NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 4 The Wise Parrot
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
Who is in the story. There are three: a rich merchant in a quiet village, his pet parrot in a cage of gold, and a parrot in the forest who never says a single word. The forest parrot has no name and only one action — yet the whole story turns on it. The problem. The parrot is bright, talkative and sharp-minded. It entertains the merchant with stories and songs, and the merchant feeds it well. But “deep inside, the bird longed for the open skies and green trees.” Good food in a golden cage is still a cage. The first try — asking. Before a journey the merchant asks his pet what gift it would like. The parrot asks for freedom in plain words: “please let me fly off into the sky.” The merchant refuses at once — “I cannot bear to let you go away.” Asking has failed. The second try — a message. T
- The Wise Parrot (story)
- A. Answer the following questions
- B. Think and discuss
- A. Fill in the blanks with suitable phrases
- B. Complete the sentences
- C. Present perfect tense
- A paragraph about birds and bird sanctuaries
- A. Listen and repeat · B. Which bird would you want to be?
- Complete the parrot’s story
- Bird feeders
Quick revision
| Word | What it means | Where it appears | A sentence of your own |
|---|---|---|---|
| merchant | A person whose work is buying and selling goods. | “a rich merchant kept a bright and talkative parrot in a cage of gold” | The merchant sells cloth in the big market. |
| tender | Soft, and easy to bite or eat. | “I have tasted all the tender fruits and chillies.” | Grandmother gave me a tender guava from her own tree. |
| distressed | Very upset and unhappy. | “The merchant was distressed at this.” | I was distressed when our puppy fell ill. |
| perch | The small stick or bar inside a cage on which a bird sits. | “his own pet parrot fell from the perch to the floor of the cage” | The mynah sat on its perch and sang all morning. |
| windowsill | The flat shelf at the bottom of a window. | “placed it on the windowsill” | Mother keeps a pot of tulsi on the windowsill. |
| sighed | Let out a long, sad breath. | “The bird sighed.” | He sighed when the rain stopped our cricket match. |
| longed | Wanted something very much. | “the bird longed for the open skies and green trees” | I longed for the summer holidays to begin. |
| convey | To pass a message on to somebody. | Let us Think A.3 — “ask the merchant to convey to its friends” | Please convey my thanks to your mother. |
| a flight of parrots | A group of birds flying together. | “he saw a flight of parrots with the same colour as his pet” | A flight of pigeons rose from the temple roof. |
| stirred | Moved a little, after being still. | “the bird stirred, stretched its beautiful green wings” | The sleeping cat stirred when I opened the door. |
| phrase | A small group of words that work together as one, such as came across or look after. | Let us Learn, A | The phrase stepped out means went outside. |
| collective noun | One word for a whole group — a flock, a swarm, a bunch. | Let us Learn, B | A swarm of bees lives in that hive. |
| present perfect tense | Subject + has/have + verb. It is used for something just finished, or done before now. | Let us Learn, C | I have finished my homework. |
| endangered | In danger of dying out completely. | Let us Listen — “many species of birds have become endangered” | The great Indian bustard is an endangered bird. |
| bird sanctuary | A protected place where birds live safely and nobody may harm them. | Let us Listen — “The Bharatpur Bird sanctuary” | We saw many storks at the bird sanctuary. |
| bird feeder | A thing kept outside the house that holds food or water for birds. | Let us Do — “A bird feeder is an object used to keep food for birds.” | We hung a bird feeder in our balcony. |
Exercises
- The Wise Parrot (story) — Let us Read Page 41–44
- A. Answer the following questions — Let us Think Page 45
- B. Think and discuss — Let us Think Page 45
- A. Fill in the blanks with suitable phrases — Let us Learn Page 46
- B. Complete the sentences — Let us Learn Page 46
- C. Present perfect tense — Let us Learn Page 47–48
- A paragraph about birds and bird sanctuaries — Let us Listen Page 48
- A. Listen and repeat · B. Which bird would you want to be? — Let us Speak Page 49
- Complete the parrot’s story — Let us Write Page 50
- Bird feeders — Let us Do Page 50–51
- Choose any two birds and find interesting facts — Let us Explore Page 52
- Covers Unit 1 (Chapters 1–2) and Unit 2 (Chapters 3–4) — Self-assessment 1 Page 53–54