Certainly! Here’s a summary of the chapter “The Lost Child” and the answers to your questions, explained with emojis for easy understanding.
Summary of “The Lost Child” 🧒🎠🎈#
The story “The Lost Child” describes a little boy’s journey to a spring festival fair with his parents. The child is full of life and laughter, running happily between his father’s legs. As they walk, he is constantly distracted by the sights and sounds around him, lagging behind his parents. He is fascinated by the toys in the shops, the beautiful flowering mustard-field, bustling dragonflies and bees, little insects and worms along the footpath, and the cooing of doves. Each time his parents call him, he obeys but his eyes linger on what has caught his attention.
Upon nearing the fair, he sees many footpaths converging towards the “whirlpool of the fair,” feeling both “repelled and fascinated”. Inside the fair, he is drawn to various attractions. First, he wants a ‘burfi’ from the sweetmeat seller, his favourite sweet, but he murmurs his desire knowing his parents would refuse, calling him greedy, so he moves on without waiting for an answer. Next, he desires a garland of gulmohur flowers, but again, he anticipates refusal, believing his parents would deem them cheap, so he moves on.
His final desire is for a ride on the roundabout. He makes a “bold request” to his parents. However, when he turns to look at them, they are no longer there. A deep cry rises from his throat, and he runs in fear, crying “Mother, Father”. Panic-stricken, he runs frantically in all directions, his face convulsed with fear, tears rolling down his eyes, and his clothes becoming muddy. He tries to spot them among the talking people, but they are nowhere to be found. He then rushes to a crowded shrine, struggling through the dense throng of people, still wailing for his parents. He is almost trampled but is saved by a man who hears his cry and lifts him up.
The man tries to soothe the weeping child by offering him all the things he had wanted earlier: a ride on the roundabout, the snake-charmer’s music, colourful balloons, flowers, and sweets. However, the lost child has lost all interest in these things and only sobs and shouts repeatedly, “I want my mother, I want my father!”.
Answers to the Questions 🤔#
What are the things the child sees on his way to the fair? Why does he lag behind? 🚶♂️👀 On his way to the fair, the child sees several captivating things:
- Toys in shops that lined the way.
- A flowering mustard-field, pale like melting gold, stretching for miles.
- A group of dragon-flies bustling on their gaudy purple wings, and a lone black bee or butterfly searching for sweetness from flowers.
- Little insects and worms along the footpath, teeming out from their hiding places.
- A shower of young flowers falling as he enters a grove.
- The cooing of doves.
- Many other footpaths full of throngs converging to the fair.
He lags behind because he is fascinated and attracted by these sights. His eyes linger on the receding toys, he follows the dragonflies with his gaze and tries to catch them, he is attracted by the insects and worms, and he stops to gather the raining petals.
In the fair he wants many things. What are they? Why does he move on without waiting for an answer? 🛍️😔 In the fair, the child wants:
- ‘Burfi’ from the sweetmeat seller. It was his favourite sweet.
- A garland of gulmohur flowers from the flower-seller.
- A ride on the roundabout.
He moves on without waiting for an answer because he “half knew” or “well knew” that his parents would refuse his requests. He anticipated their “old, cold stare of refusal” or specific reasons: for the burfi, they would say he was greedy; for the flowers, they would say they were cheap.
When does he realise that he has lost his way? How have his anxiety and insecurity been described? 🥺😱 He realises he has lost his way when he makes a bold request to go on the roundabout and turns to look at his parents, only to find they are not there. He looks ahead, on either side, and behind, but sees no sign of them.
His anxiety and insecurity are described vividly:
- A “full, deep cry rose within his dry throat”.
- He ran from where he stood, “crying in real fear, ‘Mother, Father’”.
- “Tears rolled down from his eyes, hot and fierce”.
- His “flushed face was convulsed with fear”.
- He was “panic-stricken” and ran “hither and thither in all directions, knowing not where to go”.
- He wailed, “Mother, Father”.
- His cries later suppressed into sobs as he stood “defeated”.
- He wept “more bitterly than ever”.
- His throat “tore into a thousand shrill sobs” when the man tried to console him.
Why does the lost child lose interest in the things that he had wanted earlier? 💔👨👩👧👦 The lost child loses interest in all the things he had wanted earlier—the roundabout ride, the snake-charmer’s music, the balloons, the flowers, and the sweets—because his overwhelming fear and distress at being lost supersede all other desires. His sole and repeated cry becomes, “I want my mother, I want my father!”. The absence of his parents means that the attractions of the fair no longer hold any value or joy for him; his safety and the comfort of his parents are all that matter.
What do you think happens in the end? Does the child find his parents? 🤔❓ The provided sources for “The Lost Child” do not explicitly state the ending of the story. The chapter concludes with the man trying various methods to soothe the child by offering him the very things he had previously desired, but the child consistently refuses, only wanting his mother and father. Therefore, the sources do not confirm whether the child finds his parents in the end.