NCERT Solutions Class 5 English Chapter 4 the Wise Parrot

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 5 · ENGLISH

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 4: The Wise Parrot

NCERT Textbook — Santoor

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

41 – 54 12 36 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 38 pages

Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 5 · ENGLISH · SANTOOR

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 4: The Wise Parrot
Chapter 4 of Santoor closes Unit 2, My Colourful World. The Wise Parrot is a prose story — a folk tale. The
book does not name a writer. A rich merchant keeps a clever parrot in a cage of gold. The parrot wants only
one thing: to fly free. It never fights and it never begs twice — it thinks, and it wins. The chapter carries these
banners: Let us Read, New Words, Let us Think (A and B), Let us Learn (A, B, C), Let us Listen, Let us Speak
(A and B), Let us Write, Let us Do and Let us Explore. The same PDF also carries Self-assessment 1 on
printed pages 53–54, which is answered in the last section here.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Santoor (Class 5) 41 – 54

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

12 36

MEDIUM

English

Let us Read — Pages 41–44
The Wise Parrot (story)

LET US READ

Story Let us Read — The Wise Parrot. Read the story and enjoy it.

Read the story once for the fun of it. Then read it a second time and stop at every place where
the parrot speaks. Every single thing that parrot says is part of its plan.
The story, part by part:

1. The golden cage (page 41). In a quiet village a rich merchant keeps a bright, talkative parrot
in a cage of gold. The parrot has a sharp mind. It tells the merchant stories and sings him
songs. But deep inside it longs for the open sky and the green trees.
2. The offer (page 41). The merchant is going far away on business. He wants to please his pet,
so he asks, “My beloved parrot, I am about to travel to a far-off land. What can I bring for you
from there?”
3. The parrot asks straight out (page 42). The parrot says it has tasted every tender fruit and
chilli already. What it wants is “the joy of flying in the sky”. It asks to be let go.
4. The merchant says no (page 42). “You are very dear to me and I cannot bear to let you go
away. Ask for anything else.” So asking has not worked.
5. The small request (page 42). The bird sighs and asks for something tiny instead — please
tell my friends in the jungle that I send them greetings from my cage.

Page 1 of 38

Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

6. The forest (page 42). In a far forest the merchant sees a flight of parrots the same colour as
his pet. He calls out the message. At once one parrot drops like a stone from the tree and
falls on the ground.
7. Back home (page 43). The merchant is distressed and hurries away. At home he tells his pet
about the journey, about the message he passed on, and about the bird that fell. As soon as
he finishes, his own parrot falls from its perch to the floor of the cage.
8. The escape (page 44). The merchant cannot understand it. He lifts the still-warm body out
of the cage and lays it on the windowsill. He steps back — and the bird stirs, stretches its
green wings and flies off, saying, “My friend showed me how I could escape and now I can fly
in the sky. Goodbye!”

Why the story is clever: The message was never really a greeting. It was a question
— how do I get out? The forest parrot could not send words back, because the
merchant would have carried those words home too. So it sent an action: fall down
as if dead. The merchant himself carried the answer home, and he never knew he
was carrying it.

Read it aloud like this: Say the merchant’s lines warmly — he truly loves the bird.
Say the parrot’s lines quietly and politely. Then read the last line, “Goodbye!”, brightly
and quickly, as if the bird is already high up in the air.

One thing to notice: Nobody is wicked in this story. The merchant is kind, feeds the
parrot well and gives it a cage of gold. He simply does not understand that a bird
needs the sky more than it needs gold.

Let us Think — Page 45
A. Answer the following questions

LET US THINK

A.1 Why did the merchant keep the parrot in a cage of gold?

The merchant kept the parrot in a cage of gold because he loved the bird very much and it
was his most precious pet.
The story tells us in its very first line that he was “a rich merchant”. A rich man can afford gold.
He used that gold for his parrot because he wanted everyone to see how much the bird was
worth to him.

Page 2 of 38

Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

We know how strong his feeling was from his own words later: “You are very dear to me and I
cannot bear to let you go away.” A cage of gold was his way of saying that.

Think about this, though: Gold is costly, but a cage is still a cage. The bars do not
become soft because they are golden. The parrot “longed for the open skies and
green trees”, and no amount of gold could give it that. The story is quietly telling us
that love which locks someone up is not enough.

A.2 What made the parrot a favourite pet of the merchant?

The parrot became the merchant’s favourite pet because it was bright, talkative and had a
sharp mind, and because it entertained him with stories and songs.
The first paragraph of the story says it plainly: the merchant “kept a bright and talkative parrot”,
and “the parrot had a sharp mind and often entertained the merchant with stories and songs.”

Bright here means clever and quick to learn.
Talkative means it liked to talk a lot. A merchant who lives alone would enjoy that.
Stories and songs — it was good company at the end of a working day.

Notice: The same sharp mind that made the parrot a lovely pet is the mind that later
plans the escape. The merchant loved the very quality that set his bird free.

A.3 What message did the parrot ask the merchant to convey to its friends?

The parrot asked the merchant to tell the parrots in the jungle that it sent them greetings
from its cage.
These are the parrot’s own words: “Since you cannot let me fly, when you see my friends in the
jungle tell them that I send them greetings from my cage.” The word convey means to pass a
message on to somebody.

Why the parrot chose those exact words: Read them again — “greetings from my
cage”. The parrot did not just send love. It told its friends where it was and what had
happened to it. That is the whole question, hidden inside a polite little greeting. The
merchant carried the question to the forest without ever knowing he was carrying it.

Page 3 of 38

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
What happened after the merchant gave the message to the parrots?
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A.4

m l as
.co a g
a s em
As g
a l as the merchant finished speaking, one parrot dropped like a stone from the tree
soon
and fell on the ground. The merchant was distressed by this and hurried away from the

om ag
place.
. c
s e m
The story says: “As the merchant finished speaking, one parrot dropped like a stone from the
tree and fell on the ground.” Distressedla
a g means very upset and unhappy. He thought the bird had
died of shock, and he could not bear to stay and look.

co m
se
What was really happening: That parrot was not dead and it was not shocked. It
m.
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g — do this: fall
.c home and understood them. So it sent a picture instead
was answering. It could not send words, because the merchant would have carried
the m a
se as if you are dead. Only another parrot would read the message correctly.
words

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down

m a s
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The phrase to remember: “dropped like a stone.” A stone falls fast, straight and

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a
heavily. Those three words make us see the fall exactly.

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How did the parrot escape from the cage?
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A.5

m l as
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a s emANSWER

a gl The parrot escaped by pretending to be dead. When the merchant took the “dead” bird out
of the cage and laid it on the windowsill, the parrot came to life, spread its wings and flew
se m
away.
com g l a
m . a
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Here is exactly how it happened, step by step:

agl
1. The merchant came home and described his journey. He told the parrot how he had passed
on the message, and how one bird had fallen to the ground.

