
carefully to the sage, the sage muttered something over the water and told him to try it out —
but when he “sprinkled a few drops on a copper vessel and waited for it to turn to gold”, nothing
happened.
He felt he had been fooled after all his labour, and burst out, “This is cheating. I have wasted six
precious years of my life.” Six years of watering plants and collecting dew at dawn seemed, at that
moment, to have been thrown away.

2 How did Rama Natha and Madhumati create wealth?

They created it by working together on their own land — the husband growing the crop and
the wife selling it.

Rama Natha: cleaned his large fields, which had been lying empty for years, planted “rows
and rows of banana plants”, tended them carefully and collected the dew every winter
morning. Each year he planted more and more plants, until they had a huge banana
plantation.
Madhumati: “gathered the banana crop, took it to the market and got a good price for it”,
year after year, and quietly saved the money.

After six years the savings had grown into a big box filled with “stacks of gold coins”. As the sage
told him, “It was your hard work that created this wealth, not magic.”

Why the plan worked so well: Nothing was wasted. The dew was the excuse for
planting the trees; the trees gave fruit; the fruit gave money. Rama Natha thought
he was chasing gold, and he was — only through bananas instead of magic.

Let us think and reflect — Pages 6 & 7

Page 6 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A Bottle of Dew

COMPREHENSION

I 1 (i) Complete the sentence with a suitable reason. Rama Natha did not ‘give up’
because _____________________.

Rama Natha did not ‘give up’ because he firmly believed that a magic potion really
existed, and he was sure that one day he would find the person who knew its secret.
Other correct ways of completing it:

… because his wish to turn things into gold was stronger than his fear of being cheated.
… because he thought each new person he met might finally give him the true secret.

Tip: Any answer is right if it gives a reason that fits the passage. Simply writing “he
was stubborn” is not enough — say what he was stubborn about.

I 1 (ii) Read the column which shows ‘what happened’ and write the correct outcome in
the next column. A. People promised to tell Rama Natha about the magic potion.
B. Rama Natha was spending a lot of money.

WHAT HAPPENED OUTCOME

A. People promised to tell Rama Natha They cheated him and took his money. He learnt nothing about
about the magic potion. the potion, yet he still did not give up.

B. Rama Natha was spending a lot of His wife Madhumati grew tired and worried, and became sure
money. that they would soon be left without any money.

Read it in the lines: “People cheated him often, promising to tell him about it” gives
outcome A, and “She was sure that soon they would be without money” gives
outcome B.

Page 7 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

I 1 (iii) Write whether the following statements are True or False. A. Madhumati was
troubled about what her husband did. B. Rama Natha was very happy digging
his fields. C. The sage wanted to show the right path to Rama Natha.

STATEMENT TRUE / PROOF FROM THE TEXT
FALSE

A. Madhumati was True “His wife, Madhumati, was tired of this and also worried
troubled about what her because she saw how much money Rama Natha was
husband did. spending.”

B. Rama Natha was very False At this point in the story he did not touch his fields at all —
happy digging his fields. “Rama Natha did not spend even one day looking after his
land.” He spent all his time on the potion.

C. The sage wanted to True The sage admits it himself: “If I had told you about this
show the right path to earlier, you would have not listened to me, so I played a trick
Rama Natha. on you.” The trick was meant to turn him towards honest
work.

I 2 (i) Choose the option that lists the events given below in the correct order. A. The
sage smiled. B. Rama Natha gave the bottle to the sage. C. Rama Natha dropped a
few drops of water on a copper vessel. D. He said something in a low voice over
the water. E. Rama Natha waited to see if the magic worked. (a) A, E, D, B, C (b) B,
A, D, C, E (c) C, D, A, B, E (d) A, D, B, E, C

Answer: (b) B, A, D, C, E
Follow the passage sentence by sentence:

Page 8 of 72

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
ORDER EVENT LINE IN THE PASSAGE

m as e
1
.co
B — Rama Natha gave the bottle to the sage.
a g l
“Carefully, he took the bottle to the

a s em sage.”

a2g l A — The sage smiled. “The sage smiled …”

m
.co ag
3 D — He said something in a low voice over the “… and muttered something over the

sem
water. water.”

a
4
on a copper vessel.
agl
C — Rama Natha dropped a few drops of water “Rama Natha sprinkled a few drops on a
copper vessel …”

co m
m.
E — Rama Natha waited to see if the magic “… and waited for it to turn to gold.”
e
5

m l as
.co
worked.

a g
a s em
a gl Tip: In an ordering question, first find the sentence in the text that contains each
option. The order of the sentences gives you the answer at once.

m a s
em
.co agl
a s
I 2 (ii) gl correct word from the lines given above. Seeing that the
Fill in the blank withathe
plant had dried up, the gardener ____________ some water on it.

co m
m .

o m l a se
.c a g
m
sprinkled

l a se that the plant had dried up, the gardener sprinkled some water on it.
g
Seeing
a To sprinkle means to scatter something in small drops or small bits. In the passage, “Rama

se m
com a
Natha sprinkled a few drops on a copper vessel.”

. a g l
m
ase
agl
Your own sentence: Amma sprinkled a little water on the rangoli powder so that the
wind would not blow it away.

co m
m .
o m l a se to the copper vessel?
.c ag
How might Rama Natha have felt when nothing happened

em
I 2 (iii)

a s
agl ANSWER
.c
s e m
m a
He must have felt shocked, bitterly disappointed and cheated.

m . co
He had waited six long years for that one moment. When the copper vessel stayed a copper
agl
l a se
vessel, his first thought was that the sage had fooled him, and his anger came out at once: “This
agsix precious years of my life.”
is cheating. I have wasted

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 9 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Mixed with the anger there would also have been sadness and a sense of shame — the fear that
the years of dawn-time dew collecting, and all the money spent before that, had been for
nothing.

Why the feeling changes: A minute later Madhumati opens the box of gold coins,
and his disappointment turns into surprise and then into understanding. The story
deliberately puts the lowest moment just before the highest one.

II 1 What did the sage ask Rama Natha to do to make the magic potion?

The sage gave him four clear instructions:

1. Plant a banana plant — and as many more as he wished.
2. Water it regularly with his own hands.
3. In winter, collect the morning dew from the leaves with his own hands and store it in a
bottle.
4. When he had five litres of dew, bring it to the sage, who would chant magic words over it to
turn it into the potion. “A drop of the potion will change any object into gold.”

Notice the trick: Every single instruction is really an instruction to farm — clear the
land, plant, water, tend, and come back after several years. The “magic” is only the
wrapping.

II 2 Why did the sage ask Rama Natha to do everything himself?

Because the sage's real aim was to make Rama Natha work with his own hands on his own
land. That was the cure for his laziness.
If a servant had watered the plants and collected the dew, Rama Natha would have gone on
dreaming about magic and would have learnt nothing. By insisting — “you must look after them
yourself and collect the dew with your own hands” — the sage made sure that:

the empty fields would finally be cleaned and planted;
Rama Natha would spend six years doing honest, daily labour instead of chasing cheats;
at the end, he could not deny that the wealth in the box was his own doing.

Page 10 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

That is why the sage could say with confidence at the end, “It was your hard work that created
this wealth, not magic.”

II 3 How could Rama Natha have a big banana plantation after six years?

Because collecting five litres of dew forced him to keep planting more and more banana plants,
year after year.
The dew on a few leaves is only a few drops. To fill a five-litre bottle he needed thousands of
leaves. So he first “started cleaning his large fields, which had been lying empty all these years”,
then “planted rows and rows of banana plants”, “tended them carefully”, and “over the years …
planted more and more plants”. Six winters of this turned the empty land into “a huge banana
plantation”.

Did you know? India is the largest producer of bananas in the world. A banana plant
gives fruit in about a year, so a family that keeps planting new suckers, as Rama
Natha did, can harvest every single year.

II 4 How did the sage make Rama Natha believe that there is no magic potion?

The sage proved it in three quick steps, instead of merely saying it:

1. He let the “potion” fail in front of him. He muttered over the water, returned the bottle and
said, “Try it out.” Rama Natha sprinkled it on a copper vessel and nothing at all happened.
2. He showed the real gold. He called Madhumati, who came with a big box; when she opened
it, “inside shined stacks of gold coins”.
3. He explained where that gold came from. “You worked hard on your land and created this
plantation. While you looked after the trees, your wife sold the fruits in the market. That's
how you got this money.”

Rama Natha could not argue with what he could see. The magic had failed and the hard work
had paid — “Rama Natha understood the wisdom behind these words.”

Why the trick was needed at all: The sage says it himself — “If I had told you about
this earlier, you would have not listened to me.” A person deep in a wrong belief is
convinced by proof, not by advice.

Page 11 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

II 5 Fill in the ‘before’ and ‘after’ table about Rama Natha.

WHAT HE DID BEFORE MEETING THE WHAT HE DID AFTER MEETING THE SAGE
SAGE

(i) He did not spend even one day looking after the (i) He cleaned his large empty fields and planted rows and
large tracts of land his father had left him — the fields rows of banana plants, watering and tending them himself.
lay empty for years.

