Little Wolff's Wooden Shoes quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary categories best describe Little Wolff's Wooden Shoes?

   • Historical Fiction, a Real City & a Known Year
   • Fable, Talking Animals & a Stated Moral
   • Correct answer: Christmas Story, a Kind Child & a Miracle
   • Tall Tale, a Frontier Hero & Big Boasts
   • Science Fiction, Inventions & Future Worlds

   Christmas Story, a Kind Child & a Miracle is the best fit. It is a Christmas tale by the French writer François Coppée, read here in an English version adapted and translated by Alma J. Foster. It happens on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, its hero is a kind little boy, and it ends with what the last sentence calls "this miracle, which the good God had done."

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2. 2

   Question 2. Who does little Wolff live with, and what is she like?

   • His grandmother, who is kind but very poor
   • Correct answer: His aunt, who is cross and stingy with him
   • His stepmother, who makes him work all day
   • His older sister, who has no time to care for him

   Wolff is "a little seven-year-old boy named Wolff, whose parents were dead, who lived with a cross and stingy old aunt." Here cross means bad-tempered, and stingy means she hates to spend or give. She "never thought of kissing him more than once a year." Still, Wolff had "such a sweet nature" that he loved her, even though he was afraid of her.

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3. 3

   Question 3. On the cold walk to midnight mass, what does Wolff have on his feet?

   • Strong, thick-soled boots like the other boys
   • Bare feet, because he owns no shoes at all
   • Warm knitted slippers his aunt made him
   • Correct answer: Only thin socks inside heavy wooden shoes

   The other boys wore "strong, thick-soled boots." Wolff came in "the poor clothes he used to wear both weekdays and Sundays and having on his feet only thin socks in heavy wooden shoes." Those wooden shoes are the ones the story is named for.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "was suffering so much with chilblains, that he took no notice of them."

   • Correct answer: Sore, itchy swellings caused by the cold
   • Shivers that come with a high fever
   • Blisters rubbed raw by tight shoes
   • A bad cough caught from the icy winter air

   Chilblains are sore, red, itchy swellings on the fingers or toes that come from bitter cold. Wolff was "so busy blowing on his fingers" and hurting so much from the cold that he did not notice the other boys' jokes.

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5. 5

   Question 5. In this story, what do children leave in the chimney place on Christmas Eve, and why?

   • Stockings, for the Christ-Child to fill
   • A letter telling the Christ-Child their wishes
   • Correct answer: Their shoes, for the Christ-Child to fill
   • A plate of cakes for the Christ-Child to eat

   In church the boys talked "of all he was going to put in their shoes which, you might be sure, they would take good care to leave in the chimney place before going to bed." The chimney place means the fireplace. Wolff hoped "that the Christ-Child would not forget him," so he "planned to place his wooden shoes in good time in the fireplace." In this story it is shoes, not stockings.

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6. 6

   Question 6. The story says the child asleep in the church porch was not a beggar. What clue does it give?

   • He had a purse full of coins
   • Correct answer: His garment was white and new
   • He wore fine boots and a fur cap
   • A servant was waiting beside him

   "He was not a beggar, for his garment was white and new, and near him on the floor was a bundle of carpenter's tools." But his feet were bare, and they were "made blue by the cold of this bitter December night." Keep the carpenter's tools in mind. They matter at the very end.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What do the warmly dressed boys do when they pass the sleeping child?

   • They wake him up and ask him where he lives
   • They throw snowballs at him and laugh loudly
   • They ask the master to help him get home
   • Correct answer: They walk by, and some look at him with scorn

   The boys "passed by quite indifferent to the unknown child," which means they did not care. Several of them, "sons of the notables of the town," gave him looks full of "all the scorn of the rich for the poor, of the well-fed for the hungry." Scorn is the feeling that someone is not worth caring about. They did not speak to him or hurt him.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "cast on the vagabond looks in which could be read all the scorn of the rich for the poor"

   • A thief who steals from churches
   • A rich boy who never has to work
   • Correct answer: A wanderer with no home of his own
   • A child who sings in the church choir

   A vagabond is a person who wanders from place to place with no home. It does not mean a criminal. The rich boys look down on the sleeping child as a vagabond, and later the aunt grumbles about "the first vagabond that happens along."

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9. 9

   Question 9. Why does Wolff give the sleeping child his shoe?

   • Correct answer: So the child has a shoe for the Christ-Child to fill
   • So the child's bare feet will be warm all night
   • So the rich boys will stop laughing at him at school
   • So his aunt will be proud of him on Christmas morning

   Wolff says to himself that the child "has not even a wooden shoe to leave near him to-night while he sleeps, into which the little Christ-Child can put something good to soothe his misery." So, "carried away by his loving heart," he takes the shoe from his right foot and lays it "before the sleeping child." He lays the shoe in front of the child, not on his feet, so the child has something for the Christ-Child to fill.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Wolff tells his aunt the truth about his shoe. What does she do?

