Skip to chapter text
First FlightCh 3 Two Stories about Flying

Two Stories about Flying: Class 10 First Flight · Chapter 3

First Flight · Companion notes and practice · Official NCERT chapter PDF ↗

Published · Updated

  • 60 min
  • 50 practice questions
  • 35 MCQs

What you will learn in Two Stories about Flying

  • Retell “His First Flight” and “The Black Aeroplane” in the right order and explain what drives each main character
  • Explain the themes of fear, courage, risk and unexplained help, supporting each view with events from the stories
  • Explain each stanza of “How to Tell Wild Animals” and show how its humour comes from irony and poetic licence
  • Explain what the boy in “The Ball Poem” learns about loss, responsibility and growing up
  • Use the word black in its different senses, phrases with fly and precise verbs of flight correctly
  • Plan and write a humorous composition and a narrative paragraph
  • Answer CBSE-style extract-based, short-answer and long-answer questions on the chapter

Original companion text aligned to NCERT English Class 10, Chapter 3, pp. 32–47. Not affiliated with or endorsed by NCERT.

Chapter 3 of First Flight brings together four pieces: two short stories about flying, “His First Flight” and “The Black Aeroplane”, and two poems, “How to Tell Wild Animals” and “The Ball Poem”. Read each piece in your NCERT book first. This page then walks you through it: what happens, who the characters are, what it means, the language and writing tasks and, at the end, board-style questions with model answers.

3.1 Before you read

Long before aeroplanes, people watched birds and wished they could follow them. Think of the sky over Ahmedabad on Uttarayan, crowded with kites, or the hush in a plane as it lifts off the runway. Flying thrills us, but every first flight begins with a moment of doubt.

The two stories catch that moment. A young seagull will not leave his cliff ledge, and a pilot alone at night steers into a storm and loses every instrument he trusts. Watch how each gets from fear to safety, and who, or what, helps.

3.2 His First Flight

The first story follows a young seagull through about a day and a half on a sea cliff. It is told in the third person, but we stay inside the young bird’s head. We share his terror, his hunger and, at last, his joy.

3.2.1 The story in five scenes

1. Left behind. The young seagull’s brothers and sister have already flown away from the family ledge. He has not. This is not a question of strength: his siblings, all with shorter wings than his, managed the leap. Fear does: every attempt ends with one look at the long drop and a hasty retreat to his sleeping hollow. Neither his parents’ scolding nor their warning that he will go hungry can shift him.

2. A day of watching. For a whole day he looks on at a flying school he is too scared to join. His siblings get lessons in low flying and fishing, and one brother even lands his first catch while the parents celebrate noisily. By the next morning the whole family sits on a plateau on the facing cliff, jeering at the coward on the ledge.

3. Hunger. Later that morning, hunger becomes the bigger problem. He has had nothing since the evening before, and the sun beats down on him. His act of dozing on one leg, to show he does not care, draws no attention at all. Only his mother is watching him, while she tears into a fish across the gap. That sight is unbearable. He cries for food, she mocks him, he pleads again, and at last she seems to give in: she picks up the fish and flies over.

4. The trick and the fall. This is the turning point, and it is a deliberate trick. His mother halts in mid-air just short of the ledge, the fish nearly touching his beak. Puzzled, then desperate, he lunges for it and topples into space. The terror he has dreaded lasts barely a minute, because his body knows what to do: the wings open by instinct and the air holds him up. Soon he is climbing, his family is circling him with excited cries, and the fear is forgotten in the fun of diving and turning.

5. The ‘green floor’. His last lesson is a funny one. Seeing his family resting on the water ahead, he takes the green sea for solid ground and tries to stand on it. His feet sink, he shrieks and flaps, but his strength is spent. Then his body settles and he floats. His family crowds round with praise and bits of dog-fish. He has flown, and he has been fed.

4/5He lunges, falls, and his wings open: he is flying.

Fig. 3.1Follow the young seagull from his ledge to the sea.

A sea cliff on the left has a narrow ledge where the young seagull sits; a second cliff on the right has a flat plateau, and the sea lies below. Step 1 shows him alone on the ledge. Step 2 adds three family members flying over the gap between the cliffs. Step 3 shows his mother hovering just beyond the ledge with a fish, almost within his reach. Step 4 shows him off the ledge in mid-air with his wings spread, a dashed line marking his fall. Step 5 shows him floating on the sea with two family members beside him.

3.2.2 Characters and setting

Setting: a sea cliff with narrow ledges, a plateau on the facing cliff and the open sea below, over roughly a day and a half. Point of view: third person, but the narrator shares only the young gull’s thoughts and feelings, so we fear the drop with him.

Compare

Who’s who in the story

The young seagull

  • Timid and full of self-doubt, though his wings are strong
  • Tries to save face by pretending not to care
  • Driven at last by hunger, not by courage
  • Changes from terror to dizzy joy within a minute

His mother

  • Watches him when the others ignore him
  • Uses food as bait and stops just out of reach on purpose
  • Tough but loving: she is the first to swoop past, calling, when he flies

Father and siblings

  • The father scolds and threatens, then flies over him cheering
  • The siblings fly first and join in the teasing
  • All of them praise and feed him at the end

3.2.3 Key moments explained

  • Shorter wings, yet they flew. This detail proves the problem is in his mind. Fear, not a lack of strength, keeps him on the ledge.
  • Pretending to doze. He wants food and attention without admitting he is afraid. Nobody responds, which shows the family has decided to stop coaxing.
  • The mocking cry. His mother answers his begging with a jeering “Gaw-col-ah”. She refuses to reward his fear.
  • Stopping in mid-air. The mother’s halt is the turning point. She knows hunger will push him further than scolding ever could, so she makes him reach for the food.
  • The minute of terror. Once he is in the air, fear lasts only a moment and instinct takes over. What he dreaded turns out to be natural.
  • The ‘green floor’. Mistaking the sea for solid ground is comic, but it also shows he still has much to learn. The family’s praise and food welcome him into adult life.
Flash cards · 12

Words from the story

1 / 12

3.2.4 Themes and message

  • Fear lives in the mind. The gull has the wings; what he lacks is belief. The moment he is forced into the air, the fear vanishes.
  • Necessity pushes us forward. Hunger achieves what threats and taunts could not.
  • Tough love. The parents’ scolding and the mother’s trick seem harsh, but they come from care: a seagull that cannot fly cannot survive.
  • Learning by doing. A day of watching taught him nothing he could use. One real attempt taught him everything.
  • Confidence grows from one success. After a single flight he dives and turns as if he had always flown.
Quick check
1 of 4
Put the events of the story in order.
  1. Siblings fly off without him
  2. He lunges, falls and flies
  3. Mother hovers with a fish
  4. He floats on the sea, praised
  5. He pretends to doze on one leg
  6. He watches the family fly and fish
Show answer
Answer
  1. Siblings fly off without him
  2. He watches the family fly and fish
  3. He pretends to doze on one leg
  4. Mother hovers with a fish
  5. He lunges, falls and flies
  6. He floats on the sea, praised
He is left behind, watches for a day, tries to look unbothered, is tempted by the fish, falls into flight and ends floating among his family.

3.3 His First Flight: think, speak, write

NCERT follows the story with questions on the text, a group speaking task and a writing task. Try each item below before you open the model answer. The models are short on purpose: in an exam, write in your own words and refer to events in the story.

Practice · 5 questions

Practice 3.3: Thinking about the text: questions with answers

  1. Short answerEasyNCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q1

    Explain what kept the young seagull on his ledge. Using his brothers and sister as evidence, decide whether his problem was ability or temperament, and compare it with a toddler’s first steps.

    Show solution

    He feared the huge drop to the sea and was sure his wings would not hold him up.

    It was temperament, not ability: his siblings had shorter wings and still flew. Temperament varies, and some creatures are simply shyer.

    A toddler faces the same test. The legs are ready, but balance and nerve take time, and falls are part of learning.

  2. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q2

    Watching his mother eat drives the young gull almost wild. What does this reveal about his state, and what actually made him fly?

    Show solution

    He had gone without food since the evening before, so he was desperate with hunger.