. c om
2. The pet parrot understood the advice at once. “As soon as he finished talking, his own pet
parrot fell from the perch to the floor of the cage.” The perch is them
s e little bar inside the cage

. conomwhich a bird sits. a gla
a s em3. The merchant thought his pet had died of the same shock. He “reached into the cage and
agl gently took the still warm body of the bird and placed it on the windowsill.”
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4. The moment he stepped back, “the bird stirred, stretched its beautiful green wings and flew
s
com gla
off into the open sky.”
. a
a s em came from: “My friend showed me how I could escape and
Its last words tell us where the idea

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now I can fly in the sky. Goodbye!”

co m
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m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the trick worked: The parrot could not open the cage. Its beak could not bend
gold. So it did not fight the cage at all — it worked on the person holding the key. It
knew the merchant was kind, and that a kind man would not leave a dead bird lying
in a cage. So the merchant opened the door himself. That is thinking, not strength.

Let us Think — Page 45
B. Think and discuss

THINK AND DISCUSS

B.1 If you were the merchant, how would you respond to the parrot’s request for
freedom?

This question asks for your answer, so there is no single right one. But a good answer must do
three things: say clearly what you would do, give a reason, and be honest about what is hard
about it.

What to notice before you answer: The merchant is not cruel. He feeds the bird
well and gives it a golden cage. His problem is that he thinks about what he would
miss, not about what the parrot needs. Ask yourself which of the two matters more.

Sample answer: If I were the merchant, I would open the cage and let the parrot fly. It would
be hard, because the parrot was my friend and the house would feel very quiet without its
songs. But the bird asked for only one thing in its whole life, and it asked politely. A parrot is
made for the sky — it has wings, and wings are of no use inside a cage of gold. Keeping it would
mean I love myself more than I love the bird. So I would carry the cage into the garden, open
the little door, and say goodbye properly. I would also keep a bird feeder on my windowsill with
fruits and seeds, so that my friend could come back to visit me whenever it wished.

Another honest answer you may give: “I would find it very hard and I might say no
at first, like the merchant did. But after seeing the bird sit quietly for days, I would
change my mind and set it free.” This is also a good answer, because it says what you
truly feel and then shows you thinking again.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

B.2 Can you think of a real-life situation where intelligence is more useful than
strength?

Yes — there are many. Whenever a problem cannot be pushed, pulled or lifted out of the
way, intelligence is the only tool that works.

What a good answer needs: one clear situation, told in two or three sentences,
showing what strength could not do and what thinking did.

Sample answer: Last summer a ball fell into a deep, narrow pipe near our school gate. Two big
boys tried to reach in with their arms and could not, because the pipe was too narrow and too
deep. My friend Ritu thought for a minute and then poured a bucket of water into the pipe. The
ball floated up on the water and we picked it out. No amount of pulling would have brought the
ball up, but one simple idea did it in a minute. That day I understood that a good idea can be
stronger than strong arms.
More examples you may use:

A thirsty crow drops pebbles into a pot so that the water rises. It cannot tip a heavy pot over,
but it can raise the water.
A doctor cannot pull a fever out of a body. She thinks about the symptoms and gives the
right medicine.
Tenali Rama and Birbal solve the king’s problems with clever answers, never with a sword.
A farmer cannot carry water uphill all day, so he digs a channel and lets it flow down by itself.
Our maths teacher shows us a short way to multiply by 99 — add a zero and take one away.
Thinking saves us a page of working.

The idea behind all of these: Strength can only push against a problem.
Intelligence looks for the weak spot in the problem — and once you find it, very little
force is needed. The parrot did exactly that: it did not push against the golden bars,
it worked on the merchant’s kind heart.

B.3 Which parrot from the chapter was actually ‘wise’ according to you? Give reasons
for your answer.

There are two parrots in this story, and a good answer can choose either one — as long as you
give reasons. Here is the case for each.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

THE PARROT WHAT IT DID WHY WE COULD CALL IT WISE

The forest parrot Heard the message and at It worked out the whole plan in a moment, and
(the friend in the once dropped like a stone found a way to send it back through a man who
jungle) from the tree. must not understand it.

The pet parrot (in Asked politely, was refused, It thought of asking a question in the first place,
the golden cage) sent a hidden question, waited it understood the answer at once, and it had the
many days, then acted. patience to wait for the right moment.

Sample answer (choosing the pet parrot): I think the pet parrot in the cage was the truly wise
one. When it was refused its freedom, it did not cry, sulk or beat its wings against the bars. It
thought of a way to send a question out into the world, hidden inside a polite greeting. Then it
waited for many days without giving up hope. When the answer came, it understood at once
and acted the very same minute. Being clever for one moment is not so hard; being clever,
patient and calm for weeks is much harder. That is why I call the pet parrot wise.

Sample answer (choosing the forest parrot): “I think the forest parrot was the wise
one. It heard the message only once, and in that one moment it worked out a whole
plan. It also knew that it must not speak, because the merchant would carry any
words back home. So it answered with an action instead. To think that fast, and to
say it without a word, is real wisdom.”

The best answer of all: Say that the two parrots were wise together. One knew how
to ask; the other knew how to answer. Neither could have escaped alone. The story is
about a friendship that works across a great distance, through a man who does not
even know he is the postman.

Let us Learn — Page 46

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A. Fill in the blanks with suitable phrases

LET US LEARN

A Fill in the blanks with suitable phrases given in the box to make a meaningful
paragraph. stand upright, all over, look after, stepped out, went away, came across,
about to One winter morning, as I ......................... of my home, I saw that the snow
was ......................... the place. While walking uphill towards my shop, I
......................... a small puppy. Its leg was injured and it was ......................... collapse.
Being in pain it was unable to ......................... . So, I decided to take it home and
......................... it. With good care, all its pain ......................... .

A phrase is a small group of words that work together as one word. Came across, for example, is
two words but it means one thing — found by chance.
Here is the completed paragraph, with the answers in bold.

One winter morning, as I stepped out of my home, I saw that the snow was all over the

place. While walking uphill towards my shop, I came across a small puppy. Its leg was

injured and it was about to collapse. Being in pain it was unable to stand upright. So, I

decided to take it home and look after it. With good care, all its pain went away.

Now the meaning of each phrase, and why it fits:

Page 8 of 38

as e
Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
BLANK PHRASE WHAT IT MEANS, AND WHY IT FITS

m stepped out as e
.co
1. as I ___ of my
a g l
Stepped out = went outside. You step out of a house, so the little
home
a s em word of after the blank is your clue.

l
a2.gthe snow was all over All over = everywhere, on every side. Snow does not sit in one
___ the place corner; it covers the whole place.

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3. I ___ a small came
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Came across = found something by chance, without looking for it. ag
puppy across
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He was going to his shop, not hunting for a puppy.

4. it was ___ about to
a
About to = going to do something in the very next moment.
collapse Collapse means to fall down suddenly.
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com l as
5. unable to ___ stand Stand upright = stand straight up on its legs. Its leg was injured, so

. a g
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upright it could not.

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6. take it home and look after Look after = take care of somebody. Notice it does not mean “look
behind”.