(ii) He spent all his time and money searching for a (ii) He collected the morning dew with his own hands
magic potion, and let people cheat him again and through six winters, and once he learnt the truth, worked
again. even harder on his plantation.

Other correct pairs: before — he dreamt of becoming rich by magic; after — he
became rich by farming. Before — his wife worried about money; after — his wife
sold the fruit and filled a box with gold coins.

Let us learn — Pages 8 & 9
A Bottle of Dew — Vocabulary and Grammar

GRAMMAR

1 Read the following words from the story. [promised, spending, cheated, luck,
remember, huge, difficult, market] Use the words correctly to complete the
paragraph given below. There are two extra words in the box that you do not need.

The completed paragraph:
There was a farmer who had a huge coconut plantation. He worked hard and did not depend
on luck. Every day was difficult but he did not give up. One day, a man bought a bag of
coconuts from him, and promised to pay him the money the next day. Days passed and the
man did not pay him anything. The farmer felt cheated. About two months later, he met the
same man and asked him about his money. The man said, “Oh! I had forgotten. Now, I
remember buying coconuts from you.” And he paid the money.

Page 12 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

BLANK WORD CLUE IN THE SENTENCE

1 huge It describes the size of the plantation.

2 luck Opposite of “worked hard” — he did not wait for good fortune.

3 difficult “… but he did not give up” shows the day was hard.

4 promised He gave his word to pay the next day.

5 cheated The money never came, so the farmer felt tricked.

6 remember The man had forgotten, and now the memory comes back.

The two extra words that are not needed are spending and market.

2 Read the words from the story in Column A. Read the new words in Column B.
Complete the meanings of the words given in Column B. Meanings of some words
are given below.
The table as printed on page 8 — four meanings are left blank for you to complete:

COLUMN A COLUMN B MEANING OF WORDS IN COLUMN B

I eye

your you’re short form of ‘you are’

dew due happening at some time in the future

son sun

one won past tense of win

ate eight

see sea

The four empty meanings are filled in below (the other three were already printed in the book).

Page 13 of 72

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
COLUMN A COLUMN B MEANING OF THE WORD IN COLUMN B

m eye as e
I
.co
the part of the body with which we see
a g l
se m
your
g l a you're short form of ‘you are’
a
dew due happening at some time in the future

co m
m . ag
se
son sun the star that gives the earth light and heat

l a
one won
ag past tense of win
ate eight the number 8, one more than seven
co m
em.
com l as
see sea a very large area of salt water

. a g
m
ase
agl are spelt differently and mean different things. Such words are called homophones.
The idea behind the table: the two words in each row sound exactly the same but

m a s
.co agl
That is why spelling matters — “I have a sun” and “I have a son” sound alike but
mean completely different things.
se m
g l a
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

3 Choose four pairs of homophones from the table above, and for each pair write a
sentence that uses both homophones in the same sentence. An example has been
given below: I ate eight bananas for breakfast today.
The table referred to (page 8) is reproduced below.

COLUMN A COLUMN B MEANING OF WORDS IN COLUMN B

I eye

your you’re short form of ‘you are’

dew due happening at some time in the future

son sun

one won past tense of win

ate eight

see sea

Pick any four pairs. Here are model sentences for all six remaining pairs — choose four and
then make your own.

PAIR SENTENCE USING BOTH WORDS

I — eye I shut one eye to look through my grandfather's telescope.

your — you're You're sure that your water bottle is still in the classroom?

dew — due The dew on the grass is due to the cold night air.

son — sun The farmer's son works in the fields from sunrise to sunset.

one — won Only one girl from our school won a medal at the district sports meet.

see — sea From the lighthouse we could see fishing boats far out at sea.

Check it yourself: Read your sentence aloud. Both homophones should sound
identical, and each should still make sense if a friend closes the book and only
listens. That is the test the exercise is really setting.

Page 15 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

4 Match the phrases in Column A with the phrases in Column B. Use the connecting
words given in the middle column (because, before, as soon as, as) to make
meaningful sentences. Now, write the new sentences in your notebook.

COLUMN A CONNECTING WORD COLUMN B

The children submitted their work (When?) before the deadline.

He did not want to try rock climbing (Why?) because of his fear of heights.

The children ran towards the gate (When?) as soon as the bell rang.

Nitin was late to school today (Why?) as there was a traffic jam.

The four new sentences:

1. The children submitted their work before the deadline.
2. He did not want to try rock climbing because of his fear of heights.
3. The children ran towards the gate as soon as the bell rang.
4. Nitin was late to school today as there was a traffic jam.

How the bracket helps: The word in brackets tells you which connector to look for.
(When?) needs a time word — before, as soon as. (Why?) needs a reason word —
because, as. “As soon as” always means “at the very moment that”, so it fits the bell
perfectly.

5 Here are two sentences with letter ‘b’. Read them slowly the first time. As you read
them a few more times, read them faster each time. (Bunty bhaiya bought a big
bunch of bananas. / A big bunch of bananas was bought by Bunty bhaiya.) Now, try
to create a tongue twister on your own and share it with your peers.

How to build a tongue twister of your own:

1. Choose one sound — /p/, /s/, /k/, /ch/, /t/ work best.
2. Collect five or six words that begin with it — a name, an action, a thing, a describing word.
3. Join them into one short sentence that still makes sense. Nonsense words spoil the fun.
4. Say it three times, faster each time. If your tongue trips, the twister is good.

Page 16 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answers:

/p/ — Pinky's papa packed pickle in a purple plastic packet.
/ch/ — Chintu's chachi chose cheap chana at the chaotic chowk.
/s/ — Seven sleepy sisters sipped sweet sugarcane juice slowly.
/k/ — Kavya's kaka carried a King coconut to Kochi.

Why it twists the tongue: Your mouth must make the same shape again and again
with tiny changes in between. Repeating a consonant at the beginning of several
words is called alliteration — you will meet it again in the poem on page 17.

Let us listen — Page 10
A Bottle of Dew

LISTENING

1 You will listen to what Madhumati does with the bananas from her plantation. As
you listen, number the events in the correct order in which they happen. 1. Gives
two bananas to a boy who is hungry 2. Meets her friend Kalawati in the market 3.
Visits her mother and gives her two dozen bananas 4. Chooses to go home as only
some bananas were left 5. Visits her neighbour and gifts them a bunch of bananas
6. Gives twelve bananas to her friend 7. Goes to the market to sell the bananas

The transcript on page 36 uses order words — Firstly, Secondly, Next, Then, Later, After that, Lastly.
Follow them and the numbering falls into place.

Page 17 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

EVENT AS PRINTED IN YOUR NUMBER IN THE ORDER WORD IN THE
BOOK BOX TRANSCRIPT

1. Gives two bananas to a boy who is 6 “After that … she meets a little boy
hungry who is hungry”

2. Meets her friend Kalawati in the 3 “Next, she meets her old friend
market Kalawati”

3. Visits her mother and gives her two 1 “Firstly, she visits her mother”
dozen bananas

4. Chooses to go home as only some 5 “Later, she decides to go home”
bananas were left

5. Visits her neighbour and gifts them a 7 “Lastly, she goes to her neighbour's
bunch of bananas house”

6. Gives twelve bananas to her friend 4 “Then, she gifts Kalawati a dozen
bananas”

7. Goes to the market to sell the 2 “Secondly, she goes to the market”
bananas

So the story in order is: mother → market → meets Kalawati → gives Kalawati a dozen →
decides to go home → gives two bananas to the hungry boy → gifts the neighbour a bunch.

Tip: “A dozen” means twelve and “two dozen” means twenty-four. The listening test
hides the answer behind these words — event 6 says “twelve bananas”, the
transcript says “a dozen bananas”.

Let us speak — Pages 10 & 11

Page 18 of 72

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A Bottle of Dew
co m
em.
m as
SPEAKING

.co a g l
a s em aloud the following words from the story: sage, promising, wisdom, trees,
gl
Read
a
I
surprise. … Your teacher will now say some words. Listen carefully to the sound of
‘s’. Write the sound next to the word. (beds, sand, clothes, sea, was, keys, bags,

co m
. ag
nose)
e m
g l as
a

co m
m.
WORD SOUND OF ‘S’ SAY IT LIKE

m as e
beds
.co
/z/ bedz
a g l
se m
g l a
sand /s/ sand

a clothes /z/ klothz

m a s
sea /s/
m .co see
agl
l a se
was /z/
a g woz

m
keys /z/ keez

. co
e m
om as
bags /z/ bagz

nose.c a g l
m
ase
/z/ nohz

agl
The rule you can hear: Put a finger on your throat. If the sound just before the ‘s’
se m
com g l a
. a
makes your throat buzz (d, th, g, ee, o), the ‘s’ becomes /z/ — beds, bags, keys, nose. If
m
ase
there is no buzz, or if ‘s’ starts the word, it stays /s/ — sand, sea, sage. In surprise

agl
both happen: the first ‘s’ is /s/ and the last is /z/.

co m
Try This: Sort these the same way — cats, dogs, books, pens, cups, boys. (Answer: /s/
m .
m as e
l
in cats, books, cups; /z/ in dogs, pens, boys.)

m .co a g
l a se
ag
.c
s e m
m a
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 19 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

II 1 Discuss with a partner: What does hard work mean to you? (It means … / It is
something … / Well, you see … / What I mean is …)

Begin with one of the hints given in brackets, give your meaning in one sentence, and then add
an example so that your partner can picture it.