    His mother used that hunger. She flew towards him with the fish and stopped just out of reach. He lunged, fell off the ledge, and his wings opened by instinct. Hunger overcame fear where threats had failed.

  3. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q3

    The parents first scold and threaten their son, and at the end they call and wave him towards them. Why do they use both methods? Is this cruelty or care?

    Show solution

    They knew he could fly, and that a gull must fly to find food and survive.

    Threats and mockery were meant to shame him into trying. When he was finally in the air, calling and coaxing guided him and built his confidence.

    It is care, not cruelty: tough love that aims at his independence.

  4. Short answerEasyNCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q4

    Pair work: describe a time when an elder pushed you to try something that frightened you. What did they do, and did it help?

    Show solution

    Model: At eleven, I refused to jump into the deep end of the pool. My uncle did not argue. He stood in the water, held out his arms and counted to three every few minutes. On the fifth count I jumped. I swallowed water, but I came up laughing, and I swam the length by the end of the week.

    Your own answer should say what you feared, what the elder did and how you felt afterwards.

  5. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q5

    We expect a bird to fly as a matter of course. Could your own attempt from Q4 have failed? Explain why it was worth trying even so.

    Show solution

    Success was not guaranteed. I could have panicked and needed rescuing.

    Trying mattered anyway. Courage grows only through action, and even a failed attempt shows what to fix next time. The gull’s success also looks certain only afterwards: on the ledge it felt impossible to him.

3.3.1 Speaking: a group presentation

NCERT asks groups to research and present one topic linked to flight or travel: how aeroplanes developed, how motorcars developed, birds and their wingspans, or the routes of migratory birds. A good group talk is planned, not read out.

  1. Share the work. Choose a researcher, a person for visuals, two or three speakers and a timekeeper.
  2. Open with a hook: a surprising fact or a question to the class.
  3. Keep to three main points, in time order for inventions or from biggest to smallest for birds.
  4. Show one clear visual: a timeline, a map of a migration route or a drawing to scale.
  5. End with a takeaway in one sentence, then invite two questions.
  6. Rehearse to time (four to five minutes). Look at the class and glance at cue cards, not full sentences.
Timeline

From the Wright Flyer to the jumbo jet

  1. 1903

    The Wright Flyer

    Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first powered, controlled aeroplane flight, at Kitty Hawk in the USA.

  2. 1919

    Across the Atlantic

    Alcock and Brown fly non-stop from Newfoundland to Ireland.

  3. 1932

    Airmail in India

    J. R. D. Tata flies a small Puss Moth carrying mail from Karachi to Bombay; his airline later becomes Air India.

  4. 1935

    The DC-3

    The Douglas DC-3 first flies. Britain’s air force called its military version the Dakota, the type of plane the narrator flies in ‘The Black Aeroplane’.

  5. 1949

    The first jet airliner

    The de Havilland Comet makes its first flight; passenger service begins in 1952.

  6. 1969

    Jumbo and supersonic

    The Boeing 747 and the supersonic Concorde both fly for the first time.

  • Birds and their wingspan: the wandering albatross of the southern oceans has the widest wings of any living bird; the record bird measured about 3.6 m from tip to tip.
  • Migratory birds: every October and November, huge flocks of Amur falcons rest near the Doyang reservoir in Nagaland. They are on a yearly journey of up to about 22,000 km between eastern Asia and southern Africa, crossing the Arabian Sea.
  • Motorcars: begin with Karl Benz’s motor car of 1886, move to Ford’s Model T (1908), which assembly lines made affordable, then to India’s Maruti 800 (1983) and today’s electric cars.

3.3.2 Writing: a humorous composition

The writing task asks you to write, humorously, about how you began learning some skill. A composition here is a short personal narrative of about 150–200 words with a title. It reads like a story about yourself, told in the past tense.

Humour comes from honest detail and from exaggeration aimed at yourself, never at others. Build up the struggle, let one disaster be bigger than the rest, then end with a small victory and a light-hearted lesson. Fig. 3.2 shows the plan.

5/5Close with a light lesson, laughing at yourself.

Fig. 3.2Plan a funny composition in five moves.

A vertical plan of five numbered boxes joined by a line, with a structure word on the right of each. Step 1 lights box 1, Title plus funny hook, the beginning. Step 2 adds box 2, First tries go wrong, the build-up. Step 3 adds box 3, The big comic disaster, the climax. Step 4 adds box 4, A small victory, the turn. Step 5 shows all five boxes, ending with box 5, What I learnt, smiling, the ending.

Practice · 1 question

Practice 3.3: Writing: questions with answers

  1. Long answerMediumNCERT Writing (His First Flight)

    Write a humorous composition of 150–180 words about your first attempts at making round rotis, or at another everyday skill such as skating, draping a saree or bowling a googly.

    Show solution

    Model answer: The Map of India on My Tawa

    Last summer my grandmother announced that anyone who eats rotis should be able to make one. I was handed a rolling pin as if it were a sword.

    My first roti came out shaped like Sri Lanka. The second looked like a map of India, Kashmir included. Nani said the third resembled a tired starfish. Flour covered the counter, the floor and, somehow, my left ear.

    Then came the disaster. I flipped a roti off the tawa so enthusiastically that it sailed across the kitchen and landed on our cat, who has not forgiven me.

    By the end of the week, one roti puffed up into a perfect golden balloon. I carried it to the table like a trophy, and everyone clapped.

    I still cannot make two round rotis in a row. But I learnt that every expert was once a beginner covered in flour, and that laughing at yourself makes the next try easier.

    Key points: a title; past tense; first person; comic exaggeration; one big disaster; a small win; a closing lesson; within the word limit.

Quick check
1 of 3
Which opening line best suits a humorous composition about learning to swim?
Show answer

Answer (B) My swimming career began with me sinking, loudly.

It is personal, comic and sets up the story. The other lines are flat statements that suit an essay, not a funny narrative.

3.4 The Black Aeroplane

The second story is told by the pilot himself, a first-person narrator. Because we see only what he sees, we are as puzzled as he is when the story ends.

3.4.1 The story in six moments

1. An easy flight home. Picture a calm night: a cloudless sky, a rising moon and one man alone in an old Dakota, crossing France on his way back to England. It is the small hours of the morning and his mind is on his family and his holiday. Near Paris, the controllers on the radio give him a new course. He turns, and he also switches to his last tank of fuel, a detail that matters later.

2. A choice at the storm. Some way past Paris a wall of storm clouds rises ahead, dark and solid-looking. The writer compares them to black mountains, a vivid simile. Climbing above them is impossible, and a detour would burn fuel he does not have. The safe choice is to turn back to Paris. But he wants to be home, and he is dreaming of a big English breakfast. So he gambles (“I’ll take the risk”) and flies straight in.

3. Lost in the dark. Inside the cloud he can see nothing at all. The aircraft is tossed about, the compass spins uselessly, the other instruments die and the radio goes silent. With no way to tell where he is, he is completely lost.

4. A stranger in the storm. Then he notices another aeroplane beside him in the cloud. It shows no lights, yet he can see its pilot looking his way and waving him on. Overjoyed, he obeys without question, and the stranger leads him northwards for about half an hour.

5. Out of fuel, into the light. His last tank is nearly dry, with only minutes of flying left, when the guide begins to descend. The narrator follows him down and bursts out of the cloud above the twin rows of a runway’s lights. He lands safely. But when he looks round for his rescuer, the sky is empty.

6. A question with no answer. He goes to the control centre to find out where he has landed and to thank the other pilot. The woman on duty gives him an odd look and laughs: as far as she knows, his was the only aircraft out in that storm. The story closes with the narrator wondering who could have guided him home.

5/6A plane without lights appears and leads him while his fuel runs low.

Fig. 3.3The narrator’s route, from a calm night to a mysterious rescue (a sketch, not to scale).

A simple map with north at the top. Step 1 shows the narrator's aeroplane just north of Paris under a moon. Step 2 shows a curved arrow as he turns onto a new course and switches to his last fuel tank. Step 3 adds a wide band of storm clouds ahead of him. Step 4 shows his plane inside the clouds and a compass dial marked with a question mark, because his instruments are dead. Step 5 adds a second aeroplane drawn as a dashed outline, labelled no lights, flying ahead as his guide. Step 6 shows him at a runway lit by two rows of lamps; the guide plane has vanished.

