Honeycomb Chapter 4 The Ashes That Made Trees Bloom

The neighbors dragged the dog around their garden to find a treasure for themselves. When the dog stopped near a pine tree and started scratching the ground, they dug happily hoping to find a treasure. When they saw that there was nothing in there except a dead kitten, they became furious at the dog. They kicked it and beat it to death. They killed it because it did not help them find a treasure

The old farmer was a kind person. He loved his dog as if it was his own baby. He fed it with fish with his own chopsticks and all the boiled rice it wanted. He was patient and kind to everything that had life, and often dug up a sod on purpose to give food to the birds.

The dog came running to the farmer, putting its paws against his legs and motioning with its head to some spot behind. He thought it was only playing and did not mind it. However, the dog kept on whining and running to and fro for some minutes. Then the farmer followed it a few yards to a place where it began scratching the ground. The farmer thought there was a bone or a bit of fish buried there and therefore, struck his hoe in the earth. However, what he found was a pile of gold.

(i) The spirit of the dog asked the farmer to cut down the pine tree over its grave, and make from it a mortar for rice pastry and a mill for bean sauce. The farmer did so. Some time close to the New Year, the farmer wanted to make some rice pastry. When the rice was boiled, his wife put it into the mortar and he pounded the mass into dough. When the pastry was ready for baking, the whole mass turned into a heap of gold coins. Similarly, when beans were ground in the hand-mill, gold started dropping from it like rain and in a few minutes, the tub under the mill was filled with gold.

(ii) Informing the farmer about how his wicked neighbors had burned the hand-mill, the spirit of the dog asked him to take the ashes of the mill and sprinkle them on withered trees to make them bloom. The old man did so and found to his delight that the words of the spirit were indeed true. The bare cherry tree in his garden sprouted blossoms when a pinch of the ashes were sprinkled on it. Later, he was rewarded by the daimio for making an old withered cherry tree blossom once again.

The daimio rewarded the farmer for making an old withered cherry tree blossom once again. Like the farmer, his greedy neighbor also sprinkled ashes over a withered cherry tree. However, the result this time was different. The tree did not blossom, while the wind blew the dust into the noses and eyes of the daimio and his wife. This was the reason why the greedy neighbor was punished.

(i) Where is Anil?

(ii) Where is Anil sitting?

(iii) What is Anil doing?

(iv) Where is Anil’s friend sitting?

(v) Who is writing on the blackboard?

(vi) What are some children doing?

NEHA: When did you get this book?

SHEELA: Yesterday morning.

NEHA: Why is your sister crying?

SHEELA: Because she has lost her doll.

NEHA: Whose room is this, yours or hers?

SHEELA: It’s ours.

NEHA: How do you go to school?

SHEELA: We walk to school. It is nearby.

(i) what, where

(ii) Which

(iii) How

(iv) Where

(v) How, When , Where

(vi) When, When

(i) The project appears impossible at first sight but it can be completed if we work very hard.

(ii) He is incompetent. That’s why he can’t keep any job for more than a year.

(iii) “Don’t be impatient. Your letter will come one day,” the postman told me.

(iv) That’s an improper remark to make under the circumstances.

(v) He appears to be insensitive. In fact, he is very emotional.

There was once a play which became very successful. A famous actor was acting in it. In the play his role was that of an aristocrat who had been imprisoned in a castle for twenty years. In the last act of the play someone would come on the stage with a letter which he would hand over to the prisoner. Even though the aristocrat was not expected to read the letter at each performance, he always insisted that the letter be written out from beginning to end.

A: Would you like an apple or a banana?

B: I’d like an apple, please.

C: Take the red one in the fruit bowl. You may take an orange also, if you like.

D: Which one?

E: The one beside the banana.

The kind farmer bought a piece of land, hosted a feast for his friends and helped his poor neighbours.

The daimio was pleased seeing the magic of the withered cherry tree bursting into a blossom. So he rewarded the kind farmer with many gifts.

The leader of the van allowed the old man to remain seated at the cherry tree considering him to be very old.

The wicked couple found the foul smell of the dead kitten unbearable so they dropped their tools.

The wicked couple always used to kick and scold the dogs passing by their house.

For the New Year the old couple planned to make rice pastries and bean sauce.