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7. all its pain ___ went away Went away = left, disappeared. With good care the pain finally left

a s em
the puppy.

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Check it yourself: There are seven phrases in the box and seven blanks in the

co m
paragraph. Each phrase is used exactly once. If you have a phrase left over at the
m .
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end, one of your blanks is wrong.
as e
.co a g l
a s em
agl Why phrases are worth learning: You cannot work out what came across means by
m
adding came and across together. The phrase carries a meaning of its own. English is

a se
com l
full of these, so learn them whole — like single words.
. a g
m
ase
agl
Use them yourself: I stepped out to buy milk. Mud was all over my shoes. I came
across an old photo in a book. The bus is about to leave. Stand upright for the

co m
.
National Anthem. Please look after my bag. The headache went away after I drank

em
as
water.
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l a se
ag
Let us Learn — Page 46 .c
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m a
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m as e
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

B. Complete the sentences — collective nouns

LET US LEARN

B.1 Complete the sentences. The first one has been done for you. pack, bouquet, army,
flock, bunch, flight, swarm 1. A ....................... of parrots came to the forest.

A flight of parrots came to the forest. This one is already filled in for you in the book.
All seven words in the box are collective nouns. A collective noun is one word for a whole
group. Instead of saying “many parrots flying together”, we say a flight of parrots.

Why flight: The word comes from the birds flying together. It is used for birds that
go through the air as one group — parrots, pigeons, swallows. The story uses this
very word: “he saw a flight of parrots with the same colour as his pet.”

Your own sentence: A flight of pigeons rose from the temple roof when the bell
rang.

B.2 2. I saw a ....................... of sheep in the fields.

I saw a flock of sheep in the fields.

Why flock: A flock is a group of animals that stay close together and move together
— sheep, goats and also birds. Sheep never wander alone; they follow one another,
so flock is the right word for them.

Also correct English: a flock of birds, a flock of goats. But we do not say a flock of
cows — cows come in a herd.

Your own sentence: A flock of sheep blocked our jeep on the hill road.

Page 10 of 38

Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

B.3 3. A ....................... of wolves was howling loudly.

A pack of wolves was howling loudly.

Why pack: A pack is a group of animals that hunt together — wolves, wild dogs,
jackals. They live in one family group and work as a team, so English gives them their
own word.

Careful: The word pack has another meaning too — a pack of cards, a pack of
biscuits. Same word, different job. The words around it tell you which meaning is
meant.

Your own sentence: A pack of wolves followed the deer through the snow.

B.4 4. We gave a ....................... of flowers to the chief guest.

We gave a bouquet of flowers to the chief guest.

Why bouquet: A bouquet (say it boo-kay — the t is silent) is a bunch of flowers that
has been arranged neatly and tied, meant to be given as a gift. That is exactly what
we hand to a chief guest.

Spelling tip: bouquet is a hard one — b-o-u-q-u-e-t. It came into English from French,
which is why it is not spelt the way it sounds. Write it out three times.

Your own sentence: Riya gave a bouquet of yellow roses to her teacher on Teachers’
Day.

B.5 5. A ....................... of bees hovered around the flowers.

A swarm of bees hovered around the flowers.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why swarm: A swarm is a large group of small insects flying about together — bees,
flies, locusts, mosquitoes. The word gives us the picture of many tiny things moving
all at once. Hovered means stayed in the air in one place, without flying away.

Your own sentence: A swarm of bees hung from the branch of the neem tree, so we
did not go near it.

B.6 6. An ....................... of ants is moving towards the anthill.

An army of ants is moving towards the anthill.

Why army: Ants march in a long line, one behind the other, all going the same way
— exactly like soldiers. So English calls a group of them an army.

A grammar clue for free: The sentence begins with An, not A. We use an before a
vowel sound. Out of all seven words in the box, only army begins with a vowel
sound. So this blank could be filled before you even thought about the meaning.

Your own sentence: An army of ants carried away the sugar I had spilt.

B.7 7. I helped my mother find a ....................... of keys.

I helped my mother find a bunch of keys.

Why bunch: A bunch is a group of things joined or held together at one point —
keys on a ring, bananas on a stalk, grapes on a stem, flowers held in the hand. Keys
hang from one ring, so bunch is right.

Check the whole exercise: There are seven words in the box and seven sentences.
Each word is used once — flight, flock, pack, bouquet, swarm, army, bunch. Tick
them off one by one.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Some more to collect: a herd of cows, a school of fish, a pride of lions, a troop of
monkeys, a fleet of ships, a galaxy of stars, a bundle of sticks.

Your own sentence: A bunch of keys jingled in the watchman’s pocket.

Let us Learn — Pages 47–48
C. Present perfect tense

LET US LEARN

C.1 Read the following. 1. I have come from Jalandhar. The underlined part tells us that
the action of ‘coming from Jalandhar’ took place sometime in the recent past.

The underlined part of this sentence is have come.
What it tells us: the coming happened a short while ago — in the recent past, which means the
near past, not long ago. The speaker has just arrived. He is standing in front of us right now,
and the journey is over.

I + have + come + from Jalandhar

subject + has/have + verb + object

Why not “I came from Jalandhar”? I came from Jalandhar tells us only that it
happened in the past — it could be last year. I have come from Jalandhar tells us it
happened just now, and here I am. The present perfect ties the past to this very
moment.

C.2 2. Rita has read all the poems written by Sarojini Naidu. The underlined part tells us
about an ‘experience of reading’, that took place in the past but is still relevant in
the present.

The underlined part here is has read.

Page 13 of 38

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What it tells us: Rita read those poems at some time in the past. We are not told when, and it
co m
does not matter. What matters is that she now knows them — the reading has left her with
e m.
com g l as
something she still has today. That is what the book means by an experience that is “still relevant
. a
s em
in the present”.
a
gl
aTwo small things to notice:
• Rita is one person, so we use has, not have.
co m
e m .
• Read is spelt the same in both forms, but here it is said “red”, not “reed”. ag
g l as
a
So the present perfect is used for two jobs:

co m
m.
1. Something finished in the recent past — I have come from Jalandhar.

m as e
.co l
2. An experience from the past that still counts today — Rita has read all the poems.
a g
a s
Andemthe rule for building it is always the same: Subject + has/have + Verb + Object.
a gl Use has for one person or thing (he, she, it, Rita). Use have for I, we, you, they and
for more than one.
m a s
m .co agl
l a se
Sarojini Naidu (1879–1949) was an Indian poet and freedom fighter. She is called
the Nightingale of India. a g

co m
m .
o m l a se
g historical sites.
.c...................... (visit) Delhi many times. It is a city with many
Now complete the following sentences using present perfect tense. a. I
a
C.a

s e m
a
agl
m

a se
com g l
I have visited Delhi many times. It is a city with many historical sites.

m . a
ase
agl
1. Step 1 — look at the subject. The subject is I. With I we always use have, never has.
2. Step 2 — take the verb. The verb given is visit. Its third form is visited.
3. Step 3 — join them. I + have + visited = have visited.

