03. Two Stories About Flying

 I. His First Flight

SUMMARY

The story is about a young seagull who is afraid to fly. He observes all his siblings take their first flight but he cannot get himself to take the plunge. He feels that his wings will never support him to fly into the sky and so he hesitates each time he runs to the brink of the ledge. However, his mother‘s ingenuity empowers him to soar into the boundless skies with the vast expanse of the sea stretched down beneath him. The lesson explicitly explains his fears and doubts initially and his exhilarated feelings, as he finally soars into the skies with his family beside him.

Thinking About The Text

Q1. Why was the young seagull afraid to fly? Do you think all young birds are afraid to make their first flight, or are some birds more timid than others? Do you think a human baby also finds it a challenge to take its first steps?

Ans – The young seagull was afraid to fly because he lacked self confidence. He believed that his wings would not support him and he would fall in the vast sea below if he took the plunge.

All birds do have some natural fear in their minds while undertaking their first flight. However, nature and temperament amongst all living beings is different. Some are dare-devils and jump at risks with pleasure while others are timid and hesitate to accept challenges. The young seagull's two brothers and sister prove to be more daring and learn to fly earlier than him although their wings were rather short. However, the young seagull took some extra time and more coaxing before learning the art of flight. Human babies also behave in a similar manner and find it a challenge when they take their first step . Some learn to walk early and easily, while others hesitate arid refuse to take baby steps.

Q2. “The sight of the food maddened him.” What does this suggest? What compelled the young seagull to finally fly?

Ans – Hunger can make any living being desperate. This is a driving force that increases the feeling of despair to such a height that one is ready to do anything without worrying about the dangers involved. Babies cannot remain hungry for a long time. Thus, the sight of fish, that the young seagull's mother held in her beak near him, made him almost mad . He had been hungry for the last 24 hours. So, he jumped at it regardless of any thoughts about the consequences. This sudden dash for food plunged him in the open space and he started falling downwards towards the sea.
However, he overcame initial fear and his will to survive compelled him to fly. He spread his wings, felt the air filling them, used that airto soar and eventually learnt the art of flying .

Q3. “They were beckoning to him, calling shrilly.” Why did the seagull’s father and mother threaten him and cajole him to fly?

Ans – Parents of all living creatures love their young ones and try tot rain and educate their children in the art of survival. In doing so, they have to adopt many ways like showing love, encouragement, cajoling, scolding, patting and threatening. All these methods help the child to learn and eventually become accomplished. Flying for a seagull is a basic necessity without which he cannot survive. So the parents of the young seagull too adopted various methods like cajoling, upbraiding and threatening in order to make their little one take the plunge and learn the art of flying. They beckoned to him, often calling shrilly, because they wanted their little one to shed his fear and fly.

Q4. Have you ever had a similar experience, where your parents encouraged you to do something that you were too scared to try? Discuss this in pairs or groups.

Q5. In the case of a bird flying, it seems a natural act, and a foregone conclusion that it should succeed. In the examples you have given in answer to the previous question, was your success guaranteed, or was it important for you to try, regardless of a possibility of failure?

Writing

Write a short composition on your initial attempts at learning a skill. You could describe the challenges of learning to ride a bicycle or learning to swim. Make it as humorous as possible.

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II   The Black Aeroplane

SUMMARY

The Black Aero plane is about a pilot who is flying an old Dakota aeroplane and is happy and to be able to be home with his family in time for breakfast. He is flying from Paris to London. But suddenly he sees some huge black storm clouds that look like black mountains in front of him. He does not have enough fuel to go around the clouds. He takes the risk and flies right into it. Suddenly it is pitch dark and impossible to see anything. The instruments stop working and he has lost contact with Paris Control. Very soon he sees another black aero plane near him and the pilot motions for him to follow and leads the way. Soon he comes out of the clouds and sees two long straight lines of lights in front of him and that was a Runway! He looks back to thank his friend but cannot see the other plane anywhere. After landing he asks the lady at the Control room about the other plane, but she‘s surprised and says that there were no other plane in the skies that night, and his was the only plane flying in the storm. The pilot is puzzled! Who could it have been he wonders.

Thinking About The Text

Q1. “I’ll take the risk.” What is the risk? Why does the narrator take it?

Ans – The narrator who is a young pilot flying an aeroplane to his hometown in England from Paris was surrounded by huge dark clouds like mountains in the air. He had limited fuel just enough to reach hometown in England through the dark clouds or go back to Paris. The pilot took the risk to go through the clouds.

The narrator decided to take the risk because he wanted to spend weekend with his family and to enjoy the sumptuous English breakfast.

Q2. Describe the narrator’s experience as he flew the aeroplane into the storm.

Ans – As the narrator flew his old Dakota plane straight into the storm, he got surrounded by blackness all around him. It became impossible for him to see anything outside the aeroplane. His old plane jumped and twisted in the air. He looked unbelievably at the compass that turned round and round and jammed. He realized that it had gone dead and would not work. The other instruments too went dead suddenly. Even the radio failed. Just then he saw, in the black clouds near him, another aeroplane which did not have lights on its wings but the pilot could be seen.
This sight filled the narrator with some relief. Like an obedient child, he at once followed the other pilot's gesture to trail him. After half an hour he suddenly came out of the clouds to land safely.

