The Old Woman and the Lime Tree / Poem: Free Birds

Unit 5 is about wanting things and persuading people. Reading I is a Ukrainian folk tale, The Old Woman and the Lime Tree, in which a greedy wife keeps sending her husband to ask a magic tree for more — until she loses everything. Reading II is a poem, Free Birds, which persuades students to work hard, value time and love their nation. The grammar is reported speech of commands and requests (She told me to…) and punctuation. In writing you complete a skeleton story.

5.1 Reading I: The Old Woman and the Lime Tree

Summary

A very poor old couple live in a hut. The wife sends her husband to the forest to cut a lime tree for firewood. As he raises his axe, the tree speaks in a human voice: "Don't chop me down, and I'll do you a good turn some day!" The frightened man goes home and tells his wife. She calls him a fool and sends him back again and again. Each time the tree says, "Very well, you shall have it! Go home now."

Wish	Result
1. a horse and a cart (tired of walking)	a cart with a harnessed horse beside the hut
2. a new hut (the old one might cave in)	a new house in place of the old hut
3. livestock and fowls	plenty of animals and birds in the yard
4. money	the wife counting and stacking golden coins
5. that everyone should fear them	policemen and soldiers guarding the house
6. that all the villagers should work for them	the tree is silent, then does "one last thing": everything vanishes and the old hut returns

The husband is satisfied after the livestock ("We don't need anything now"), but the wife never is ("That's what you think!").

Moral: greed is never satisfied, and too much greed makes us lose even what we have. Be content with what you get.

Characters: the old man — simple, obedient, easily frightened, content; the old woman — greedy, bossy, ungrateful, power-hungry; the lime tree — magical, patient and fair, it punishes the greed at the end.

Vocabulary (Exercise A — synonyms from the story)

a. collapse → cave in b. pleaded → begged c. delighted → overjoyed d. idiot → fool e. scared → frightened

Correct order (Exercise B)

d → c → g → a → e → b → f

Comprehension (Exercise C) — model answers

a. Why did the old man go to the forest with an axe? To cut down a lime tree for firewood, as his wife told him.

b. What did the lime tree tell him? It asked him not to chop it down and promised to do him a good turn some day.

c. List the things the old people received. A horse and cart, a new hut, livestock and fowls, money (golden coins), and policemen and soldiers to make people fear them.

d. Do you like the old woman? Why? No. She is greedy and ungrateful. She is never satisfied, she calls her husband a fool, and finally she wants the whole village to work for her.

e. What lesson did you learn? Greed leads to loss. We should be content and grateful for what we have.

5.2 Reading II: Poem — Free Birds

What the poem says

The poem has four stanzas of four lines. It speaks directly to students ("Come on dear students") — this is the language of persuasion.

• Stanza 1: students are free birds; they should flap their wings and continue their journey ("expedition") to touch the sky — i.e. reach high goals.
• Stanza 2: they can reach their destination; hindrances (obstacles) may come, but they should overcome them with determination.
• Stanza 3: "Nothing is easy and nothing is impossible." They should try, and recognise the courage and incredible strength inside them.
• Stanza 4: "Time and tide wait for none" (the poem prints waits), so use time carefully; be a true patriot and make the nation "a piece of heaven".

Figure of speech: a metaphor — "Free birds you are students" (students are compared to birds without using like/as). "Touch the sky" means achieve great success. Rhyme: the 2nd and 4th lines rhyme in most stanzas (fly / sky; destination / determination).

Vocabulary (Exercise A)

a. hindrances b. courage c. patriot d. flap e. expedition f. incredible

Comprehension (Exercise B) — model answers

a. What are students compared with in the poem? With free birds.

b. How can students overcome the hindrances? With determination and by recognising the courage within them.

c. How is it possible to achieve your goal? By trying hard and not giving up, because "nothing is easy and nothing is impossible".

d. Why is it necessary to value time? Because "time and tide wait for none"; time lost never comes back.

e. How can we make our country a piece of heaven? By using our time well, achieving our goals and loving and serving our nation as true patriots.

Exercise C (expressions of persuasion): Come on dear students, you can reach the destination; Give a try; Flap your wings to fly; Overcome them with determination; Keep loving your nation.

5.3 Grammar: Reported speech — imperatives

An imperative is a command, request, advice or warning (Open the window. Please come. Don't touch it.). To report it:

1. Choose a reporting verb that shows the purpose: told / ordered (command), asked / requested (request, please), advised / suggested (advice), warned / forbade (warning), begged.
2. Put the listener after the verb: told me, advised us**.
3. Use to + base verb; for Don't… use not to + base verb.
4. Remove please and the inverted commas; change pronouns, here → there, this → that.

Direct	Reported
Pragya said to him, "Put out the light."	Pragya told him to put out the light.
My brother said to me, "Please, go to the market."	My brother requested me to go to the market.
She said to him, "Don't touch the hot water."	She warned him not to touch the hot water.
My father said to me, "Think before you act."	My father advised me to think before I acted.
Neha said to Dipa, "Don't touch my things."	Neha forbade Dipa to touch her things.

(The textbook writes "before I act"; "before I acted" is the normal back-shifted form.)