. c om
Why the present perfect fits here: The words many times are
m a s emthe clue. They tell us
. cabout a gl up to today. That is
o a whole set of visits spread over the past, all counted
as em exactly the job of the present perfect.
agl c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
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a

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.b b. My friend Onshangla is an artist. She ...................... (draw) pictures of ten
monuments.

She has drawn pictures of ten monuments.

1. Step 1 — the subject is She, which is one person. So we use has.
2. Step 2 — the verb is draw. Careful — its third form is drawn, not “drawed” and not “drew”.
3. Step 3 — join them. She + has + drawn = has drawn.

Three forms to learn together: draw — drew — drawn. We use the third form
(drawn) after has or have. She drew a picture yesterday. She has drawn ten pictures so
far.

A monument is an old and important building or statue kept for people to see —
like the Qutub Minar or the Charminar.

C.c c. Mr. Joon ...................... (buy) a new car.

Mr. Joon has bought a new car.

1. Step 1 — the subject is Mr. Joon, one person. So we use has.
2. Step 2 — the verb is buy. Its third form is bought.
3. Step 3 — join them. Mr. Joon + has + bought = has bought.

Why the present perfect fits: He bought the car a short while ago, and the car is
standing outside his house right now. The buying is over, but the result is still here.
That is the present perfect in one picture.

Spelling watch: buy — bought. The letters ough here say “aw”, as in brought, thought
and fought.

Page 15 of 38

Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.d d. I ...................... (complete) my homework and my brother ...................... (revise) for
his test.

I have completed my homework and my brother has revised for his test.
This sentence has two blanks, and they do not take the same helping word. Look at each
subject separately.

PART OF THE SENTENCE SUBJECT HAS OR HAVE? ANSWER

I ___ my homework I have have completed

my brother ___ for his test my brother (one person) has has revised

The rule in one line: has goes with one — he, she, it, my brother, Mr. Joon. have
goes with I, we, you, they and with more than one. This is the commonest mistake in
the whole exercise, so check the subject before every blank.

Revise means to go over your lessons again before a test.

C.e e. They ...................... (write) letters to their friends.

They have written letters to their friends.

1. Step 1 — the subject is They, which means more than one. So we use have.
2. Step 2 — the verb is write. Its third form is written — with a double t.
3. Step 3 — join them. They + have + written = have written.

Three forms: write — wrote — written. Say “I have written”, never “I have wrote”.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

ALL FIVE ANSWERS TOGETHER SUBJECT HAS / THIRD FORM OF THE
HAVE VERB

a. I have visited Delhi many times. I have visited

b. She has drawn pictures of ten monuments. She has drawn

c. Mr. Joon has bought a new car. Mr. Joon has bought

d. I have completed … my brother has I / my have / has completed / revised
revised … brother

e. They have written letters to their friends. They have written

Try this yourself: Make five present perfect sentences about your own day. I have
eaten my lunch. My sister has washed her socks. We have finished the chapter. The bell
has rung. They have gone to the ground.

Let us Listen — Page 48
A paragraph about birds and bird sanctuaries

LET US LISTEN

Listen Your teacher will read the paragraph given below, listen to the paragraph
carefully. Your teacher will ask you some questions, which you can try to answer.
Birds are beautiful creatures with feathers and wings. Due to various reasons,
many species of birds have become endangered. To protect these birds and their
species, bird sanctuaries have been built. There are more than 70 bird
sanctuaries in India. The Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, located in Tamil Nadu, is
the oldest bird sanctuary in India. The Bharatpur Bird sanctuary, located in
Rajasthan, is the largest bird sanctuary in our country.

How this task works: Your book prints the paragraph, but in class you should close your eyes
or look away and only listen while your teacher reads it. Then answer from what you heard. That
is the skill being practised here.

1. Listen right through once without writing anything.
2. Listen a second time. This time, catch the numbers and the names of places — those are
what questions are usually asked about.
3. Now answer in full sentences.

The facts in the paragraph, and the answers to the questions your teacher is likely to ask:

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

QUESTION ANSWER

1. What do birds have that other Birds are beautiful creatures with feathers and wings.
creatures do not?

2. What has happened to many Many species of birds have become endangered, which means they are in
species of birds? danger of dying out completely.

3. What has been built to protect Bird sanctuaries have been built to protect the birds and their species.
these birds?

4. How many bird sanctuaries are There are more than 70 bird sanctuaries in India.
there in India?

5. Which is the oldest bird The Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary is the oldest bird sanctuary in India. It is
sanctuary in India, and where is it? located in Tamil Nadu.

6. Which is the largest bird The Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is the largest bird sanctuary in our country.
sanctuary in our country, and where It is located in Rajasthan.
is it?

7. Why do we need bird sanctuaries Because birds are losing their homes and are in danger. A sanctuary is a
at all? protected place where they can live and build nests safely, and where nobody
is allowed to harm them.

Two words worth keeping: A species is one particular kind of animal or bird — the
house sparrow is one species, the peacock is another. Endangered means so few are
left that the whole kind may disappear for ever. A sanctuary is a safe place where
they are protected by law.

How to listen well: Do not try to remember every word. Listen for four things —
who, what, where and how many. In this paragraph those are: birds · sanctuaries ·
Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan · more than 70.

Did you know? The Bharatpur sanctuary in Rajasthan is also called Keoladeo
National Park. Thousands of birds fly there in winter from far-away cold countries.
The Vedanthangal sanctuary in Tamil Nadu is more than 250 years old — the
villagers there protected the birds long before there was any law.

Let us Speak — Page 49

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A. Listen and repeat · B. Which bird would you want to be?
co m
em.
m as
LET US SPEAK

.co a g l
s m and repeat tail – toil | bail – boil | ail – oil | fail – foil | cane – coin | sail –
eListen
gl aA.
a
A
soil

co m
m . ag
l a se
agmove.
These twelve words teach your mouth two different sounds: ai and oi. Say each pair aloud,
one after the other, and feel your lips

co m
m.
THE AI WHAT IT MEANS THE OI SOUND WHAT IT MEANS

as e
com
SOUND (SAY (SAY “OY”)
“AY”)
. a g l
a s em
agl
tail The part at the back of an animal. toil Hard work, done for
a long time.

m a s
. c o agl
bail To scoop water out of a boat. (In boil To heat water until it

s em
cricket, the small stick on top of the
a
bubbles.

agl
stumps.)

ail To be unwell, to suffer. oil The thick liquid we

co m
cook with.

m .
m as e
.co g l
fail To not succeed. foil The thin shiny sheet

a
sem
used to wrap rotis.

a cane
agl A long stick, or sugarcane. coin A round piece of

se m
metal money.

comthe big g l a
sail
cloth on a boat.)em
.
To travel over water. (Also soil The earth in which
a
l as
plants grow.

a g
How to say the two sounds — do this with a mirror:

co m
.
1. For ai, start with your mouth open and wide, as in cat, then slide to ee. Say it slowly: a–ee, a–
m
m
ee. That gives you tail.
ase
.co a g l
em gives you toil.
2. For oi, start with your lips round, as in hot, then slide to ee. Say it slowly: o–ee, o–ee. That

a s
agl
c
3. The end of both sounds is the same. Only the beginning is different — wide lips for ai, round

m .
e
lips for oi.
m a s
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 19 of 38

Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why only one letter changes: Look at the spellings — tail and toil, sail and soil.
Everything is the same except one letter. Yet the two words mean completely
different things. That is why the sound must be said clearly. If you say “oil” when you
mean “ail”, nobody will understand you.

