The Blue Bead - Workbook/Textbook Solutions of Treasure Trove of Short Stories and Poems ICSE - Evergreen Publication

This story was full of description. Even the title itself held some relevance. The main character, Sibia, was searching for something valuable which turned out to be the blue bead that she found after her encounter with a crocodile.
At the beginning of the story, the crocodile gets two pages of mention. Can anyone guess as to why that is?
The reason for this is because the author used a technique called "foreshadowing." This is used to provide information about one subject that will play a role in a later part of the story.
The Blue Bead
The crocodile didn't come into the picture again until the main incident occurred: the attack. This was the major portion of the story that kept the audience in suspense.
Setting
Based on the description of the lifestyle lived in the story, there is no doubt that this must have taken place in a third-world country.
The setting was very important because the author needed to empathize the poverty that Sibia had to live in. This was the reason that she wanted to have something valuable.
What do you think can help the author describe the setting?
To help the reader visualize the place, the author also described some of the animals and the forests in the setting.
Point of View
The point of view coming from the narrator is omniscient. This means that the author knows the feelings or desires of characters, and can see all. For example, the author in this story knows the background of Sibia and also that she wanted something of value.
This narrator does not withhold any important information, but he used foreshadowing.
Characters
The author describes the main character's , Sibia, back story at the beginning to introduce what kind of life she lives. This reveals that she is an actual person and not a fantasy character.
Sibia's course in the story does not change from a poor person to a rich person. However, she does gain a valuable piece of jewelry which helps her become a happier person.
What do you think the author can do to help the reader understand the character?
The author describes the poor condition she lives in, the bad food she eats, and the little possession and clothes that she owns.
Extras
Although this story was written for entertainment, it contains a strong message as we mentioned earlier. This can help the reader read the story only once, and still sympathize with the character.

EXTRACT-1

(i) She had husked corn, and gathered sticks, and put dung to dry, and cooked, and weeded, and carried, and fetched water, and cut grass for fodder, during her childhood.

(ii) She went with her mother, and some other women, to get paper grass from the cliffs above the river, which could then be sold to an agent, which would give them some revenue.

(iii) The women toiled for the whole day to earn themselves a living by selling the paper grass to the agent. This agent would then arrange for the dispatch of the paper grass to paper mills.

(iv) Sibia carried a sickle and her homemade hay fork, with her, when she went with her mother to collect paper grass from the cliffs, and then sold it to the agent.

(v) Sibia could not skip work, when she was on her way back from the cliffs, since at that point, her body would always ache with tiredness, and there was also a great load to carry on her back as well.

EXTRACT-2

(i) The crocodile rested in the river, sunning himself sometimes with other crocodiles- muggers, as well as the long snorted fish- eating gharials, on warm rocks, and sandbanks.

(ii) The big crocodile lay motionless in the river, as it was sunning himself, and relaxing. It was also waiting for its prey to come to the river, to drink water, and it would then attack it.

(iii) The big crocodile fed mostly on fish, but also on deer, and monkeys that came to drink water from the river, perhaps a duck or two, but sometimes here at the fords, he fed on a pi- dog full of parasites or a skeleton of a cow.

(iv) The big crocodile sometimes went down to the burning ghats, as it would find the half- burned bodies of some Indians cast into the stream, which he would then eat.

(v) The blue bead was a sand- worn glass that had been rolling about in the river for a long time. It was later found by Sibia, after defeating the crocodile, who would then use the bead for her necklace.

EXTRACT-3

(i) The women were going towards the river. They passed a Gujar encampment of grass huts, where these nomadic grazers would live until the time their animals had perhaps finished all the easy grazing withing reach, and they would then move on.

(ii) The Gujar women wore trousers, tight and wrinkled at the ankles. In the ear, they would wear large silver rings, made out of melted rupees. 

(iii) The Gujar men, and boys had gone out of camp just now with the herd, or gone to the bazaar to sell their produce. The men, and boys did not had a lot of hard work to do as compared to the Gujar women.

(iv) Sibia noticed the one or two buffaloes that the Gujar men left behind, were standing about. These were creatures of wet noses, and moving jaws, and gaunt black bones, as the author describes them.

(v) The Gujars, like Sibia, are called junglis because they were born, and bred in the forest. For countless centuries, their forebears had lived like this. They had never been to a developed city or such.

EXTRACT-4

(i) The ancestors of the Gujars had been getting their living from animals, from grass and trees, as they scratched their food together, and stored their substances in large herds, and silver jewelry.

(ii) The women crossed the river by jumping from stones to stones. They gathered up their skirts, and they clanked their sickles, and forks together over their shoulders, to have an ease of movement.

(iii) While the women were crossing the river, they were laughing and joking, and were asking about how each other's day was going. They were in a talkative, and jolly mood.

(iv) Crocodiles are frightened by noises. The big crocodile did not move in fear while the women were crossing, as the women were very talkative, and noisy, and thus, all of them crossed the river in safety, to the other bank.

(v) The women had to climb a still hillside to get to the grass, and sliced away at it, wherever there was a foothold to be had. In the river, there were kingfishers, great turtles, mahseer weighing more than a hundred pounds, and crocodiles too.

EXTRACT-5

(i) When Sibia was halfway through crossing the river, she sat her load down on a big boulder to rest, and leaned, breathing, on the fork.

(ii) A Gujar woman came with two gurrahs to the water on the other side of the river, in order to get clear water, which would quickly fill both gurrahs to the top without sand.

(iii) When the Gujar woman was withing a yard of the crocodile, the crocodile heaved out of the darkening water, with water slashing off him, with his livid jaws yawning, slashing at her leg.

