The Moonlit Road – General Understanding Quiz

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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

Menagerie, a Child’s Fable
Short Story by Charles Johnson. A confronting allegorical fable about animals left to fend for themselves in a locked pet shop. Chaos and a gruesome power struggle ensue when their protector, a loveable watchdog, opens the cages so the hungry animals can forage for food in the storeroom.
The Werewolf
Quick Read by Angela Carter. A girl either has a big problem with her grandmother or comes up with a clever way of getting rid of her. A wolf loses a paw, grandma is missing a hand, and the villagers show their bravery by beating the poor woman to death.
The Heavenly Christmas Tree
Short Story by Fyodor Dostoevsky. A poverty-stricken young boy leaves his dead mother and ventures out one Christmas Eve in search of food. Hungry and freezing, he shelters behind a woodpile. He feels sudden warmth, and wakes surrounded by other happy children along with his mother around Christ’s Christmas tree.

Guests of the Nation
Short Story by Frank O’Connor. Set during, or possibly shortly after, the Irish War of Independence of 1919-1921, two young Irishmen become friends with two English ‘prisoners’ they are guarding. That is until a cold-hearted officer orders them to take part in the execution of the two men.
First Love
Novelette by Samuel Becket. A reclusive, homeless man recalls how he became infatuated with a prostitute he met on a canal-side bench. The more he tried to break away the closer they became until, after moving into her apartment, she gave him cause to leave her for good.
Birthday Box
Grade 7-8 Story by Jane Yolen. A ten-year-old girl is puzzled by her dying mother’s final birthday gift – an elaborately wrapped empty box. She takes her mother’s mouthed words “It’s you” as meaning “It’s for you” or “It’s yours”. A year later, she realizes her mistake.
The Blue Umbrella
Grade 5-6 Story by Ruskin Bond. A magnificent silk umbrella paraded vainly by a young girl becomes a source of envy and divides a Himalayan village community. Later, as she sees the error of her ways, it comes to exemplify the transformative power of kindness and generosity.

What Shall We Do When We All Go Out?
Short Story by Gregorio C. Brillantes. A nine-year-old boy moves to a new town. Although initially happy in the town and his new school, two events shatter his comfortable outlook on life: the death of a classmate, and his initiation under threat of violence into a gang of older students.
Lajwanti
Short Story by Rajinder Singh Bedi. Set in the violent upheaval of British India’s 1947 partition, it follows a Hindu activist whose wife has been abducted into Pakistan. Although the activist shows unexpected kindness on his wife’s return, he refuses to discuss her experiences, preventing both from finding closure.
The Feathered Ogre
Italian Folktale. A dying king is told that his only hope for a cure is a magical feather from a feared ogre known to kill any human it sees. When no one else volunteers to face the creature, one of his most loyal and courageous attendants steps forward.