Chapter 4

The Ashes That Made Trees Bloom

1. Why did the neighbours kill the dog?
Ans: The neighbours killed the dog because they thought it would help them find treasure like it had for the old couple. But when the dog led them to a place with a foul smell and nothing valuable, they became angry and killed it.

2. Mark the right item:

(i) The old farmer and his wife loved the dog
✅ (b) as if it was their own baby.

(ii) When the old couple became rich, they
✅ (c) lived comfortably and were generous towards their poor neighbours.

(iii) The greedy couple borrowed the mill and the mortar to make
✅ (c) a pile of gold.

1. The old farmer is a kind person. What evidence of his kindness do you find in the first two paragraphs?
Ans: The old farmer was kind because he fed the dog with food from his own plate and cared for it like his own child. He was also kind to birds and other animals, giving them food. This shows he was loving and gentle to all living beings.

2. What did the dog do to lead the farmer to the hidden gold?
 Ans: The dog came running to the farmer, barking and making gestures, as if calling him to follow. Then it dug at a spot under a pine tree, and when the farmer dug there, he found a pile of gold.3.

 (i)    How did the spirit of the dog help the farmer first?

 Ans: First, the spirit of the dog appeared in a dream and told the farmer to cut down the pine tree (under which he had found the treasure) and make a mortar from it.

(ii) How did it help him next?
 Ans: Next, the spirit told the farmer to make a wooden tub from the tree and later to scatter the ashes of the burned mortar on withered trees to make them bloom.

4. Why did the daimio reward the farmer but punish his neighbour for the same act?
 Ans: The daimio rewarded the farmer because the farmer's ashes truly made the trees bloom, which impressed the daimio. But the neighbour was punished because his ashes didn’t work; instead, they blew into the daimio’s eyes, causing annoyance and disrespect.

Let’s practice by making questions for different situations using these words:

✅ What → asks about things or actions
✅ Who → asks about people
✅ Which → asks about choice (people or things)
✅ Where → asks about places
✅ When → asks about time
✅ Why → asks about reason
✅ How → asks about manner/way or quantity/degree
✅ Whose → asks about possession

Here’s an example for each:

  1. What are you eating?

  2. Who is calling you?

  3. Which colour do you like best?

  4. Where do you live?

  5. When is your birthday?

  6. Why are you late?

  7. How do you go to school?

  8. Whose book is this?

2. Write appropriate question words in the blank spaces:

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.

3. Fill in the blanks with the words given in the box (how, what, where, which, when):

(i) My friend lost his chemistry book. Now he doesn’t know what to do and where to look for it.

(ii) There are so many toys in the shops. Neena can’t decide which one to buy.

(iii) You don’t know the way to my school. Ask the policeman how to get there.

(iv) You should decide soon when to start building your house.

(v) Do you know how to ride a bicycle? I don’t remember when I learnt it.

(vi) “You should know when to talk and when to keep your mouth shut,” the teacher advised Anil.

Sure! Here are the answers for Adding im- or in- to the words and rewriting the sentences:

Words:

  • patient → impatient

  • proper → improper

  • possible → impossible

  • sensitive → insensitive

  • competent → incompetent

Rewritten sentences:

(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.

Great question! Here’s the passage with a, an, or the filled in the blanks:

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

Thanks for sharing this excerpt from “The Ashes That Made Trees Bloom”!

Here’s a simple explanation of the passage:

Ans: In the old days of the daimios (wealthy landowners in 19th century Japan), there lived an old couple who had no children. Their only pet was a little dog named Muko.
Ans: They loved the dog like their own baby. The old woman even made a soft blue cushion for it to sit on comfortably.
  Ans: They fed the dog special pieces of fish and as much rice as it wanted.

Ans: Because they treated it so kindly, the dog loved them back deeply, like a human with feelings and a soul.
  The old man worked hard every day in the rice fields until O Tento Sama (which means the Sun) went down.
Ans: Every day, the dog followed him to the fields.