KSEEB Solutions for Class 8 English Prose Chapter 6 The Model Millionaire

KSEEB Solutions for Class 8 English Prose Chapter 6 The Model Millionaire

Karnataka State Board Class 8 English Prose Chapter 6 The Model Millionaire

The Model Millionaire Questions and Answers, Summary, Notes

Pre-Reading Task:

Question 1.
What makes a person rich and successful? Is it luck or hard work?
Answer:
A person becomes rich and successful by hard work. We can say that 99% hard work and 1% luck makes a person reach great heights.

Question 2.
“One can afford to be generous only if one is rich”. Do you agree/disagree with this statement? Give reasons.
Answer:
I do not agree with the statement “One can afford to be generous only if one is rich”. It is not money which makes people benevolent and charitable. It is the way in which they look at life. Many rich people do not have the heart to help the poor and the needy. On the other hand, there are people who are kind and compassionate even though they do not have money. Their heart goes out to people who are in difficulties. They help them with whatever they can.

Question 3.
Do you know what irony is?
Answer:
Irony is a figure of speech. It is a statement in which the meaning that a speaker implies differs sharply from the meaning that is apparently expressed.

 

Comprehension:

I. Answer the following questions in two or three sentences each:

Question 1.
What sort of man was Hughie Erskine?
Answer:
Hughie Erskine was a good looking young man. He was liked and admired by men and women alike. He was not very clever, and never had any money.

Question 2.
What were the various jobs he took up? Why?
Answer:
Hughie was always changing his job, because he was not
successful in any of them. He worked on the Stock Exchange for six months. He started selling tea and then sherry. He failed in all his efforts.

Question 3.
What was the condition laid down for Hughie to marry Laura?
Answer:
Laura’s father, a retired Colonel, put a condition for the marriage of Hughie and Laura. He asked Hughie to earn ten thousand pounds of his own and then come to him with the proposal of marriage.

 

Question 4.
Who was Alan Trevor? What was Alan Trevor doing when Hughie called on him?
Answer:
Alan Trevor was a painter. He was giving final touches to the lifesize painting of a beggar when Hughie called on him.

Question 5.
How was the model beggar dressed?
Answer:
The beggar was dressed in torn, dirty clothes. He had a ragged brown coat over his shoulder. His boots were patched and well worn.

Question 6.
What did Hughie feel the model should get? Why? Hughie felt that the beggar model should get a part of what
Answer:
Alan earned after selling his picture. In his opinion, the beggar had also been working as hard as Alan.

Question 7.
Why did Hughie feel sorry for the beggar-man?
Answer:
The beggar was an old man, bent and wrinkled, with a piteous look on his face. He looked sad and lonely.

Question 8.
What did Hughie give the old beggar-man?
Answer:
Hughie gave the beggar-man a sovereign.

 

Question 9.
What did Alan Trevor tell Hughie when he met him at the Palette club?
Answer:
Alan told Hughie that the beggar model was Baron Hausberg, one of the richest men in Europe. The Baron had a house in every capital city and ate food in gold plates. He had so much money that he could buy all of London.

Question 10.
Alan says, “He’ll invest your sovereign for you Hughie”. How do you think the Baron could have invested the sovereign for Hughie?
Answer:
The Baron might have a number of business firms of his own. He could invest Hughie’s money in one of his companies and earn profits.

 

Additional Questions:

Question 11.
What was the beggar’s true identity? Why did Hughie mistake him for a beggar?
Answer:
The beggar model was Baron Hausberg. He was one of the richest men in Europe. The beggar model had a wizened face. He looked very miserable. His tattered cloak and patched boots made him a typical beggar. So, Hughie mistook him for a real beggar.

Question 12.
Why is the model’s face, his fortune?
Answer:
The beggar model had a wizened face. He looked very miserable. His face brings money for both him and the painter. So, his face in his fortune.

II. Answer the following questions in five or six sentences each:

Question 1.
‘That old beggar, as you call him, is one of the richest men in Europe’. Name the richest man referred to. How is he described to Hughie?
Answer:
The richest man’s name was Baron Hausberg. He had a house in every capital city. He ate his food in gold plates. He could buy all of London the next day, and prevent Russia from going to war. He was very influential and powerful. He had a desire to get his picture painted as a beggar. He had asked Alan to paint his portrait and offered to pose as the beggar model himself.

