Paper A

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

I.
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat, They took
some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note. The Owl
looked up to the stars above, 5
And sang to a small guitar, “O lovely Pussy!
O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are,
You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

II.
Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl! 10
How charmingly sweet you sing! Oh! let us be
married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?” They sailed away,
for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows, And there in 15
a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, His nose, His
nose, With a ring at the end of his nose.

III.
“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.” So they took it 20
away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in
hand, on the edge of the sand, 25
They danced by the light of the moon, The moon,
The moon, They danced by the light of the moon.
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear

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From Bond Comprehension Papers, 10-11+ years (ISBN 9780192742346)

© Oxford University Press 2017
3
 The Jumblies
I.
They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea: In spite of all
their friends could say,
On a winter’s morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea! And when the 5
Sieve turned round and round,
And every one cried, “You’ll all be
drowned!”
They called aloud, “Our Sieve ain’t big,
But we don’t care a button! we don’t care a 10
fig!
In a Sieve we’ll go to sea!” Far and few,
far and few, Are the lands where the
Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and
their hands are blue, And they went to 15
sea in a Sieve.
II.
They sailed away in a Sieve, they did, IV.
In a Sieve they sailed so fast, With only a And all night long they sailed away;
beautiful pea-green veil And when the sun went down, They
Tied with a ribbon, by way of a sail, 20 whistled and warbled a moony song
To a small tobacco-pipe mast; And every To the echoing sound of a coppery gong, 50

one said, who saw them go, In the shade of the mountains brown. “O
“O won’t they be soon upset, you know! Timballo! How happy we are,
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long, When we live in a Sieve and a crockery-jar!
And, happen what may, it’s extremely wrong 25 And all night long, in the moonlight pale,
In a Sieve to sail so fast!” Far and few, We sail away with a pea-green sail, 55

far and few, Are the lands where the In the shade of the mountains brown!” Far
Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and and few, far and few, Are the lands where
their hands are blue, And they went to the Jumblies live; Their heads are green,
sea in a Sieve. 30 and their hands are blue; And they went
to sea in a Sieve. 60
III.
The water it soon came in, it did, V.
The water it soon came in; So to keep them They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,
dry, they wrapped their feet To a land all covered with trees, And they
In a pinky paper all folded neat, bought an owl, and a useful Cart,
And they fastened it down with a pin. And 35 And a pound of Rice, and a cranberry Tart,
they passed the night in a crockery-jar, And a hive of silvery Bees. And they bought 65
And each of them said, “How wise we are! a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
long, And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
Yet we never can think we were rash or 40 And no end of Stilton Cheese. Far and few,
wrong, far and few, Are the lands where the 70
While round in our Sieve we spin!” Far and Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and
few, far and few, Are the lands where the their hands are blue; And they went to
Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and sea in a Sieve.
their hands are blue, And they went to 45
sea in a Sieve. The Jumblies by Edward Lear
2

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3
From Bond Comprehension Papers, 10-11+ years (ISBN 9780192742346)
© Oxford University Press 2017
 These questions are about The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.

1 Name THREE items that the owl and the pussy-cat took with them on their travels.

2 What time of day was it when the owl and the pussy-cat first set sail?

3 Which animal suggested that there should be a wedding?

4 How many days were the animals at sea?

5 What do you think is meant by these words as they are used in the text?

a tarried (line 12)

b quince (line 23)

3
c fowl (line 10)

6 Describe in your own words how they find a wedding ring.

7 Find FOUR homophones in this sentence. Write them, with their homophone
partners, below.

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?”

a / b /
4
c / d /

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3
From Bond Comprehension Papers, 10-11+ years (ISBN 9780192742346)
© Oxford University Press 2017
 These questions are about The Jumblies.

8 Name TEN items that the Jumblies bought in the ‘land all covered with trees’.

9 What time of the year was it when the Jumblies set sail?

10 Name TWO things that they did to keep themselves dry.

11 What was attached to the mast?

1

12 What did the Jumblies do at sunset?

13 What do you think is meant by these words as they are used in the text?

a voyage (verse II, line 24)

b warbled (verse IV, line 49)

3
c rash (verse III, line 40)

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From Bond Comprehension Papers, 10-11+ years (ISBN 9780192742346)
© Oxford University Press 2017
 These questions are about both poems.

14 The Owl and the Pussy-Cat and The Jumblies are both ‘nonsense’ poems. Find
SIX pieces of evidence to support this statement. You can take your evidence
from either or both poems.

15 Both poems are about a sea journey. Find another FOUR things that both poems
have in common.

Total 35

BOND_COMP_4TH_10–11.indd 9
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3
From Bond Comprehension Papers, 10-11+ years (ISBN 9780192742346)
© Oxford University Press 2017