Sample answer: “Well, you see, hard work means doing a job properly even when
nobody is watching and even when it is boring. It is something you keep doing every
single day, not just on the day before the test. What I mean is — like Rama Natha,
who went out every winter morning to collect a few drops of dew, and kept at it for
six years.”

II 2 Give three reasons why you think hard work is important. (Firstly, I feel … because
… / Secondly, I think … since … / Lastly, I believe … as …)

Use the three linking phrases so that your partner can follow your three points clearly.

Sample answer:

“Firstly, I feel hard work is important because nothing worth having comes on its
own — Rama Natha's gold coins came from six years of farming, not from a
potion.”
“Secondly, I think hard work builds skill since every time we repeat something we
get better at it, whether it is a table in Maths or a cover drive in cricket.”
“Lastly, I believe hard work gives us confidence as we know we have earned the
result ourselves, so nobody can take that pride away from us.”

II 3 Share three ideas you would give to someone who needs to work hard. (To begin
with, it is important that … / Next, you could … / Finally, I think you should …)

Give advice you can actually follow — a small daily action beats a grand promise.

Page 20 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer:

“To begin with, it is important that you fix one small goal for the day, like ten
sums or one page of handwriting, instead of saying ‘I will study a lot’.”
“Next, you could keep a fixed time and a fixed corner for work, and put the
phone in another room while you work.”
“Finally, I think you should tick off each day on a calendar and reward yourself
after seven ticks — seeing the row of ticks keeps you going, just as the rising dew
level kept Rama Natha going.”

Let us write — Pages 11 & 12

Page 21 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A Bottle of Dew

WRITING

1 Work in pairs to complete the description of a banana. You may take the help of the
words given in brackets. … Now, use the information given in the picture to write
eight sentences about a banana.

when I like to eat a banana
(at breakfast/during break/
after school)

healthy because (gives energy/ taste (sweet/sour/salty/
rich in vitamins/stores fats/ bitter/creamy/spicy)
filling/good for skin)

how the outer covering feels on colour of the outer covering
touch (soft/hard/smooth/ and fruit (green/yellow/
silky/rough/sticky) white/brown/black)

smell (fruity/strong/
bad/sweet/fresh)

Page 11 — the word web printed with the question, redrawn.

The picture on page 11 gives you six headings. Choose one word from each bracket, and then
write one or two sentences on each heading — that gives you your eight sentences.

Page 22 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

HEADING IN THE PICTURE WORD I CHOOSE

Colour of the outer covering and fruit yellow outside, white inside

How the outer covering feels on touch smooth

Smell fruity and sweet

Taste sweet and creamy

Healthy because gives energy, rich in vitamins, filling

When I like to eat a banana at breakfast and during the school break

Sample answer — eight sentences about a banana:

1. A banana is a long, curved fruit that grows in a big bunch on a banana plant.
2. Its outer covering is bright yellow when it is ripe, and green when it is raw.
3. Inside, the fruit is soft and creamy white.
4. The skin feels smooth and a little slippery when I peel it.
5. A ripe banana has a light, fruity, sweet smell.
6. It tastes sweet and creamy, and I never need a spoon or a knife to eat it.
7. Bananas are healthy because they give quick energy, are rich in vitamins and
keep me full till lunch.
8. I like to eat a banana at breakfast with milk, and I carry one to school for the
break.

2 On the basis of the story ‘A Bottle of Dew’ develop a script with dialogues and enact
it with expressions. Present it in the assembly or your classroom.

How to build the script: divide the story into four scenes, give each character a few short lines,
and write the expression or action in brackets. You need four actors — Rama Natha,
Madhumati, Sage Mahipati and a Narrator.

Page 23 of 72

as e
Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Sample answer (opening of the script):

o m
Scene 1 — Rama Natha's house
l a se
Narrator:.cRama Natha's father left him large tracts of land. But a g Natha had a
m
se dream — a potion that could turn anything into gold.
Rama
l a
ag
strange
Madhumati: (worried, holding an empty purse) Listen to me! Another man has run

m
away with our money. There is nothing left for next month.
. co ag
m
Rama Natha: (waving his hand) One day I shall find the real potion, and then we

as e
shall have more gold than the king!
a g l
Scene 2 — Sage Mahipati arrives

m
Rama Natha: (bowing low) Great sage, do you know of a potion that turns things
co
m.
into gold?

o m l a se
Mahipati: (smiling slowly) Yes … in the Himalayas I heard of one. But it is difficult.
Rama.c a g
se m Natha: (eagerly) Tell me!

g l a
Mahipati: Plant banana plants. Water them with your own hands. In winter, collect
a the dew from the leaves. Bring me five litres — and remember, with your own hands.

m a s
.co agl
Scene 3 — Six years pass — show Rama Natha watering plants and Madhumati
carrying baskets to the market.
se m
g l a
Scene 4 — The truth — the potion fails, Madhumati opens the box of gold coins,
a
and the sage explains, “It was your hard work that created this wealth, not magic.”

. com
m a s em a hall. Use two
Tips for the stage: Keep every line short so it can be shouted across
. l six-year gap in one
co props — a bottle and a box. Let the Narrator bridgeagthe
em
simple

l a s sentence.
ag
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
Let us explore — Page 12
A Bottle of Dew
agl
PROJECT

co m
m .
m as e
.co parts of India.
1
g l
Find out the varieties of bananas which are grown, cultivated and eaten in different
a
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
co agl
India grows more bananas than any other country in the world, and almost every state has its

m .
e
own favourite variety. Here is a starter list for your project — add the ones sold in your own
market.
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 24 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

VARIETY MAINLY GROWN IN WHAT IT IS KNOWN FOR

Grand Naine / Robusta Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya The common big yellow banana sold
Pradesh across India

Nendran Kerala Long and firm; used for banana chips and
for pazham pori

Poovan / Rasthali Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh Small, sweet, slightly tangy; offered in
temples

Yelakki (Elaichi) Karnataka Tiny, very sweet, with a hint of cardamom
smell

Virupakshi (hill Palani hills, Tamil Nadu A GI-tagged hill variety with a strong
banana) aroma

Chinia, Malbhog Bihar, Assam, West Bengal Soft and fragrant; Malbhog is a festival
favourite

Karpuravalli Tamil Nadu Grows well with little water; used for
making banana powder

Bhimkol Assam Seeded variety, traditionally given to
babies

Monthan / Nenthran Tamil Nadu, Kerala Cooking banana used in sabzi, bonda and
plantain kofta

Red Banana Tamil Nadu (Kanniyakumari) Red skin, cream flesh, very sweet

You can check your findings on the websites of the ICAR–National Research Centre for
Banana, Tiruchirappalli (nrcb.icar.gov.in) and the National Horticulture Board (nhb.gov.in).

Try This: Visit your nearest fruit market with an elder. Ask the shopkeeper the local
name of every banana on the cart, note the price per dozen, and make a chart for
your class wall.

Let us do these activities before we read — Page 13

Page 25 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Raven and the Fox

BEFORE YOU READ

I We know that frogs croak. Did you know that ravens also croak?

Yes. A raven does not sing a sweet song like a koel or a bulbul. It makes a deep, rough, scratchy
sound — a croak, very like the sound a frog makes at night. Its cousin the crow makes the
familiar harsh “caw”.

Why this fact matters for the poem: The whole joke of the poem depends on it.
The Fox asks the Raven to sing, knowing perfectly well that the bird can only croak.
The poem says the Raven “did not see the joke, / Forgot that his voice was just a
croak.” Keep this in mind as you read.

II Which animal is shown to be cunning in stories? Circle the correct answer. 1. tiger 2.
fox 3. bear

Answer: 2. fox
In fables all over the world — Aesop's tales, the Panchatantra, the stories of La Fontaine — the
fox is the clever, cunning animal who wins by using his brain and his tongue rather than his
strength. The tiger stands for power and the bear usually for size or slowness.

Did you know? The fox in this poem has a name — Reynard. Reynard the Fox is a
famous trickster character from old European folk tales, just as the jackal is the
trickster in many Panchatantra stories.

Let us discuss — Pages 14 & 15

Page 26 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Raven and the Fox

COMPREHENSION

I1 Stanza 1 — Fill in the blanks by choosing the correct option. (i) Mr Raven is a ______.
(bird/frog) (ii) The name of the fox is ______. (Raven/Reynard) (iii) Mr Raven had ______
in his beak. (a piece of food/a bunch of leaves)

1. Mr Raven is a bird. — “Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird.”
2. The name of the fox is Reynard. — “And Reynard the Fox looked up at him.”
3. Mr Raven had a piece of food in his beak. — “For the Raven held in his great big beak, / A
morsel the Fox would go far to seek.” A morsel means a small piece of food.