 

Question 2.
Describe how Hughie was able to marry Laura Merton.
Answer:
Hughie was a handsome young man. He was not intelligent and did not have any money. He tried to make money by doing different jobs, but failed in his attempts. He was deeply in love with Laura. Laura’s father told him that he would consider giving his daughter in marriage if he earned ten thousand pounds of his own. One day, Hughie saw a beggar model in Alan Trevor’s studio. He mistook him for a real beggar and gave him a sovereign. The beggar model was in reality a rich man by name Baron Hausberg. He was impressed by Hughie’s generosity. He found out everything about Hughie from Alan Trevor. He sent Hughie a cheque for ten thousand pounds as a wedding present. Thus, Hughie was able to marry Laura.

Question 3.
Bring out the subtle humour in the story “The Model Millionaire”.
Answer:
The whole story has an undercurrent of subtle humour. Hughie attempts to work and earn money. When he fails at everything, he gives up his efforts. He decides to live on a meagre allowance given to him by an old aunt. These things evoke humorous reaction in the readers. Hughie’s conversation with Alan Trevor is also humorous. Without knowing the real identity of the beggar model, Hughie gives him the only sovereign he had.

When he comes to know that the beggar is Baron Hausberg, he thinks he has made a fool of himself. Alan’s jokes about Hughie’s generosity are hilarious. Baron Hausberg’s reaction when Hughie gives him the sovereign, his benevolent nature and the way in which he sends the wedding present, are all examples of subtle humour in the story.

 

Question 4.
‘I have got heaps of old clothes at home. Do you think he would like any of them? Why, his rags were falling to bits’, said Hughie. ‘But, he looks so wonderful in them’, said Trevor. ‘I wouldn’t paint him in a good suit for anything. However, I’ll tell him of your offer’.
The above instance is an example of subtle humour. Pick out other incidents of humour from the story.
Answer:

1. ‘He had been a tea merchant, but soon got tired of selling tea’.
2. ‘Laura loved him very much, and together they made a handsome couple. Of course, neither of them had any money’.
3. ‘The old man jumped, and a faint smile crossed his lips’.
4. ‘Good Heavens! I gave him a Sovereign’.
5. ‘He will invest your sovereign for you and pay you interest’.

Additional Questions:

Question 5.
How does Baron Hausberg prove to be a ‘model millionaire’?
Answer:
Hughie was a handsome young man. He had no job. So, his financial condition was very poor. He wanted to marry Laura Merton. Her Colonel-father asked Hughie to earn ten thousand pounds of his own to marry Laura. Hughie was unable to fulfil the condition of the Colonel. So, he was upset.

Once, Hughie visited his friend Trevor’s studio. He saw a beggar-model there. The old man had a wizened face. He looked very miserable. His tattered cloak, patched and cobbled boots made him a typical beggar. Hughie took pity on him and gave him a sovereign.

Actually, the beggar model was Baron Hausberg, one of the richest men in Europe. After knowing the truth, Hughie felt very sorry for his act. But, the Baron, having learnt everything about Hughie, sent a cheque for ten thousand pounds as a reward. Thus, the charitable act of Hughie was rewarded. Really the millionaire model was a model millionaire.

 

Multiple Choice Questions:

Four alternatives are given for each of the following questions/ incomplete statements. Choose the most appropriate alternative.

Question 1.
Hughie Erskine lived on two hundred pounds a year given by an old aunt because
A) he was not clever
B) he was always changing his job
C) he had tried everything and failed
D) he gave up trying to work
Answer:
D) he gave up trying to work

Question 2.
Hughie Erskine’s work on the stock exchange lasted
A) six months
B) three months
C) nine months
D) one year
Answer:
A) six months

Question 3.
Laura Merton was the daughter of
A) Alan Trevor
B) Baron Hausberg
C) Colonel Merton
D) Gustave Naudin
Answer:
C) Colonel Merton

 

Question 4.
The colonel would not allow Hughie to marry his daughter because
A) he was not clever
B) he was a failure in life
C) he had no money with him
D) he lived on his aunt’s money
Answer:
C) he had no money with him