3.4.2 Characters

Compare

The people in the story

The narrator (pilot)

  • Skilled but impatient: risks a storm to be home for breakfast
  • Honest about his fear and his foolish choice
  • Trusts the stranger completely when he is helpless
  • Grateful: on landing, his first wish is to say thank you

The woman at the control centre

  • Practical and sure of her facts
  • Trusts her radar, which showed one aircraft
  • Her odd look and laugh create the twist

The black aeroplane’s pilot

  • Never speaks; guides only by gesture
  • Flies without lights and leaves no trace on radar
  • Leads him to safety, then vanishes

3.4.3 Key moments explained

  • The decision. He weighs three options: over the storm (impossible), around it (not enough fuel) and back to Paris (safe). He picks a fourth, flying straight in, for a small comfort. The gap between the size of the risk and the reason for it makes the choice reckless.
  • Everything fails. Compass, radio and instruments die together. The writer strips away every tool the pilot relies on, so the rescue feels like a miracle.
  • The signal to follow. The stranger never speaks, yet his wave is clear. The pilot obeys like a child following a parent, which shows how completely fear has humbled him.
  • Fuel running out. Just as the last tank is nearly empty, the guide leads him down. The timing raises the tension and hints that the help was meant for him.
  • Glad to leave the Dakota. Walking away from the old aircraft, he is relieved to be on solid ground, and perhaps shaken by how close he came to disaster.
  • The radar. The woman’s words turn an adventure into a mystery: if no other plane was flying, who guided him?

3.4.4 Who flew the black aeroplane?

The story has an open ending. The writer gives clues but no answer, and NCERT invites you to decide whether the plane was really there. In an exam, any reading is acceptable if you support it with details from the story.

Compare

Three ways to read the ending

A real but ghostly guide

  • He saw the pilot’s face and his wave
  • The guide knew the way to an airport within reach
  • But: no lights, no radar trace, and it vanished

His own mind

  • Hours alone at night, then panic, can make the mind see things
  • Fear may have sharpened his own instinct to turn and descend
  • But: how did he find a runway with dead instruments?

Help from beyond

  • Help came exactly when all hope was gone
  • Many readers see a guardian angel, or the ghost of a pilot
  • The closing questions leave room for faith

Themes. Behind the mystery lie some clear ideas. A reckless choice made for a small comfort can cost dearly. When we are completely helpless, help may come from where we least expect it. And some experiences cannot be explained, only told. Notice the contrast with the first story: the seagull is pushed out of his fear by his family, while the pilot is led out of danger by a stranger.

Quick check
1 of 4
Why does the narrator not fly round the storm clouds?
Show answer

Answer (B) He had too little fuel left to go round them.

He was already on his last tank, so a long detour north or south was impossible. His compass failed only after he entered the clouds.

3.5 The Black Aeroplane: thinking about the text

These questions practise NCERT’s questions on the second story. Answer each one in three or four sentences before opening the model.

Practice · 5 questions

Practice 3.5: Thinking about the text: questions with answers

  1. Short answerEasyNCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q1

    Just before the storm, the narrator decides to gamble. What was at stake, and why did he accept the danger?

    Show solution

    He risked his life: flying an old plane into a huge storm, on his last fuel tank, unable to go over or round it.

    He accepted the danger because he wanted to get home to his family and holiday, and to a big breakfast. Turning back to Paris meant delay, and an easy flight so far had made him confident.

  2. Short answerEasyNCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q2

    What happened to the narrator, his plane and his instruments once he was inside the clouds?

    Show solution

    Darkness swallowed him, so he could see nothing beyond the cockpit, and the old plane was thrown about violently.

    His compass spun uselessly, every other instrument stopped working and the radio fell silent. He was lost and frightened until the strange plane appeared.

  3. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q3

    After landing, the narrator is happy to walk away from his old aeroplane. Why might he feel this way?

    Show solution

    The old Dakota had nearly cost him his life: its instruments and radio had failed and its fuel had almost run out.

    He was relieved to be on solid ground and in no hurry to climb back in. The phrase also hints that he regrets his risky choice.

  4. Short answerEasyNCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q4

    When the narrator asks about the other pilot, the woman on duty stares at him and laughs. Why?

    Show solution

    He asked about the pilot of another aeroplane. But no other plane was flying in that storm, and her radar showed only his.

    His question made no sense to her, so she looked at him oddly and laughed, perhaps thinking he was confused or joking.

  5. Long answerHardNCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q5

    Discuss in groups: who, or what, brought the narrator safely down? Give at least two details from the story for your view.

    Show solution

    Model view: I think it was something beyond explanation, such as a guardian spirit.

    • The plane had no lights, yet he saw the pilot’s face and wave.
    • It led him to an airport just as his fuel ran out.
    • It vanished after he landed, and radar never showed it.

    Another group could argue that his own instinct, sharpened by fear, guided him. Any view earns marks if it is backed by events from the story.

3.6 Thinking about language

The language section after the second story looks at how one word can carry many meanings, and at the different ways English talks about flying.

3.6.1 One word, many meanings: black

In the story, black works in two ways. Sometimes it names a colour, as when the storm clouds look like dark mountains. Sometimes it means without any light: inside the cloud the pilot can see nothing, and the strange plane flies with no lights at all. The word is the same; the context tells you which meaning is meant.

Outside the story, black has many more meanings, some literal and some idiomatic. Fig. 3.4 groups them, and the table gives an example of each.

4/4Black-market trade is illegal; a black deed is evil.

Fig. 3.4One word, eight meanings: context decides.

The word black sits in a dark circle in the centre, with meaning boxes linked to it on both sides. Step 1 shows the two meanings from the story: darkest colour, as in black clouds, and no light, as in pitch-black. Step 2 adds everyday meanings: without milk, as in black coffee, and very dirty, as in black palms. Step 3 adds feelings: angry, as in a black look, and gloomy, as in a black mood. Step 4 adds wrongdoing: illegal, as in black market, and evil, as in a black deed.

Table 3.1More meanings of black
PhraseMeaningExample
black coffeewithout milkDadaji drinks his coffee black and bitter.
black (dirty)very dirtyAfter fixing the bicycle chain, Arjun’s palms were black.
a black lookan angry stareThe librarian gave us a black look when a phone rang.
a black moodgloomy, lowLosing the final put the whole team in a black mood.
a black daya day of disaster or shameThe day the bridge collapsed was a black day for the town.
black marketillegal tradeTickets for the final were sold on the black market at five times the price.
black comedyhumour about grim things such as deathThe film is a black comedy about a wedding that goes horribly wrong.
black and bluecovered in bruisesAfter falling off the wall, he was black and blue for a week.
blackouta total power cutThe storm caused a blackout across the colony.
in the blackmaking a profit, not in debtAfter two hard years, the shop is finally in the black.
Quick check
1 of 3
Match each phrase with its meaning.

Tap an item on the left, then its match on the right.

Show answer
Answer
  • a black look : angry
  • black coffee : without milk
  • black market : illegal
  • black and blue : bruised
  • black comedy : jokes about grim things
Each phrase keeps the idea of darkness but applies it to something different: mood, drink, trade, skin, humour.

3.6.2 Two kinds of flying, and phrases with fly

Notice how the verb fly works in the two stories. When the narrator flies his Dakota, he is the operator: he steers a machine, as a drone pilot does. When the young gull is scared to fly, he is the one travelling, and his own wings must carry him. So fly can mean travel by air (birds, insects, passengers) or operate something that is airborne (pilots, drone operators, kite-flyers).

Fly also appears in many phrases and idioms whose meaning you cannot guess from the separate words. Learn them as whole units.

