The Sacred Turtles of Kandavu A Fijian Legend 1. What is a legend? A legend is a very old story or set of stories from ancient times about famous events or persons. These stories are not always true . 2. Where does the story “The Scared Turtles of Kandavu” take place? The legend of the sacred turtles of Kandavu takes place in the Fijian island of Namuana. 3. Fiji: Fiji, a country in the South Pacific, is an archipelago (group of islands) of more than 300 islands. It's famed for rugged landscapes, palm-lined beaches and coral reefs with clear lagoons. 4. How, according to the legend, did the warriors of Kadavu save themselves a long journey by sea? The Fijian islands are surrounded by sea. The legends says that the warriors of Kadavu saved the time for a long journey by sea, by sliding their canoes on rollers up over the narrow neck of land. 5. What is the strange custom observed by the women of Namuana? The women of Namuan
This is Going to Hurt Just
a Little Bit
Frederic Ogden Nash
One of the most widely appreciated and imitated writers of
light verse, Frederic Ogden Nash, was born in Rye, New York, on 19th
August, 1902.
His poems, also had an intensely anti-establishment quality
that resounded with many Americans, particularly during the Great Depression.
Nash was a keen observer of American social life, and
frequently mocked religious moralizing and conservative politicians.
He died on May 19, 1971.
Summary
“This is Going to Hurt Just A Little Bit”, is a humorous poem by Ogden Nash. Through exaggerations and overstatements, he makes fun of
the dentist and his methods of treatment.
The poet begins by saying that he does not like to sit in a
dentist’s chair with his wide-open mouth. It is ridiculous and painful.
Every time he leaves the dentist’s clinic, he hopes never to
come back again, but he has to visit the dentist again and again,
against all his hopes, to keep his teeth in good condition.
There are tortures that are physical and some tortures are
mental. But being at the dentist is both mental and physical at the same time.
One can name these types of tortures as dental torture.
One suffers physical torture in the form of pulling and
pushing, pressing into the gum as well as the mental torture of an uneasy
sitting posture – with wide open mouth and jaws digging into one’s chest.
The poet is unable to keep his calm nature while sitting in
the dentist’s chair. Extreme pain makes him dig his fingernails deep into his
palm. The poet is humorous when he says that he is making serious changes to
the various lines on his palm and altering the course of his future by digging
deep into his palm.
The poet says that it is very difficult to retain one’s
cheerful nature when you are at the dentist’s chair. It is one of the rarest of
situations that lacks dignity and self-respect. One cannot be the same calm and
dignified individual in the dentist’s chair.
The poet exaggerates the works of the dentist saying that his
works are similar to that of the repairing of the road. It is a mess with stone
crushers, concrete mixers, drills, and steam rollers. The poet exaggerates the
equipment used by the dentist to that of road repairing ones. When the
repairing of your teeth goes on every one of you nerves, sinews and muzzles are
troubled and under attack.
The dentist attacks the patient with his thumbs and press
hard on their gums. The patient, already under severe pain find it extremely
horrible. You go to the dentist to polish your teeth. But when the dentist
works on your teeth you have got every reason to fear that he is demolishing
your teeth completely. He is that rough and unmerciful.
The patient would naturally be terrified, when he sees the
dentist working with the help of a mirror. The poet then compares the dentist
to a bear. The bear attacks its prey, tears into them, mauls them and only mangled
remains are left behind. One cannot be sure whether it is love or hatred that
governs the dentist. One has every right to suspect his intentions. The Romans
used to call a bear, Ursa. Ursa was a female hear but the dentist here is a
male one.
The poet once again brings in the use of mirror into our
notice. How can one be sure the dentist won’t mix up right and left while
treating with the mirror? We often mix up our left and right, when we try to
tie our bow tie, with the help of a mirror. It would be a horrible situation,
if the dentist treats the wrong side, and wrong teeth.
The dentist would say after some times that is all. But it is
not the end. There are more things to come. One cannot trust a dentist. He will
then coat your mouth with something similar to the stuff used to make the horse
hoof shine better. Here the poet is hammering a last nail into the reader’s
mind by creating a suspicion against the dentist. Does the dentist use the same
substance that is used to put shine on the horse hoof? It is terrible then.
When you get to your feet staggering and dizzy and is about
to emit a sigh of relief hoping that everything is over and this was only for
once, the next bombshell comes.
The unsympathetic and brutal dentist says, “Come back in
three monce”.
As in the case of “Hopen” the poet coins another word in “monce”
to rhyme with “once”. It too has a humorous effect.
The poet is pathetic. He thinks that it is a vicious circle,
that the Fate has asked him to suffer.
One goes to the dentist to keep his teeth in good condition.
But being at the dentist is something, that one wishes to forget, and never
wants to be in. However, the dentist is like a snare that never allow one
freedom.
Going to the dentist is an evil cycle that never ends.
It is with the hope of never going to that dental clinic again,
that one visit it, but it is a fact that one has to go to the dentist, again
and again, to keep one’s teeth in good condition.