I2 Stanza 2 — (i) The Fox calls the Raven a ______ bird. (foolish/good-looking) (ii) The Fox
asks the Raven to ______. (dance/sing) (iii) The Raven and the Fox live in the ______.
(trees/woods)

1. The Fox calls the Raven a good-looking bird. — “Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird.”
Handsome means good-looking.
2. The Fox asks the Raven to sing. — “Such feathers! If you would only sing …”
3. The Raven and the Fox live in the woods. — “The birds of these woods would call you King.”

Notice: The Fox never says anything untrue about the feathers — a raven's feathers
really are glossy and black. He only exaggerates. That is what makes flattery so hard
to resist.

I3 Stanza 3 — (i) The Raven ______ that he croaked. (remembered/forgot) (ii) The Raven
opened its beak to ______. (eat/sing) (iii) The ______ fell down. (food/Raven)

1. The Raven forgot that he croaked. — “Forgot that his voice was just a croak.”
2. The Raven opened its beak to sing. — “He opened his beak, in his foolish pride.”
3. The food fell down. — “And down fell the morsel the Fox had eyed.”

Page 27 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

I4 Stanza 4 — (i) The Fox ______ at the Raven. (laughed/looked) (ii) It is not ______ to be
too proud of oneself. (wise/unwise) (iii) The Raven learnt a ______. (lesson/teaching)

1. The Fox laughed at the Raven. — “‘Ha-ha!’ laughed the Fox.”
2. It is not wise to be too proud of oneself. — “Pride, my friend, is rather unwise”, which is the
same as saying it is not wise.
3. The Raven learnt a lesson. — He lost his food, and with it he gained the knowledge to
“Ignore sweet words that make you glow.”

Tip for (ii): Read the sentence with both options. “It is not unwise to be too proud”
would mean the opposite of what the poem says. Two negatives — not and un- —
cancel each other out.

II Read the poem again and match the words in Column A with their meanings in
Column B. (1. perched 2. morsel 3. seek 4. pride 5. eyed 6. limb 7. woods)

COLUMN ANSWER COLUMN B — MEANING LINE IN THE POEM
A

1. perched (iv) sat on a branch “Mr Raven was perched upon
a limb”

2. morsel (i) a small piece of food “A morsel the Fox would go far
to seek”

3. seek (v) to look for something “would go far to seek”

4. pride (iii) feeling that you are better than others “in his foolish pride”

5. eyed (ii) looked with interest at something “the morsel the Fox had eyed”

6. limb (vii) branch of a tree “perched upon a limb”

7. woods (vi) a smaller area of forest with a similar “The birds of these woods”
kind of trees

In short: 1–(iv), 2–(i), 3–(v), 4–(iii), 5–(ii), 6–(vii), 7–(vi).

Page 28 of 72

as e
Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Let us think and reflect — Pages 15 & 16
m as e
The Raven and the Fox
.co a g l
se m
l a
COMPREHENSION

a g
Look at the pictures and number them in the order that they happen in the poem.
m
I

. co ag
e m
g l as
A
a B

co m
em.
m l as
m .co “…”
a g
l a se
a g
m a s
em
.co agl
C
l a s D

ag

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a
se m
com g l a
. a
Page 15 — the four pictures, redrawn, each with the empty box for its number.

m
ase
agl

co m
.
Four pictures are printed on page 15, two in each row. Write the numbers in the small boxes like
m
this:
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 29 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

PICTURE WHAT IT SHOWS NUMBER

Bottom row, The raven on the ground in a park, picking up a round piece of food 1
left

Bottom row, The fox, seen from behind, looking up at the raven who now sits on a 2
right branch with the food in his beak

Top row, left The fox facing the tree with his mouth open — he is praising the raven 3

Top row, right The fox running away with the food in his mouth; the raven's beak is 4
empty

How to work it out: Follow the food. First it is in the raven's beak on the ground,
then in his beak up on the branch, then the fox is talking and the food is still there,
and last of all the food is in the fox's mouth. The morsel tells you the order without a
single word.

II 1 (i) ‘Such feathers’ refer to ______ feathers. A. shiny and beautiful B. black and dull C.
grey and long D. short and unattractive

Answer: A. shiny and beautiful
The Fox is flattering the Raven. He has just called him “a handsome bird”, and the exclamation
“Such feathers!” is meant as high praise. Praise only works if the words mean something good
— so the feathers must be shiny and beautiful.
Options B and D are insults, and option C does not fit a raven at all — a raven's feathers are
glossy black, not grey.

II 1 (ii) Why would the birds of the woods call the Raven ‘King’?

According to the Fox, the birds would make the Raven their King because he would then have
everything a king of birds should have — the finest feathers and the finest voice. He already
looks handsome; if he could also sing beautifully, no other bird in the woods could match him.
This is of course not true. It is only the Fox's flattery, invented for one purpose — to make the
Raven open his beak. As the poem says, the Raven “did not see the joke”.

Page 30 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

II 1 (iii) Why does the Fox address the Raven as ‘Sir’?

‘Sir’ is a title of respect, used for someone important. The Fox uses it deliberately, as part of his
flattery, to make the Raven feel grand and superior — a bird so noble that even a fox must
address him politely.
A flattered bird stops thinking. Once the Raven is enjoying being called ‘Sir’, a ‘handsome bird’
and a future ‘King’, he is ready to do anything the Fox asks — including the one thing he should
never do, which is to open his beak.

The lesson hidden in one word: Be careful when a stranger suddenly becomes very
polite and very complimentary. As the Fox himself says at the end, “Ignore sweet
words that make you glow.”

II 2 (i) Why did the Raven open his beak?

He opened his beak to sing. The Fox's praise had filled him with pride, and he wanted to prove
that his voice was as fine as his feathers.
In his excitement he forgot two things — that his voice “was just a croak”, and that his beak was
holding the morsel. The moment it opened, “down fell the morsel the Fox had eyed.”

II 2 (ii) Complete the following with one word from the given lines. Fox : clever : : Raven
: ______________

Fox : clever : : Raven : foolish
The word comes straight from the lines quoted: “He opened his beak, in his foolish pride.”

How an analogy works: The first pair tells you the relationship — the Fox's chief
quality is that he is clever. So the blank needs the Raven's chief quality, and the poem
names it for you.

Page 31 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

III Why does the Raven forget that his voice is just a croak?

Because the Fox's flattery goes straight to his head. Being called handsome, having his feathers
admired and being promised the crown of the woods makes him so pleased with himself that
he stops thinking clearly.
The poem puts this in two lines — “The Raven, who did not see the joke, / Forgot that his voice
was just a croak.” Pride blinded him: he began to believe the Fox's picture of himself instead of
the plain truth he had known all his life.

The bigger point: Flattery is dangerous exactly because it feels so pleasant. It
makes us forget our real limits — and a person who forgets his limits is easy to trick.

IV How does Reynard make the Raven sing?

Reynard never asks for the food. He uses flattery, step by step:

He speaks “in admiring tones” and exclaims, “My word!”
He gives the Raven a respectful title — “Sir Raven”.
He praises his looks — “you are a handsome bird”.
He praises his feathers — “Such feathers!”
Then he lays the trap: “If you would only sing, / The birds of these woods would call you
King.”

The Raven, swollen with pride, opens his beak to sing — and loses his morsel. The Fox wins the
food without moving from where he stands.

V Why does Reynard say that pride is not wise?

Because he has just proved it. Pride is what made the Raven lose his food. A proud bird who
believes he is handsome, kingly and a fine singer will swallow any compliment — and while he is
busy showing off, he loses what he actually had.
Reynard puts it in one line: “Pride, my friend, is rather unwise.” His advice in the line before is
just as important — “Ignore sweet words that make you glow.” A person full of pride cannot tell
honest praise from a trick, and that is what makes pride unwise.

Page 32 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

VI Give one reason why the teaching is quite a surprise.

The teaching is a surprise because it comes from the cheat himself. The Fox has just tricked
the Raven out of his food, and now, instead of running away quietly, he turns into a teacher and
gives him a lesson on pride. The thief lectures his victim!
It is also a surprise because the Raven expected something completely different. He opened his
beak expecting applause and a crown; what he got was an empty beak and a moral. The Fox
even points this out with a laugh — “I'm sure this teaching is quite a surprise.”

Note the tone: The Fox's last line is sarcastic — he is teasing the Raven while
pretending to be helpful. That is the fox's style throughout the poem.

VII Imagine someone praises you too much. How would you react?

This asks for your own reaction, so answer honestly — but a good answer should show that you
have learnt something from the poem. Three things a strong answer contains: say thank you
politely, check whether the praise is true, and ask why the person is praising you just now.

