Why the Chimes Rang quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary categories best describe Why the Chimes Rang?

   • Historical Fiction, a Real Country & Its Real Kings
   • Fable, Talking Animals & a Stated Moral
   • Tall Tale, Frontier Hero & Big Boasts
   • Correct answer: Christmas Story, Far-Away Land & Old-Tale Opening
   • Science Fiction, Inventions & Future Worlds

   Christmas Story, Far-Away Land & Old-Tale Opening is the best fit. The story takes place on Christmas Eve, and Alden printed it in a book of fairy tales for children. It opens the way old tales do: "There was once, in a far-away country where few people have ever traveled, a wonderful church."

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does the story say about when the Christmas chimes used to ring?

   • Every Sunday, as the crowds of people climbed the hill to church
   • Correct answer: On Christmas Eve, when the best offering was laid on the altar
   • At midnight, when a bell-ringer pulled the rope in the tower
   • On Christmas morning, when the king rode up to the church gate

   The chimes "were not meant to be played by men or on common days." On Christmas Eve the people brought "their offerings to the Christ-child; and when the greatest and best offering was laid on the altar," the chimes came "sounding through the music of the choir." Nobody pulls a rope. "Some said that the wind rang them," and others said angels did.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "at the top of the tower was a chime of Christmas bells."

   • Correct answer: A set of bells tuned to ring together
   • The one ringing sound a single bell makes
   • A quick remark added to a conversation
   • A small bell that rings at a front door

   Here a chime is a set of bells that are tuned to ring together, like the Christmas bells high in the tower. The word can also mean the sound one bell makes, or to chime in means to join a talk, but in this story it means the whole set of bells.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Why did people say the chimes had been silent for so many years?

   • The tower had grown so tall that no one could climb up to the bells
   • A great storm had cracked the bells, and no one could mend them
   • Correct answer: People had grown less careful of their gifts for the Christ-child
   • The king had made a law that no one could ring them at Christmas

   "It was said that people had been growing less careful of their gifts for the Christ-child, and that no offering was brought, great enough to deserve the music of the chimes." Notice the words it was said: this is what people believed. Only one old man was sure they had ever been heard, because "his mother had spoken of hearing them when she was a little girl."

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5. 5

   Question 5. Pedro and Little Brother have a secret plan to see the Christmas Eve service. Who does Pedro hope they might see there?

   • The king, who he has heard will bring his royal crown to the altar
   • The great musician who cast the bells and hung them in place
   • The old man whose mother heard the chimes as a little girl
   • Correct answer: The Christ-child, who he has heard sometimes comes to bless it

   Pedro says, "I have even heard it said that the Christ-child sometimes comes down to bless the service. What if we could see Him?" The boys "knew very little about the Christmas chimes." They were going to see the celebration, not to make the bells ring.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What do the boys find on the snow near one of the city gates?

   • Correct answer: A poor woman who fell, too sick and tired to find shelter
   • A lost little girl who is crying for her mother in the cold
   • An old man who has dropped his basket of gifts for the church
   • A small dog that has curled up asleep in a drift of soft snow

   "It was a poor woman, who had fallen just outside the city, too sick and tired to get in where she might have found shelter." Pedro saw that she would soon be "so sound asleep, in the wintry air, that no one could ever waken her again." That means she would freeze to death. Pedro says so himself: "she will freeze to death if nobody cares for her."

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7. 7

   Question 7. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "take this little silver piece of mine, and lay it down for my offering"

   • An offer to sell something for a price
   • A class or course that a school gives
   • Correct answer: A gift given to God or to the church
   • A share of a company sold to buyers

   An offering is a gift given to God or to the church. On Christmas Eve the people bring "their offerings to the Christ-child" and lay them on the altar. Pedro's offering is his little silver coin.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Before Little Brother goes on alone, which two things does Pedro ask him to do?

   • Ask the king for help, and tell the old minister about the poor woman
   • Correct answer: See and hear everything twice, and lay Pedro's silver piece on the altar
   • Sing in the choir for him, and save him a place near the marble altar
   • Climb up to the bells, and hurry back before the closing hymn is over

   Pedro says, "you must see and hear everything twice, Little Brother—once for you and once for me." Then he asks him to "take this little silver piece of mine, and lay it down for my offering, when no one is looking." He also asks him to bring "some one to help her" on the way back, and says, "Do not forget where you have left me."

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9. 9

   Question 9. What does Pedro say he will do for the woman while Little Brother is at the church?

   • Build a little fire, and wrap her up in his own warm winter coat
   • Carry her home to his village, and put her to bed by the stove
   • Run along the city wall, and call out to a guard for some help
   • Correct answer: Rub her to keep her warm, and try to get her to eat his leftover bun

   Pedro says, "I will rub her to keep her from freezing, and perhaps get her to eat the bun that is left in my pocket." He stays with her in the snow while Little Brother goes on alone.

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10. 10

    Question 10. The king walks up to the altar last of all. What is he hoping for?

