Question

Now, you shall build as the birds do,
And shall get your scanty food
By boring, and boring, and boring,
All-day in the hard, dry wood.
Then up she went through the chimney,
Never speaking a word,
And out of the top flew a woodpecker,
For she was changed to a bird.
She had a scarlet cap on her head,
And that was left the same;
But all the rest of her clothes were burned
Black as a coal in the flame.
And every country schoolboy
Has seen her in the wood,
Where she lives in the trees till this very day,
Boring and boring for food.

Questions :

(1) What curse did Saint Peter give to the ! selfish woman?

(2) Why does a woodpecker have a scarlet cap on her head, according to this legend?

(3) How does a woodpecker get her food?

Answer 1

(1) Saint Peter cursed the selfish woman to turn into a bird which will get her scanty food boring and boring into dry wood all the day.

(2) According to the legend, when Saint Peter cursed the little woman to turn into a bird, she was wearing a scarlet cap. Barring the scarlet cap, when she turned into a bird, all clothes on her body burned away and turned black. Hence the woodpecker has a scarlet cap even today.

(3) A woodpecker gets her food by boring into dry wood all day.