Sample answer: I would thank the person politely, but I would not let the praise go
to my head. If someone said I was the best singer in the whole school, I would smile
and say, “Thank you, but I am still learning.” Then I would quietly ask myself two
questions — is this really true, and does this person want something from me? If a
classmate praised my handwriting just before asking me to do his project, I would
know at once that it was flattery, not praise. Like the Raven, I could lose something
by keeping my mouth open too long.

Let us learn — Pages 16 & 17

Page 33 of 72

ase
Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Raven and the Fox — Rhyme, Alliteration and Opposites
co m
e m.
m as
GRAMMAR

.co a g l
a s em the rhyming words from the poem. One has been done for you. Stanza 1: (i)
gl
Write
a
I
limb-him (ii)______ Stanza 2: (i) word-______ (ii)______ Stanza 3: (i) joke-______ (ii)______
Stanza 4: (i) know-______ (ii)______

com
e m . ag
g l as
a
STANZA (I) (II)

co m
e m.
Stanza 1 limb – him beak – seek

Stanza 2.co
m sing – King gl
as
em
word – bird
a
a s
aglStanza 3 joke – croak pride – eyed

a s
com agl
Stanza 4 know – glow unwise – surprise

m .
e
as has four lines, and the lines rhyme in pairs — line
a
The rhyme scheme: Every stanza
g l
1 with line 2, and line 3 with line 4. We write this as aabb. Notice that rhyme is about
sound, not spelling: pride and eyed look nothing alike but rhyme perfectly.
co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
a s eIIm Study the underlined words in the poem. 1. For the Raven held in his great big beak.
agl 2. The song of sweet birds. … Now, pick another example of alliteration from Stanza
2.
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

Answer: “these woods would” in the last line of Stanza 2 — “The birds of these woods would
call you King.” Both words begin with the same /w/ sound, one right after the other.

co m
.
Stanza 2 also repeats the /s/ sound again and again: “Said … Sir Raven … Such feathers … only
m
m
sing”. This soft hissing runs right through the Fox's sweet talk.
as e
.co a g l
se m Remember the definition: Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant
g l a
a sound at the beginning of two or more words that come close together — like big
c
m .
beak or song of sweet birds. Poets use it to make a line pleasant to say and easy to
m a s e
. co agl
remember.
em
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 34 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Try This: Find the alliteration in Stanza 1 too — “far to seek” follows “the Fox would
go”, and the whole line “For the Raven held in his great big beak” carries the /b/ of
big beak.

III Choose the correct opposites from the box given below and complete the table.
There are two extra words that you will not need. [wise, happy, humility, flew,
remembered, notice, dim, cried, silly] Use any four words from the table given
above to make sentences of your own.
The table as printed on page 17:

WORDS OPPOSITES

1. perched

2. forgot

3. foolish

4. pride

5. laughed

6. ignore

7. glow

WORD OPPOSITE

1. perched flew

2. forgot remembered

3. foolish wise

4. pride humility

5. laughed cried

6. ignore notice

7. glow dim

Page 35 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The two extra words are happy and silly. (Silly is a synonym of foolish, not its opposite — a
common trap.)
Four sentences of my own:

1. The parrot flew off the moment my little brother clapped his hands.
2. I remembered to switch off the fan before leaving the classroom.
3. Our grandmother is a wise woman who settles every quarrel in the street.
4. The captain accepted the trophy with great humility and thanked the whole team.

Tip: Pride and humility are both nouns, so the opposite must also be a noun — not
the adjective “humble”. Always match the part of speech when you look for an
opposite.

Let us listen — Page 18
The Raven and the Fox

LISTENING

I You will listen to what the crow did after he lost his food. As you listen, mark the
given statements as True or False. 1. The crow was unhappy that he lost his food. 2.
The crow thought that his lovely feathers made him smart. 3. The crow wanted to
tell his friends not to be proud.

STATEMENT ANSWER LINE IN THE TRANSCRIPT (PAGE 37)

1. The crow was unhappy that True “the crow felt really sad because the fox cheated him”
he lost his food.

2. The crow thought that his False He says the opposite: “Even if I don't have beautiful
lovely feathers made him feathers, I'm smart.” His brain makes him smart, not
smart. his feathers.

3. The crow wanted to tell his True “He wanted to tell all the other animals to be careful
friends not to be proud. with words. He told them, ‘Do not let pride lose what
you have.’”

Listening tip: Statement 2 is the tricky one. The words “beautiful feathers” and
“smart” both appear in the recording, but they are joined by “even if I don't have”.
Always listen for the little words — they can flip the whole meaning.

Page 36 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Let us speak — Page 18
The Raven and the Fox

SPEAKING

1 Narrate the poem in the form of a story. Give a different ending to the story. You
may begin like this: This is a story about a clever fox named Reynard and Mr Raven.
One day…

How to turn the poem into a story: keep the four events (raven finds food → fox sees him →
fox flatters him → beak opens), change the poet's lines into your own sentences, add a little
description of the woods, and then invent a new ending — one where the raven is not fooled, or
where the fox does not keep his prize.

Sample answer:
This is a story about a clever fox named Reynard and Mr Raven. One day, Mr Raven
found a big piece of bread in the park and flew up with it to a branch of the tallest
tree in the woods. Just then Reynard the Fox came trotting by. He looked up, saw the
bread, and his mouth began to water.
“My word!” said the Fox in a sweet voice. “Sir Raven, you are a handsome bird. Such
feathers! If you would only sing, the birds of these woods would call you King.”
Mr Raven felt very pleased. He lifted his head and was just about to sing — when he
remembered something. Only that morning, his mother had told him, “A croak is a
croak, my son, however much anyone praises it.” So instead of opening his beak, the
Raven quietly tucked the bread under his foot, held it tight, and croaked one short,
rude “Caw!”
The Fox jumped back in surprise. “That,” said the Raven, “is my whole song. And you
may have it free, since you like my voice so much.” Then he flew away with his bread,
leaving Reynard standing hungry under the tree. From that day on, Mr Raven was
known in the woods not as the King of singers, but as the bird who could not be
flattered.

Speaking tips: Use a smooth, sweet voice for the Fox and a rough, croaky one for
the Raven. Pause just before the beak opens — that is the moment your listeners are
waiting for.

Page 37 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Let us write — Page 18
The Raven and the Fox

WRITING

1 Now, write the story you narrated in the form of a conversation. (Remember to
write only the actions for the Raven as he has food in his mouth and does not
speak.) You may begin like this. Reynard: Good morning, Mr Raven! You seem to be
awake so early! (Mr Raven just nods his head) Reynard: Oh, Mr Raven, you look …

What your conversation must have: the speaker's name followed by a colon, only the Fox
speaking, and every reply of the Raven written as an action in brackets — a nod, a puff of the
chest, a shake of the head — because his beak is full.

Sample answer:
Reynard: Good morning, Mr Raven! You seem to be awake so early!
(Mr Raven just nods his head)
Reynard: Oh, Mr Raven, you look wonderful this morning. What a handsome bird
you are!
(Mr Raven sits up straight and turns his head to one side, pleased)
Reynard: And such feathers! I have walked through every corner of these woods,
and I have never seen feathers that shine like yours.
(Mr Raven spreads one wing slowly so that the Fox can admire it, still holding the bread
tightly)
Reynard: There is only one thing I do not know, Sir Raven — your voice. If a bird as
fine as you could sing, the birds of these woods would surely call you their King.
(Mr Raven puffs out his chest and looks around to see who is listening)
Reynard: Come now, just one little song. Only one!
(Mr Raven closes his eyes, lifts his head high and opens his beak wide — and the bread
drops straight down)
Reynard: (catching the bread and laughing) Ha-ha! Thank you for the song, Sir Raven,
and thank you even more for the breakfast! Remember this — ignore sweet words
that make you glow. Pride, my friend, is rather unwise!
(Mr Raven looks at his empty beak, hangs his head, and flies away without a sound)

Page 38 of 72

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Punctuation to watch: Put a colon after the speaker's name, start every new

m l a se
speaker on a new line, and put stage directions in brackets and italics. This is how all
o g to the
.c are written — and you will need the same layout fora“Rama
m
play scripts

l a se
ag
Rescue”.

co m
e m . ag
as
Let us explore — Page 19
a g l

co m
em.
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
a g
m a s
m .co agl
l a se
a g

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Raven and the Fox

PROJECT

1 Origami is the art of folding objects out of paper to create both two-dimensional
and three-dimensional objects. Let us make stick puppets and enact the poem. You
may take the help of the pictures given below.

1 2 3

4 5 6

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

Page 19 — redrawn sketch of the folding steps: the fox puppet (green panels 1–6) and
the raven puppet (yellow panels 1–8).

