A tiny act of greed can cost you everything. In this old northern legend, a selfish woman refuses a saint a single small cake — and is turned into a woodpecker forever!
Poet
Phoebe Cary, an American poet who retold this old folk legend.
Setting
The cold, snowy ‘Northland’ where days are short and nights are long.
Characters
Saint Peter (kind, hungry traveller) and a greedy, selfish old woman (a baker).
Genre
A ballad — a narrative poem that tells a story, like an old folk-tale.
What is the poem about?
‘A Legend of the Northland’ is a ballad — a poem that tells a story. The poet, Phoebe Cary, narrates an old legend from the far north, a frozen land where the days are so short that children eat their lunch by candle-light and even sleep wearing their warm fur clothes. The poet honestly admits she does not know whether the story is true or not, but she shares it because it carries an important moral lesson about greed and generosity. The tale explains, in a charming and imaginative way, how a particular bird — the woodpecker — came to look the way it does.
The Northland and its people
The poem opens by describing life in the Northland. It is so cold there that the people dress in furry clothing all the time, even sleeping in them like bears or foxes. The nights are so long and the days so short that children carry their dinners and eat them by candle-light at school. These opening lines create a vivid picture of a harsh, frozen world and prepare us for a story that feels ancient and far away.
Saint Peter’s journey
The story tells how Saint Peter, while travelling and preaching across the world, came one day to the door of a cottage. A little woman lived there, and she was baking small cakes on the hearth. Saint Peter had been fasting the whole day and was very faint and weak with hunger. So he stopped at her door and humbly begged for just one small cake from her store of food.
The woman’s greed
This is the heart of the poem. The woman made a tiny cake and put it on the fire to bake. But when it was done, it seemed far too large to give away. So she put it aside and made a second, smaller cake. Yet that one too looked too big to part with. She kept rolling out cakes thinner and thinner — as thin as a wafer — but each time she found she could not bring herself to give even that tiny piece to the hungry saint. Her selfishness grew with every cake. Finally she laid the wafer-thin cakes on the shelf without giving Saint Peter a single one.
The punishment
Saint Peter became very angry, because the woman was so selfish and stingy that she would not share even a crumb. He declared that she was not fit to live in human form and enjoy food, warmth, shelter and a comfortable home. As a punishment, he turned her into a woodpecker — a bird that must bore and bore all day long in hard, dry wood to get its scanty, dry food.
The transformation
As the saint spoke, the woman went up through the chimney. Nothing was left of her but a scarlet cap on her head and her black dress, all scorched and burnt black by the fire. That is why, the legend says, the woodpecker even today has a red cap on its head and a black coat, and is found in every country boring its food out of the hard, dry wood. The poet ends by saying that every schoolboy has seen this bird boring for food — tying the old legend to the real world we know.
The moral
The clear lesson of the poem is that we should never be too greedy or selfish to share with others, especially with those in need. Generosity is rewarded, while greed brings punishment. The woman lost her home, her comfort and even her human shape because she could not spare one tiny cake. The poem teaches us, gently but firmly, the value of kindness, charity and a giving heart.
- Legend — an old, popular story that may or may not be true.
- Faint — weak, ready to collapse (here, from hunger).
- Wafer — a very thin, flat biscuit or cake.
- Bore / boring — to make a hole by drilling (the woodpecker bores wood).
- Scanty — very small in amount; barely enough.
- Scorched — burnt on the surface; blackened by heat.
‘Greed is punished and selfishness brings ruin.’ How does ‘A Legend of the Northland’ bring out this idea? (Long answer)
- Introduce the poem and its message about greed.
- Describe the woman’s repeated refusal to share.
- Explain the saint’s punishment and what it symbolises.
- End with the moral lesson for the reader.
Rhyme scheme
The poem is written in four-line stanzas (quatrains). The second and fourth lines rhyme, giving an abcb pattern (for example, ‘true’ rhymes with ‘you’). This simple musical pattern is typical of a ballad.
Simile
‘They sleep like the bears and foxes’ — the people are compared to bears and foxes using ‘like’, showing how they sleep wrapped in fur. Also, the cakes are rolled ‘thin as a wafer’.
Repetition
The repeated baking of smaller and smaller cakes and the word ‘little’ stress the woman’s growing greed. ‘Bore and bore’ stresses the woodpecker’s endless labour.
Imagery
Vivid pictures — candle-light lunches, the snowy Northland, the scarlet cap and the scorched black coat — help us see the scene clearly.
Alliteration
Repeated consonant sounds, as in ‘faint and famished’ (sense of f-sounds) and ‘boring and boring’, add a pleasant musical effect.
Remember the bird’s look with ‘RED cap, BLACK coat’ — RED from the woman’s scarlet cap, BLACK from her dress scorched by the fire. The colours ARE the punishment!
Do not confuse the bird — she becomes a woodpecker, NOT a crow or a sparrow. Also remember the poet admits she is not sure the story is true; she shares it for its moral, not as a fact. Mentioning this shows the examiner you read carefully.
Q1. Why did Saint Peter ask the old lady for a cake?
Answer: Saint Peter was travelling and preaching across the world. He had been fasting the entire day and had grown very faint and weak with hunger. When he reached the old woman’s cottage and saw her baking cakes on the hearth, he humbly stopped at her door and begged her for just one small cake from her store, so that he could satisfy his hunger.
Q2. How did the old woman behave when she was asked for a cake, and what does this show about her?
Answer: The woman first baked a small cake, but it looked too large to give away, so she set it aside. She baked a second, smaller cake, but it too seemed too big to part with. She kept making cakes thinner and thinner, as thin as a wafer, yet could not bring herself to give even one to the hungry saint. Finally she put them all on the shelf and gave him nothing. Her behaviour shows that she was extremely greedy, selfish and stingy — unwilling to share even a crumb with a needy traveller.
Q3. How did Saint Peter punish the woman, and why was the punishment fitting?
Answer: Saint Peter was angry that the woman was too selfish to live as a human being enjoying food, shelter and warmth. As punishment, he turned her into a woodpecker — a bird that must drill hard, dry wood all day long just to find its scanty food. The punishment is fitting because the woman, who hoarded plenty of food and refused to share, now has to work endlessly for very little food. She loses the comfort and plenty she once had but never shared.
Q4. How does the legend explain the appearance of the woodpecker? What moral does the poem teach?
Answer: According to the legend, when the woman was changed into a bird, she went up through the chimney. Nothing was left of her but a scarlet cap on her head and her black dress, which had been scorched and burnt black by the fire. That is why the woodpecker has a red cap and a black coat even today, and is seen in every land boring its food out of hard, dry wood. The poem teaches the moral that we should never be greedy or selfish — we must share what we have with those in need, for greed leads to ruin while generosity and kindness make us truly human.
- β Phoebe Cary retells an old Northland legend in the form of a ballad.
- β Saint Peter, faint with hunger, begs a greedy woman for one small cake.
- β She is too selfish to give even a wafer-thin cake, so he punishes her.
- β She becomes a woodpecker with a red cap and a fire-blackened black coat.
- β Moral: never be greedy; always be ready to share and help others.
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