Story 6: An Angel in Disguise - Pt. 1 (Workbook Answers)
Treasure Trove
Story - 6
An Angel in Disguise
(Workbook Answers: Extracts 1 to 3)
Extract 1
Answer 1: The mother died of intoxication. When she was drunk, she fell upon the threshold of her door and died.
"Death touches the spring of our humanity" means that death evokes kindness in the hearts of people and they tend to help them who have lost their beloved ones.
Answer 2: The woman did not have good relations with others. The men, women and even the children in the village hated her. The villagers hated her because of her behaviour and drinking addiction.
Answer 3: Some neighbours took clean grave clothes for the woman's burial while others took food for the children.
Answer 4: The woman and her children were subjected to pitiful conditions. Their hut was small and old. They didn't have many items in their hut. They didn't even have decent clothes.
Answer 5: John, the oldest child was adopted by farmer Jones. The middle child, Kate, was taken in by Mrs. Ellis. The youngest child, Maggie, was adopted by Joe Thompson and his wife.
We think that Maggie was surrounded with love in the end of the story because Joe Thompson and his wife had become attached to Maggie and decided to look after her instead of leaving her at the poorhouse.
Extract 2
Answer 1: Maggie was glanced at with pity. People looked at her with pity because she was paralysed from the waist down and no one wanted to look after her.
Answer 2:
(a) her thin and sick body
(b) attracted everybody to take her in
Answer 3: Two years ago Maggie fell from a window and injured her spine, paralysing the lower half of her body. The mothers brought cast-off garments for Maggie because she didn't have clean garments.
Answer 4: One of the neighbours suggested that Maggie should be taken to a poorhouse, because there she would be kept clean, given good food and provided medical care. For Maggie, this situation would be better than the situation with her mother.
Answer 5:
(a) Maggie filled the Thompson household with happiness and love. Joe Thompson was not a happy man before as he did not have any children. Maggie's arrival made him the happiest man in the area.
(b) Mrs. Thompson had become a bitter woman because she didn't have any children. Maggie's nature, patience and gratitude brought a change of heart in Mrs. Thompson.
Extract 3
Answer 1: Joe Thompson and the blacksmith's wife are having a conversation in the given extract. They are discussing the options that would be best for Maggie since her mother had died.
Answer 2: Maggie's effort to raise herself was painful because she was paralysed from the waist down.
Answer 3: Maggie was terrified by the thought of being left alone. She exclaimed to Mr Thompson not to leave her alone.
Answer 4: The man stood with a "puzzled air" because he did not know what to do. He didn't want to leave Maggie alone, nor did he want to leave her in a poorhouse.
When he went into the hovel, he lifted up Maggie in his arms, wrapped her gently in a clean sheet and took her home.
Answer 5: Joe Thompson was a strong and rough looking man. But unlike his appearance, he was a kindhearted man. He liked children and let them play in his shop. When Maggie was left all alone after her mother's death, he took her to his home. He faced his angry wife with firm determination and convinced her to look after Maggie. Eventually, he and his wife adopted Maggie as their child.