Question 5.
Hughie was miserable because
A) he had no job
B) he was always changing his job but had failed
C) the Colonel did not allow him to marry his daughter
D) the Colonel asked him to think of marriage when he had ten thousand pounds of his own
Answer:
D) the Colonel asked him to think of marriage when he had ten thousand pounds of his own

Question 6.
Alan Trevor was a
A) painter
B) beggar
C) tea merchant
D) stock broker
Answer:
A) painter

Question 7.
‘What a wonderful model!’ whispered Hughie. The model referred to here is
A) a beggar
B) Baron Hausberg
C) Hughie
D) Alan Trevor
Answer:
B) Baron Hausberg

 

Question 8.
After sometime, Trevor went out of the studio because
A) a servant called him
B) the beggar was tired standing up all day
C) the frame-maker wanted to speak to him
D) he wanted to smoke a cigarette
Answer:
C) the frame-maker wanted to speak to him

Question 9.
Hughie felt sorry for the beggar-man because
A) he was an old man, bent and wrinkled
B) he had a ragged brown coat, all torn and dirty, over his shoulders
C) his thick boots were patched
D) he looked lonely and sad
Answer:
D) he looked lonely and sad

Question 10.
How much money did Hughie give the beggar-man?
A) one sovereign
B) one pence
C) two thousand pounds
D) ten thousand pounds
Answer:
A) one sovereign

Question 11.
Baron Hausberg sent a messenger to Hughie to
A) seek an apology
B) offer his apologies
C) handover a cheque for ten thousand pounds as a wedding present
D) offer him a job
Answer:
C) handover a cheque for ten thousand pounds as a wedding present

 

Question 12.
The best man at Hughie’s wedding was
A) Alan Trevor
B) Baron Hausberg
C) Gustave Naudin
D) Colonel Martin
Answer:
A) Alan Trevor

Question 13.
The old man jumped, and a faint smile crossed his lips. Here, the word ‘faint’ means
A) weak
B) lose consciousness
C) slight
D) dim
Answer:
C) slight

Question 14.
One of the jobs that Hughie did not take up was
A) stockbroking
B) painting
C) selling tea
D) selling sherry
Answer:
B) painting

 

Question 15.
The condition laid down for Hughie to marry Laura was he should
A) have a house of his own
B) have a job
C) learn painting
D) have ten thousand pounds of his own
Answer:
D) have ten thousand pounds of his own

Question 16.
The remark “Millionaire models are rare enough, but model millionaires are rarer still” was made by
A) Oscar Wilde
B) Hughie
C) Alan Trevor
D) Laura Merton
Answer:
C) Alan Trevor

 

III. Vocabulary:

A. Compound Words – When two different words are put together to form a new word, the word is called a compound word.
Eg: beggar-man

Question 1.
Fill in the blanks given below with the help of the compound words.

1. …………….. picture (full-size)
2. ……………… young man (good-looking)
3. The old ……………….. (beggar-man)
4. The ………………. wanted to speak to Trevor, (frame-maker)

Answer:

1. Full-size picture.
2. Good-looking young man.
3. The old beggar-man.
4. The frame-maker wanted to speak to Trevor.

Question 2.
Match the words in column A with the words in column B to make more compound words:

A	B
1. grand	breaker
2. news	mark
3. mile	mother
4. book	path
5. tie	paper
6. foot	stone

Answer:

1. grandmother
2. newspaper
3. milestone
4. bookmark
5. tiebreaker
6. footpath.

B. Affix = Prefix + Suffix

Prefix: A word which does not have a meaning by itself, but when added to the beginning of a word, forms a new word. The new word is very often the opposite of the root word.
Eg: un – He never said an unkind word to anyone.

Question 1.
Use appropriate prefixes to the words given below to form words opposite in meaning (dis, mis, un) do, honour, broken, comfort, clean, honest, respect, obey, regard, appear, like, agree, wanted, content
Answer:
do – undo
broken – unbroken
clean – uncLean
respect – disrespect
regard – disregard
Like – disLike
wanted – unwanted
honour – dishonour
comfort – discomfort
honest – dishonest
obey – disobey
appear – disappear
agree – disagree
content – discontent

Suffix – a word which does not have a meaning by itself, but when added to the end of a word, forms a new word.
Eg: ful – i. What a wonderful model! ii. I think its dreadful.