The odd pair — cane and coin. This one is spelt differently from the rest. Cane has
no ai in it at all; it is spelt c–a–n–e. But it sounds the same as tail and sail, because
the a with a silent e at the end also says “ay”. Remember: this exercise is about your
ear, not your eye.

Practise with a sentence: “The tail of the ox swished as the farmer began his toil.” ·
“I fail to open the foil.” · “We sail over water and we dig the soil.”

B B. Look at the pictures below. There are two birds. Which bird would you want to be
and why? Share your views with the class.

Picture 1 Picture 2

The two pictures printed on page 49.

What is printed on page 49: two pictures of the same green parrot. On the left, the parrot sits
on a perch inside a tall cage that stands on the grass; the cage has a golden base and a ring on
top. On the right, the same parrot is high in a blue sky full of white clouds, with both wings
spread wide and open.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What to notice before you answer: The two birds look exactly alike. Only their place
is different — one is inside bars, one is in the open sky. So the question is really
asking what you value: safety or freedom.

THE CAGED BIRD THE FLYING BIRD

Food Given every day, without any effort. Must be found — fruits, seeds, berries.

Safety Safe from cats, hawks and storms. Must watch out for danger all the time.

Freedom None. It can only hop from perch to floor. Complete. The whole sky is its road.

Friends Only the people of the house. A whole flight of parrots.

Sample answer: I would want to be the bird that is flying in the open sky. The bird in the cage is
safe and well fed, but it can never go anywhere. It has wings and it cannot use them, and that
must feel very sad. The free bird has to find its own food and watch out for danger, but it can
meet its friends, sit on any tree it likes and see new places every day. In our chapter the parrot
had a cage made of gold, and even that was not enough for it. It gave up good food and a
golden home just to feel the wind under its wings. So I would choose the sky, even if life there is
harder.

If you choose the caged bird — that is allowed too, but give an honest reason. For
example: “I would choose the cage, because the bird there is never hungry and
never afraid, and someone talks to it every day. But I would ask my owner to open
the cage for one hour each morning.” An answer with a reason is always a good
answer.

How to share your view with the class: Stand up straight. Say your choice in the
first sentence — “I would want to be the free bird.” Then give two reasons. Then
stop. A short, clear answer is better than a long one that wanders.

Let us Write — Page 50

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Complete the parrot’s story

LET US WRITE

Write In the story, you read how the parrot tricked the merchant into releasing it but
the story does not end here. Use your imagination to complete the parrot’s story.
After escaping from the golden cage, the parrot decided to fly away…

How to write this, step by step:

1. Start where the book stops. Copy the given line — “After escaping from the golden cage,
the parrot decided to fly away…” — and go straight on from there.
2. Answer three questions in your story: Where did the parrot go? Whom did it meet? What
happened in the end?
3. Bring back the forest parrot. That friend saved its life. A reader will be very glad to meet it
again.
4. Give the story one problem to solve. A story without a problem is only a list of things. And
let the parrot solve it by thinking, because that is what this parrot is famous for.
5. Use joining words — first, then, after that, at last, finally.
6. Keep one tense. The chapter is written in the past tense, so stay in the past tense: flew, sat,
said, thought.
7. Finish in about ten to fifteen sentences. End on a picture, not on a lesson.

What a good answer must contain: the parrot’s journey · the meeting with its
friend · one difficulty · a clever way out of it · a clear ending.

Sample answer:

Page 22 of 38

Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Wise Parrot — what happened next

After escaping from the golden cage, the parrot decided to fly away… It flew higher and

higher, over the merchant’s rooftop, over the village pond, over the fields of mustard. The

wind felt cool under its wings. For the first time in its life it did not turn back at a wall of

gold.

By evening it reached the great forest. It called out once, and from a tall silk-cotton tree a

green head came out. It was the very parrot who had dropped from the branch like a stone.

“So you understood my message,” said the friend, laughing. “Come, this branch is yours.”

The days that followed were the happiest of the parrot’s life. It learnt to open a wild guava
with its beak, to find water in a hollow of a rock, and to sleep with one eye half open. Its

friends loved its stories, because none of them had ever seen the inside of a rich man’s

house.

Then, one hot afternoon, a bird-catcher came into the forest. He spread a fine net over the

fruit tree and scattered sweet grain under it. Two young parrots flew down at once and were

caught. They screamed and beat their wings, and the net only pulled tighter.

The wise parrot did not fly at the net. It remembered the golden cage, and it remembered

what had opened it. “Do not struggle,” it called. “Lie still. Do not move a feather.” The

young ones went limp. When the bird-catcher came back, he found two still bodies in his net.

He clicked his tongue, muttered, “Dead birds fetch nothing,” and shook them out on the

grass. The moment he turned away, the two parrots stood up and shot into the sky like green

arrows.

That night the whole flight sat together on one broad branch. “You have saved us,” said the

young ones. The parrot shook its head. “A friend once saved me the same way,” it said, and

Page 23 of 38

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
looked at the parrot on the next branch. “I am only passing it on.”

m as e
.co a g l
se m
a
And from that day the parrots of that forest were never caught again — because every young
g l
abird was taught two things before it learnt to fly: how to find water, and how to lie perfectly

co m
still.

m . ag
l a se
ag the very same idea as the chapter — thinking beats
Why this ending works: It uses
struggling — but the parrot is now the one who gives the idea instead of receiving it.

co m
m.
That makes the new story feel like a true part of the old one, not a different story

m
stuck on the end.
as e
.co a g l
a s em endings you could write: the parrot flies back one day to sing outside the
a gl Other
merchant’s window, and the merchant understands at last and never buys another

a s
com agl
bird · the parrot finds its own family after many years · the parrot teaches a caged
.
em
mynah in the next village the same trick.
a s
agl

co m
.
Let us Do — Pages 50–51
e m
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
ag
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 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Bird feeders — identify the materials, then make one

LET US DO

1 A bird feeder is an object used to keep food for birds. You might have seen bird
feeders placed outdoors in balconies, gardens, or parks to attract and feed birds.
They are filled with seeds, grains, or nuts and placed in safe locations to help birds
find food easily. 1. Look at the pictures of bird feeders given below and try to
identify the material used to make them.

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9.

The nine bird feeders printed on pages 50 and 51 — numbers 1 to 3 are on page 50,
numbers 4 to 9 on page 51.