Table 3.2Phrases with fly
PhraseMeaningExample
fly a flaghoist a flag and let it waveEvery school flies the national flag on Independence Day.
fly into a ragelose your temper all at onceThe shopkeeper flew into a rage when the glass jar smashed.
fly along / fly byrush; pass at great speedThe Diwali holidays flew by.
fly highdo extremely wellAfter her first hit song, the singer was flying high.
fly the cooprun away; break freeBy the time the police arrived, the thief had flown the coop.
fly off the handlelose your temperPapa flies off the handle if we leave the fridge open.
as the crow fliesin a straight lineThe temple is 3 km away as the crow flies, but 8 km by road.
a flying visita very short visitMama paid us a flying visit on his way to Pune.
with flying colourswith great successShe passed her swimming test with flying colours.
Quick check
1 of 3
When the umpire gave him out, the batsman flew into a and threw his bat.
Show answer

Answer rage

Fly into a rage means to lose your temper all at once.

3.6.3 Words for moving through the air

NCERT lists twenty verbs and asks you to pick those that are close in meaning to fly. The test is simple: can a bird or insect do this in the air? Each flight verb also adds a shade of meaning that plain fly does not have.

  • soar: rise high, often without effort. A black kite soared above the rooftops.
  • glide: move smoothly on still wings. The eagle glided down the valley.
  • hover: stay in one spot in the air. A kingfisher hovered over the pond, then dived.
  • swoop: dive down suddenly, often to catch something. A crow swooped and snatched my vada.
  • flutter: flap the wings quickly and lightly. A sparrow fluttered at the window.
  • flit: fly quickly and lightly from place to place. Sunbirds flitted between the hibiscus flowers.
  • dart: move suddenly and fast. A dragonfly darted across the stream.
  • skim: fly just above a surface. Swallows skimmed the lake for insects.
  • flap: move the wings up and down. The pigeon flapped hard and took off.

Some verbs fit only in certain contexts. Sail and float can describe smooth movement through the air (a six sails over the boundary), while ascend and descend simply mean go up and go down. Verbs such as paddle, sink and crawl have nothing to do with flying. Fig. 3.5 shows the path each main verb traces.

1/6Soar: climb high and easily, often in circles.

Fig. 3.5Each flight verb traces a different path.

A sky above a strip of water with six dashed flight paths, each ending in a small bird shape; in each step one path is drawn bold and its meaning appears at the top. Step 1, soar: a path spirals upwards on the left. Step 2, glide: a long, gentle slope. Step 3, hover: a dashed ring round a bird that stays in one place. Step 4, swoop: a steep dive down towards the water and back up. Step 5, skim: a straight path just above the water. Step 6, flutter: a short zigzag of quick flaps.

Quick check
1 of 3
Which of these verbs describe moving through the air? Pick all that apply.
Select all that apply
Show answer
Answer
  • (A) hover
  • (C) glide
  • (E) swoop
Hover, glide and swoop are flight verbs. Wade is walking through water, trudge is walking heavily and crawl is moving on hands and knees.
Practice · 4 questions

Practice 3.6: Language: questions with answers

  1. Quick answerEasyNCERT Thinking about Language I

    Work out what black means in each sentence.

    1. The mechanic’s overalls were black with grease.

      Show answer

      Answer (B) very dirty

      Grease has made the overalls filthy.

    2. The coach shot the latecomers a black look.

      Show answer

      Answer (A) angry

      A black look is an angry, hostile stare.

    3. The police raided a shop selling gas cylinders on the black market.

      Show answer

      Answer (C) illegally

      Black-market trade breaks the law, usually by selling scarce goods at high prices.

    4. The play’s black humour made some people laugh and others uneasy.

      Show answer

      Answer (A) humour about grim subjects

      Black humour jokes about serious or grim things such as death.
  2. Quick answerMediumNCERT Thinking about Language II

    Match each sentence with the meaning of its fly phrase.

    Tap an item on the left, then its match on the right.

    Show answer
    Answer
    • The Tiranga flies over the fort. : is hoisted and waving
    • Rahul flew into a rage. : lost his temper at once
    • The train flew along the coast. : sped
    • Her new start-up is flying high. : is doing extremely well
    • The prisoner flew the coop. : broke free
    Fly a flag, fly into a rage, fly along, fly high and fly the coop are fixed phrases.
  3. Quick answerMediumNCERT Thinking about Language III

    Tick every verb that can describe a bird moving through the air.

    Select all that apply
    Show answer
    Answer
    • (A) drift
    • (C) wheel
    • (E) dart
    • (F) plummet
    Birds drift on the wind, wheel (circle) overhead, dart between branches and plummet in a steep dive. Wading and crawling happen in water or on the ground.
  4. Short answerMedium

    Write three sentences of your own using soar, hover and swoop correctly.

    Show solution
    • The vultures soared on the warm air above the hills.
    • A bee hovered in front of the flower before landing.
    • The eagle swooped on the fish and carried it off.

3.7 Writing: caught in a storm

The second writing task asks for a one-paragraph account of a thunderstorm that caught you by yourself or far from home. A narrative paragraph tells one short experience in order. It is usually 120–150 words long, in the past tense and in the first person.

  • Topic sentence: say when and where it happened, and hint at the mood.
  • Events in order: use time words such as at first, suddenly, a few minutes later and at last.
  • Senses and feelings: what you heard, saw, smelt and felt. One vivid detail beats five vague ones.
  • Closing thought: how it ended, and what it taught you.

4/4End with how it finished and what it taught you.

Fig. 3.6Four parts of a narrative paragraph.

A page with four coloured bands stacked from top to bottom, each with a hint on the right. Step 1 shows the first band, Topic sentence, with the hint when and where. Step 2 adds Events, in order, with the hint first, then. Step 3 adds Senses plus feelings, marked with a lightning bolt and the hint boom and flash. Step 4 adds the last band, Closing thought, with the hint what it taught.

Practice · 1 question

Practice 3.7: Writing: questions with answers

  1. Long answerMediumNCERT Writing (The Black Aeroplane)

    You were walking home alone from an evening class when a sudden thunderstorm forced you to shelter in a shop on the way. Narrate the experience in a paragraph of 120–150 words.

    Show solution

    Model answer: Last July, I was walking home from my evening maths class when the sky over our town turned the colour of ink. At first I hurried, hoping to beat the rain. Suddenly a crack of thunder made me jump, and fat drops began to hammer the road. I dashed into a small chemist’s shop, and the owner let me wait inside. Lightning lit up the empty street every few seconds, and the shutters rattled so loudly that I could hardly hear myself think. The air smelt of wet dust. My phone had no signal, so I counted the seconds between each flash and its thunder to see if the storm was moving away. At last the rain eased, and my father appeared with an umbrella. I learnt that a storm is far less frightening once you stay calm and wait.

    Key points: clear topic sentence; past tense; time words; at least two senses; feelings; a closing thought; 120–150 words.

Quick check
1 of 3
Which is the best topic sentence for a narrative paragraph about a storm?
Show answer

Answer (C) The worst storm I remember caught me alone on a school trip.

It is personal and sets up a story with a place and a mood. The first two are facts for an essay, and the last is a conclusion.

3.8 How to Tell Wild Animals

The first poem is pure fun. In the title, tell means identify or tell apart, as when you cannot tell twins apart. The poem pretends to be a serious guide for travellers who meet wild animals, but every ‘rule’ it gives works only when it is too late to be useful. Read it aloud: its bouncy, regular beat adds to the joke.

3.8.1 Stanza by stanza

The poem has six stanzas of six lines. Each stanza introduces one creature and offers a ‘simple’ test. Notice that, until the last stanza, the test always arrives at the moment of attack.

  1. Stanza 1: the Asian lion. The lion’s tawny (brownish-yellow) coat is a clue, but the poem’s proof is its roar, heard as you die. The joke is that identification and death arrive together.
  2. Stanza 2: the Bengal tiger. The stripes give the tiger away, yet the ‘simple rule’ offered is to check whether it eats you. The tiger is said to ‘greet’ you, which is ironic: this is no friendly welcome, and a rule is no use to someone who has been eaten.
  3. Stanza 3: the leopard. Spots are the visible clue, but you become certain only once it has sprung on you, and screaming merely invites another spring. The odd spellings of leapt and leap are explained in Section 3.8.2.
  4. Stanza 4: the bear. Even at home you are not safe: the bear is known by its bone-crushing hug, and anyone still unsure is promised another ‘caress’. A caress is a tender stroke, so the word is comic understatement.
  5. Stanza 5: crocodile or hyena? This stanza rests on two popular beliefs: that hyenas laugh, and that crocodiles shed tears as they eat their prey. So a grin means hyena and tears mean crocodile, a test that again works only within reach of their jaws.
  6. Stanza 6: the chameleon. After the deadly beasts comes a harmless lizard, described with comically obvious details (it has no wings!). The test is a riddle: if the tree looks empty, the chameleon is there, camouflaged so well that you cannot see it. The joke shifts from danger to disguise.