 

Question 2.
Use appropriate suffixes to the words given below to form new words: (ly, ness, ish, ful, less) easy, child, hope, use, fool, beauty, brown, doubt, calm, slow, help, cheer, pain, colour.
Answer:
easy – easiLy
hope – hopeful
fool – foolish
brown – brownish
calm – calmly
help – helpful, helpless
pain – painful, painless
child – childish
use – useful
beauty – beautiful
doubt – doubtful
slow – slowly, slowness
cheer – cheerful, cheerless
colour – colourful, colourless.

Homonyms – a word which has the same sound, same spelling, but two different meanings.
Eg: Model – a person or thing that is an excellent example of a quality.
Gandhiji is the model of sacrifice.
Model – a copy of something
There is a model of the Taj Mahal made of marble.

Question 3.
Construct sentences with the following homonyms to bring out two different meanings of each word:
trip, stamp, plant, right
Answer:
trip:
a) He tripped and fell down.
b) They went on a trip to Belur.

stamp:
a) He pasted a stamp on the envelope
b) Sam stamped his foot in anger.

plant:
a) We must plant trees to save our environment
b) There are a number of medicinal plants in this garden.

right:
a) This is not the right way to do things
b) Take a right turn at the intersection.

Write any four homonyms which have different meanings, with the help of a dictionary.
a) advance
b) bank
c) bow
d) object
e) play
f) bear
g) lie
h) fly
i) ring
j) lift
k) type
l) fine.
Pun – A pun is a type of wordplay. In a pun, a homonym is used in the same sentence to mean two different things.

 

Question 4.
Look at the last line of the lesson. Explain the pun.
The last sentence of the lesson ‘Millionaire Models’, remarked Alan, “are rare enough, but model millionaires are rarer still”.
Answer:
The word ‘model’ is used to mean two different things. Despite being a millionaire Baron Hausberg wished to be portrayed as a beggar and offered to be the model himself. Later, he proves himself a model millionaire (an ideal for other millionaires) by helping Hughie.

Dictionary Work:

IV. Make five pairs of pun words with the help of the dictionary:

a) After taking a shot with his bow, the archer took a bow.
b) No one could believe how much produce our garden could produce.
c) There’s simply no use for something you can’t use.
d) The rebel seized the opportunity to rebel.
e) The incense incensed the customers.

V. Colour In Language:

Study this sentence:

‘You told that old beggar all my private affairs?’ cried Hughie, looking very red and angry.
The word ‘red’ is used to describe a feeling of anger. Colours are often associated with various types of emotions.

1) Select a colour from the box to des ribe the feelings associated with them and then fill in the blanks: [green, red, blue, black, grey, white, pink]

1. The old lady seemed to be in the ………. of health.
2. John was ………. with envy when he heard that his friend would be meeting the Prime Minister in person.
3. Shalini became ………….. with anger when Anjali shared her secret with other girls.
4. We must cheer him up. He was feeling …………. all day.
5. The cop beat him up ………… and ………….. .
6. The stallion (breed) was as pure as ………… in colour.

Answer:

1. pink
2. green
3. red
4. grey
5. black, blue
6. white.

 

VI. Learn To Speak And Listen:

Identify the following characters from the lesson:

1. I am a very good looking young man, liked and admired by both men and women.
2. I am a girl, daughter of a retired Colonel.
3. I am a strange man, with a red beard, a very clever artist.
4. I am an old man, bent and wrinkled, with a piteous look on my face.
5. I am the richest man in Europe, who could buy all London.
   I have a house in every capital city.

Answer:

1. Hughie Erskine
2. Laura Merton
3. Alan Trevor
4. The beggar model
5. Baron Hausberg.

The Model Millionaire Summary in English

The Lover
Hughie Erskine was a handsome young man. He was liked and admired by all people for his good character. But, he was not clever and did not have any money. He did not stick to one job. He kept changing jobs. He tried everything but was not successful. He worked on the stock exchange for some time, then became a tea merchant. He got tired of that. He tried his hand at selling sherry, but failed again. Finally, he stopped working and lived on an allowance of 200 pounds a year. He was deeply in love with Laura Merton. Laura was the daughter of a retired Colonel. Laura also loved Hughie Erskine. Though the Colonel liked Hughie, he did not permit them to marry.
He asked Hughie to come to him with the proposal of marriage when he had ten thousand pounds of his own.