There are nine bird feeders in the pictures — three on page 50 and six on page 51. Here is

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

each one, and the material it is made of. The book says it clearly at the end: “These materials are
easily available in our homes.”

PAGE WHAT THE PICTURE SHOWS MATERIAL USED

50 — left A tall see-through jar with a blue lid and handle, with small Plastic (a plastic jar and a
openings and perches down the sides, standing on a round plastic tray)
blue tray. Two little birds are feeding at it.

50 — A shallow bowl, yellow inside and orange outside, hanging A bowl (plastic or clay) hung
middle from three strings with pink beads on them. A bird stands with string or wire
on the rim eating grain.

50 — right A used bottle turned upside down and full of grain, A plastic bottle, a wooden or
strapped with a band to a green stand, with an orange plate plastic stand and a plate
underneath to catch the seed.

51 — top A flat little tray built out of many small flat sticks laid side by Ice-cream sticks (wooden
left side, hung from a branch by four strings. sticks) and string

51 — top A hairy brown dome hanging above a matching brown bowl A coconut shell, cut in two
middle of grain — the two halves of one nut. halves, hung on wires

51 — top A thick hollow log, open at the front and filled with seeds, Wood — a hollow log or a
right tied to a tree branch with two wires. A red bird perches on piece of bamboo
it.

51 — A tea cup lying on its side on a saucer, with grain spilling A china cup, saucer and
bottom left out, hung from a branch along with a spoon. spoon (old crockery from the
kitchen)

51 — A wide red pot of water on the ground, with a crow bending Clay — an earthen bowl or
bottom down to drink. pot
middle

51 — A blue juice or milk carton, cut open at the front, filled with A cardboard carton (a tetra
bottom grain and hung from a branch, with a stick pushed through pack) and a small stick
right as a perch.

What all nine have in common: Every single one is made from something that was
already in the house — an empty bottle, a coconut shell, a cracked cup, ice-cream
sticks, a milk carton. Nothing new was bought. That is the real lesson of the page: a
thing we were going to throw away can become a home for birds.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Three things every good feeder needs:
1. A flat place where the seed can sit without rolling off.
2. A perch — a rim or a stick for the bird to hold on to while it eats.
3. A roof or a deep shape, so that rain does not spoil the grain.

Do not forget water. In an Indian summer, a shallow clay bowl of clean water helps
birds even more than grain does. That is exactly what the crow in the picture is
doing.

2 2. Make a bird feeder with the material of your choice. Fill it up with water, seeds,
and grains like millets. With the help of your parents, place it at an appropriate
location outside your house. Happy feeding!

This is a making task, so do it at home with an elder. Here is one easy way, using an empty
plastic bottle — the material most of us have.
What you need: one clean, empty two-litre plastic bottle · two wooden spoons or two straight
sticks · a piece of strong string, about one metre · a marker pen · scissors (an elder must use
these).
Steps:

1. Wash the bottle well and let it dry fully. Wet grain goes bad.
2. With the marker, draw two small round holes on opposite sides of the bottle, about 8 cm
above the base.
3. Ask an elder to cut those two holes. Push a stick right through both, so that it sticks out on
either side. That is the perch the birds will sit on.
4. Just above the stick, on one side, cut a small opening about the size of a two-rupee coin. The
grain will come out here.
5. Make a second perch and a second opening a little higher up, turned to the other side, so
two birds can eat at once.
6. Fill the bottle with millets (bajra, jowar, kangni), broken rice or sunflower seeds. Screw the
cap on tightly.
7. Tie the string tightly round the neck of the bottle and hang it from a branch, a balcony grill
or a hook.
8. Beside it, keep a shallow clay bowl of clean water on a flat surface.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Where to put it — this is the part that matters most:

In shade, not in the hot afternoon sun.
High enough that cats cannot reach it, and away from a wall a cat can jump from.
Near a tree or a bush, so a frightened bird has somewhere to dart to.
Where you can see it from a window — half the fun is watching.
Somewhere quiet. Not above the front door where people come and go all day.

Looking after it: Change the water every single day in summer. Wash the feeder
once a week with plain water. Never put in cooked food, salty food, biscuits or bread
— these harm birds. Millets, broken rice, sunflower seeds and plain water are best.

Why this is worth doing: Cities are losing their old trees and their open ground, so
birds find it harder every year to get food and water. One bowl on one balcony will
not save a species. But sparrows come back to a place where there is always water,
and once they come back they nest there. Small, steady help is what birds actually
need.

Keep a record: Make a page in your notebook. Each day write the date and the birds
you saw — sparrow, mynah, bulbul, crow, pigeon, sunbird. After a month you will
know exactly which birds live around your house.

Let us Explore — Page 52
Choose any two birds and find interesting facts

LET US EXPLORE

Explore parrot, macaw, sparrow, crow, ostrich, seagull, pigeon, flamingo, weaver bird,
tailor bird Choose any two of the above and find out a few interesting facts
about them.

The ten birds pictured on page 52 are: parrot, macaw, sparrow, crow, ostrich, seagull, pigeon,
flamingo, weaver bird and tailor bird. Pick any two of them.
How to find your facts:

1. Look in your school library for a book on birds, or ask your teacher for one.
2. Ask an elder at home — grandparents often know a great deal about local birds.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot
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3. Best of all, watch the bird yourself if it lives near you. Write down what it eats, where it sits
co m
and what sound it makes.
e m.
m l as
.co g
4. Write five or six facts for each bird. Then draw it, or stick a picture.

em a
a s
gl a good answer needs: where the bird lives · what it eats · how big it is · what
aWhat
its nest is like · one thing that makes it special.

co m
Sample answer — two birds, written up:
e m . ag
g l as
a
1. The tailor bird

It is a tiny bird, smaller than a sparrow, with a greenish back and a rusty-red cap on its head.

. c om
It gets its name from the way it builds its nest. It picks two big living leaves, makes tiny holes
along their edges with its beak, and stitches them together with plant fibre
s e mor spider silk —
. coma tailor sewing a seam.
exactly like
a gla
a s
Theemstitched leaves make a green pouch. Inside it the bird puts soft grass and lays its eggs.
a gl The nest is very hard to spot, because it is made of leaves that are still growing on the plant.
It eats small insects, and it helps our gardens by clearing pests.

m a s
.co agl
Its call is a loud, sharp towit-towit, repeated again and again. It is much louder than you
would expect from so small a bird.
se m
g l a
a
It is common in Indian gardens and hedges, so you may well have one near your house.

2. The ostrich

co m
.
It is the largest bird in the world. A grown ostrich can be about 2.5 metres tall — taller than
m
m
the door of your classroom.
o l a se
.c fly at all. Its wings are far too small for its heavy body.
a g
m
It cannot

a se Instead, it runs. An ostrich can run at about 70 kilometres an hour, faster than any other bird
agl on land, and its long legs cover a huge distance in one stride.
It lays the biggest egg of any bird alive. One ostrich egg weighs about as much as twenty-
se m
com g l a
. a
four hen’s eggs.
m
ase
It has only two toes on each foot. Most birds have four. Fewer toes help it run faster.

agl
It lives wild in Africa, in dry grasslands, and eats seeds, grass, leaves and small insects.