What you need: one orange square and one black square of paper (about 15 cm), a black or

Page 40 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

brown sketch pen, a little white paper for the eyes, glue or tape, and two ice-cream sticks (or
thin twigs).
The Fox — following the six pictures on page 19:

1. Fold the orange square in half from corner to corner to make a triangle; curve the two side
corners inward so the shape looks like a fan.
2. Stick on two round white eyes with black dots, and colour the bottom tip dark brown for the
nose.
3. Fold the two top corners upward and outward to make the pointed ears; add a small white
triangle inside each ear.
4. Tape an ice-cream stick to the back — your fox puppet is ready.

The Raven — following the eight pictures in the yellow row:

1. Cut from black paper one large oval (body), one small oval (head), a small triangle (beak) and
two long leaf shapes (wings and tail).
2. Glue the head to the body, then the beak to the head, and add a tiny white paper eye.
3. Glue one wing on each side and the pointed tail at the back.
4. Tape the second stick behind the body. Cut a small paper circle to be the morsel and tuck it
into the beak.

Enacting the poem: One child holds the raven high (standing on a chair or bench)
and one holds the fox low. As the Fox speaks his flattery, let the raven puppet turn
from side to side. At the words “He opened his beak”, tilt the raven so the paper
morsel falls — and let the fox puppet snap it up. Use the puppets again while
narrating your story from page 18.

Let us do these activities before we read — Pages 20 & 21
Rama to the Rescue

BEFORE YOU READ

I Identify the following people. How do they help us when we are in trouble?

The three pictures on page 20 show a police officer, a doctor and a firefighter.

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

PICTURE WHO SHE / HOW THEY HELP US IN TROUBLE
HE IS

Woman in khaki uniform Police officer Keeps the neighbourhood safe, patrols at night, catches
and cap, saluting thieves, files our complaints, helps find lost children.
Dial 100 or 112.

Woman in a white coat Doctor Treats us when we are ill or injured, gives medicines
with a stethoscope and injections, and saves lives in an emergency.
Ambulance: 108 or 102.

Person in a yellow helmet Firefighter Puts out fires, rescues people trapped in burning
holding a fire extinguisher buildings, and helps in floods and accidents. Dial 101 or
112.

Link to the story: The helper in this folk tale is the police officer — but in an old
Tamil village he is called the kotwal, and his weapon is only a long stick.

II Choose the correct option to complete the sentence. The word ‘rescue’ means to
______. 1. make fun of someone 2. save someone 3. ask someone for help

Answer: 2. save someone
To rescue means to save a person or an animal from danger or from a difficult situation. That is
why the story is called “Rama to the Rescue” — Rama the kotwal comes and saves the couple
from the thief.

Your own sentence: The fire brigade rescued a kitten that was stuck on the terrace
of a three-storeyed building.

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

III Work in pairs: Put a tick mark at the end of the phrases describing those who need
to be rescued. 1. A man stuck in a building on fire. 2. A woman buying vegetables in
the market. 3. A dog who has hurt its leg. 4. A tree being cut down in a forest.

PHRASE TICK? WHY

1. A man stuck in a ✓ His life is in danger right now — this is the clearest case of a
building on fire. rescue.

2. A woman buying ✗ She is doing an ordinary, safe, everyday job. There is no danger
vegetables in the at all.
market.

3. A dog who has hurt its ✓ An injured animal cannot help itself. It needs to be picked up
leg. and taken to a vet.

4. A tree being cut down ✓ A living tree that is being destroyed also needs saving.
in a forest. Movements like Chipko in Uttarakhand were exactly this —
people rescuing trees.

So tick 1, 3 and 4. If your partner argues that only 1 and 3 count, because a rescue must involve
a living creature in danger, that is a fair point to debate — but a tree is a living thing too, and this
is why the answer here includes it.

IV The policeman in the story you are about to read is called the kotwal. Some people
call him thaanedar. What do you call a policeman in your language? Share it with
your classmates and teacher.

Every Indian language has its own word — and often more than one, because the old words
came from different ranks in the police. Ask at home and add your own to this list.

Page 43 of 72

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
LANGUAGE WORD FOR A POLICEMAN

m as e
Hindi
.co
पुिलसवाला, िसपाही, थानेद ार , दारोगा, हवलदार
a g l
se m
g l
Tamila காவலர் (kāvalar), ேபாலஸ் காரர்
a
Telugu పోలీసు, కావలివాడు
co m
m . ag
se
Kannada ,

a
ೆ ೕ ್ ಾ ವಲು ಾ ರ

Malayalam l
ag കാരൻ
േപാലീസ

Marathi पोलीस , हवालदार , फौजदार
co m
em.
com as
পুিলশ , দােরাগা
l
Bengali

. a g
m
ase
Gujarati પોલીસ , ફોજદાર

aglPunjabi ਪੁਿਲਸ , ਥਾਣੇ ਦ ਾਰ

m a s
.co agl
Odia ପ ଲସ, ଦ ଗ

se m
େ ା ି ାେ ା

g l a
আৰ ী, পুিলচ
a
Assamese

Urdu ‫( ﺳﭙﺎ ﯽ‬sipahi), ‫ﺗﮭﺎﻧﯿﺪار‬
m
‫ﮨ‬

. co
se m
o m l a
Did you know? Kotwal comes from kot, meaning a fort — the kotwal was originally
g from thaana (police
the.cofficer in charge of a fort or a walled town. Thaanedaracomes
m
asestation), so a thaanedar is the officer in charge of a police station.
agl
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
Imagine you are alone at home and you face a problem. Will you solve the problem

agl
V1
yourself or wait for someone to help you?

. c om
s e
My answer: I would first try to solve it myself, and at the same time m call for help if the
. com is a serious one.
problem
a gla
em
as my own. But for anything dangerous, such as a fire, a gas leak or a stranger at the door, the
l
Small problems — a spilt glass of milk, a fused bulb in one room, a stuck door — I can handle on
a g
.c
right thing is not to be a hero. I would keep the door locked, telephone my parents or a
s e m
m a
. co agl
neighbour, and dial 112 if it were an emergency.

e m
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What the story says: The husband and wife in “Rama to the Rescue” do exactly this.
They cannot fight the thief themselves, so they think of a clever way to bring help to
the house — while pretending to do nothing at all.

V2 How will you deal with the problem? Give a reason. (i) Be worried about the
problem and give up. (ii) Feel angry that only you have the problem. (iii) Think
quickly about ways to solve the problem.

Answer: (iii) Think quickly about ways to solve the problem.
Reason: Worrying (i) and getting angry (ii) change nothing — they only waste the little time you
have and stop you from thinking straight. Quick, calm thinking is the only one of the three that
actually gets you out of trouble.
The whole folk tale is built on this idea. The man and his wife were frightened, but instead of
panicking they thought fast and invented the ‘Rama’ plan. As the last panel of the comic says,
“The man and his wife by their cleverness had saved themselves from being robbed.”

Let us discuss — Page 22
Rama to the Rescue

COMPREHENSION

I1 Circle the odd one. The characters are: husband, wife, children

Circle: children
Only two people are lying awake in the house — the husband and the wife. There are no
children in the story at all. In fact the couple are still hoping for a child: the wife asks, “What
should we name our child?” and the husband answers, “If he is a boy we'll call him Rama.” That
imaginary child is the heart of their trick.

I2 Circle the odd one. Who entered the house? guest, robber, Kotwal

Circle: guest

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Two people enter the house that night, and neither of them is invited. First the robber digs a
hole through the wall and creeps in — “Some thief has dug his way into this house.” Later the
kotwal Rama crawls in through the same hole to catch him. A guest is someone who is
welcomed at the door, and nobody like that comes to the house at all.

Let us discuss — Page 23
Rama to the Rescue

COMPREHENSION

I1 Write whether True or False. The man tells his plan to his wife.

True.
When the wife whispers, “What should we do?”, the man answers, “I'll tell you. Listen…” — and
from that moment the two of them begin the pretended conversation about naming their child
‘Rama’. The plan is his idea, and he explains it to her under the blanket so that the thief cannot
hear.

I2 Write whether True or False. The thief wants to know where they kept their jewels.

False.
The thief is thinking about their money, not their jewels. Hiding behind the wooden chest he
thinks, “I wonder where they keep their money,” and a little later, “I wish they would stop this
silly game and talk about their money instead.” The word jewels never appears in the story.

Tip: In a True/False question, look for the one word that has been changed. Here
everything is right except jewels — and that single word makes the whole statement
false.

Let us discuss — Page 24

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Rama to the Rescue

COMPREHENSION

1 Along with your classmates, call out the name ‘Rama’ – softly, loudly and very
loudly.

This is a speaking activity, and it is worth doing properly, because the whole plot turns on it.

Softly — almost a whisper, as if the person were standing inside the same room. “Rama…”
Loudly — a normal calling voice, as if he were in the yard outside. “Rama! Rama!”
Very loudly — a full shout, as if he were far away in the street. “RAMA! RAMA!”

Why the three levels matter: The wife has to reach the kotwal wherever he
happens to be — in the house, in the yard or in the street — without the thief
guessing what she is doing. The three volumes are the three parts of the plan, and
the third one is what finally brings Rama running.

