A Legend of the Northland

Here’s a summary and theme of the poem “A Legend of the Northland” by Phoebe Cary, along with answers to the questions provided in the sources! 🏔️👵🍪🐦

Summary of the Poem “A Legend of the Northland” 📖

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“A Legend of the Northland” is a ballad, a traditional story told in short stanzas, which narrates a legend about an old lady and Saint Peter. The poem is set in the cold “Northland,” a region with short days and long, dark winters. It tells a curious story, though the narrator states they don’t believe it’s true, suggesting it holds a moral lesson.

The story unfolds when Saint Peter, while travelling and preaching on Earth, arrives at a cottage, faint from fasting, and asks a little woman baking cakes on the hearth for a single cake from her store. Driven by extreme greed, the old lady repeatedly tries to bake smaller and smaller cakes, but each one still seems too large to give away. Frustrated by her selfishness and lack of generosity, Saint Peter curses her, transforming her into a woodpecker, condemned to bore for her food in the hard, dry wood forever. The poem concludes by highlighting that every country boy has seen this transformed bird, implying the legend serves as a cautionary tale.

Theme of the Poem “A Legend of the Northland” 🧐

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The primary theme of “A Legend of the Northland” is the dire consequences of greed and selfishness 💰➡️👎. It serves as a moral lesson, illustrating that a lack of charity and an excessive desire for possessions can lead to severe punishment and a harsh existence. The poem also touches on the theme of divine justice, where a holy figure, Saint Peter, metes out retribution for ungenerous behaviour. It implies that true spiritual value lies in compassion and giving, rather than material accumulation.

Answers to Your Questions from the Sources ❓

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Here are the answers to the questions found in the “Thinking about the Poem” sections for “A Legend of the Northland”:

I. 1. Which country or countries do you think “the Northland” refers to? 🗺️❄️ “The Northland” likely refers to extremely cold, northern regions of the world, such as those near the Arctic Pole or countries like Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland) or northern Russia/Canada. This is suggested by descriptions of “hours of the day are few” and “nights are so long in winter,” along with the use of “reindeer to the sledges” and children looking like “bear’s cubs in their funny, furry clothes”.

I. 2. What did Saint Peter ask the old lady for? What was the lady’s reaction? 🙏🍰 Saint Peter, “being faint with fasting,” asked the old lady for a single cake from her store. The lady’s reaction was one of extreme greed and unwillingness to part with even a small portion of her cakes. She baked a very little cake, then a smaller one, and finally a tiny scrap of dough, but each time she thought it seemed “too large to give away”.

I. 3. How did he punish her? 😠🌳 Saint Peter punished her by cursing her and transforming her into a woodpecker 🦅. He declared that she was “too selfish to dwell in a human form,” and that she would now get her “scanty food / By boring, and boring, and boring” in the wood.

I. 4. How does the woodpecker get her food? 🌲🍽️ The woodpecker, as a result of Saint Peter’s curse, gets her food by boring into the wood with her beak. She has “a scarlet cap upon her head” and “the rest of her clothes were burned black,” which she wears to this day, boring and boring for her food.

I. 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? 🤔😇 No, it is highly unlikely that the old lady would have been so ungenerous if she had known Saint Peter’s true identity as an apostle of Christ. If she had known, she would most likely have been overly generous, perhaps even offering him many cakes or her entire store, not out of genuine kindness but out of a desire for divine favour or fear of punishment. Her actions would have been driven by self-interest rather than true compassion.

I. 6. Is this a true story? Which part of this poem do you feel is the most important? 🤷‍♀️❤️ The poem explicitly states, “I don’t believe ’tis true; / And yet you may learn a lesson / If I tell the tale to you”. So, no, it is not presented as a true story by the poet. It’s a legend, meant to convey a moral. The most important part of the poem is the moral lesson it conveys about the consequences of greed and selfishness. The transformation of the old woman into a woodpecker serves as a powerful symbol of how uncharitable behaviour can lead to a barren and laborious existence.

I. 7. What is a legend? Why is this poem called a legend? 📜✨ A legend is an old traditional story. It is usually a narrative that tells of human actions, often with exaggerated or fantastical elements, and is typically passed down orally through generations. Legends are often believed to have a basis in historical events or figures but are not necessarily factual. This poem is called a legend because it narrates an old traditional story about an interaction between Saint Peter and an old lady, which is presented as a cautionary tale rather than a factual account. It embodies the characteristics of a legend: it has a moral, involves a well-known figure (Saint Peter), and is stated not to be literally true by the narrator, yet carries a significant message.

I. 8. Write the story of ‘A Legend of the Northland’ in about ten sentences. ✍️📚 Here is the story of “A Legend of the Northland”:

1. In the far Northland, where long winters prevail, a curious old legend is told.
2. Once, Saint Peter travelled the world, preaching and relying on the kindness of others.
3. One day, faint from hunger after a long fast, he stopped at a cottage where a little woman was baking cakes.
4. He politely asked her for just one small cake from her baked goods.
5. However, the old lady was incredibly greedy and, despite her efforts, found even the smallest cake too large to give away.
6. She baked a tiny scrap of dough, but even that seemed too big for her to share.
7. Angered by her extreme selfishness, Saint Peter cursed her for being unworthy of human form.
8. He transformed her into a woodpecker, condemning her to bore for her food in the dry wood.
9. Her clothes turned black, and she retained only her scarlet cap.
10. To this day, the woodpecker continually bores for her food, a constant reminder of the old lady’s greed.

II. 1. 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. 🎶🗣️ Based on the poem’s structure:

• few and through
• earth and hearth
• done and one
• lay and away
• one and done
• roll and whole
• food and wood
• head and red (implied from scarlet cap) - Self-correction: The source says “scarlet cap” but doesn’t explicitly rhyme. Let’s stick to explicit rhymes.
• away and day

Let’s re-scan for definitive rhymes from the provided text for the poem:

• Northland / few / winter / through (few/through)

• reindeer / snows / cubs / clothes (snows/clothes)

• story / true / lesson / you (true/you)

• Peter / below / preaching / know (below/know)

• cottage / earth / cakes / hearth (earth/hearth)

• fasting / done / cakes / one (done/one)

• cake / lay / seemed / away (cake/away - This is a slant rhyme or visual rhyme, not perfect.) Let’s stick to perfect rhymes as in the example.

  • Let’s check the given example again: ‘snows’ and ‘clothes’, ’true’ and ‘you’, ‘below’ and ‘know’. These are perfect rhymes.
  • Okay, re-evaluating the full poem provided in sources for perfect rhymes:
    • few / through
    • snows / clothes
    • true / you
    • below / know
    • earth / hearth
    • done / one
    • lay / away (Still sounds like a slant rhyme, but given the ballad form, it might be intended.) Let’s include it.
    • one / done
    • roll / whole
    • good / food / wood
    • tell / well
    • head / red (This is an adjective modifying the cap. The actual rhyme word might be missing in the excerpt. The last word of the stanza is ‘black’ and doesn’t rhyme with ‘head’ or ‘red’.)
    • day / away (implied by “day” at the end of the last line and “away” being part of the woodpecker’s existence.)

  More straightforward rhymes:

  • few / through
  • snows / clothes
  • true / you
  • below / know
  • earth / hearth
  • done / one
  • one / done
  • roll / whole
  • wood / food
  • tell / well
  • day / away

II. 2. Go to the local library or talk to older persons in your locality and find legends in your own language. Tell the class these legends. 📚👵🗣️ This question is an activity prompt for the student, not a question to be answered by me. It encourages out-of-source research and classroom sharing. Therefore, I cannot provide a direct answer from the given sources or our conversation history.