The Story Of Keesh Reading Quiz printable pdf download

The Story of Keesh

By Jack London

Directions: Read the short story and answer the questions that follow. Refer to the text to check your answers.

Keesh lived long ago on the rim of the polar sea, was head

is my mother and was his wife, should have meat in plenty so

man of his village through many and prosperous years, and

long as there be meat in plenty in the tribe. I, Keesh, the son

died full of honors with his name on the lips of men. So long

of Bok, have spoken."

ago did he live that only the old men remember his name, his

He sat down, his ears keenly alert to the flood of protest and

name and the tale, which they got from the old men before

indignation his words had created.

them, and which the old men to come will tell to their

"That a boy should speak in council!" old Ugh-Gluk was

children and their children's children down to the end of time.

mumbling.

And the winter darkness, when the north gales make their

long sweep across the ice-pack, and the air is filled with

"Shall the babes in arms tell us men the things we shall do?"

flying white, and no man may venture forth, is the chosen

Massuk demanded in a loud voice. "Am I a man that I should

time for the telling of how Keesh, from the poorest igloo in

be made a mock by every child that cries for meat?"

the village, rose to power and place over them all.

The anger boiled a white heat. They ordered him to bed,

He was a bright boy, so the tale runs, healthy and strong, and

threatened that he should have no meat at all, and promised

he had seen thirteen suns, in their way of reckoning time. For

him sore beatings for his presumption. Keesh's eyes began to

each winter the sun leaves the land in darkness, and the next

flash, and the blood to pound darkly under his skin. In the

year a new sun returns so that they may be warm again and

midst of the abuse he sprang to his feet.

look upon one another's faces. The father of Keesh had been a

"Hear me, ye men!" he cried. "Never shall I speak in the

very brave man, but he had met his death in a time of famine,

council again, never again till the men come to me and say, 'It

when he sought to save the lives of his people by taking the

is well, Keesh, that thou shouldst speak, it is well and it is our

life of a great polar bear. In his eagerness he came to close

wish.' Take this now, ye men, for my last word. Bok, my

grapples with the bear, and his bones were crushed; but the

father, was a great hunter. I, too, his son, shall go and hunt the

bear had much meat on him and the people were saved. Keesh

meat that I eat. And be it known, now, that the division of that

was his only son, and after that Keesh lived alone with his

which I kill shall be fair. And no widow nor weak one shall

mother. But the people are prone to forget, and they forgot the

cry in the night because there is no meat, when the strong men

deed of his father; and he being but a boy, and his mother

are groaning in great pain for that they have eaten overmuch.

only a woman, they, too, were swiftly forgotten, and ere long

And in the days to come there shall be shame upon the strong

came to live in the meanest of all the igloos.

men who have eaten overmuch. I, Keesh, have said it!"

It was at a council, one night, in the big igloo of Klosh-Kwan,

Jeers and scornful laughter followed him out of the igloo, but

the chief, that Keesh showed the blood that ran in his veins

his jaw was set and he went his way, looking neither to right

and the manhood that stiffened his back. With the dignity of

nor left.

an elder, he rose to his feet, and waited for silence amid the

The next day he went forth along the shore-line where the ice

babble of voices.

and the land met together. Those who saw him go noted that

"It is true that meat be apportioned me and mine," he said.

he carried his bow, with a goodly supply of bone-barbed

"But it is ofttimes old and tough, this meat, and, moreover, it

arrows, and that across his shoulder was his father's big

has an unusual quantity of bones."

hunting-spear. And there was laughter, and much talk, at the

The hunters, grizzled and gray, and lusty and young, were

event. It was an unprecedented occurrence. Never did boys of

aghast. The like had never been known before. A child, that

his tender age go forth to hunt, much less to hunt alone. Also

talked like a grown man, and said harsh things to their very

were there shaking of heads and prophetic mutterings, and the

faces!

women looked pityingly at Ikeega, and her face was grave

and sad.

But steadily and with seriousness, Keesh went on. "For that I

know my father, Bok, was a great hunter, I speak these words.

"He will be back ere long," they said cheeringly.

It is said that Bok brought home more meat than any of the

"Let him go; it will teach him a lesson," the hunters said.

two best hunters, that with his own hands he attended to the

"And he will come back shortly, and he will be meek and soft

division of it, that with his own eyes he saw to it that the least

of speech in the days to follow."

old woman and the last old man received fair share."

"Na! Na!" the men cried. "Put the child out!" "Send him off to

Vocabulary

bed!" "He is no man that he should talk to men and

1. industrious: hard-working and persistent

2. solicitude: excessive concern; uneasiness occasioned by fear of

graybeards!"

evil

He waited calmly till the uproar died down.

3. temperance: moderation, specifically in respect to using liquors

4. acquiesce: to accept or consent by silence or by omitting to object

"Thou hast a wife, Ugh-Gluk," he said, "and for her dost thou

speak. And thou, too, Massuk, a mother also, and for them

dost thou speak. My mother has no one, save me; wherefore I

speak. As I say, though Bok be dead because he hunted over-

keenly, it is just that I, who am his son, and that Ikeega, who

The Story Of Keesh Reading Quiz

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