1/7Six animals, six ‘tests’: five of them arrive too late.

Fig. 3.7Every test but the last comes too late to save you.

Six cards in two rows under the title When can you tell? Each card names an animal, gives the poem's test in two short lines and ends with a verdict. Step 1 shows all six cards. Steps 2 to 7 highlight one card at a time: the Asian lion roars as you are dying; for the Bengal tiger, see whether it eats you; the leopard leaps on you again and again; the bear hugs you far too hard, and all four are marked too late; for the crocodile, smiling means hyena and weeping means crocodile, also too late; and for the chameleon you look at a tree and see nothing, marked no danger.

Flash cards · 9

Words from the poem

1 / 9

3.8.2 Tone, humour and poetic devices

Speaker and tone. The speaker sounds like a calm, helpful guide, but the advice is absurd. This mock-serious tone is the heart of the humour: deadly danger is described as casually as a bird-watching tip. The mood is light and playful, never frightening.

Form. Every stanza follows the rhyme scheme ababcc. Four alternately rhyming lines set up the situation, and a closing couplet delivers the punchline, like the last line of a joke. In stanza 1, dyin’ must rhyme with lion: say them as ‘DIE-un’ and ‘LIE-un’ and they do.

Table 3.3Devices in the poem
DeviceWhereEffect
Poetic licencedyin’, lept, lep, nonpluskeeps rhyme or beat; sounds comic
Ironythe tiger ‘greets’; the bear’s ‘caress’; merry hyenasgentle words, deadly acts
Personificationlaughing hyenas, weeping crocodileshuman feelings, for fun
Inversionverb placed lastlands the rhyme
Repetitionvery, very hard; againcomic stress on danger
Imagerytawny coat, stripes, spotswe picture each animal
Old forms’Twill, ’Tismock-formal sound

In short, the humour comes from three places: the situation (advice that is useless), the irony of gentle words for violent acts, and the poetic licence the poet takes with spelling and grammar. Small touches such as personification (grinning hyenas) and inversion (word order turned round to land a rhyme) add to the fun. Lept and lep are spelt to echo the first syllable of Leopard, which is pronounced ‘lep’.

Quick check
1 of 4
According to the poem, when can you be sure an animal is a Bengal tiger?
Show answer

Answer (B) When it starts to eat you

The rule is to notice whether it eats you: the test works only when it is too late. Seeing stripes from afar would be useful, which is exactly why the poem does not suggest it.
Practice · 7 questions

Practice 3.8: Thinking about the poem: questions with answers

  1. Short answerEasyNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q1

    Read the end of stanza 1 aloud. How must you say the two rhyming words to make them rhyme, and why did the poet drop a letter?

    Show solution

    Normally dying and lion do not rhyme. Dropping the final g gives dyin’, and if you say ‘DIE-un’ and ‘LIE-un’, the two words rhyme.

    The poet takes this liberty to keep the rhyme scheme, and the casual, clipped word adds to the comic tone.

  2. Short answerEasyNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q2

    What signs mark out the lion and the tiger in the poem, and at what moment can you be sure of each?

    Show solution

    The lion is a large tawny beast that comes at you; you know it is a lion when it roars over you as you die.

    The tiger has black stripes on a yellow background; you know it is a tiger when it eats you. In both cases you are sure only when it is too late.

  3. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q3

    In stanza 3 the poet spells two forms of the verb leap unusually. What are the standard spellings, and why did she change them?

    Show solution

    The standard forms are leapt and leap. She writes lept and lep so that they echo the ‘lep’ sound at the start of Leopard, linking the verb to the animal.

    The misspelling is deliberate poetic licence, and it makes the stanza funnier.

  4. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q4

    English speaks of a bear hug and crocodile tears. Give two expressions about animals from Hindi or another Indian language you know, and explain them.

    Show solution
    • घड़ियाली आँसू बहाना (ghadiyali aansoo bahana): to shed crocodile tears, that is, to pretend to be sad.
    • गिरगिट की तरह रंग बदलना (girgit ki tarah rang badalna): to change colour like a chameleon, that is, to keep changing sides.
    • भैंस के आगे बीन बजाना (bhains ke aage been bajana): to play the been before a buffalo, that is, to waste fine words on someone who cannot value them.
  5. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q5

    The poet writes ‘A novice might nonplus’. Put this into standard English, and explain why her version suits the poem better.

    Show solution

    Standard English: ‘A novice might be nonplussed’ (a beginner might be puzzled).

    The poet’s shorter form keeps the line to the beat of the poem and ends on nonplus, which rhymes with thus. The slightly wrong grammar also adds to the playful tone.

  6. Short answerHardNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q6

    Name one other poem, in English or an Indian language, that bends the rules of language, or one humorous poem you enjoy. What makes it playful?

    Show solution
    • Lewis Carroll’s ‘Jabberwocky’ invents words such as frabjous, yet we still follow the story.
    • Sukumar Ray’s Bengali collection Abol Tabol is full of nonsense creatures and comic rhymes.
    • The Hindi poet Kaka Hathrasi wrote witty, rhyming hasya poems about everyday life.

    Your answer should name the poem and give one example of its play with words or ideas.

  7. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q7

    Pick the stanza you find funniest. Explain in a few sentences whether the humour comes from the idea, the language or both.

    Show solution

    Model: I like the bear stanza most. The idea is funny, because you identify a bear while it is crushing you. The language makes it funnier: the poet calls the deadly hug a ‘caress’ and promises one more if you are still unsure. So the humour comes from both the absurd situation and the ironic word choice.

3.9 The Ball Poem

The second poem turns from laughter to sorrow. Its whole event is tiny: a child’s ball rolls into the water and is gone. Yet the poet watches the moment as if it were a turning point in the child’s life. Read it to find out why a cheap toy can matter so much.

3.9.1 The poem in four movements

The poem is one unbroken block of 18 lines with no regular rhyme scheme. It moves through four stages, which we can follow by line numbers.

  • Lines 1–4: the loss. An adult speaker watches the scene. His anxious opening questions show sympathy before we even know what has happened. The ball’s carefree bounce down the street, stressed by the repeated word merrily, makes its sudden plunge into the harbour feel all the sharper: joy turns to loss within a line.
  • Lines 5–9: grief. The speaker brushes aside the easy comfort that balls can be replaced. The boy’s grief is total, and it freezes him. His long stare into the water suggests he is looking back at all the days he spent with the ball, so the loss is of memories and of childhood itself, not just of a toy.
  • Lines 9–14: no rescue. The speaker deliberately holds back. Buying another ball (a dime is a ten-cent coin) would miss the point. This is the boy’s first taste of responsibility: in a world of possessions, things are lost or taken all the time, and money can replace an object but never what it meant. That is why the poet calls money external.
  • Lines 15–18: the lesson. The learning is silent and inward, happening inside the boy as he stares. He is discovering the ‘epistemology of loss’: what loss is, and how to recover from it. The poet widens the lesson to everyone: all people must learn to stand up again after a loss, and most must do it many times.

5/5He begins to learn how to live with loss and stand up again.

Fig. 3.8From a lost ball to a lesson about loss.

On the left, a street slopes down to a quay and the harbour water; on the right, three boxes form a ladder labelled grief, can't buy back and stand up, from bottom to top. Step 1 shows a ball bouncing down the street along a dashed trail. Step 2 shows the ball in the harbour with ripples round it. Step 3 lights the bottom box, grief. Step 4 adds a ten-cent coin crossed out and lights the middle box, can't buy back. Step 5 lights all three boxes, ending with stand up.

