The Tale of Custard the Dragon Poem Important Questions Class 10 First Flight English
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What were the names of Belinda’s pets?
Answer
The names of Belinda’s pets were Ink, a little black kitten; Mustard, a little yellow dog; Blink, a little grey mouse and a dragon whose name was Custard.
Question 2. Why did Belinda cry for help? Who came to her help?
Answer
Belinda cried for help because she was afraid of the pirate. The custard came to her help.
Question 3. What did the custard do at last?
Answer
Custard saved Belinda and the other pets from the pirate. He showed his braver side and attacked the pirate and gobbled him up. Finally, Custard showed that he was not as coward as others.
Question 4. How did each of Belinda’s pets react at the sight of the pirate?
Answer
Each of Belinda’s pets ran away and hid. They were scared at the sight of the pirate.
Question 5. Why did everyone make fun of the dragon?
Answer
Everyone in the house used to laugh at the dragon because he always cried for a safe cage, whereas others used to boast about their bravery.
Question 6. Give a brief description of the pirate in the poem, ‘The Tale of Custard the Dragon’.
Answer
The pirate entered from the window. He had pistols in his left and right hand. He held a bright cutlass in his teeth. His beard was black and one leg was wood.
Question 7. Where did Belinda live? Which animals lived with her?
Answer
Belinda lived in a little white house. Some animals also lived with her. They were: a little black kitten, a little grey mouse, a little yellow dog and little pet dragon.
Question 8. Who all lived in a white house with Belinda?
Answer
Belinda lived in a white house with Ink – a black kitten, Blink – a grey mouse, Mustard – a yellow dog, Custard – a dragon and a red wagon.
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. Why did the Belinda cry for help?
Answer
Belinda was scared to see the pirate who had pistols in his hands and had a bright cutlass in his teeth. There was something bad in his appearance and intention. Therefore Belinda was afraid of the pirate and cried for help.
Question 2. ‘Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears’. Identify two poetic devices used in the above line.
Answer
(i) As brave as a barrel – Simile
(ii) Brave as a barrel full of bears – Alliteration
Question 3. How did Belinda’s pets, other than Custard, face the pirate?
Answer
All the animals other than the dragon used to boast about their bravery and made the fun of the dragon. But when the pirate entered the house, all got scared and ran away and disappeared except Custard, the dragon.
Question 4. How did they say their admiration for the dragon after the death of the pirate?
Answer
They became very happy. Belinda embraced him. Mustard licked him. Ink and
Blink jumped round surrounding him. They expressed their joy in this way. No one
mourned for the pirate.
Question 5. What did they say about their bravery after the pirate’s death?
Answer
Mustard said that he would have been twice as brave if he had not got nervous. Ink and Blink said that they had been three times as brave as he. But Custard said that he agreed with them. He said that they were braver than him.
Question 6. How did the pirate look?
Answer
The pirate held a pistol in his left hand and another pistol in his right hand. He had black beard and his one leg was of wood. He held a bright cutlass in his teeth. It was clear that his intentions were not good.
Question 7. Who among them was actually brave? How did he show his bravery?
Answer
Custard, the dragon, was the only one who was actually brave. The others were all cowards. They disappeared when they saw the pirate. But the dragon-faced him bravely and swallowed him up.
Question 8. Why did the Custard, the dragon cry for a nice, safe cage?
Answer
Custard, in fact, was very brave but still he kept asking for a nice, safe cage. It made people think him to be cowardly. He might be crying for a nice, safe cage so that he might not harm anyone when in anger or he might be proving that a little safety cage averts a disaster. The others thought that he cried for a cage as he was a coward.
Question 9. How is ‘The Tale of Custard the Dragon’ a ballad?
Answer
A ballad is a poem that tells a story. The theme of a ballad is an adventure, bravery, romance, etc. Then it is highly musical due to its rhyme scheme. This poem has these qualities. But it is a parody of a ballad. The poet shows these qualities in a humorous way.
Question 10. What terrified the pirate? Who killed him and how?
Answer
Custard, the dragon, jumped up, snorting and clashing his tail. He was making a lot of clatter and clankering and he was squirming. He attacked the pirate. It terrified the pirate. He fired at Custard and missed. Custard killed him by swallowing him up. It shows that he was brave.
Question 11. How does the poet describe Belinda and her animals’ bravery? How was Custard different from them?
