1.Write a short summary of the poem Night of the scorpion?.
Ans.The poem is about the night when the poet's mother is stung by a scorpion, which was hiding behind a sack of rice in his house. The scorpion was sheltering from ten hours of continuous rain, but after biting the poet's mother, it again went out in the rain. The neighbors poured into her hut to offer advice and help. Some were chanting, prayers, some were looking for the scorpion, some were sitting with the mother. All sorts of cures were tried by the neighbors, her husband and the local priest, but it seemed as if only time proved to be the best healer. After twenty hours, the mother's suffering came to an end. Even after all this, the mother thanked God that the scorpion had picked her spared her and spared her children.
2.Write a short note on the superstitious beliefs of the villagers?
Ans. The villagers were very superstitious. When they came to know that a scorpion had bitten the poet's mother, they chanted the name of God a hundred times thinking that the scorion would be paralysed by it. They also believed that with every movement the scorpion made the poison moved in the mother's blood. They searched for the scorpion by throwing giant shadows of the scorpion on the walls. They believed that the sting of the scorpion would purify the mother of her previous birth and present birth sins. Her sprit and body would be purified by the struggle she was undergoing. Even the holy man of the village performed rites to tame the poison. All these acts proved that the villagers were superstitious.
3.Show the different qualities in the poet's father and mother that are brought out in the poem ?
Ans. The father is a sceptic and a rationalist person. When the scorpion bit the mother he tried every curse and blessing. Powder, mixture herb and hybrid to cure her. The mother is the silent sufferer. She is ignorant as the village folk. But her love for her children is unconditional though she may be superstious.