The Legend of the Northland

 Introduction:

‘A legend of the Northland’ is a ballad. Ballad is such kind of poem which tells a story in short stanzas and in the poem all the stanzas comprise four lines. 

There are 16 stanzas in this poem and these stanzas will tell us a story.  Ballads are a part of a folk culture or popular culture and are passed on orally from one generation to the next. Folk culture is a popular story of any area. Folk culture comprises traditional stories that are passed on from one generation to the next generation.

This story is of the Northland area, the area which is near the North Pole. Though the exact place is not specified, it is evident that ‘Northland’ means the area in the northernmost part of the earth i.e., near the North Pole. ‘Legend’ is a historical story,  which is very old and has been passed on from generation to generation.

Summary:

The poem is a legend about an old lady who angered Saint Peter because of her greed. Saint Peter was preaching around the world and reached the door of a cottage one day, where this woman lived. She was making cakes and baking them on a hearth. St. Peter was fainting with hunger. He asked the lady to give him a piece of cake. 

The cake that she was baking then appeared to be too big, so she did not give him that, and instead, she baked another smaller one. That also appeared to be big so she did not give him that also. The second time she baked yet another smaller cake but found it too big to give away. In the third attempt, she took an extremely little scrap of dough and rolled it flat. She had it as thin as a wafer but was unable to part with that also. 

This angered St. Peter a lot. He said that she was not fit to live in human form and enjoy food and warmth. He cursed her and transformed her into a woodpecker bird who had to bore in hard, dry wood to get its scanty food. She can be seen in the trees all day boring and boring for food.

 Questions and Answers:

 1. Which country or countries do you think “the Northland” refers to?

A. The northland refers to the region around the north pole which is extremely cold. 

2. What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the lady’s reaction?

A. Saint Peter asked the lady to give him a cake as he was hungry. The lady did not give him a cake out of the ones that she had baked, instead, she wanted to bake a smaller one for him.

3. How did he punish her?

A. He punished the selfish lady by turning her into a woodpecker bird that had to bore into the dry wood all day to get some food and shelter.

4. How does the woodpecker get her food?

A. The woodpecker gets food by boring holes in the wood.

5. Do you think that the old lady would have been so ungenerous if she had known who Saint Peter really was? What would she have done then?

A. If the old lady knew who Saint Peter was, then she would not have been ungenerous. On the other hand, she would have served him well for the fulfillment of her greedy desires.

6. Is this a true story? Which part of this poem do you feel is the most important?

A. It is not a true story. The point of the story where the woman is turned into a woodpecker bird is the most important. This is so because the punishment teaches everyone the lesson to be generous.

7. What is a legend? Why is this poem called a legend?

A. A legend is a popular story from the past which is believed to be true but cannot be verified. It contains a moral which is narrated to the children to teach them moral values.

8. Write the story of ‘A Legend of Northland’ in about ten sentences.

A. Saint Peter was preaching around the world and reached the door of a cottage one day.  A woman who lived there was making cakes. St. Peter was fainting with hunger. He asked the lady to give him a piece of cake. She was a greedy woman and didn't want to give away anything to others. She tried to make smaller cakes. In the third attempt, she made a wafer-thin cake.  She was unable to part with that also. This angered St. Peter a lot. He said that she was not fit to live in human form and enjoy food and warmth. He cursed her to become a woodpecker. She had to bore in hard, dry wood to get its scanty food.

Grammar Exercises

Let’s look at the words at the end of the second and fourth lines, viz., ‘snows’ and ‘clothes’, ‘true’ and ‘you’, ‘below’ and ‘know.’ We find that ‘snows’ rhymes with ‘clothes’, ‘true’ rhymes with ‘you’ and ‘below’ rhymes with ‘know’.

Find more such rhyming words.

A. The rhyming words in the poem are:

few	Through
earth	Hearth
done	One
lay	Away
flat	That
myself	Shelf
faint	Saint
form	warm
food	wood
word	bird
same	Flame

Literary Devices in the poem:

Rhyme Scheme: abcb

1. Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound in two or more close words.

Stanza 1 - that, they, them through - ‘th’ sound is repeating

Stanza 2 - they, the - ‘th’ sound is repeating

look, like - ‘l’ sound is repeating

funny, furry - ‘f’ sound is repeating

Stanza 3 - they, them- ‘th’ sound is repeating

yet, you - ‘‘y sound is repeating’

learn, lesson - ‘l’ sound is repeating

tell, tale, to - ‘t’ sound is repeating

Stanza 5 - woman, was – ‘w’ sound is repeating

Them, the, hearth - ‘th’ sound is repeating

Stanza 6 - faint, fasting - ‘f’ sound is repeating

Stanza 8 - still, smaller - ‘s’ sound is repeating

Stanza 9 - took, tiny -‘t’ sound is repeating

Stanza 10 - seem, small - ‘s’ sound is repeating

Stanza 13 - build, birds - ‘b’ sound is repeating

by, boring, boring – ‘b’ sound is repeating

 2. Repetition any word or sentence is repeated to lay emphasis on it.

Stanza 1 - ‘away’ word is repeated

Stanza 9 – ‘rolled’ word is repeated

Stanza 13, 16 – ‘boring’ word is repeated

 3. Enjambment running lines of poetry from one to the next without using any kind of punctuation to indicate a stop

Stanza 1 - line 3 and 4

Stanza 2 - Line 1 and 2; line 3 and 4

Stanza 3 - Line 3 and 4

Stanza 4 - Line 1 and 2; 3 and 4

Stanza 10 - Line 1, 2 and 3

Stanza 11 - Line 1 and 2

 4. Simile Comparison using ‘as’ or ‘like’

Stanza 2 – ‘the children look like bear’s cubs’. Children compared to bear’s cubs

Stanza 9 – ‘baked it thin as a wafer’. Cake is compared to a wafer.

Stanza 15 – ‘clothes were burned black as a coal’. The colour of the burned clothes is compared to that of coal.