Textbook answers

Grammar I B (correct alternative): a. i b. ii c. iii d. iii e. i f. i g. ii h. iii

Grammar II: a. She asked me to open the window. b. My teacher advised us not to waste our time. c. The old man advised us to speak the truth. (Suggest does not take us to; if you must use it, write The old man suggested that we should speak the truth.) d. My grandmother told him to avoid eating unhealthy food. e. Ranjana requested me to come to her birthday party. f. My brother told me to clean the room. g. My parents advised us to do everything in time. h. The monk advised us to give up bad habits.

5.4 Punctuation

Mark	Main rule
Capital letter	first word of a sentence, names, I
Full stop (.)	end of a statement
Comma (,)	before but/so joining two clauses; after In fact, However,
Apostrophe (')	contractions (didn't) and possession (David's)
Question mark / exclamation mark	end of a question / strong feeling

Textbook Writing A — corrected: David didn't really like school, but he did enjoy practical subjects where he could use his hands to make things. He also loved biology because he could draw lots of diagrams and do experiments. In fact, his mother once told him that he should become a surgeon.

5.5 Writing: Completing a skeleton story

Model answer — The Vain Crow (Writing B)

The Vain Crow

Once there was a crow who was unhappy with his black feathers. One day he found some beautiful peacock feathers lying in a forest. He stuck them among his own feathers and thought he looked wonderful.

Proudly, he flew to a group of peacocks and claimed that he was one of their relatives. But the peacocks soon saw that he was only a crow in borrowed feathers. They pecked at him, pulled out the false feathers and drove him away.

Ashamed, the crow flew to a pond and tried to join the ducks. The ducks had seen everything. "You did not want to be a crow; you are not a duck either," they said, and they too drove him away. When he went back to the other crows, they refused to accept him. The vain crow was left alone and friendless.

Moral: Be happy with what you are; pretending to be someone else leaves you with nobody.

Tips: past simple throughout; follow every clue in order; add a little speech and feeling; give a title and a moral.

5.6 Speaking, pronunciation and project work

Persuading. Try it. It suits you. / Give it a try. It's really nice. / Come on! You can do this easily. / Go on, open your present. / You are good at singing. For the textbook situations: Come on, sing a song for us — you have a lovely voice! / Go on, take part in the dance competition; you dance really well. / Give it a try — speak in English; nobody will laugh.

Syllables. A syllable is a unit of sound with one vowel sound.

Word	Syllables	Word	Syllables
fright-ened	2	sol-dier	2
har-nessed	2	per-mis-sion	3
ex-cept	2	sat-is-fy	3
hard-ly	2	pun-ish-ment	3
po-lice-man	3	live-stock	2

(frightened and harnessed have two syllables: the -ed adds no syllable here.)

Prefixes and suffixes (Extra bit): dis-honest, mis-lead, pre-paid, re-think, un-usual; comfort-able, kind-ness, health-y. (The suffix is -ful: beautiful, grateful.)

Project work: note what shopkeepers say to persuade customers (This is the latest design; it's very cheap today; try it, sister) and present them in English.

Chapter summary

• Folk tale: six wishes — cart, hut, livestock, money, power, the village's labour; the last wish loses everything. Moral: greed brings ruin.
• Poem Free Birds: students = free birds (metaphor); overcome hindrances with determination; value time; be patriots.
• Reported imperatives: reporting verb + person + (not) to + base verb.
• Choose the verb by purpose: told/ordered, asked/requested, advised, warned/forbade.
• say takes no person object; tell does.
• Skeleton story: past tense, every clue, title, moral.

Practice questions

Reading

1. Answer from The Old Woman and the Lime Tree. [5]aWhy were the couple tired?bWhat was wrong with the old hut?cWhat was the wife doing when the money came?dWho guarded the house?eWhy did the tree take everything back?
2. Explain: "Nothing is easy and nothing is impossible." [2]

Answers — Reading

1. (a) Of walking everywhere. (b) It was so old that it might cave in. (c) Counting and stacking golden coins. (d) Policemen and soldiers. (e) Because the wife's greed had no limit; she wanted the whole village to work for them.

2. Every goal needs effort, so nothing comes easily; but with determination and courage every goal can be reached.

Grammar

3. Change into reported speech. [5]aThe teacher said to us, "Sit down."bMother said to me, "Don't play in the rain."cHe said to her, "Please help me."dThe doctor said to the patient, "Take rest for a week."eThe guard said to the boys, "Don't enter this room."
4. Punctuate: sita said i will go to pokhara tomorrow [2]

Answers — Grammar

3. (a) The teacher told us to sit down. (b) Mother warned me not to play in the rain. (c) He requested her to help him. (d) The doctor advised the patient to take rest for a week. (e) The guard ordered the boys not to enter that room.

4. Sita said, "I will go to Pokhara tomorrow."

Writing

5. Develop a story from the clues: a greedy dog … finds a bone … crosses a bridge … sees his reflection … barks … loses the bone. Give a title and a moral. [5]

Answer — Writing

5. Title The Greedy Dog; past simple; all clues in order (the dog thinks the reflection is another dog with a bigger bone, opens its mouth to bark and the bone falls into the water); moral: Greed brings loss.