THE TUG OF WAR
WORD MEANING
1.
hare – animal
2.
bored – fed up, not interesting
3.
looked around – looking here and there
4.
pleasure – fun, joy
5.
trouble – disturb
6.
spotted – noticed
7.
residents – dwellers, settlers
8.
ugliness – bad looking
9.
treasure – valuable, asset
10. aware – consciousness,
vigilant
11. pranks –
tricks
12. mighty –
powerful
13. tug –
pull
14. ignored –
not paying attention
15. boasting –
talking with pride
16. nuisance –
silly
17. delight –
joy, fun
18. termite hill
– heap of small insects
19. dozed off
– slept
20. crept –
leaned
21. grunt – heavy
noise
22. scratch –
itch, rub
23. concern –
care
24. grumbled –
argued
25. cranky – irritating,
annoying
26. snorted –
sniffed, making odd noise
27. hurried –
quick, fast, speed
28. trample –
smash, crash
29. tremendous
– great
30. weeping –
crying
31. realised –
understood
32. roaring –
loud noise
33. charged after
– (here) chased
34. hoping – jumping
and going
35. dignified
– calm and serious, deserving respect
36. ridiculous
– very silly, odd, peculiar
37. pestering
– annoying someone, irritating
38. taunted –
making comment to upset or anger someone
39. pretence –
act falsely, not true
40. unsuspecting
– not doubting
41. earnest –
showing lot of interest, seriousness
42. head-on – hit with head
A. CHOOSE THE RIGHT OPTIONS TO COMPLETE
THESE SENTENCES.
1. What Umvundla loved most was
a. to trouble other animals. (✔)
b. to help others.
c. to sleep all day long.
d. to eat all day long.
2. Umvundla boasted to
a. the other hares that he could beat them at tug war.
b. Rhino and Hippo that he could beat them at tug of war. (✔)
c. Rhino that he could not beat him at tug of war.
d. Hippo that he did not enjoy playing tug of war.
3. Umvundla tied
a. his let to Rhino’s.
b. Rhino’s leg to Hippo’s (✔)
c. his own legs up.
d. a rope to a rock.
B. ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.
1. Why did Umvundla say he was stronger than Rhino and Hippo?
Umvundla
said he was stronger than Rhino and Hippo because he felt like creating a bit
fun for himself by playing pranks with Rhino and Hippo.
2. What did Umvundla challenge Hippo to do?
Umvundla
challenged Hippo to beat him in a ‘tug of war’.
3. What did Umvundla do with a ‘great pretence of concern’? What
had he done to Rhino just before this?
Umvundla with
a ‘great pretence of concern’, pushed the ants further into the ear of Rhino. Actually
he himself had quietly dropped those fierce little ants in Rhino’s ear just before
this.
4. How did the tug of war begin?
Umvundla
managed to convinced Hippo and Rhino to defeat him in tug of war. It was a trick.
He tied both ends of the rope to Hippo and Rhino’s leg and hid is a little
hallow; and called loudly, “PULL!” With it the tug of war began.
5. When did Hippo and Rhino realise that they had been tricked?
What did they do then?
Umvundla
laughed so much that he fell over and went rolling down the side of the anthill.
When they saw him there, the two great animals knew they had been tricked.
Roaring with anger, then they charged after Umvundla.
6. Why is Rhino bad-tempered even to this day?
Rhino
thinks the little red ants are still in his ears. Perhaps the ants are so far
down in his brain; this makes Rhino so bad-tempered even to this day.
C. PICK A SENTENCE FROM THE STORY THAT
SHOWS
1. the hare was a naughty animal.
“Umvundla’s
mind was a treasure house of pranks.”
2. Hippo was fed up of the hare.
“He said
nothing, and settled down again in the water.”
3. Rhino thought that the hare was being helpful.
“That was
most kind of you... Your small feet are just right…”
4. Rhino and Hippo were ashamed of themselves and wanted to kill
the hare.
“…they
charged after Umvundla, hoping to trample him before he could tell the other animals
how foolish they had been.”
D. THINK AND ANSWER.
1. Hippo thought Umvundla was acting silly. Do you agree?
Yes, I
agree with this statement. We all know a hare is not a match to Hippo in tug of
war. Therefore, it naturally sounds very silly.
2. Both Hippo and Rhino were tricked by Umvundla. What does this
tell us about them?
It speaks
a lot about their foolishness. They simply could not find out the opponent and
took it seriously without seeing him. Still more, when they saw him, roaring
with anger they charged after him. Finally unable to control themselves, crashed
each other with head-on, hurting each other terribly.
E. DISCUSS IN CLASS.
The hare had fun. Do you think he had fun in the best way
possible? Give reasons for your answer.
Yes, the
hare had the fun in the best possible way. Umvundla laughed so much that he
fell over and went rolling down the side of the anthill. He has so much of fun
that he began to weep with laughter. That is why he watched the game until it
was up.
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