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

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

BIRD ONE FACT TO START YOU OFF

parrot It can copy human speech, and it holds its food up in one claw to eat — like a hand.

macaw The biggest and most brightly coloured parrot. It lives in the rainforests of South America and can
live for over 50 years.

sparrow It lives with people, in the holes and corners of our houses. Its numbers have fallen in cities, so 20
March is kept as World Sparrow Day.

crow One of the cleverest birds. Crows can use small twigs as tools and can remember a human face for
years.

ostrich The largest bird on earth. It cannot fly, but it runs at about 70 km an hour.

seagull A sea bird. It can drink salty sea water, because special glands above its eyes throw out the extra salt.

pigeon It can find its way home from hundreds of kilometres away. Pigeons were used to carry letters in
wartime.

flamingo It stands on one leg for hours and feeds with its head upside down. It is pink because of the tiny food
it eats.

weaver The male weaves a hanging nest out of long grass strips, knot by knot. The female inspects it, and if
bird it is not good enough he pulls it apart and starts again.

tailor bird It stitches two leaves together with plant fibre to make its nest.

Notice something: Three of these birds — the weaver bird, the tailor bird and the
flamingo — are named for what they do, not for how they look. The weaver weaves,
the tailor stitches, and the flamingo takes its name from an old word for flame,
because of its colour. A bird’s name often hides a fact inside it.

Self-assessment 1 — Pages 53–54

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Covers Unit 1 (Chapters 1–2) and Unit 2 (Chapters 3–4)

SELF-ASSESSMENT

SA.1 Self-assessment 1 — You may select more than one box for each point. 1. I can
recite the poems with gestures • by myself. • in a group. • by repeating after my
teacher. • None of the above. I like reading poems quietly.

First, what this sheet is. Self-assessment 1 comes at the end of Unit 2. It looks back over the
first four chapters of Santoor:

Unit 1 — Let’s Have Fun: Chapter 1 Papa’s Spectacles (a poem) and Chapter 2 Gone with the
Scooter (a story).
Unit 2 — My Colourful World: Chapter 3 The Rainbow (a poem by Christina Rossetti) and
Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot (a story).

It is not a test and there are no marks. Nobody passes and nobody fails. You are simply telling
your teacher how you learn best, so that she can help you in the way that suits you. That is why
the sheet says you may tick more than one box for each point.
Now this question. The two poems in these units are Papa’s Spectacles and The Rainbow.
Gestures means movements of your hands, face and body while you say the words — pointing to
your head when Papa’s spectacles are found there, or making an arch in the air for the rainbow.

TICK THIS BOX IF… WHAT IT MEANS

by myself You can stand up alone and say the poem with actions, without help.

in a group You are comfortable saying it along with your friends.

by repeating after my teacher You need to hear a line first, then say it back.

None of the above. I like reading poems You enjoy poems, but you would rather read them silently than
quietly. perform them.

Sample answer: “I ticked two boxes — in a group and by repeating after my teacher. I can say The
Rainbow with actions when my whole row says it together, because then I am not nervous. On
my own I still forget the third line, so I like to hear my teacher say it first. By next term I want to
be able to tick by myself too.”

Tick honestly. If you tick a box that is not true, your teacher will think you need no
help — and then you will not get any. Being honest here is the whole point of the
sheet.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

SA.2 2. I can understand the new words

• by using a dictionary.

• after listening to my teacher’s explanation.

• by reading with my classmates in groups.

• by reading the entire sentence again.

• by looking at the pictures.

The five boxes printed beside this point on page 53. You may tick more than one.

This question is about the New Words box that every chapter carries. Across these four
chapters you met words such as spectacles, glanced, overtops, bow, merchant, tender, distressed,
perch, windowsill and sighed.
The five boxes are five different ways of working out what a word means. All five are good. Tick
the ones you actually use.

WAY OF LEARNING A HOW IT WORKS, WITH AN EXAMPLE
WORD

by using a dictionary You look the word up. Slow but exact — good for a word like distressed.

after listening to my teacher’s Your teacher says it in easier words. Good for a word that is hard to picture.
explanation

by reading with my classmates One friend often knows the word already, and explaining it aloud helps you
in groups both.

by reading the entire sentence The sentence around a word usually gives it away. “The bird sighed” — you can
again hear the sadness in the sentence.

by looking at the pictures The picture on page 44 shows the parrot on the windowsill. One look and you
know the word.

Sample answer: “I ticked three boxes. Most often I read the entire sentence again, because that
tells me the meaning without stopping my reading. For a word I still cannot guess, like
distressed, I use a dictionary. And I found perch and windowsill just by looking at the pictures in the
chapter.”

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The best readers use all five. They guess from the sentence first, check the picture,
and only then reach for the dictionary. Guessing first is not lazy — it is how your
brain learns to hold a new word.

SA.3 3. I can answer the questions • in my mother tongue. • in English. • in English with
a few words of my mother tongue. • in my mother tongue, with a few words of
English.

This is about the Let us Think questions in all four chapters — for example, “At last, where does
Papa find his lost item?” or “How did the parrot escape from the cage?”
Your mother tongue is the language you speak at home — Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Odia,
Kannada, and so on.

There is no wrong box here. Using your mother tongue is not a mistake. It is a
bridge. The four boxes simply show where you are on that bridge:
mother tongue → mother tongue with a few English words → English with a few
mother-tongue words → English.

Sample answer: “I ticked in English with a few words of my mother tongue. I can answer most
questions in English now. When I do not know one word — like the word for merchant — I say it
in Hindi and my teacher gives me the English word. Two months ago I could only answer in
Hindi, so I have moved one step along.”

Why the sheet asks this: Your teacher needs to know which words to give you. If
you can already answer fully in English, she will give you harder questions. If you
answer in your mother tongue, she will help you say the same idea in English.
Ticking the true box gets you the help you actually need.

One small trick to move up a step: Answer in your mother tongue first, out loud,
and then say the very same sentence again in English. Doing that ten times a week
moves you along the bridge faster than anything else.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot
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4. I can write a paragraph • by myself. • after following my teacher’s instructions. •
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SA.4

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after reading my friends’ work. • with my teachers’/friends’ help.

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This looks back at the Let us Write tasks of Units 1 and 2 — writing Papa’s Spectacles as a story,

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the writing task in Gone with the Scooter, and finishing the parrot’s story in this chapter.
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TICK THIS BOX IF…
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WHAT IT MEANS
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by myself
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You can plan and write a paragraph on your own, from the first line to the

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last.

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after following my teacher’s You can write it once your teacher has told you what

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instructions sentence.

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after Seeing how a classmate did it shows you how to start your own.

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with my teachers’/friends’ help You need somebody beside you while you write, to help with words and

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spellings.