Q3. Why does the narrator say, “I landed and was not sorry to walk away from the old Dakota…”?

Ans – The narrator was not sorry to walk away from the old Dakota, because he had just had a brush with death. His safe landing was nothing short of a miracle. His visibly 'safe flight' actually turned out to be a harrowing experience when a storm caused him to lose control over his plane and left all the safety devices dead, too. The fury of the cloud-storm that he had headed into was beyond his capacity to manage. He was totally dependent on the ability of his plane to take him to safety but the machine failed at the most crucial time. Had another plane not helped him mysteriously, his old Dakota perhaps would never have landed safely. So, the narrator was not at all sorry to rush away from his old Dakota that could have become the cause ofhis death.

Q4. What made the woman in the control centre look at the narrator strangely?

Ans – The woman in the control room looked at the narrator strangely on two counts. Firstly, because he had landed successfully and safely in the furious storm when no other planes were flying that night. Secondly, she was surprised at his strange queries regarding the black aeroplane. She had not seen any plane other than the narrator's old Dakota on the radar. The narrator's query thus puzzled her and she looked at him strangely. As it is, the miraculous escape of the narrator from the storm and his safe landing were enough of a surprise for her. His queries make the situation all the more confusing. The woman in the control room did not have the faintest idea about the black aeroplane that had guided the narrator to safety. So, she looked at him strangely when the narrator said that he wanted to thank the pilot of the black aeroplane.

Q5. Who do you think helped the narrator to reach safely? Discuss this among yourselves and give reasons for your answer.

Ans – I think the narrator was helped by some supernatural force to land safely. Of course, his own will to survive kept his efforts going but the manner in which he describes his flight after having got lost in the storm, it is likely that some supernatural power rescued him. In distress, sometimes we start imagining things or pray to God. Our faith in God makes us think that God is helping us.

Thinking About Language

I. Study the sentences given below.

(a) They looked like black mountains.
(b) Inside the clouds, everything was suddenly black.
(c) In the black clouds near me, I saw another aeroplane.
(d) The strange black aeroplane was there.

The word ‘black’ in sentences (a) and (c) refers to the very darkest colour. But in (b) and (d) (here) it means without light/with no light. ‘Black’ has a variety of meanings in different contexts. For example:

(a) ‘I prefer black tea’ means ‘I prefer tea without milk’.
(b) ‘With increasing pollution the future of the world is black’ means ‘With increasing pollution the future of the world is very depressing/ without hope’.

Now, try to guess the meanings of the word ‘black’ in the sentences given below. Check the meanings in the dictionary and find out whether you have guessed right.

1. Go and have a bath; your hands and face are absolutely black. ____________

2. The taxi-driver gave Ratan a black look as he crossed the road when the traffic light was green. ____________

3. The bombardment of Hiroshima is one of the blackest crimes against humanity. ____________

4. Very few people enjoy Harold Pinter’s black comedy. ____________

5. Sometimes shopkeepers store essential goods to create false scarcity and then sell these in black. ____________

6. Villagers had beaten the criminal black and blue. ____________

Ans –

1. – Here, 'black' refers to 'dirty'.

2. – Here, 'black refers to 'angry look'.

3. – Here, 'black' refers to 'gravest' crime.

4. – Here, 'black' refers to ' dark and gloomy' comedy.

5. – Here 'black' refers to 'sell illegally at a higher price'.

6. – Here 'black' refers to 'beat the criminals mercilessly–too much and too hard'.

II. Look at these sentences taken from the lesson you have just read:

(a) I was flying my old Dakota aeroplane.

(b) The young seagull had been afraid to fly with them.

In the first sentence the author was controlling an aircraft in the air. Another example is: Children are flying kites. In the second sentence the seagull was afraid to move through the air, using its wings.

Match the phrases given under Column A with their meanings given under Column B:

1. Fly a flag                    –————        Move quickly/suddenly

2. Fly into rage              –————       Be successful

3. Fly along                    –————       Display a flag on a long pole

4. Fly high                      ————–       Escape from a place

5. Fly the coop               ————–      Become suddenly very angry

Ans :

1. –  ( c )

2. –  ( e )

3. –  ( a )

4. –  ( b )

5. –  ( d )

III. We know that the word ‘fly’ (of birds/insects) means to move through air using wings. Tick the words which have the same or nearly the same meaning.

swoop               flit                paddle                  flutter

ascend             float             ride                        skim

sink                  dart             hover                     glide

descend          soar             shoot                      spring

stay                  fall               sail                         flap

Ans – The following words have same or nearly the same meaning of ' move through air using wings'.

Swoop, descend, flit, float, dart, soar, ride, hover, sail, flutter, skim, glide, spring, flap

Writing

Have you ever been alone or away from home during a thunderstorm? Narrate your experience in a paragraph.

Ans :