Answer
The poet says that Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears. Ink and Blink followed lions down the stairs. Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage. But Custard was a coward. He kept crying for a nice safe cage.
Question 12. How did the animals make fun of the dragon?
Answer
They laughed at the dragon. Belinda teased the dragon. She tickled him very hard. Ink, Blink and Mustard called him Percival. They sat in the red wagon and laughed at the cowardly dragon.
Question 13. How did the pirate react when the dragon attacked him?
Answer
The pirate looked at the dragon with an open-mouth. He swallowed some liquor from his pocket flagon. He fired two bullets. But they did not hit the dragon. The dragon attacked him and swallowed him.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. Everyone believed that the Custard was a coward; but when an opportunity came he showed exemplary courage. Based on y our reading of the poem, write a paragraph on the topic: ‘Courage is a Mind, not of Muscle’.
Answer
Mark Twain once said that ‘Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear’. Courage is not merely a show of power but the ability to overcome fear and not allow it to paralyze our minds. Most of us tend to generalize and call people who shy away from a physical show of power as being cowards.
But the truth lies in the fact that those who indulge in physical aggression are the ones who are the most insecure. David was barely one-fourth of Goliath, the giant. Yet David succeeded, in killing him. He had used his presence of mind and stood successful over an entire army. Thus, we must remember that courage is a matter of mind, not muscle.
Question 2. Why did Custard cry for a nice, safe cage? Why the dragon is called “cowardly dragon”?
Answer
Custard cried for a nice, safe cage because it was a coward. It is called a ‘cowardly dragon’ because everybody else in the house was brave. Belinda was as brave as a barrel of bears. Ink and blink are described as so brave they chased lions down the stairs and Mustard was as brave as a tiger in rage. Compared to them, Custard cried asking for a nice and safe cage, which is why it is called a coward.
Question 3. When the pirate attacked Belinda, ail of her brave friends—Ink, Blink and Mustard ran away. Only Custard fought with the enemy. Based on your reading of the poem, write a paragraph on the topic: ‘A friend in Need is a Friend Indeed’.
Answer
Man is a social animal and we all have survived throughout the civilization through the process of socialization. The beginning of any friendship is when one tries to socialize with the other. But not all socializations result in friendship. Some people walk past us in the journey of life, and some stay back and see us grow. The ones, who walk away when the clouds are cast, are the ones who will never stick around when we need them the most.
Question 4. Describe the fight between the dragon and the pirate.
Answer
The dragon had big sharp teeth, and spikes on top of him and scales underneath, but everyone laughed at him as he always cried for a safe cage, whereas everyone boasted about their bravery. But when the pirate entered, all were scared and ran away, except Custard who faced him boldly, attacked him, hit him hard with his forceful tail and gobbled every bit of him. All of them later felt obliged to Custard for saving their lives.
Question 5. Do you find The Tale of Custard the Dragon to be a serious or a light-hearted poem? Give reasons to support your answer.
Answer
The Tale of Custard the Dragon is a light-hearted poem. It is almost a parody. The names of the pets of Belinda are all rhyming and funny. Belinda has been compared to a barrel full of bears. The kitten and mouse, both little, could chase lions down the stairs. The little yellow dog was as brave as a tiger, while the dragon was a coward and they all teased him. However,when the pirate came to their little house, all of them were engulfed in fear and had hidden themselves.
Ironically, the ‘cowardly’ dragon came to their rescue and jumped snorting like an engine. It clashed its tail and charged at the pirate like a robin at a worm and ate him up. Even as everybody became happy to see the bravery of the dragon, they again came back to glorifying themselves that they could have been twice or thrice braver than the dragon. Finally, at the end of the poem, the situation again came back to the other pets being brave and the dragon being the coward.
Question 6. Why do you think Custard, the dragon was called a coward? How was Custard able to save all his housemates from the pirate? What values should Belinda have possessed, so that Custard too could have been among her favourites?
Answer
The dragon appeared to be a coward as he always cried for a safe cage, so he was called a cowardly dragon. Later, when the pirate entered the house with pistols in his left and right hand, everyone was scared and ran away and disappeared, except Custard who faced him boldly and attacked him, hit him hard with his forceful tail and gobbled every bit of him. Belinda should have been nice to him. She should have made him feel comfortable and safe in the house, instead of laughing and making fun of him with other pets. Belinda should have been protective towards him.