The Rumphius Story
by Barbara Cooney
Making connections
Quick answers
1. Complete the following sentences.
a. Alice's grandfather painted pictures of sailing ships and places across the sea.
b. In the library, Miss Rumphius was dusting books and keeping them from getting mixed up, and helping people find the ones they wanted.
c. Miss Rumphius went to a real tropical island, where people kept cockatoos and monkeys as pets.
d. Everywhere she went, Miss Rumphius made friends that she would never forget.
e. Miss Rumphius started a little garden among the rocks that surrounded her house, and she planted a few flower seeds in the stony ground.
f. Miss Rumphius couldn't plant more seeds that first summer because she was not very well. Her back was bothering her again, and she had to stay in bed most of the time.
Reference to context
2. " 'You will always remain my friends too,' said Miss Rumphius."
a. Who did Miss Rumphius say this to?
= Miss Rumphius said this to Bapa Raja and his wife.
b. Why did she say this?
= She said this to them as they took her to their house and hosted her. They also gave her a beautiful mother-of-pearl shell on which was painted a bird of paradise and the words, 'You will always remain our friend.'
c. Where did she meet these friends?
= She met these friends on the beaches of the tropical island.
3. " 'What a foolish thing to do,' said Miss Rumphius."
a. What was the foolish thing that Miss Rumphius did?
= Miss Rumphius travelled faraway places these meant as a foolish thing to do.
b. Why did she call it foolish?
= She called it foolish because at Lotus-eaters Land, she got off a camel and hurt her back.
c. What did she decide to do next?
= Next, she decided to find a place by the sea and live beside the sea.
4. "Miss Rumphius was almost perfectly happy.
'But there is still one more thing I must do,' she said."
a. What made Miss Rumphius happy?
= Miss Rumphius got a new house beside the sea. From the porch of her new house, Miss Rumphius watched the sun come up; she watched it cross the heavens and sparkle on the water; and she saw it set in glory in the evening. She also started a little garden among the rocks that surrounded her house, and she planted a few flower seeds in the stony ground. All these made Miss Rumphius happy.
b. Why was she almost perfectly happy?
= She was almost perfectly happy because she had still one more thing to do.
c. What one more thing did she have to do?
= One more thing she had to do was to do something to make the world more beautiful.
Read, reflect and write
5. Which faraway places did Miss Rumphius go to? What were her experiences there?
= Miss Rumphius went to a real tropical island, where people kept cockatoos and monkeys as pets. She walked on long beaches, picking up beautiful shells. One day, while she was walking along these beaches, she met Bapa Raja, the king of a fishing village. He took her to his house and met her with his wife.
Miss Alice Rumphius climbed tall mountains, where the snow never melted. She went through jungles and across deserts. She saw lions playing and kangaroos jumping. And everywhere, she made friends that she would never forget. Finally, she came to the Land of the Lotus-eaters, and there, getting off a camel, she hurt her back.
6. How did Miss Rumphius hit upon the idea of making the world beautiful? Why did she decide to make the world beautiful in the first place?
= Miss Rumphius hit upon the idea of making the world beautiful from her grandfather who used to tell her stories of faraway places he had travelled.
She had started a little garden among the rocks that surrounded her house, and she planted a few flower seeds in the stony ground. The flowers that she had planted the summer before had come up and bloomed in spite of the stony ground. She could see them from her bedroom window, blue and purple and rose-coloured. She wished that she could have planted more seeds this summer so that she had still more flowers the next year.
Once she found a large patch of blue and purple and rose-coloured lupines on the other side of the hill. She understood that wind and birds had brought the seeds from her garden. Then she decided to make the world beautiful in the first place.
7. Why did people call Miss Rumphius "That Crazy Old Lady"? Do you think they were right in calling her that? What did they finally know her for?
= All that summer, Miss Rumphius, her pockets full of seeds, wandered over fields and headlands, sowing lupines. She scattered the seeds along highways and down country lanes. She flung handfuls of them around the schoolhouse and at the back of the church. She tossed them into hollows and along stone walls. Seeing her, some people called her "That Crazy Old Lady."
I think they were not right in calling her that. They did not understand her philosophy in doing so. They may not respect her, but they did not have the right to disrespect her.
They finally knew her for the lupines all over the country and they started to call her Lupine Lady then.
8. What did the narrator's little friends stand outside Miss Rumphius' gate for?
= The narrator's little friends stand outside Miss Rumphius' gate to see the old lady who planted the fields of lupines. When she invited them in, they came slowly. They thought that she was the oldest woman in the world.
9. If you had to give another title to the story, what would it be? Why?
= If I had to give another title to the story, it would have been 'The Lupine Lady'.
Miss Alice Rumphius had filled the fields, hillsides, along side of the highways and down the lanes with colourful lupines. The story covers her life story and how she implemented her philosophy to beautify the world.
All that summer, Miss Rumphius, her pockets full of seeds, wandered over fields and headlands, sowing lupines. She scattered the seeds along highways and down country lanes. She flung handfuls of them around the schoolhouse and at the back of the church. She tossed them into hollows and along stone walls.
It was her untiring effort to make her world more beautiful. So this title would be very apt for these reasons.
10. Do you think each of us should try to make the world beautiful? If you were to make the world more beautiful, what would you do?
= Yes, I think each of us should try to make the world beautiful.
First of all, we should try to keep our surroundings clean. Then we should make sure that we reduce the use of plastic. We should plant more trees. We may plant flower trees in the bus-stands, waiting rooms, and other public places to beautify nature. It would reduce environmental pollution and keep the places fresh and clean.
11. Extended writing: What were the three things Miss Rumphius set out to do? How was she able to do all three?
= The three things Miss Rumphius set out to do are - To go to faraway places, to live beside the sea and to make the world more beautiful.
She went to the conservatory in the middle of the park. When she stepped inside on a wintry day, the warm moist air wrapped itself around her, and the sweet smell of jasmine filled her nose.
Miss Rumphius went to a real tropical island, where people kept cockatoos and monkeys as pets. She walked on long beaches, picking up beautiful shells. One day, while she was walking along these beaches, she met Bapa Raja, the king of a fishing village. He took her to his house and met her with his wife.
Miss Alice Rumphius climbed tall mountains, where the snow never melted. She went through jungles and across deserts. She saw lions playing and kangaroos jumping. And everywhere, she made friends that she would never forget. Finally, she came to the Land of the Lotus-eaters, and there, getting off a camel, she hurt her back.
Then she decided to find her place by the sea and make a house and stay beside the sea. From the porch of her new house, Miss Rumphius watched the sun come up; she watched it cross the heavens and sparkle on the water; and she saw it set in glory in the evening. She also started a little garden among the rocks that surrounded her house, and she planted a few flower seeds in the stony ground. All these made Miss Rumphius happy.
She had started a little garden among the rocks that surrounded her house, and she planted a few flower seeds in the stony ground. The flowers that she had planted the summer before had come up and bloomed in spite of the stony ground. She could see them from her bedroom window, blue and purple and rose-coloured. She wished that she could have planted more seeds this summer so that she had still more flowers the next year.
Once she found a large patch of blue and purple and rose-coloured lupines on the other side of the hill. She understood that wind and birds had brought the seeds from her garden. Then she decided to make the world beautiful in the first place.