Read the poem and answer the questions given below it.
The Dog on the School Steps
He is there before the gates swing wide,
before the watchman finds his keys,
curled on the top step like a doormat,
one ear twitching in the morning breeze.
The little ones step round him gently,
the big boys jump him two at a time.
He will not move for the Principal’s car,
but wakes at the lunch bell’s first chime.
At prayer he lies at the end of a row,
eyes half shut, so still, so good,
till he lets out a long and noisy yawn
and Class Five giggles, as children would.
At lunch he makes his rounds of the benches,
half a roti here, a biscuit there,
thanks each giver with a thump of his tail,
then sleeps it off in the warm noon air.
At four the school spills out of the gates.
He sees the smallest girl to her bus,
then climbs back up to his own top step,
nobody’s dog, and one of us.
What do the lines “He will not move for the Principal’s car,
but wakes at the lunch bell’s first chime” suggest about the dog?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → He cares nothing for who is important, but a lot for food.
The two lines set what matters to people against what matters to the dog.
- The Principal’s car is the most important arrival of the morning for the school. The dog does not even move out of its way.
- But the lunch bell wakes him at its “first chime”, because lunch means food. The next stanza shows him going round the benches for roti and biscuits.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: He is afraid of the Principal and keeps out of sight till lunch. — Incorrect. Contradicted: He does not hide. He lies on the top step, right where everyone walks.
Option 3: He is too old and tired to get up for anyone at all. — Incorrect. Contradicted: He does get up for the lunch bell, goes round the benches and later walks a girl to her bus.
Option 4: He has been trained to guard the steps until the lunch break. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: He is “nobody’s dog”. No one has trained him, and he sleeps rather than guards.