3.9.2 Themes, tone and devices

  • Loss is part of life. Everyone loses things and people; the poem treats one small loss as the first step into that truth.
  • Growing up. In one afternoon the boy moves from carefree play towards an adult understanding.
  • Responsibility. Owning things means accepting that we can lose them.
  • Money cannot replace meaning. A new ball is easy to buy; the memories in the old one are not.
  • Resilience. The real lesson is not the loss but how to stand up after it.

Speaker, tone and mood. The speaker is an adult observer who understands the boy’s pain because he has felt such losses himself. His tone is gentle, sympathetic and thoughtful. The mood moves from sadness to quiet acceptance.

  • Symbol: the ball stands for childhood, innocence and everything we treasure and lose.
  • Enjambment: sentences spill from one line into the next (for example, lines 3–4 and 8–9), copying the ball’s bounce and the rush of feeling.
  • Repetition: the doubled what in line 2, merrily twice, and the closing phrase about standing up, said twice to stress the main lesson.
  • Imagery: the bouncing ball, and the stiff, trembling boy staring into the harbour.
  • Direct address: the speaker turns to the boy himself, calling him little boy, though he will not interrupt him.
  • No regular rhyme scheme: the loose, unrhymed lines sound like someone thinking aloud.
Flash cards · 8

Words from the poem

1 / 8
Quick check
1 of 4
Why does the speaker not offer the boy money for a new ball?
Show answer

Answer (C) He thinks the boy must learn to bear the loss himself.

The speaker holds back on purpose: the boy must learn what loss means and how to stand up after it. Nothing suggests the speaker is poor or angry.
Practice · 6 questions

Practice 3.9: Thinking about the poem: questions with answers

  1. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q1

    The speaker chooses not to step in, or to give the boy money for another ball. Explain his reasons.

    Show solution

    He respects the boy’s grief and does not want to interrupt a private moment.

    He also knows a new ball would not replace the old one, which held the boy’s memories. Most of all, the boy must learn for himself what loss means and how to recover.

  2. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q2

    The boy stares into the harbour as if looking into all his young days. What does this suggest about the ball and his past?

    Show solution

    It suggests the ball has been his companion for years, part of much of his childhood play.

    The ball is tied to happy memories, so losing it feels like losing part of his childhood. That is why his grief is so deep.

  3. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q3

    What does the poet mean when he says the boy now senses responsibility in a world of possessions?

    Show solution

    We live in a world where people own things, and things are always being lost, broken or taken.

    Owning something brings the responsibility of caring for it and of accepting its loss. The boy is realising this for the first time.

  4. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q4

    Does the poem suggest this is the boy’s first experience of loss? Support your answer with a word or phrase from it.

    Show solution

    It seems to be his first real loss. The poet says that now he senses his first responsibility, which shows the feeling is new to him.

    His shocked, frozen grief also suggests he has never had to face loss before.

  5. Short answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q5

    Explain, in your own words, the lesson the boy takes from losing his ball.

    Show solution

    He is learning that loss is a part of life: things will be lost and money cannot bring back what they meant.

    He is also learning to accept the loss, bear the pain and carry on, which the poet calls learning how to stand up. Everyone must learn this, often more than once.

  6. Long answerMediumNCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q6

    Write a paragraph (100–120 words) about a time you lost something you valued. Describe your feelings and what, if anything, helped you recover.

    Show solution

    Model answer: When I was twelve, I lost the wristwatch my grandfather gave me on my birthday. I left it in a train washroom and realised only after the train had moved on. I felt sick and angry with myself. The watch was cheap, but it reminded me of the afternoon he taught me to read the time, and he had died the next winter. My parents offered to buy a new one, but I refused, because that would have felt like pretending. Slowly I accepted that the memory was mine even without the watch. Now I am more careful with things I love, and I keep their memories safe in a diary.

    Key points: what was lost; why it mattered; honest feelings; how you coped; what changed.

3.10 Revise and practise for the board exam

Recap

Two Stories about Flying: key points and summary

  1. ‘His First Flight’: a young seagull, held back by fear rather than weak wings, is starved and then tricked by his mother into his first flight (Section 3.2).
  2. Its themes: fear lives in the mind, necessity and tough love push us forward, and one success builds confidence (Section 3.2.4).
  3. ‘The Black Aeroplane’: a pilot gambles on flying into a storm, loses his instruments and is guided to safety by a plane that radar never saw (Section 3.4).
  4. Its open ending allows several readings, such as a ghostly guide, the pilot’s own mind or help from beyond; support any view with evidence (Section 3.4.4).
  5. Black changes meaning with context: colour, no light, no milk, dirty, angry, gloomy, illegal, evil (Section 3.6.1).
  6. Fly means both travelling through the air and operating an aircraft, and it forms idioms such as fly into a rage and fly the coop (Section 3.6.2).
  7. Flight verbs add shades of meaning: soar, glide, hover, swoop, skim, flutter, flit, dart (Section 3.6.3).
  8. A humorous composition and a narrative paragraph both need a plan, the past tense and vivid detail (Section 3.3.2, Section 3.7).
  9. ‘How to Tell Wild Animals’ is light verse: each test works only during an attack, except the harmless chameleon (Section 3.8).
  10. Each stanza rhymes ababcc, and dyin’, lept, lep and nonplus bend the rules for rhyme, rhythm and fun (Section 3.8.2).
  11. ‘The Ball Poem’: a boy’s lost ball teaches him what loss means, that money cannot buy back memories, and how to stand up again (Section 3.9).
  12. Its key devices are the ball as a symbol, enjambment and repetition, in unrhymed lines (Section 3.9.2).

How the board tests this chapter. Expect an extract from a story or poem with three or four short questions, short answers of about 40–50 words, and long answers of about 100–120 words on character, theme or a value. Write in your own words and refer to events. For poems, name a device and say what effect it has.

1/5Two stories and two poems, each with a clear movement.

Fig. 3.9The chapter at a glance: each piece moves from one state to another.

Four wide rows, one for each piece, each giving the title, whether it is a story or a poem, and its central movement on the right. Step 1 shows all four rows. Step 2 highlights His First Flight, a story about a seagull: fear to flight. Step 3 highlights The Black Aeroplane, a story about a pilot: risk to mystery. Step 4 highlights How to Tell Wild Animals, a comic poem: danger to laughs. Step 5 highlights The Ball Poem, a serious poem: loss to growing up.

Chapter recap
1 of 4
Match each piece with its central idea.

Tap an item on the left, then its match on the right.

Show answer
Answer
  • His First Flight : fear overcome by need
  • The Black Aeroplane : a rescue no one can explain
  • How to Tell Wild Animals : comic, useless advice
  • The Ball Poem : learning to bear loss
The gull is pushed by hunger, the pilot is saved by a mystery, the comic poem gives tests that come too late, and the boy learns what loss means.
Practice · 7 questions

Board practice A: extract-based questions: questions with answers

Open your NCERT book at the passage or stanza named in each question, read it, then answer the parts.

  1. Short answerEasy

    His First Flight: read the paragraph that begins ‘The sun was now ascending…’, up to the point where his mother flies towards him with the fish.

    1. Why does the young gull feel the heat so strongly?

      Show solution

      He has eaten nothing since the previous evening, and the hot sun is beating down on his ledge.

    2. What does he do to get attention, and does it work?

      Show solution

      He fakes sleep, balancing on one leg, hoping someone will notice. It fails: nobody reacts.

    3. Which word in the passage tells you that his mother’s reply mocked him?

      Show answer

      Answer (C) derisively

      Derisively means in a mocking way. Plaintively describes his own sad pleading.

    4. Why does his cry suddenly turn joyful?

      Show solution

      His mother picks up a piece of fish and starts flying across to him, so he believes he is about to be fed.

  2. Short answerMedium

    His First Flight: read the paragraph in which the young gull finally dives at the fish and finds himself flying.

    1. Why does his mother stop just short of the ledge?

      Show solution

      It is a deliberate trick: by holding the fish just out of reach, she forces the starving gull to lunge for it and leave the ledge.