Try This: Stand at three distances in the school ground — 2 metres, 10 metres and
30 metres — and find out for yourself how loud you must be for a friend to hear the
name each time.

2 What do you think will happen next in the story?

My prediction: Rama, the village kotwal, will hear his name being shouted, come running
to the house, discover the hole in the wall and catch the thief.
Two clues in the story point that way. First, the caption on page 22 has already told us, “Rama
was the village kotwal” — a detail the writer would not give unless it mattered. Second, the wife
shouts “RAMA! RAMA!” at the very top of her voice, and the very next panel shows a man in a red
uniform with a stick running through the night.

Check it yourself: Read on. Rama finds the freshly dug hole, says “Oh, oh! Some
thief has dug his way into this house,” crawls in and arrests the thief — exactly as the
couple planned.

Let us discuss — Pages 25 & 26

Page 47 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Rama to the Rescue

COMPREHENSION

I Work in pairs to match the words in Column A with the meanings in Column B. (1.
wonder 2. yard 3. chatter 4. instead 5. closely 6. perhaps)

COLUMN ANSWER COLUMN B — MEANING WHERE IT APPEARS IN THE
A STORY

1. wonder (vi) a feeling of surprise “I wonder where they keep their
money.”

2. yard (iii) an area outside a building “But what if he's in the yard?”

3. chatter (iv) talk for a long time about “At last, they've stopped their
unimportant things chatter!”

4. instead (i) in place of someone or something “… and talk about their money
instead.”

5. closely (ii) carefully “I'd better listen closely.”

6. perhaps (v) maybe “Perhaps they're talking about
their money.”

In short: 1–(vi), 2–(iii), 3–(iv), 4–(i), 5–(ii), 6–(v).

Page 48 of 72

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Fill in the boxes with suitable words as you read the story. (RAMA TO THE RESCUE —
e
II

m l as
.co
Main Characters, Setting, Other Characters, Problem, Solution)

a g
se m
g l a
a

BOX WHAT TO WRITE

co m
The man (the husband) and his wife.
em ag
s
Main
a
agl
Characters

Setting A village in Tamil Nadu, inside the couple's house, late at night

co m
Other
e m.
as
The thief (the robber) and Rama, the village kotwal

m l
.co g
Characters

m a
l a se
Problem
g
A thief digs a hole through the wall and gets into the house while the couple are still awake. They

a cannot run out or shout for help, because the thief is inside and would harm them; he is waiting
for them to fall asleep so that he can steal their money.

m a s
Solution
em
.co
The couple pretend to have an ordinary family conversation about naming their unborn child.
agl
a s
aglhearssoftly,
They decide on the name ‘Rama’ — which is also the name of the village kotwal — and then say
they will call out “Rama!” then louder, then very loudly. When the wife shouts “RAMA!
RAMA!”, the kotwal his name, runs to the house, sees the hole and arrests the thief.

. c om
Why a story map helps: Almost every story can be squeezed into
m a s emthese five boxes.
.
Once l a minute — which is
coyou can fill them, you can retell the story to anyoneainghalf
s m what the writing task on page 34 asks you to do.
eexactly
a
agl
se m
com g l a
m. 26 & 27 a
ase
Let us think and reflect — Pages

agl
Rama to the Rescue

COMPREHENSION

co m
m .
o m l a
Man: What's the matter? What are you looking at? / Wife:se Ssssh! Listen! / Man:
.c Somebody is trying to get in. / Wife: I … I think heaghas got in … the noise has
I 1 (i)

se m
g l a stopped. — What makes the man say the first line?
a c
m .
m a s e
m . co
The man says it because of what he sees his wife doing. It is late at night and both of them
agl
l a se
have lain down to sleep, but instead of sleeping his wife has sat up and is staring hard towards
agface.
the door with a frightened

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Her strange behaviour surprises him, so he asks two quick questions at once — “What's the
matter? What are you looking at?” He has not yet heard the digging himself; it is her expression
that alerts him.

I 1 (ii) Choose the correct option. The wife says ‘Ssssh! Listen!’. What does the word
‘Ssssh’ mean here? A. sleep B. help C. rest D. be silent

Answer: D. be silent
‘Ssssh’ is not really a word — it is a sound we make, usually with a finger on the lips, to tell
somebody to stop talking and keep quiet. In the picture the wife is doing exactly that. She wants
absolute silence in the room so that both of them can hear the noise coming from the wall.

Did you know? Sounds used like this are called interjections — Ssssh!, Oh!, Ah!, Hey!,
Oops! They express a feeling or an order in a single breath, and they are almost
always followed by an exclamation mark.

I 1 (iii) How can you tell that the wife was listening carefully?

Three things in these few lines show it.

She hushes her husband — “Ssssh! Listen!” — because even a whisper would spoil her
listening.
She heard the sound before he did. He is still asking what the matter is when she has
already worked out that somebody is at the wall.
She notices something very fine indeed — not a noise, but the absence of one: “I … I think
he has got in … the noise has stopped.” Only somebody listening with full attention would
realise that the digging had stopped, and understand what that silence meant.

I 2 (i) Rama, the village kotwal, ran to the house from which he heard his name being
called. / Rama: Oh, Oh! Some thief has dug his way into this house. — Fill in the
blank with the correct word from the given lines. The villagers caught the thief
and took him to the _____________________.

kotwal

Page 50 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The villagers caught the thief and took him to the kotwal.
The kotwal is the village policeman, so he is exactly the person to whom a caught thief would be
handed over. In some parts of India he is also called the thaanedar or the daroga.

I 2 (ii) Choose the correct option. What do the words “Oh, Oh!” show here? A. surprise B.
anger C. pain D. happiness

Answer: A. surprise
Rama has come running only because he heard his own name being shouted. He was not
expecting a crime. When he reaches the house and suddenly notices a great hole freshly dug
through the wall with bricks and earth scattered around it, he is taken aback — and “Oh, oh!” is
the sound of that shock.
It cannot be anger or pain, because nothing has been done to him, and certainly not happiness,
because what he has found is a robbery.

I 2 (iii) How can you tell that the kotwal was good at his job?

Everything Rama does that night shows a good policeman:

He was on duty in the middle of the night, patrolling the village streets with his stick —
that is why he was near enough to hear at all.
He responded at once. “Rama, the village kotwal, ran to the house from which he heard his
name being called.” He did not ignore the call or wait till morning.
He was observant and quick to understand. One look at the hole and he knew what had
happened: “Some thief has dug his way into this house.”
He was brave. He crawled through the narrow hole alone, into a dark house where a thief
was hiding.
He finished the job — he caught the man and told him plainly, “You're under arrest.”

II Give one reason why the man and his wife were not able to fall asleep.

Because they had heard somebody digging into their house and knew that a thief was inside
with them.

Page 51 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The wife heard the scraping noise first and made her husband listen. He said, “Somebody is
trying to get in,” and a moment later she realised, “I … I think he has got in … the noise has
stopped.” After that, fear kept them wide awake — they lay under the blanket whispering about
what to do, while the thief waited behind the door for them to sleep.

III What did the thief wish would happen? Did it happen?

What he wished: The thief wished that the couple would stop talking and either fall asleep, so
that he could search the house safely, or else let slip where the money was hidden. His own
words say both: “I wonder where they keep their money”, “Voices! They're awake. I'll have to
wait till they fall asleep”, and “I wish they would stop this silly game and talk about their money
instead… or fall asleep at least!”
Did it happen? No — not in the way he wanted. The couple never said a word about their
money, and they never fell asleep. The chatter did stop at last, and he thought his luck had
turned — “Ah, at last they've stopped their chatter!” — but by then the wife's shout had already
brought Rama the kotwal to the house. Instead of finding the money, the thief found a
policeman crawling through his own hole, and heard the words “You're under arrest.”

The irony: The very “silly game” the thief was so impatient with was the trap being
built around him. He was listening closely to the one conversation he should have
ignored.

IV How did the man and his wife get help from the kotwal?

They got help by a clever trick — they made the kotwal come to them without the thief ever
suspecting it.
The husband whispered his plan to his wife, and then the two of them held a loud, ordinary-
sounding family conversation:

The wife asked, “What should we name our child?” and the husband answered, “If he is a boy
we'll call him Rama” — which happened to be the name of the village kotwal.
Then they said what they would do to call the boy: “When he's in the house, I'll call out softly
to him. Rama! Rama!” … “But what if he's in the yard?” … “Then I'll call out a little louder,
Rama, Rama!” … “But what if the boy is not in the house or in the yard, but in the street?” …
“Oh, then I'll call out very loudly…”
And the wife shouted at the top of her voice, “RAMA! RAMA!”

Page 52 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Rama the kotwal, out on his night round in the street, heard his name and came running. He
saw the freshly dug hole, crawled in and arrested the thief. To the thief it had sounded like
nothing more than a husband and wife chattering about a baby's name.

The last caption sums it up: “The man and his wife by their cleverness had saved
themselves from being robbed.”

V Do you think cleverness can help us solve our problems? Why do you say so?

