The Summer of the beautiful white horse

Chapter - 1   

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse

Reading with Insight

1. You will probably agree that this story does not have a breathless adventure and exciting action.
Then what in your opinion makes it interesting?

Ans: The story did not have exciting action and breathless adventures’ yet it had suspense in the story which made it interesting for the readers. It was a good psychological narration and both the boys wanted to try something adventurous. As their family was poor and they both wanted to ride a horse. Mourad stole it and they both rode it for quite some time. After they were over their game play, they took it back to its original place and owner.

2. Did the boys return the horse because they were conscience-stricken or because they were afraid?

Ans: The boys returned the horse not because they were afraid but because of their conscience. Their family was known for its honesty yet they had stolen the horse months ago. When they met John Byro on his way to town, the horse was with them. He carefully examined it and shared that it looked exactly like the one he had just like a twin. It felt like it was his own horse but since he knew his parents, he didn’t believe it was his horse they were carrying. This struck the boys and they decided to take the horse back to the farmer’s vineyard to put it in the barn.

3. “One day back there in the good old days when I was nine and the world was full of every imaginable kind of magnificence, and life was still a delightful and mysterious dream…”The story begins in a mood of nostalgia. Can you narrate some incident from your childhood that might make an interesting story?

Ans: By reading those lines, no one can stop themselves from traveling back to the memory lane. I remember when I was twelve years old. I used to visit my grandparent’s home which was located at a hill station. I would spend my entire summer vacation with them. We would go to the market to eat delicious snacks, would go shopping and watch TV together. I remember once going to a summer camp for a month. They would drop me off to the place and would come to pick me up after the classes got over. Sometimes, my grandmother would bring a packed lunch for me. I would eat it as fast as we would go shopping after that. I always got sad whenever I had to go back to my home to go back to school.

4. The story revolves around characters who belong to a tribe in Armenia. Mourad and Aram are members of the Garoghlanian family. Now locate Armenia and Assyria on the atlas and prepare a write-up on the Garoghlanian tribes. You may write about people, their names, traits, geographical and economic features as suggested in the story.

Ans: Garoghlanian tribe is said to be a work of fiction by author William Saroyan in his book of the year 1940 ‘My name is Aram’. They were Armenian. They were poor people who hardly managed to gather food to feed their stomach every day but they were known for honesty. Hospitality is one of the important aspects of the tribe. Most of the Armenian people followed Christianity. They have a huge variety of food at social gatherings. They focussed on forgiveness of sins and on the spirit of tolerance.