    2. How long does his terror last, and what replaces it?

      Show solution

      Only about a minute. Then his wings spread, the wind supports him, and fear gives way to a dizzy delight.

    3. What does it mean when birds are said to be ‘banking’?

      Show answer

      Answer (A) leaning sideways into a turn

      A bird or plane banks when it leans to one side to turn.

    4. What does the moment of falling show about his fear?

      Show solution

      His fear was baseless: once he was in the air, instinct took over and flying came naturally.

  3. Short answerMedium

    The Black Aeroplane: read the paragraphs where the narrator first sees the storm clouds and makes his decision.

    1. What are the clouds compared to, and what does the comparison suggest?

      Show solution

      To black mountains (a simile). It suggests they are huge, solid-looking and threatening, a wall he cannot get past.

    2. Why can he neither fly over the clouds nor go round them?

      Show solution

      Climbing above them is impossible, and a detour round either end would need more fuel than he has left.

    3. What is the safe choice he rejects, and why does he reject it?

      Show solution

      Turning back to Paris. He rejects it because he wants to get home and is looking forward to a big breakfast.

    4. His decision mainly shows that he is:

      Show answer

      Answer (C) impatient and willing to take a big risk

      He knowingly risks a dangerous storm for the comfort of reaching home sooner.
  4. Short answerMedium

    The Black Aeroplane: read the narrator’s conversation with the woman in the control centre and the final paragraph.

    1. Why does the narrator go to the control centre after landing?

      Show solution

      To learn where he had landed and to thank the pilot who had guided him.

    2. What does she tell him?

      Show solution

      That his was the only aircraft in the sky that night; the radar had shown nothing else.

    3. Why does her reply leave him puzzled?

      Show solution

      He clearly saw a plane and its pilot guide him to the runway, yet officially it did not exist.

    4. The questions at the very end of the story create:

      Show answer

      Answer (B) an open, mysterious ending

      The writer leaves the identity of the guide for readers to decide.
  5. Short answerMedium

    How to Tell Wild Animals: read stanza 2, about the Bengal tiger.

    1. By what signs, according to the poem, can you recognise the tiger?

      Show solution

      By its black stripes on a yellow background and, finally, by noticing whether it eats you.

    2. What is ironic about calling the tiger’s approach a greeting?

      Show solution

      A greeting is friendly, but the tiger is about to attack and eat you. The polite word hides a deadly act.

    3. In this stanza, ground means:

      Show answer

      Answer (A) background

      The stripes are set against a yellow background.

    4. What is the rhyme scheme of the stanza?

      Show answer

      Answer (C) ababcc

      Alternate rhymes, then a rhyming couplet.
  6. Short answerMedium

    The Ball Poem: read lines 1–9, up to the words ‘His ball went’.

    1. What happens to the boy’s ball?

      Show solution

      It bounces happily away down the street and drops into the harbour.

    2. Why does the speaker repeat what at the start?

      Show solution

      To show his concern and the boy’s helplessness: there seems to be nothing the boy can do.

    3. Describe the boy’s state after the loss.

      Show solution

      He is overwhelmed by grief: frozen to the spot and shaking, his eyes fixed on the water.

    4. Why would it be no use to tell him there are other balls?

      Show solution

      This ball holds his memories and his childhood; another ball cannot replace it, so the comfort would mean nothing.

  7. Short answerHard

    The Ball Poem: read lines 15–18, the last four lines.

    1. Where is the boy’s learning taking place?

      Show solution

      Silently, inside his own mind; nobody can teach it to him.

    2. Explain ‘the epistemology of loss’.

      Show solution

      Coming to know what loss really is: how it feels, and how a person learns to live with it.

    3. Why is the phrase about standing up repeated?

      Show solution

      To stress the main lesson: recovering from loss and carrying on with life matters most.

    4. What, according to the poet, must every person one day know?

      Show solution

      That loss is part of life and that one must learn to stand up after it; most people learn this many times.

Practice · 8 questions

Board practice B: short answers (40–50 words): questions with answers

  1. Short answerEasy

    How did the young seagull’s family try to make him fly?

    Show solution

    Model answer: His parents scolded him and threatened to let him starve. The whole family then mocked him from the plateau and ignored him. Finally his mother flew towards him with a fish and stopped just out of reach, so that hunger made him lunge off the ledge.

    Key points: threats; mockery; being ignored; the mother’s trick with food.

  2. Short answerMedium

    What happened when the young seagull tried to land on the sea, and how does the story end?

    Show solution

    Model answer: He took the green sea for solid ground and tried to stand on it. His legs sank, and he was too tired and hungry to rise again. Then he found himself floating, while his family surrounded him, praising him and feeding him pieces of dog-fish.

    Key points: mistake about the ‘floor’; fright; floating; praise and food; first flight complete.

  3. Short answerMedium

    Contrast the narrator’s feelings before and after he flew into the storm in ‘The Black Aeroplane’.

    Show solution

    Model answer: Before the storm he was relaxed and happy, enjoying the quiet night and dreaming of breakfast and his family. Inside the storm he became frightened and helpless, because his compass, radio and instruments failed and he was lost. Only the strange plane brought back his hope.

    Key points: calm and confident before; fear and helplessness inside; relief when guided.

  4. Short answerMedium

    Why did the narrator follow the strange aeroplane without question?

    Show solution

    Model answer: He was completely lost, with no compass, no radio and no view of the ground, and his fuel was running out. The other pilot seemed to know he was lost and signalled him to follow. With no other hope, he obeyed gratefully.

    Key points: instruments dead; lost; low fuel; the stranger’s signal; trust born of helplessness.

  5. Short answerMedium

    Why does the poet of ‘How to Tell Wild Animals’ call the bear’s hug a caress?

    Show solution

    Model answer: A caress is a soft, tender stroke, but a bear’s hug crushes its victim. Using such a soft word for a deadly squeeze is ironic understatement. It keeps the tone light and makes the danger comic rather than frightening.

    Key points: meaning of caress; irony; deadly hug; humorous tone.

  6. Short answerMedium

    What makes ‘How to Tell Wild Animals’ a humorous poem?

    Show solution

    Model answer: Every ‘test’ for identifying an animal works only when the animal is attacking you, which makes the advice absurd. Ironic words like ‘greets’ and ‘caress’, playful spellings such as lept and lep, and a bouncy rhyme scheme make deadly danger sound light and funny.

    Key points: useless tests; irony; poetic licence; rhythm and rhyme; mock-serious tone.

  7. Short answerHard

    Why does the speaker in ‘The Ball Poem’ say that money is external?

    Show solution

    Model answer: Money lies outside the real loss. It can buy another ball, but not the memories and feelings tied to the old one. The boy’s grief is inside him, so only understanding and acceptance, not money, can help him recover.

    Key points: money buys objects, not meaning; grief is inward; acceptance is the cure.

  8. Short answerMedium

    What does the ball symbolise in ‘The Ball Poem’?

    Show solution

    Model answer: The ball symbolises the boy’s childhood: his carefree, happy days and the memories of playing with it. Losing it marks his first step into the adult world, where losses are real and cannot simply be bought back.

    Key points: childhood and innocence; memories; first experience of real loss; growing up.

Practice · 6 questions

Practice questions with answers (NCERT “Board practice C: long answers (100–120 words)”)

  1. Long answerMedium

    Write a character sketch of the young seagull in ‘His First Flight’.

    Show solution

    Model answer: The young seagull is timid and full of self-doubt. Although his wings are longer than his siblings’, he believes they will not carry him, so he stays on the ledge while the others fly. He is also proud: rather than admit his fear, he pretends to doze as though he does not care. Hunger makes him desperate, and when his mother dangles a fish just out of reach, he lunges and falls. In that moment he changes. After a minute of terror, instinct takes over, and his fear turns to wild joy as he dives and soars. By the end he is a confident young bird, welcomed by his family. He shows that courage often comes only after we act.

    Key points: timid, self-doubting; proud, face-saving; driven by hunger; transformation; joy and confidence; message about courage.

  2. Long answerHard

    ‘Sometimes parents must be tough to help their children grow.’ Discuss with reference to ‘His First Flight’.

