Chapter: 14. Three Wise Old Women
A. Fill in the blanks.
The women went for a walk on a winter day. The third woman carried a fan to keep off the sun. They started screaming ‘We’ll drop! We’ll drop!’ after they climbed the ladder. They used their basket to scoop out water from the ladder. The poet says you must find out if they saw any bears, because she doesn’t know. B. Answer these questions.
What did the first two women carry, and for what purpose? One woman carried a basket to hold some berries, and the other carried a ladder to climb for cherries. Why did the women cry in a fright after they got lost? They cried in a fright because they imagined they might meet a bear that would eat them. What was their first idea to escape the imagined bear? Their first idea was to climb a tree to be out of the way of the bears. How did the ladder become a “leaky ladder instead of a boat”? A strong wind blew their ladder right out to sea, and since it was floating on the water, they were on it as if it were a boat, but it couldn’t hold water like a proper boat. What two items did they use to navigate the ladder-boat on the sea? They used their basket to bale water out of the ladder, and they used their fan as a sail. C. Answer these questions with reference to the context.
“The third, and she was the wisest one, Carried a fan to keep off the sun.”
a. Why is it ironic that the third woman is called “the wisest one”?
* It is ironic because she is called “wisest,” but she carries a fan to keep off the sun on a winter day, which is a very impractical and foolish item for the weather. This highlights the humorous and illogical nature of the poem.
b. What does this line tell us about the overall tone of the poem?
* This line immediately sets a whimsical and humorous tone for the poem. The use of irony and the absurd detail of a fan in winter signal that the poem is a piece of nonsense verse, meant for entertainment and laughter rather than serious wisdom. “So they climbed their ladder up to the top, And sat there screaming ‘We’ll drop! We’ll drop!’”
a. Why did they climb their own ladder instead of a tree?
* They climbed their own ladder because, in their panic over the imaginary bear, they realized there wasn’t a single tree for miles around to climb for safety.
b. What new fear did they develop once they were on top of the ladder?
* Once they were on top of the ladder, their new fear was that they would fall or “drop” from its height, replacing their initial fear of the bear. “Then they took their basket, the water to bale, They put up their fan instead of a sail:”
a. What problem were they trying to solve by baling water?
* They were trying to solve the problem of the ladder taking on too much water, as it was leaky and every time waves rolled in, they got wet to the skin. Baling helped remove this water.
b. How does this action show their resourcefulness?
* This action shows their resourcefulness because they creatively adapted the items they had brought for entirely different purposes (a basket for berries, a fan for sun) to solve their immediate problems on the sea. They used what they had to try and survive their absurd situation. 
Answer key