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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 5: Part III, Chapters 1-5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Mizra Nasirul Mulk's relationship to Bahadur Shah?
(a) He is Bahadur Shah's Lord Governor's son.
(b) He is Bahadur Shah's great-grandson.
(c) He is Bahadur Shah's son.
(d) He is Bahadur Shah's nephew.

2. To what animal does the narrator compare the city of Delhi in the story's opening pages?
(a) A beaten dog.
(b) An elderly bull.
(c) A starving tiger.
(d) An overburdened donkey.

3. What does Khwaja Ashraf Ali see in the cage that Nazir is carrying through the Chowk?
(a) Rare pigeons that Mir Nihal has bought at the Chowk.
(b) Two of his own pigeons.
(c) Several of Hakim Bashir's Kabuli pigeons.
(d) The bodies of the pigeons that died of heat.

4. What does Bilqeece's family mix with the hand-washing water that the men of the Nihal family use after the wedding feast?
(a) Kerosene.
(b) Attar.
(c) Dye powder.
(d) Flower petals.

5. What happens shortly after Bilqeece gives birth to her daughter?
(a) Begam Waheed comes to live with Bilqeece and Ashgar.
(b) Mirza Shahbaz Beg dies.
(c) Ghafoor marries a fourteen-year-old girl.
(d) Bundoo offers Asghar a business opportunity.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of his family members demonstrates sympathy for the dead pigeons and for Mir Nihal?

2. In the story about Mir Jamal's pigeons, what does Mir Jamal refuse to do?

3. What is put into Bilqeece's palm for Asghar to try to eat during the wedding ceremony?

4. What word do the older people like Begam Nihal use to refer to the place where they live?

5. In the opening paragraphs of Part II, Chapter 7, what aspect of the days before the Coronation is stressed?

(see the answer key)

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