The summer of the beautiful white horse - Part 2

18th April, 2020
Day 4

'The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse'

Good afternoon gentlemen.

I hope that you and your families are keeping well in this time of pandemic.
Yesterday we had a healthy interactive session on zoom and I hope you all understood the chapter well.
 It was indeed great to see almost full house in both the periods of English yesterday. Expecting the similar response in days to come.

Before we move forward, let us recall the learning objectives of this chapter.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, students will be able to

• identify the reasons why Aram couldn’t believe his brother had stolen the horse

• describe the character of Aram, Mourad and Uncle Khasrove

• justify the reason why the boys returned the horse to John Byro

• relate the plight and experience of Aram’s tribe to the Armenian genocide.

In today's class, we will do the short question answers of this chapter. 

While you attempt these questions, you will read through the summary of the story along side. 

You need to do the answers to these questions in your English notebooks. 

Do not forget to use a black ink pen for writing questions and blue ink pen for writing answers. 

Start your work by putting the date.

Guidelines for attempting Short Answer questions –

·         2 marks (1 for Content, 1- expression and grammatical accuracy)

·         Word Limit: 30-40 words

·         Students must supply 2-3 content points

To get started, here is a part by part summary of the story and questions based on them.

Please refer to the NCERT textbook to get as many exact details as possible to write your answers.

This is a very useful habit and will greatly reward you in the Board exam.

Summary

·         The incident that revolves around two cousins -Aram who is nine years old and Mourad who is           thirteen.

·         The story opens with Mourad coming to Aram’s house at four in the morning.

·         He tapped on the window to Aram’s room.

·         When Aram looked out of the window, he was startled to see Mourad riding a beautiful white horse.

·         All this was too difficult to believe because Aram knew that they were too poor to be able to afford   to buy a horse.

·         Mourad knew how crazy Aram was about horse so he came to take Aram for a ride.

·         The only way Mourad could possess it could be by stealing.

·         They were too honest to lie and yet too crazy to ride a horse.

Short answer questions

1. What brought Mourad to Aram’s house early in the morning?

2. Describe the sight that Aram saw and his reaction to it.

·         The two boys belonged to the Garoghlanian tribe which was originally from Armenia.

·         They were known for their honesty for eleven centuries even when they were among the wealthiest   families

·         Now, they were poverty-stricken and had no money at all.

·         Nobody knew how they managed to survive.

·         Despite being utterly poor, they were proud, honest and believed in right and wrong.

·         None of them would take advantage of anybody in the world, let alone steal.

·         At the same time, Aram and his brother were crazy about horses

·         He justified them keeping the horse by telling himself that they had just borrowed it and did not   wish  to sell it for money.

3. Which tribe did Aram belong to? What was the unique trait of their tribe?

4. How did Aram justify them keeping the horse?

Both the boys went for a ride. Aram was thrilled with the experience.

Mourad started singling loudly out of excitement.

Mourad was considered to be crazy by his family like his Uncle Khosrove.

It was believed that both of them had inherited the crazy streak in the family

Uncle Khosrove was an enormous man, known for his long moustache and short-temper

No matter how big or small the problem was, Uncle Khosrove silenced all by roaring “It is no harm; pay no attention to it.”

5. Describe Uncle Khosrove.

6. Why did the narrator say that the ‘spirit’ of his tribe was ‘capricious’ and ‘vagrant’?

·         Aram gets to ride the horse alone.

·         It doesn’t go well because he did not know how to control the horse and fell down.

·         The horse runs away and the boys took about half an hour to find it again.

·         Mourad hid the horse in an old barn in a deserted vineyard.

·         He instructed Aram to tell everyone that they had started riding the horse only that morning only.

·         Aram, however was convinced that Mourad had had the horse much longer than that.

7. Describe Aram’s first horse ride on the white horse.

8. Where did Mourad and Aram hide the horse and why?

That same day, Uncle Khosrove and a farmer named John Byro came to Aram’s house.

He complained that he had lost his white horse and was suffering a great deal

Uncle Khosrove shut him up by saying it was no harm compared to the loss of one’s homeland.

9. Who was John Byro? Why was he troubled?

10. How did Aram’s mother explain Uncle Khosrove’s behavior?

·         Aram informed Mourad about John Byro’s troubles

·         However, he did not want to return the horse until he had learned to ride.

·         Mourad told him that it would take atleast one full year for him but they would return the horse after   six months.

·         For two weeks, the boys rode the horse early in the morning.

·         Each time the horse threw Aram off and ran away.

·         One morning, they met John Byro.

·         He examined the horse, said it was exactly like his own horse

·         However, due to the reputation of the Garoghlanian tribe which was known for its honesty, he said   that their horse was probably a twin of his horse.

·         The very next morning, the boys quietly left the horse in John Byro’s vineyard.

·         Later that day, John seemed to be very pleased and shared the news of the return of his horse with   Aram’s mother.

·         Uncle Khosrove was again heard shouting that it was no harm!

11. “ A suspicious man would believe his eyes instead of his heart.” Who said these words and why? 

I am sure the points given above as summary will help you frame good answers. 

Be brave in using good vocab. It is always impressive to read answers with new words. 

In order to gain today's attendance, watch the video given below about the Armenian tribe and mention the religion which is followed by most of the Armenian people. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0MzGUPWBU8&t=4s

In the next blog, you will be given long question answers for this chapter. 

Till then, be safe, stay inside 

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!