Yes — cleverness is often more useful than strength, especially when we are helpless in
every other way.
The couple in this story could not fight the thief, could not run out of the house, and could not
shout “Help! Thief!” without being attacked. They had only one weapon left — their brains. By
turning a shout for help into an ordinary conversation about a baby's name, they brought a
policeman into the house while the thief sat listening happily to the whole plan.
The other two texts of this unit show the same thing. Sage Mahipati could not argue Rama
Natha out of his belief, so he cleverly turned the search for a potion into six years of farming.
Reynard the Fox could not climb a tree, so he used flattery to make the food fall to him.
But cleverness alone is not enough. It has to go with calmness — the couple did not panic —
and it must be used honestly. Reynard's cleverness was used to cheat, and that made him a
thief of another kind.

In your own life: If you forget your house key, breaking a window is strength; going
to a neighbour whose phone number you know by heart is cleverness.

Let us learn — Pages 27 to 32

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Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
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Rama to the Rescue — Contractions, Present Progressive, Adverbs and Sentence Types
co m
em.
m as
GRAMMAR

.co a g l
a s em the highlighted words in the following lines. • I'm feeling so sleepy. • It's a
gl
Study
a
I
thief. • They're awake. The highlighted words given in the above sentences have
one letter missing in each. What are they? Now, write the full words with the

co m
. ag
missing letter. 1. _________ feeling so sleepy. 2. _________ a thief. 3. _____ awake.
e m
g l as
a

co m
m.
SHORT FORM MISSING LETTER FULL FORM

m as e
I'm
.co
a

a g lI am

se m
g l a
It's i It is

a They're a They are

m a s
m .co agl
se
The full sentences:

g l a
1. I am feeling so sleepy.
2. It is a thief.
a
3. They are awake.
co m
m .
m as e
.co a
What the apostrophe does: The mark ( ' ) stands exactly where the missing letter
g l
s m to be. I am → drop the a → I'm. It is → drop the i → It's. They are → drop the a
eused
a
gl → They're. Such short forms are called contractions, because the two words are
a
pulled together.
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 54 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

II Expand the following words. Two examples have been done for you. Use the
contracted form of these words in sentences of your own. (what's, I'll, I'd, we'll,
that's, we're, don't, you'll, must've)

S. CONTRACTED EXPANDED SENTENCE OF MY OWN
NO. WORD FORM

1. what's what is What's the name of your new class teacher?

2. I'll I will I'll finish my homework before the power goes
off.

3. I'd I would (or I had) I'd rather walk to school than wait for the bus.

4. we'll we will We'll meet near the temple gate at four
o'clock.

5. that's that is That's my sister's bicycle, not mine.

6. we're we are We're going to the village fair on Sunday.

7. don't do not Don't forget to carry your umbrella today.

8. you'll you will You'll enjoy this book — it is full of folk tales.

9. must've must have He must've left early, because his cycle is gone.

Careful: I'd can stand for I would or I had — you decide from the rest of the
sentence. In the story, “I'd better listen closely” means I had better.

III Study the highlighted words and the words in the brackets in the following
sentences from the story. 1. I am feeling so sleepy. 2. What are you looking at? 3.
Somebody is trying to get in. 4. They are saying something. 5. Perhaps, they are
talking about their money. Now, choose the correct option. The sentences 1–5 refer
to actions that _________________. [are going on at the time of speaking / happened in
the past / will take place in the future]

Answer: are going on at the time of speaking.

Page 55 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Look at what is happening in the story as each line is spoken. The wife is looking at the door at
that moment; somebody is digging at that moment; the thief hears them talking at that very
moment. Nothing here is finished and nothing is planned for later.

How the tense is built: a form of the verb be (am / is / are) + the main verb + -ing.

am + feel + ing = am feeling

is + try + ing = is trying

are + look + ing = are looking

This is the present progressive (also called present continuous) tense.

IV Fill in the blanks to complete the following sentences. 1. I ______ in Grade 6. [am +
study + ing] 2. My friend ______ a story book. [is + read + ing] 3. We ______ a board
game. [are + play + ing] 4. I ______ a new language. [am + learn + ing] 5. The teachers
______ in the staff room. [are + sit + ing] 6. My mother ______ food in the kitchen. [is +
cook + ing]

1. I am studying in Grade 6.
2. My friend is reading a story book.
3. We are playing a board game.
4. I am learning a new language.
5. The teachers are sitting in the staff room.
6. My mother is cooking food in the kitchen.

Spelling rule to watch (No. 5): sit ends in a short vowel + a single consonant, so the
last letter is doubled before -ing — sit → sitting. The same happens in run →
running, put → putting, dig → digging. But read, play, learn and cook take -ing
straight away.

Page 56 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

V Study the following picture and fill in the blanks with the present progressive form
of verbs. 1. Govind and Anu ______ football. 2. Pema ______ flowers. 3. Anil ______ the
score card. 4. The mother ______ a book. 5. The dog ______ to catch the ball. 6. The birds
______ in the sky.

Govind Anu

2 3

Page 29 — the park picture the six sentences describe, redrawn.

The picture on page 29 shows a park. Here is what each person in it is doing.

1. Govind and Anu are playing football. (two children running after a black-and-white football)
2. Pema is plucking flowers. (the little girl in the yellow frock and orange hat, bending over the
flowers)
3. Anil is holding the score card. (the boy in the wheelchair, showing a card that reads Govind 2,
Anu 3)
4. The mother is reading a book. (the woman sitting on the park bench)
5. The dog is running to catch the ball. (the puppy chasing the football)
6. The birds are flying in the sky.

Other correct answers: 2. is picking / is collecting; 3. is showing / is raising; 5. is
trying / is jumping. Any -ing verb that matches the picture is acceptable — but keep
are for plural subjects (Govind and Anu, the birds) and is for singular ones.

Page 57 of 72

Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

VI Study the following sentences from the story and complete the table. One example
has been done for you. 1. I'd better listen closely. 2. When he's in the house, I'll call
out softly to him. 3. Then I'll call out very loudly…
The table as printed on page 30 — row (i) is the example:

S. SENTENCE QUESTION WORD
NO.

(i) I’d better listen closely. How does he listen? A.
closely

(ii) When he’s in the house, I’ll call out softly How does she call B.
to him. out?

(iii) Then I’ll call out very loudly. How does she call C.
out?

S. SENTENCE QUESTION WORD
NO.

(i) I'd better listen closely. How does he listen? a. closely

(ii) When he's in the house, I'll call out softly to How does she call b. softly
him. out?

(iii) Then I'll call out very loudly. How does she call c. loudly (very
out? loudly)

What you have found: closely, softly and loudly all answer the question How? about
a verb. Words that give more information about a verb — how, when or where an
action happens — are called adverbs. Notice that all three are made by adding -ly to
an adjective: close → closely, soft → softly, loud → loudly.

Page 58 of 72

as e
Class 6 English Unit 1 Fables and Folk Tales
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Fill in the blanks with suitable adverbs from the box given below. There are two
se
VII

o m l a
extra words that you do not need. [warmly, gracefully, smoothly, beautifully,
g ______. 2. The car
m .c quickly, hurriedly] 1. He solved the mathematics problem
funnily, a
l a se ______ along the highway. 3. The musician played the guitar ______. 4. Shobha
moved
ag danced ______. 5. Rohit left the house ______.

co m
m . ag

l a se
g highway.
1. He solved the mathematics problem quickly.
2. The car moved smoothly alongathe

m
3. The musician played the guitar beautifully.

co
m.
4. Shobha danced gracefully.

m as e
.co l
5. Rohit left the house hurriedly.
a g
se m
The two extra words are warmly and funnily.

g l a
a Tip: Match the adverb to the verb, not to the person. A car on a good highway moves

a s
comor greeting, which does not appear here at agl
smoothly; a dancer moves gracefully; and someone who is in a hurry leaves
.
em
hurriedly. “Warmly” goes with welcoming
a s
agl
all.

. c om
m a s em There are two
Fill in the blanks with suitable adverbs from the box given below.

gl
coextra words that you do not need. [honestly, brightly,apeacefully,
VIII

. sweetly, angrily,

a s em slowly, tirelessly] Once upon a time in a small forest, animals lived 1. ____. The wise
agl old tortoise moved 2. ____ but always won the race against the proud rabbit. The
ants worked 3. ____, gathering food for the winter. The kind-hearted lion ruled the
se m
com
jungle 4. ____, giving everyone a chance to speak. The birds sang 5. ____, making
g l a
m . a
ase
everyone in the forest happy.

ANSWER agl
The completed paragraph:
co m
m .
as e
Once upon a time in a small forest, animals lived peacefully. The wise old tortoise moved
m
.co a g l
slowly but always won the race against the proud rabbit. The ants worked tirelessly, gathering

a s emto speak. The birds sang sweetly, making everyone in the forest happy.
food for the winter. The kind-hearted lion ruled the jungle honestly, giving everyone a chance

agl
.c
s e m
m a
e m . co agl
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 59 of 72