    • Correct answer: To win the chime of the Christmas bells for himself
    • To see the Christ-child come down and bless the service
    • To show the crowd that he is kinder than the rich men
    • To be thanked by the old minister in front of everyone

    "And last of all walked the king of the country, hoping with all the rest to win for himself the chime of the Christmas bells." He lays his royal crown, "all set with precious stones," on the altar. Every one said, "we shall hear the bells now," but "only the cold old wind was heard in the tower."

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11. 11

    Question 11. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "At the close of the service came the procession with the offerings to be laid on the altar."

    • A list of steps for getting a whole job done
    • Correct answer: A line of people walking forward in order
    • The act of owning or keeping something
    • The kind of work a person trains to do

    A procession is a line of people moving forward in order, often at a special event. Here the rich men, the great writer and, last of all, the king march up the aisle one by one to lay their gifts on the altar. Do not mix it up with process, which means a set of steps, or possession, which means owning something.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • Pedro and Little Brother walk hand in hand toward the city.

      Happened

      Even though the walking was hard, "before nightfall they had trudged so far, hand in hand, that they saw the lights of the big city just ahead of them."

    • The boys' parents walk to the city with them.

      Didn't happen

      The trip is the boys' "secret plan." Pedro and Little Brother "were able to slip quietly away early in the afternoon." When Pedro stays behind with the woman, Little Brother has to "go on alone," so no grown-up is with them.

    • Pedro rubs snow on the poor woman's face to try to wake her.

      Happened

      Pedro "knelt down beside her and tried to rouse her." He turned her face toward him "so that he could rub some of the snow on it."

    • The poor woman thanks Pedro and tells him her name.

      Didn't happen

      The woman never speaks in the story, and she is never named. The story does not tell us who she is.

    • When Pedro says he will stay behind, Little Brother cries out, "Alone?"

      Happened

      "Alone?" cried Little Brother. "And you not see the Christmas festival?" Later he says, "But I can not bear to leave you, and go on alone."

    • Pedro walks up to the altar and lays down his silver piece himself.

      Didn't happen

      Pedro stays outside the city wall with the woman. He gives his silver piece to Little Brother and asks him to lay it down "when no one is looking."

    • A great writer lays down a book he has been making for years.

      Happened

      "A great writer laid down a book that he had been making for years and years."

    • The bells ring the moment the king lays his crown on the altar.

      Didn't happen

      After the crown is laid down, "still only the cold old wind was heard in the tower." The chimes ring later, after "the choir began the closing hymn."

    • After the king's gift, some people say they never really believed in the chimes.

      Happened

      "Some of them said, as they had before, that they never really believed the story of the chimes, and doubted if they ever rang at all."

    • An angel appears in the church and rings the bells.

      Didn't happen

      No angel appears in this story. Earlier the story tells us, "Some said that the wind rang them, and others that they were so high that the angels could set them swinging," but that is only what people said. When the chimes ring, no one is seen ringing them.

    • The organist suddenly stops playing during the closing hymn.

      Happened

      "The procession was over, and the choir began the closing hymn. Suddenly the organist stopped playing as though he had been shot." Then the old minister held up his hand for silence.

    • The story tells us the name of the country where the church stands.

      Didn't happen

      The story never names the country, the city or the year. It only says the church stood "in a far-away country where few people have ever traveled."

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13. 13

    Question 13. When do the chimes finally ring?

    • Right after the king sets his royal crown on the altar
    • When the organ plays and the walls of the church shake with sound
    • Correct answer: After the procession, while the choir sings the closing hymn
    • As Little Brother first steps in through the church doors

    "The procession was over, and the choir began the closing hymn." The organist stopped, the old minister held up his hand for silence, and then "there came softly, but distinctly, swinging through the air, the sound of the chimes in the tower."

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14. 14

    Question 14. The people stand up and stare at the altar to see what great gift woke the bells. What do the nearest of them see?

    • The king's royal crown, shining brighter than it did before
    • Pedro, who has carried the poor woman into the great church
    • The great writer's book, lying open beside the heavy baskets of gold
    • Correct answer: Little Brother, who has laid Pedro's silver piece on the altar

    The story ends: "But all that the nearest of them saw was the childish figure of Little Brother, who had crept softly down the aisle when no one was looking, and had laid Pedro's little piece of silver on the altar." The story stops there. It does not tell what happened to Pedro or the woman afterward.

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15. 15

    Question 15. Pedro's gift is only a little silver piece, but he also gave up the celebration he had planned for so long to help a stranger. Many readers find a lesson in this. Which lesson do the story's details best support?

    • Correct answer: A gift is great because of the love behind it, not its price
    • The biggest and costliest gift will always win the prize
    • Children should never go to a big city without a grown-up
    • It is wiser to keep your plans a secret from everyone

    The story never states a moral, but this lesson rests on what happens. The rich people gave "without giving anything that he wanted for himself," and the king was "hoping with all the rest to win for himself the chime." Their costly gifts were followed by silence. Pedro gave up "the Christmas celebration that he had been planning for so long" to care for a woman in the snow, and the chimes rang when his little silver piece was laid on the altar. Many readers see this as a story about giving with love.

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