(iv) In order to save herself, the Gujar woman clenched one of the timber logs, which jammed between two boulders, and she clung to it, and screamed out loud for help.

(v) After pulling her leg, the crocodile thrashed his mighty tail, to and fro in great smacking flails, as it tried to drag her free, and then carry her off down into the deeps of the pool.

EXTRACT-6

(i) When Sibia saw the woman being attacked by the crocodile, she leaped from boulder to boulder like a rock goat, and aimed at the crocodile's eye, and then with all her force, she drove the hay fork at its eyes.

(ii) Sibia aimed at the crocodile's eyes with her hay-fork, and with all her body's force, she drove the hay fork at its eyes, with one prong going right in while the its pair scratched past on the horny cheek.

(iii) After he was attacked by Sibia, the crocodile reared up in pain, till half of his lizard body was out of the river, the tail, and nose nearly meeting over his strong back.

(iv) The crocodile would die, not then, but soon. Though its death would not be known for days, not till his stomach, filled with gas, floated him on the river.

(v) Sibia got her arms round the fainting woman, and somehow managed to drag her out of the water. She stopped her wounds with sand, and bound them with rags, and helped her go home, to the Gujar encampment.

EXTRACT-7

(i) Sibia took the wounded Gujar woman to the Gujar encampment where the men made a litter to carry her to someone, that could help her, to heal her wounds.

(ii) Sibia wanted to pick her fork from the river. As she bent to pick it up from the river, she saw the blue bead in the water, which she then picked up, for her necklace.

(iii) Sibia twisted the blue bead into the top of her skirt against her tummy. She then picked up her hay fork, and sickle, and the heavy grass, and set off to home, happily singing, 'What a day, what a day'. 

(iv) Sibia's mother was apprehensive about what had happened to Sibia, as till the time she had reached her home, she saw that Sibia was not there behind her.

(v) When Sibia's mother asked her if something had happened, she told her that something did happen, about her finding a blue bead for her necklace, in the river.

ASSIGNMENT WORK

(i) Sibia was a poor young girl, twelve years of age, who lived in a mud house, in a village. During her childhood, she husked corn, gathered sticks, put dung to dry, cooked food, and cut grass for fodder. One day, she was going with her mother, and some other women to get the paper grass from the cliffs, above the river. Sibia, along with other women, followed the dusty track towards the river. They jumped from stone to stone, and reached the other banks safely.  On their way back, when Sibia rested on a boulder, a Gujar woman came back to get clear water in her two gurrahs. Suddenly a crocodile lunged at her, his jaws close on her leg. It tried to drag her, and carry her off into the deeps of the pond. Sibia, seeing all this, jumped from boulder to boulder, and then, with all the force of her little body, she aimed, and drove her hay fork into the crocodile's eyes, with one prong going in, while the others scratching its thorny cheeks. Thus, she saved the life of that Gujar woman, while risking her life as well, and performed a heroic act. She did not think much of her heroic act, and did not asked for praise for her bravery, but instead was just happy to find a blue bead for her necklace, in the river, after defeating the crocodile.

(ii) Sibia was a young girl of twelve years of age, that lived in a mud house in a village. During her childhood, she husked corn, gathered sticks, put dung to dry, cooked food, and cut grass for fodder. One day, she was going with her mother, and some other women, to get paper grass from the cliffs above the river. They were jumping from stone to stone to cross the river, and passed safely to the other side. Then, upon their return, a Gujar woman came back to get clear water when suddenly, a crocodile lunged at her, and had its jaws closed on her leg. Sibia jumped from boulder to boulder, and then threw her hay fork at its eyes, injuring it, and forcing it to leave the woman's leg, and saving the woman's life. Thus, she is brave, for fighting a crocodile almost twice her size, selfless, for not caring about her own life while trying the save the woman's life, and helpful, for helping the woman in danger. She displays a rare courage, and presence of mind in saving the life of a Gujar woman. Its is really an act of heroism, but she is simple, modest and humble, and does not brag about her act of saving the woman's life.

(iii) The writer began the story, 'The Blue Bead' with a detailed description of the crocodile, before shifting to Sibia's act of heroism, as as to give us a little about the physical appearance, and habit of the crocodile, to make a compelling antagonist, despite the fact that it is not even a human, but a reptile. The writer did this, so as to bring more depth in the character of the crocodile, which, although is just a reptile, still had a powerful impact on the story. The crocodile played a major part in this story. The writer also wanted to bring more character development of the crocodile. Another reason that could be given, is that if the writer would not had explained the crocodile's character at all, of how menacing it was, then even though a story about a child fighting a crocodile would be very interesting, but the main plot would had felt weak, rushed, and the story would had lost all of its soul. Moreover, the writer wanted to explain the philosophy of the crocodile, in contrast to the story of Sibia. Also, character development plays a major role in any story, so it is necessary. 

I hope my solutions help you, although I would like to add that the author of this story has used very typical, and complicated words to describe a simple plot, as a means of adding depth to the story, because of which some of my answers would not be very long, as nothing more can be added to the answer to make it big, to a rather straight forward question. So, I hope you understand this. I would also like to say, that these solutions should be used more as a means of guide, or to get an idea for your answers, and not like an absolute answer. That said, I hope you all will understand what I am trying to say here, as these answers are written by me, and not copied from a guide, so therefore, some mistakes, here and there, are possible, which I take full responsibility of, as nobody is perfect :)

Moreover, if you see some answers having a larger font than the others, be assured that it just a bug from the Blogger site, and not from your device. As for the other stories and poems, they will be added soon.