    Show solution

    Model answer: In ‘His First Flight’, the parents know their son can fly, and that a seagull which cannot fly will not survive. Coaxing has not worked, so they turn tough. They scold him, threaten to let him starve and, with the rest of the family, mock him and ignore his begging. Finally the mother uses his hunger, hovering with a fish just out of his reach until he lunges off the ledge. It looks cruel, but it works: within a minute he is flying. Their toughness was really love, aimed at his independence. Human parents, too, sometimes need to stop doing things for their children, so the children discover what they can do. Toughness should still be guided by care, as it is here.

    Key points: survival needs flight; gentle methods failed; scolding, starving, the trick; success; tough love; balanced personal view.

  3. Long answerMedium

    The pilot in ‘The Black Aeroplane’ took a needless risk. What does the story teach about courage and caution?

    Show solution

    Model answer: The pilot knew the storm was huge, that he could neither climb over it nor fly round it, and that the sensible course was to return to Paris. Yet, eager for home and breakfast, he flew straight in. This was not courage but recklessness, because the risk was out of all proportion to the reward. The result was terrifying: his instruments and radio failed, his fuel ran low and he was utterly lost. Only a mysterious guide saved him. The story suggests that true courage weighs the danger first. Being brave means facing risks that are worth facing, while caution is wise when a small comfort is all there is to gain. The pilot’s relief at walking away from his plane hints that he learnt this.

    Key points: options he had; the reason he chose the storm; consequences; courage versus recklessness; lesson; personal view.

  4. Long answerHard

    Who do you think was the pilot of the black aeroplane? Present your view with evidence from the story.

    Show solution

    Model answer: I believe the guide was something supernatural, perhaps a guardian spirit or the ghost of a pilot. Several details support this. The plane flew through a violent storm with no lights, yet the narrator could make out the pilot looking at him and waving. It seemed to know he was lost and led him for half an hour to the only airport he could reach, just as his fuel ran out. When he landed, it vanished, and the radar operator said no other aircraft had been flying. Some readers argue that the narrator imagined it in his panic, but that cannot explain how he found a runway without instruments. The writer leaves the answer open, which makes the story memorable.

    Key points: a clear view; three or more details (no lights, the face and wave, the timing, it vanished, the radar); one other reading mentioned; open ending.

  5. Long answerHard

    ‘Losing something can teach us how to grow up.’ Discuss with reference to ‘The Ball Poem’.

    Show solution

    Model answer: In ‘The Ball Poem’, a boy watches his ball bounce into the harbour. The ball is cheap, but it holds his childhood memories, so his grief is deep and he stands frozen. The adult speaker could give him money for a new ball but chooses not to, because money is external and cannot buy back what the ball meant. Instead, the boy must face his first responsibility in a world where possessions are always being lost. Silently, he begins to understand what loss is and how to stand up after it. This is growing up: accepting that loss is part of life and finding the strength to carry on. The poet says every person must learn this, and most learn it many times.

    Key points: the loss and its meaning; grief; the speaker holding back; responsibility; epistemology of loss; growing up; universal lesson.

  6. Long answerHard

    Both stories in this chapter show a frightened flyer who gets help. Compare how help comes in each.

    Show solution

    Model answer: In ‘His First Flight’, the young seagull’s fear is inside him: he can fly but does not believe it. His family helps by being tough, and his mother’s trick with the fish pushes him off the ledge, where instinct does the rest. In ‘The Black Aeroplane’, the pilot’s danger is outside him: a storm, dead instruments and almost no fuel. His help comes from a silent stranger in a plane that should not exist, who leads him to safety and vanishes. The gull is pushed by those who love him; the pilot is guided by an unknown helper. Both learn something. The gull learns he can fly, and the pilot learns the cost of a careless risk and the value of help received.

    Key points: inner fear versus outer danger; family versus stranger; push versus guide; what each learns; a clear comparison.

Find your NCERT exercise question

Our practice questions are written for ncert.ai and follow the NCERT exercises. Find the one that matches the question in your textbook; its answer is with it.

In your NCERT textbookPractice question here
NCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q1Practice 3.3: Thinking about the text · Q1
NCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q2Practice 3.3: Thinking about the text · Q2
NCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q3Practice 3.3: Thinking about the text · Q3
NCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q4Practice 3.3: Thinking about the text · Q4
NCERT Thinking about the Text (I) Q5Practice 3.3: Thinking about the text · Q5
NCERT Writing (His First Flight)Practice 3.3: Writing · Q1
NCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q1Practice 3.5: Thinking about the text · Q1
NCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q2Practice 3.5: Thinking about the text · Q2
NCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q3Practice 3.5: Thinking about the text · Q3
NCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q4Practice 3.5: Thinking about the text · Q4
NCERT Thinking about the Text (II) Q5Practice 3.5: Thinking about the text · Q5
NCERT Thinking about Language IPractice 3.6: Language · Q1
NCERT Thinking about Language IIPractice 3.6: Language · Q2
NCERT Thinking about Language IIIPractice 3.6: Language · Q3
NCERT Writing (The Black Aeroplane)Practice 3.7: Writing · Q1
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q1Practice 3.8: Thinking about the poem · Q1
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q2Practice 3.8: Thinking about the poem · Q2
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q3Practice 3.8: Thinking about the poem · Q3
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q4Practice 3.8: Thinking about the poem · Q4
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q5Practice 3.8: Thinking about the poem · Q5
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q6Practice 3.8: Thinking about the poem · Q6
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Wild) Q7Practice 3.8: Thinking about the poem · Q7
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q1Practice 3.9: Thinking about the poem · Q1
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q2Practice 3.9: Thinking about the poem · Q2
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q3Practice 3.9: Thinking about the poem · Q3
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q4Practice 3.9: Thinking about the poem · Q4
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q5Practice 3.9: Thinking about the poem · Q5
NCERT Thinking about the Poem (Ball) Q6Practice 3.9: Thinking about the poem · Q6

Quick check: MCQs on Two Stories about Flying

  1. 3.2.4 Themes and message4 questions
  2. 3.3.2 Writing: a humorous composition3 questions
  3. 3.4.4 Who flew the black aeroplane?4 questions
  4. 3.6.1 One word, many meanings: black3 questions
  5. 3.6.2 Two kinds of flying, and phrases with fly3 questions
  6. 3.6.3 Words for moving through the air3 questions
  7. 3.7 Writing: caught in a storm3 questions
  8. 3.8.2 Tone, humour and poetic devices4 questions
  9. 3.9.2 Themes, tone and devices4 questions
  10. Chapter recap4 questions
Glossary · 13

Key terms (English–Hindi)

enjambment
Letting a sentence run on from one line of a poem into the next without a pause.First seen in the chapter →
epistemology
The study of how we know things; the epistemology of loss means understanding what loss really is.First seen in the chapter →
first-person narrator
A character who tells the story as ‘I’, so we see events only through their eyes.First seen in the chapter →
idiomमुहावराmuhavra
A fixed phrase whose meaning differs from the meanings of its separate words, such as fly off the handle.First seen in the chapter →
inversion
Turning the normal word order round, for example putting the verb last, to fit a rhyme or rhythm.First seen in the chapter →
ironyविडंबनाvidambana
Using words whose real meaning is the opposite of what they seem to say, or a result opposite to what is expected.First seen in the chapter →
light verse
Poetry written mainly to amuse, with neat rhymes, a strong beat and a playful tone.First seen in the chapter →
open ending
An ending that leaves a key question unanswered, so readers must decide for themselves.First seen in the chapter →
personificationमानवीकरणmaanvikaran
Giving human feelings or actions to animals, objects or ideas.First seen in the chapter →
poetic licence
A poet’s freedom to bend spelling, grammar or word order for the sake of rhyme, rhythm or effect.First seen in the chapter →
rhyme scheme
The pattern of rhyming line-endings in a stanza, shown with letters such as ababcc.First seen in the chapter →
simileउपमाupma
A comparison that uses like or as, such as clouds that look like black mountains.First seen in the chapter →
symbolप्रतीकprateek
Something concrete that stands for a bigger idea, as the lost ball stands for childhood.First seen in the chapter →

You reached the end