Summary
Chapter 4 of the Class 5 English NCERT textbook (Santoor), "The Wise Parrot", is a short story about a caged parrot that uses clever thinking to win back its freedom — download the PDF to read the full story and explore its summary, key vocabulary, and grammar exercises.
- Cleverness Over Force — The parrot in the story cannot break free by strength alone, so it sends a coded message through the merchant to a wild parrot, who acts out 'dying' to show it how to pretend death and gain release. The chapter teaches that intelligence can solve problems that power cannot.
- Freedom and Captivity — The parrot lives in a cage of gold and is well cared for, but it longs for the open sky and green trees. The story uses the parrot's longing to show that comfort is not the same as happiness, and that freedom matters deeply to living beings.
- Collective Nouns for Groups of Animals — The chapter's language exercises teach collective nouns such as 'a flight of parrots', 'a flock of sheep', 'a pack of wolves', 'a swarm of bees', and 'an army of ants', using the story's context as a starting point.
- Present Perfect Tense — The grammar section introduces the present perfect tense (subject + has/have + verb), covering two uses: actions completed in the recent past and past experiences that are still relevant in the present, with practice sentences for students to complete.
Key points & formulas
- 01A rich merchant keeps a bright, talkative parrot in a cage of gold; the parrot entertains him with stories and songs but secretly longs for the open sky.
- 02When the merchant plans a journey, the parrot asks him to carry greetings to its wild friends in the jungle, since the merchant refuses to set it free.
- 03In a forest, the merchant delivers the message to a group of wild parrots; one parrot immediately drops from the tree and falls to the ground, which distresses the merchant.
- 04Back home, when the merchant recounts this incident, his own pet parrot falls from its perch to the cage floor, appearing dead.
- 05The merchant places the seemingly dead bird on the windowsill; the parrot then spreads its wings and flies away, explaining that its wild friend had shown it how to escape.
- 06The chapter introduces vocabulary words including 'merchant', 'perch', 'tender', 'windowsill', 'distressed', and 'sighed'.
- 07Students are asked to write a creative continuation of the parrot's story after it escapes, and to make a bird feeder as a hands-on activity.
Frequently asked questions
01What is the main idea of The Wise Parrot?
The story is about a parrot that uses intelligence and a clever plan, passed through a wild parrot friend, to trick the merchant into releasing it from a golden cage so it can fly free.
02Why did the merchant keep the parrot in a cage of gold?
The merchant was rich and kept the parrot as a beloved pet because the parrot entertained him with stories and songs; the golden cage was a sign of how precious the bird was to him.
03What did the parrot really want from the merchant?
The parrot told the merchant that it had tasted all the tender fruits and chillies and needed nothing material; what it truly wanted was to fly freely in the open sky.
04What message did the parrot ask the merchant to give its friends?
Since the merchant would not free it, the parrot asked him to tell its friends in the jungle that it sends them greetings from its cage.
05What happened when the merchant delivered the parrot's message to the wild parrots?
As soon as the merchant finished speaking, one parrot dropped from the tree and fell to the ground like a stone, which deeply distressed the merchant.
06What did the pet parrot do when it heard the merchant's story?
As soon as the merchant described how one wild parrot had fallen to the ground, the pet parrot fell from its perch to the floor of the cage, making the merchant believe it had died.
07How did the pet parrot actually escape from the cage?
The parrot had only pretended to be dead; when the merchant placed it on the windowsill, it stirred, stretched its wings, and flew off into the open sky.
08What did the escaped parrot say as it flew away?
The parrot said, 'My friend showed me how I could escape and now I can fly in the sky. Goodbye!' — revealing that the wild parrot's act of falling was a secret signal teaching it to feign death.
09Which parrot is considered wise in the story and why?
Both parrots show wisdom: the wild parrot devised the clever plan of pretending to fall dead to teach the pet how to escape, and the pet parrot understood and used that plan successfully.
10What is the collective noun for a group of parrots as used in the chapter?
The chapter uses the word 'flight' as the collective noun for a group of parrots — for example, 'a flight of parrots came to the forest.'
11What are the new words listed at the end of the chapter?
The chapter lists six new words: merchant, perch, tender, windowsill, distressed, and sighed.
12What grammar topic is taught using this chapter?
The chapter teaches present perfect tense, explaining that it is used for actions completed in the recent past or for past experiences that are still relevant in the present, following the rule Subject + has/have + Verb + Object.
More chapters in Santoor
Read Chapter 4 of Santoor, the Class 5 English NCERT textbook (2026-27 edition), online for free: the complete chapter as published by NCERT with every diagram, solved example and exercise, with a chapter summary, question answers and revision notes. Open the NCERT PDF above, or browse all NCERT Class 5 textbooks.
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