Page 1 - LN3-QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

The Tale of Custard The Dragon
Question and Answers

Q1- Who are the characters in this poem? List them with their pet names.
A1 Following are the characters of the poem:

a) A little girl named Belinda.
b) A little black kitten whose name is Ink.
c) A little gray mouse named Blink.
d) A dog named Mustard because he is yellow in colour.
e) 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:

a) Belinda is described to be as brave as a barrel full of bears
b) Ink and blink can chase lions down the stairs
c) 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
as he was always afraid of every little thing. 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.

1