The Painter
One morning, Hughie went to meet his friend Alan Trevor. Alan was a successful painter. When Hughie entered his studio, Alan was finishing the full size painting of a beggar. The beggar was posing for Alan standing on a platform. He was an old man, bent and wrinkled with a piteous look on his face. He was wearing torn, dirty clothes and patched boots. He was holding a hat in one hand as if he was begging.

Hughie remarked that Alan had a wonderful model. Alan agreed with him and said that Hughie would not meet such a beggar every day. Hughie felt sorry for the pitiable condition of the beggar. He asked Alan how much he paid the model for a sitting. Alan said he paid ten pence an hour. Hughie wanted to know how much Alan would get after selling his picture. Alan replied that he would get two thousand pounds. Hughie said that the beggar model should get some part of the profit, as he was also working as hard as Alan. Alan did not agree with him. He told Hughie to keep quiet.

The Model
While Alan was still giving finishing touches to his picture, a servant came in and told him that the frame maker was waiting to meet him. Alan went out. The beggar who was standing till then sat down to relax. He looked very lonely and sad. Hughie searched his pocket and found a sovereign. He thought the beggar needed the money more than he did. He went near the beggar and gave the sovereign to him. The old beggar was surprised. He thanked Hughie for his generosity. When Alan returned, Hughie took leave of him.

The same night Hughie met Alan at the Palette club. He asked Alan if he had finished the picture of the beggar-man. Alan replied in the affirmative and said that the old model had taken a liking for Hughie. So, he had told the beggar everything about Hughie. Hughie told Alan that he had a lot of old clothes and wanted to give them to the old man because his clothes were in rags. He wanted to know if the old man would accept his offer. Alan said that he would tell the old model about his offer. Alan also said that he had told the model about Laura, her father, and the ten thousand pounds.

The Surprise
Hughie was angry with Alan for telling the old beggar all his problems. Alan Trevor revealed to Hughie that the beggar model was not a real beggar but he was one of the richest men in Europe. He said that his name was Baron Hausberg, who could buy all London and never feel the pinch of it. He also said the Baron had a house in every capital city and ate off gold plates and had a lot of political power.

Alan told Hughie that Baron Hausberg had asked him to paint him as a beggar. And he himself was posing as the beggar. Hughie was greatly embarassed for he had given a sovereign to a millionaire and made a fool of himself. Hughie blamed Alan for not telling him about the real identity of the beggar earlier. Alan thought it was very funny and laughed his heart out. He realised why Baron Hausberg had shown so much of interest in Hughie’s affairs. Finally, he said jokingly that the Baron would invest Hughie’s money and pay him the interest every six months. Hughie regretted his action and felt miserable.

The Messenger
The next morning, Mr. Gustave Naudin, the messenger of Baron Hausberg, came to Hughie’s house. Hughie thought that he had come for an apology for insulting the Baron by giving him a sovereign. Hughie requested the messenger to offer his sincere apologies to the Baron. Then, the messenger gave him a sealed envelope and said that the Baron had asked him to deliver it to Hughie. The message on the envelope said it was a wedding present to Hughie Erskine and Laura Merton, from an old beggar. The envelope contained a cheque for ten thousand pounds.

The Wedding
Hughie thus earned ten thousand pounds of his own and married Laura Merton. Alan was the best man and the Baron made a speech at the wedding breakfast. Alan remarked then, that millionaire models were rare enough, but model millionaires were rarer still.

 

Glossary:

sherry – a kind of wine
wrinkle – small line on the skin of a person’s face or hands.
sovereign – a gold coin worth one sterling.
invest – to put money in a business to try to increase its value.
admire – regard with respect, look at with pleasure.
millionaire – a person whose assets are worth one million pounds or dollars.
miserable – unhappy, uncomfortable.
faint – slight.
dreadful – extremely bad or serious.
splendid – magnificent, very impressive, excellent.

apology – regretful acknowledgment of an offence or failure.

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