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a gl my teacher’s instructions. I can write a full paragraph
Sample answer: “I ticked after following
once I know the plan — beginning, middle and end. My spellings are still weak, so sometimes I
ask a friend. When we wrote the parrot’s story I did the whole page myself and only asked for
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the spelling of escaped. Next time I want to tick by myself.”

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1. Say the whole thing aloud first, to yourself.

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2. Write four or five rough points in order.

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3. Turn each point into one full sentence.
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Do those three and you will soon be ticking the first box.

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SA.5 5. I was able to do all the activities • by myself. • with the help of my teacher. • with

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the help of my classmates. • with the help of my family members.
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The activities are the doing parts of these four chapters — the crossword and the matchstick
puzzle in Chapter 1, the tasks in Chapter 2, the colour work in The Rainbow, and in this chapter
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the Let us Do bird feeder and the Let us Explore bird facts.
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Notice that this question is aboutemwho helped you, not about whether you were right. Getting
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help is not a weakness. Some
“With the help of your parents, place it at an appropriate location outside your house.”

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a g l Page 34 of 38

Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

TICK THIS BOX IF… AN EXAMPLE FROM THESE FOUR CHAPTERS

by myself You solved the crossword and found the hidden d on your own.

with the help of my teacher Your teacher showed you how to start the matchstick puzzle.

with the help of my You and your friends found the bird facts for Let us Explore together.
classmates

with the help of my family Your father cut the plastic bottle for the bird feeder, and your grandmother told
members you about the tailor bird.

Sample answer: “I ticked two boxes — by myself and with the help of my family members. I did
the crossword and the bird facts on my own. For the bird feeder I needed help, because the
bottle had to be cut with scissors and my mother did not let me use them. My grandfather
helped me choose the place to hang it, in the shade of the guava tree. Two sparrows came on
the very first day.”

What this whole sheet is really for: Nobody is going to grade these ticks. Filling it
in honestly gives you two useful things — you find out how you learn best, and your
teacher finds out where to stand beside you. Keep the sheet. At the end of Unit 5
there is a second one, Self-assessment 2, and it is a fine feeling to look back and see
how many boxes have moved.

Note to the Teacher (page 54) tells the teacher that learners should fill in the sheet
themselves, and that it may be kept as part of each learner’s progress record. So
write your own ticks — do not copy your neighbour’s.

Chapter at a glance
Who is in the story. There are three: a rich merchant in a quiet village, his pet parrot in a
cage of gold, and a parrot in the forest who never says a single word. The forest parrot has
no name and only one action — yet the whole story turns on it.
The problem. The parrot is bright, talkative and sharp-minded. It entertains the merchant
with stories and songs, and the merchant feeds it well. But “deep inside, the bird longed for
the open skies and green trees.” Good food in a golden cage is still a cage.
The first try — asking. Before a journey the merchant asks his pet what gift it would like.
The parrot asks for freedom in plain words: “please let me fly off into the sky.” The merchant
refuses at once — “I cannot bear to let you go away.” Asking has failed.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The second try — a message. The parrot sighs and asks for something small instead: tell
my friends in the jungle that I send them greetings from my cage. This looks like a sad little
request. It is really a question sent out to the world: how do I get out?
The answer comes back. In a forest the merchant meets a flight of parrots and gives the
message. One parrot drops like a stone from the tree and falls to the ground. The merchant
thinks the bird has died of shock. It has not. It is sending back the plan.
The trick works. Back home, the merchant tells his pet everything. The pet parrot at once
falls from its perch to the floor of the cage. The merchant lifts out the still-warm body and
puts it on the windowsill. He steps back — and the parrot stirs, stretches its green wings
and flies away, saying, “My friend showed me how I could escape and now I can fly in the
sky. Goodbye!”
What the story means. Freedom matters more than comfort. And a sharp mind beats a
strong hand. The parrot never breaks a bar of the cage; it makes the merchant open it
himself. That is why the story is called The Wise Parrot — and why we may argue about which
parrot the title means.
New Words taught by the chapter: merchant, tender, distressed, perch, windowsill, sighed.
The language work (Let us Learn). A — filling a paragraph with phrases (a phrase is a
small group of words that work as one, like came across or look after). B — collective nouns,
the special word for a group: a flock of sheep, a swarm of bees, an army of ants. C — the
present perfect tense: subject + has/have + verb, for something just finished or done
before now.
The rest of the chapter turns to birds. Let us Listen is a paragraph about bird sanctuaries
read aloud by the teacher. Let us Speak trains the ear on the ai and oi sounds (tail–toil, sail–
soil) and then asks which bird you would rather be — the caged one or the flying one. Let
us Write asks you to carry the parrot’s story on past its escape. Let us Do is a making task:
nine home-made bird feeders to look at, and one to build. Let us Explore gives ten birds to
find facts about.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT APPEARS A SENTENCE OF YOUR
OWN

merchant A person whose work is buying “a rich merchant kept a The merchant sells cloth
and selling goods. bright and talkative parrot in in the big market.
a cage of gold”

tender Soft, and easy to bite or eat. “I have tasted all the tender Grandmother gave me a
fruits and chillies.” tender guava from her
own tree.

distressed Very upset and unhappy. “The merchant was I was distressed when our
distressed at this.” puppy fell ill.

perch The small stick or bar inside a “his own pet parrot fell from The mynah sat on its
cage on which a bird sits. the perch to the floor of the perch and sang all
cage” morning.

windowsill The flat shelf at the bottom of a “placed it on the windowsill” Mother keeps a pot of
window. tulsi on the windowsill.

sighed Let out a long, sad breath. “The bird sighed.” He sighed when the rain
stopped our cricket
match.

longed Wanted something very much. “the bird longed for the I longed for the summer
open skies and green trees” holidays to begin.

convey To pass a message on to Let us Think A.3 — “ask the Please convey my thanks
somebody. merchant to convey to its to your mother.
friends”

a flight of A group of birds flying together. “he saw a flight of parrots A flight of pigeons rose
parrots with the same colour as his from the temple roof.
pet”

stirred Moved a little, after being still. “the bird stirred, stretched The sleeping cat stirred
its beautiful green wings” when I opened the door.

phrase A small group of words that Let us Learn, A The phrase stepped out
work together as one, such as means went outside.
came across or look after.

collective One word for a whole group — Let us Learn, B A swarm of bees lives in
noun a flock, a swarm, a bunch. that hive.

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Class 5 English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT APPEARS A SENTENCE OF YOUR
OWN

present Subject + has/have + verb. It is Let us Learn, C I have finished my
perfect tense used for something just finished, homework.
or done before now.

endangered In danger of dying out Let us Listen — “many The great Indian bustard
completely. species of birds have is an endangered bird.
become endangered”

bird sanctuary A protected place where birds Let us Listen — “The We saw many storks at
live safely and nobody may Bharatpur Bird sanctuary” the bird sanctuary.
harm them.

bird feeder A thing kept outside the house Let us Do — “A bird feeder is We hung a bird feeder in
that holds food or water for an object used to keep food our balcony.
birds. for birds.”

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