Important Questions for CBSE Class 8 English Honeydew Chapter 9 - The Great Stone Face - 1

A. Very Short Answer Questions - 1 Marks

1. Word-meaning from the given chapter

i. Spectator

Ans: Watcher

ii. Fanciful 

Ans: Exotic

iii. Beaming 

Ans: Smiling broadly

iv. Resemblance

Ans: Similarity

2. Fill in the Blanks

i. One afternoon, when the sun was going down, a mother and her little boy sat at the door of their cottage, talking about the _____. 

Ans: Great Stone Face

ii. The Great Stone Face was a work of nature, formed on the perpendicular side of a mountain by some immense rocks, which had been thrown together so that, when viewed at a proper distance, they resembled the features ______. 

Ans: Of a human face

iii. The years went on, and Ernest grew to be _____.

Ans: A young man

iv. Soldiers stood on guard, flags waved and the _____.

Ans: Crowd roared

3. True – False

i. Mountains are seen in the plain areas. 

Ans: False

ii. Mountains sometimes resemble an animal or a human face. 

Ans: True

iii. The Great Stone Face was a work of nature, formed on the perpendicular side of a mountain by some immense rocks. 

Ans: True

iv. It was the belief of many people that the valley owed much of its fertility to the benign face that was continually beaming over it.

Ans: True

4. What does the Great Stone Face remind of?

Ans: The Great Stone Face reminds the inhabitants of the valley of a prophecy.

5. What did the mother tell her little boy?

Ans: The mother told her little boy about the Great Stone Face.

B. Short Answer Questions – 2 marks

1. Where was the Great Stone Face from the mother and her son?

Ans: The mother and her son lifted their heads and saw the Great Stone Face. It was miles away yet all its features could be seen.

2. What could the spectator see when they looked at the Great Stone Face from near?

Ans: Only a heap of massive rocks heaped on top of each other could be seen by the onlooker.

3. What did the Great Stone Face look like?

Ans: The Great Stone Face looked like a human face that positively seemed to be alive to the people.

4. What was the belief of many people about the stone?

Ans: Many people believed that the valley owed much of its fertility to the benign face that was continually beaming over it.

5. What does the boy tell his mother looking at the stone?

Ans: The boy told his mother that he wished the stone could speak. He thinks that the stone looks kind and its voice must also be pleasant.

C. Short Answer Questions – 3 marks

1. What is the Great Stone Face?

Ans: The Great Stone Face is a work of nature that is formed on the perpendicular side of a mountain by some immense rocks. It is assembled in such a way that when they are looked at from a close distance, the features look like a human face.

2. What does his mother tell him when he says if the stone could speak?

Ans: The boy’s mother told him that his wish might come true if an old prophecy should come to pass. That means if the people see a man sometimes with exactly such a face similar to the Great Stone Face.

3. What kind of child Ernest was? 

Ans: Ernest was a dutiful child. He was helpful to his mother and assisted her in work with his little hands and loving heart. He was a happy but sometimes pensive child and grew up to be a mild and quiet youth.

4. Who was Ernest’s teacher?

Ans: Ernest did not have any human teachers. His teacher was the Great Stoneface. After the work of the day was over, Ernest would look at the stone for hours and would not stop till he imagined features that had recognized him. This encouraged him and made him smile with kindness.

5. What rumour had spread in the valley regarding the Great Stone Face?

Ans: The rumours were spreading into the valley that a man has visited the valley that resembles the Great Stone Face. People believed that the man used to live in the valley but he left it to settle at a distant seaport.

D. Long Answer Questions- 5 marks

1. What was the prophecy that the mother told her son? 

Ans: The mother told her son Ernest a story about the belief that people have from the time she was a child. They believed that in the valley or nearby the valley, a child should be born that would be destined to become the greatest and noblest person of his time. The belief was that it is the person whose face would be an exact resemblance of the Great Stone Face.

2. Who was the man about whom the rumours had spread in the valley? How did Ernest react to the rumours?

Ans: The man was Gathergold. People believed that he was a shopkeeper and as he was a sharp businessman which made him very rich. He was so rich that it would take him a hundred years to count his wealth. And in his last days, he decided to go back to his native valleys and spent the days there. Ernest was moved by the thought that the great man, the nobleman, the man of prophecy was coming to his native valley.

3. Who was the other man that was believed to resemble the Great Stone Face? Did the man resemble the stone?

Ans: People had realised that Gathergold didn’t resemble the Great Stone Face. So another rumour started about the son of the valley that became the Commander in the army. He was known as Blood-and thunder on the field. As he was tired and old he decided to return to the valley. As he entered the valley and the soldiers stood on guard, the flags waved and the General stood near the stone, the people and Ernest gathered to see him. Many villagers believed that the General’s face resembled the Great Stone Face.

4. How did the people from the valley react to Ernest’s habit of gazing at the Great Stone Face?

Ans: When Ernest grew up, he attracted little notice from the inhabitants of the valley. They did not think of him as a great man and said that he had not achieved anything. They saw that even after the entire day's work was over, Ernest would continue to stare at the Great Stone Face. They thought of it as stupidity but it could be forgiven as Ernest was kind and neighbourly. They were unaware of the fact that the Great Stone Face became Ernest’s teacher and that he had more sympathy and love towards it than any of them in the valley.

5. How did Ernest feel about the Gathergold and the General’s resemblance to the Great Stone Face?

Ans: When everyone in the valley accepted Gathergold as the greatest man to be alive who also resembled the Great Stone Face, Ernest couldn't digest it.  In the case of the General, Ernest had the same thoughts. Meanwhile, the people of the valley were cheering and happily accepted that the General is the greatest man to be alive, he did not believe it again. He was unable to recognise both the men as the Great Stone Face.