    • She cries and hugs him for being so kind
    • She runs to the church to get the shoe back
    • She buys him a new pair of wooden shoes
    • Correct answer: She laughs at him, then boxes his ears

    Wolff "did not know how to lie," so he told her what happened. She "only burst into a frightful fit of laughter." She said she would put "the only shoe that is left into the chimney-place" and that "the Christ-Child will put in something to-night to beat you with in the morning!" Then she "boxed the ears of the poor little fellow," which means she hit him on the ears, and sent him up to the loft.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does the aunt see in the chimney the next morning?

    • Only a bunch of switches in the one shoe
    • Correct answer: Gifts, with both of Wolff's wooden shoes in front
    • Gifts, but no sign of the shoe Wolff gave away
    • The left shoe, empty and covered with ashes

    She "saw the big chimney filled with shining toys, bags of magnificent bonbons, and riches of every sort." In front of it all stood "the right wooden shoe which the boy had given to the little vagabond, yes, and beside it," the other shoe she had set out herself. The shoe Wolff gave away had come back.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "had found only switches in their shoes!"

    • Small buttons that turn lamps on and off
    • Sudden changes from one thing to another
    • Correct answer: Thin sticks used for whipping someone
    • A bunch of false hair worn in a braid

    Switches are thin, bendy sticks used for whipping. The aunt said the Christ-Child would put in "something to-night to beat you with in the morning." But it was the children of the richest men in the town who "had found only switches in their shoes."

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13. 13

    Question 13. What did the priest find just above the bench where the child had slept?

    • Correct answer: A circlet of gold set firmly in the old stones
    • A bag of gold coins hidden under the bench
    • A white garment folded neatly on the bench
    • A carpenter's tool left lying on the floor

    Just above the bench, "in the very spot where, the night before, a child in a white garment and with bare feet, in spite of the cold, had rested his lovely head, the priest had found a circlet of gold imbedded in the old stones." A circlet is a small ring or band, and imbedded means set firmly into.

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14. 14

    Question 14. Who does the last sentence say the sleeping child really was?

    • An angel sent to test the people of the town
    • The priest's own son, lost on Christmas Eve
    • A carpenter's boy who had run away from home
    • Correct answer: Jesus of Nazareth, come back for one hour

    They all understood "that this beautiful sleeping child with the carpenter's tools had been Jesus of Nazareth himself, who had come back for one hour just as he had been when he used to work in the home of his parents." The carpenter's tools were the clue. They match the work he did in his parents' home.

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15. 15

    Question 15. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • The schoolmaster takes his pupils to midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

      Happened

      "It was the schoolmaster's custom to take all his pupils to the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, and to bring them home again afterward."

    • Wolff gives away both of his wooden shoes.

      Didn't happen

      He gives only one. "Wolff drew the wooden shoe from his right foot, laid it down before the sleeping child." Then he went home "sometimes hopping, sometimes limping with his sock wet by the snow."

    • Wolff wakes the sleeping child and talks with him.

      Didn't happen

      The child sleeps the whole time. Wolff speaks only "to himself," then lays his shoe down and goes home.

    • Wolff tells his aunt the truth about where his shoe went.

      Happened

      "Little Wolff did not know how to lie, so, although trembling with terror when he saw the rage of the old shrew, he tried to relate his adventure." To relate means to tell.

    • The children hang up stockings for the Christ-Child to fill.

      Didn't happen

      In this story children leave their shoes, not stockings. The boys planned to leave their shoes "in the chimney place before going to bed," and Wolff planned "to place his wooden shoes in good time in the fireplace."

    • Wolff goes to bed in the dark, and his pillow is wet with tears.

      Happened

      "Desolate, the child went to bed in the dark and soon fell asleep, but his pillow was wet with tears." Desolate means very sad and lonely.

    • The richest men's children find toys and sweets in their shoes.

      Didn't happen

      "The children of the richest men in the town, whom their parents had planned to surprise with the most beautiful presents had found only switches in their shoes!"

    • The gossips of the town gather around the public fountain.

      Happened

      Wolff and his aunt hear "shouts of laughter" outside and run out. "All the gossips of the town were standing around the public fountain."

    • The priest finds a bag of gold coins near the church.

      Didn't happen

      The priest finds no coins. He finds "a circlet of gold imbedded in the old stones," just above the bench where the child slept.

    • They all cross themselves and bow before the miracle.

      Happened

      "Then, they all crossed themselves devoutly," and "reverently they bowed before this miracle." To cross yourself is to make the sign of the cross.

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16. 16

    Question 16. The story's last sentence says why the miracle was done. Which answer matches its words?

    • To punish the aunt for being stingy and cross
    • Correct answer: To reward the faith and love of a little child
    • To teach the rich boys to share their toys
    • To thank the priest for his years of service

    They all "bowed before this miracle, which the good God had done to reward the faith and the love of a little child." Wolff showed faith when he hoped "that the Christ-Child would not forget him," and love when he gave his shoe away. The story does not say what happened to the aunt or the rich boys afterward.

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