PRINCESS SEPTEMBER

I. (i) The king said that he would cut off the queen’s head after the
birth of their twelfth daughter. The king’s decision to cut off
the queen’s head was strange because he was extremely fond of
his queen. The queen felt uneasy on hearing the king’s decision
to cut off her head because she knew that the king would be
unhappy after doing so.
(ii) The king and queen had nine daughters. They were named after
the months of the year, because they were nine and the days of
the week were not sufficient to name then. The king’s daughter’s
were first named after the four seasons, then the days of the
week and finally months in a year.
(iii) Princess September had a very sweet and charming nature, whereas
her elder sisters had embittered characters. The difference in their
nature was because Princess September, being the youngest, had
just one name, September, whereas her elder sisters’ names had
been changed often, with the change in number of their siblings.
The elder sisters of Princess September out of jealousy offered
to buy her a green and yellow parrot to replace her singing
nightingale.
(iv) (a) The King’s liking for the parrot’s greeting, ‘God Save the
King’ shows that he loved flattery.
(b) The King’s act of giving presents on his birthday shows that
he did not value the feelings or sentiments of those who
used to gift him presents on other occasions as he used to
give those presents to others on his birthday.
(v) Although the king was fond of the queen, yet he decided to
have her head cut off. This shows that he was not emotionally
attached to her.
The queen was finally saved when she gave birth to sons only
and named them after the letters of the alphabet.
II. (i) The parrots could only say ‘God Save the King’ and ‘Pretty Polly’
in seven oriental languages whereas the nightingale could sing
beautifully. The nightingale is shown to be an artist by depicting
her as having good manners befitting an artist like bowing before
the audience and being appreciated.

(ii) The king did not mind hearing the phrase ‘God Save the King’
often but was tired of hearing the parrots repeating the phrase
‘Pretty Polly’.
(iii) Princess September’s parrot died in its golden cage. She was
full of grief on finding that her parrot had died and burst into
tears. She kept on crying and went to bed, without any supper.
(iv) The queen was annoyed at Princess September’s act of bursting
into tears at the loss of her parrot. She considered it as sheer
nonsense and sent Princess September to bed, without supper.
This shows her to be an uncaring and unaffectionate mother.
(v) The maids of Honour wanted to go to a party. So they put
Princess September to bed as quickly as possible and went away
leaving her by herself.
(vi) The beautiful song sung by the nightingale pulled Princess
September out of her gloom.
III. (i) The little bird sang about the lake in the king’s garden, the
reflection of the willow trees in the still water and the goldfish
that seemed to glide in and out of the branches of the willow
tree reflected in the water.
(ii) The nightingale’s song gave comfort to the mourning Princess.
She stopped crying, forgot her grief and that she had not taken
her supper.
(iii) The bird gave the Princess a bow as a part of its artistic good
manners. It tells us that the bird has the temperament of an
artist.
(iv) The little bird offered to take the place of the Princess’ parrot
because of her charming nature and to provide comfort to her
in her grief.
(v) The Princess was delighted to hear the nightingale’s offer and
clapper her hands in joy.
(vi) Princess September and the bird became good friends. The
princess used to take good care of the bird, whereas the bird
used to sing beautiful songs to her as and when she desired.
And as a true friend, the bird did not mind her putting him in
a cage, whereas Princess September granted the bird freedom
realising that a true bird cannot sing in confinement.
IV. (i) ‘They’ refer to the eight parrots that belonged to the eight
princesses. They used to say ‘God Save the King’ and ‘Pretty
Polly’ in seven oriental languages.
(ii) The Princesses made this remark when the king said that he
was tired of hearing their parrots say Pretty Polly.
(iii) The king had a poor opinion of his councillors. According to
him, his councillors said the same thing in seven different ways
but without conveying any meaning. It tells us that the king
had his own fixed principles and did not readily took the ideas
of his councillors.
(iv) The Princesses’ characters were naturally embittered because of
having to change their names often with the change in number
of their sisters.
(v) The Princesses’ first offered to buy a lovely green and yellow
parrot to replace the nightingale, in order to avenge themselves
on Princess September. But when she declined the offer, they
persuaded her to put the nightingale in a cage.
V. (i) The little bird had gone to visit his father-in-law. He returned
so late because he attended the party hosted by his father-inlaw.
(ii) When the bird did not come in time the Princess thought whether
the bird was in any trouble or had he been ensnared by hawks
or men or whether he had forgotten her and taken fancy to
somebody else.
(iii) The Princess finally decided to put the bird in the cage because
she was concerned for his safety and did not want to lose him
as she had lost her parrot.
(iv) The bird questioned the Princess as to why she has put him
in the cage. But when she answered that it was for his safety,
the bird did not mind her putting him in the cage as long as
she would let him out in the morning.
(v) Princess September reasoned that to protect him from her mother’s
prowling cats she had put him in the cage. The bird said that
he did not like living in the cage. But when the Princess told
him that it was for his safety, the bird seemed satisfied with
her reason because he thought that she would let her go out
in the morning.
VI. (i) No, the Princess was not aware of what was good for the bird.
She acted on the advice of her sisters and her own concern
for the safety of the bird, without realising the bird’s need for
freedom.

(ii) The bird said that he could not sing without seeing the trees,
the lake and the green rice growing in the fields, since these
beauties of nature inspired him to sing.
(iii) In order to satisfy the bird’s wish, Princess September took the
bird out in the open air to have him look at the trees, the lake
and the green rice fields.
No, it did not help the bird to sing because he longed for freedom
and not just a glance at nature’s beauty.
(iv) The other Princesses told Princess September to remain firm in
her act of putting the bird in the cage because it was for his
good and safety only and that he would get used to the cage
in a day. They further said that if he was obstinate, he would
die and she would get rid of him.
(v) When the Princess woke up, she saw the nightingale lying at
the bottom of the cage, on his side, with his eyes closed and
looking as if it were dead.
(vi) On seeing the bird lying like a dead one, Princess September
opened the door and lifted the bird with her hand out of the
cage. She felt little relieved on finding that the bird was still
alive. She told the bird that she had put him in the cage for
his safety only but if that is harmfull for him, she would let
him out of the cage to be happy in his own way.
(vii) Princess September’s act of freeing the bird gave a new lease of
life to him. He flew away but kept his promise and continued
to visit Princess September, eating out of her hand and singing
beautiful songs to her.
Princess September kept the window of her room open all the time
for the bird to come and go. This allowed sunlight and fresh air
to enter her room. Consequently, she got nature’s nourishment
and grew up to be extremely beautiful and married the King of
Cambodia.