Question 1. Who are the characters in this poem? List them with their pet names.
Answer: The characters in this poem are Belinda, a little girl, and her pets: a little black kitten, a little grey mouse, a little yellow dog, a little pet dragon and a pirate.
Characters Pet name
Kitten Ink
Mouse Blink
Dog Mustard
Dragon Custard
Question 2. Why did Custard cry for a nice safe cage? Why is the dragon 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 that they could chase 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. “Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful…” Why?
Answer: Tickling always works on people, who are a little softer. So, Belinda tickled the dragon unmerciful as it worked a lot on him. Despite being a dragon, a tickling could disturb him and this showed his cowardice on which everyone laughed.
Question 4. The poet has employed many poetic devices in the poem. For example “Clashed his tail like iron in a dungeon” – the poetic device here is a simile. Can you, with your partner, list some more such poetic devices used in the poem?
Answer: The poet has extensively used similes across the poem. One such simile was “mouth like a fireplace”. Also he has repetitively used the word ‘little’ in the first stanza to emphasize that everything in Belinda’s house including her pets were little in size. In the seventh stanza, the poet used an incorrect spelling as a poetic device such as ‘winda’ instead of ‘window’ that rhymes with Belinda’s name in the previous line. Furthermore, the poet has also used alliteration in the tenth stanza in the sentences “Clashed his tail” and “With a clatter and a clank”. In the eleventh stanza, the poet used the terms, “The pirate gaped” and “gulped some grog” as some of the poetic devices in the poem.
Q1- Who are the characters in this poem? List them with their pet names.
A1 Following are the characters of the poem:
A little girl named Belinda.
A little black kitten whose name is ink.
A little gray mouse named blink.
A dog named mustard because he is yellow in colour.
A coward dragon whose name is Custard.
Q2- Why did Custard cry for a nice safe cage? Why is the dragon called “cowardly dragon”?
A2- Custard cries for a safe cage because he is A coward. He is called cowardly dragon because other characters are defined to be very brave in the following manner:
Belinda is described to be as brave as a barrel full of bears
Ink and blink can chase lions down the stairs
Mustard was as brave as a tiger in rage.
Q3- “Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful…” Why?
A3- Belinda tickled him unmerciful because custard the dragon was a coward. He always demanded a safe cage. That is why all of them made fun of him.
Q4- The poet has employed many poetic devices in the poem. For example: “Clashed his tail like iron in a dungeon” — the poetic device here is a simile. Can you, with your partner, list some more such poetic devices used in the poem?
A4- The poet has used many poetic devices to enhance the beauty of the poem. Like, to create rhyme with ‘Belinda’, he used the word ‘winda’ instead of ‘window’. Other such rhyming words are ‘household’ used with ‘mouseholed’ and ‘wagon’ with ‘dragon’. Not only this, he also uses poetic device of repetition for example the word ‘little’ is used many times to describe her house and her pets. There is also the use of poetic device of refrain because we can see the repetition of line “And her realio, trulio little pet dragon” in many stanzas.
Q5- Read stanza three again to know how the poet describes the appearance of the dragon?
A5- The looks of the dragon are explained in a way that it has big sharp teeth and spikes on top. This means its skin is pointed on the top. On the lower part it has scales which are bony plates meant to protect the skin. His mouth has been compared to a fireplace because it is assumed that the dragons can release fire from the mouth. Even his nose is compared to a chimney which is used to pass out the smoke. His feet are like a sharp knife i.e. a dagger.
Q6- Can you find out the rhyme scheme of two or three stanzas of the poem?
A6- Rhyme scheme of the second and third stanza is aabb.
Q7– Writers use words to give us a picture or image without actually saying what they mean. Can you trace some images used in the poem?
A7- Following are the words used to give us picture or image:
Mouth like a fireplace
Chimney for nose
Barrel full of bears
Brave as a tiger in the rage
He went at the pirate like a robin at a worm
Q8- Do you find The Tale of Custard the Dragon to be a serious or a light-hearted poem? Give reasons to support your answer.
A8- The Tale of Custard the Dragon is a light hearted poem. All the characters have names which are rhyming with each other. They all are defined to be very brave except the dragon. But in reality the dragon proves to be the real hero. When they are attacked by the pirate, the dragon gulps him. Though all the other characters were not brave enough to handle the pirate but still they define themselves as more powerful than the dragon after the incident is handled by the dragon alone. Though, the dragon was defined as a coward by the poet right from the beginning of the poem.
Q9 : Who is the poet of ‘The Tale of Custard the Dragon’?
Ans:- The poet of the poem ‘The Tale of Custard the Dragon’ is Ogden Nash.
Q10: What is a dragon?
Ans:- A dragon is usually represented as a huge, bat-winged, fire-breathing, scaly lizard or snake with a barbed tail.
Q11: Who are pirates?
Ans:- A pirate is a robber who travels by water. Though most pirates targeted ships, some also launched attacks on coastal towns.