The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck Trivia Quiz

Answer: She was not allowed to hatch her own eggs.

Jemima had not been very good at sitting on her eggs for the whole twenty-eight days it took for them to hatch. She had taken breaks and let them get cold so that they did not hatch, and the farmer's wife gave Jemima's later batches of eggs to a chicken to sit on. When they hatched these ducklings stayed with the hen because they thought she was their mother.

Answer: A shawl and a poke bonnet

Because she desperately wanted to hatch her own eggs, Jemima decided to make another nest outside the farm in secret, so that her next batch of eggs would not be taken away from her. One nice day in spring she put on her shawl and bonnet then left the farm and started walking away along a cart track.

Answer: She ran downhill then jumped upwards.

Jemima walked up a hill and then saw a wood some distance away. She thought it would contain a safe place for her to lay some more eggs and then sit on them until they hatched. She needed to fly to the wood but was not very used to flying. However she managed to run down the hill for a little way and then jump up into the air, after which she was able to fly very well.

Answer: She thought he was very civil and good-looking.

Once over the wood, Jemima saw an open space and landed there to look for a good nesting place. She was surprised to see a nicely dressed gentleman sitting on a tree stump reading a newspaper. This gentleman had black pointed ears, whiskers and a long, bushy tail and spoke very nicely, and Jemima was impressed by him.

The illustrations in the book show that he was really a fox, but Jemima never realised this.

Answer: By offering her his woodshed to lay her eggs in

After Jemima explained that she was in the wood to find a place to lay her eggs, the gentleman put away the newspaper he had been reading and offered to let her make a nest in his woodshed. He explained that he had a sackful of soft feathers there which she could sit on. In fact, she found the shed contained a great number of feathers and easily made a comfortable nest in there.

Answer: Faggots (bundles of sticks) and turf

Following the foxy gentleman to his home, Jemima saw it was built of turves and of bundles of sticks tied together. On top of the roof were two bottomless pails, placed one on top of the other, and these served as a chimney for the gentleman. The shed where she was going to lay her eggs was constructed from old soap boxes, and was quite dilapidated to look at.

Answer: Nine

Every afternoon Jemima travelled to the foxy gentleman's woodshed to lay her eggs and in total she laid nine eggs there. He seemed very interested in what she was doing, telling her that he was very fond of eggs and ducklings and assuring her from the start that he would look after her nest.

He was so enthralled by the eggs that he kept counting them and turning them around when Jemima was not present.

Answer: In the farmhouse kitchen

Finally Jemima told the foxy gentleman that the next day she would start sitting on her eggs. He asked her to bring some herbs to flavour an omelette for them and also sage and onions, which were usually used to stuff poultry. Jemima was not very intelligent and did not realise that he wanted to eat her and her eggs. Kep, the collie-dog, saw her picking up two onions, then asked her what was going on, and she told him everything.

Answer: Someone with a black nose locked her in.

When Jemima arrived at the gentleman's home in the wood, he seemed uneasy and was scenting the air. After she entered the woodshed, a black nose sniffed under the door before its owner locked it with her inside. She was frightened, especially when she heard lots of growling and squealing noises outside but soon Kep the collie let her out.

The foxy gentleman was not there and was not seen again.

Answer: In June

Kep had saved Jemima but, sadly, the young dogs Kep had brought along to help him rushed into the shed and ate all her eggs. She cried over their loss on the way back to the farm. Later that year, in June, Jemima laid some more eggs and this time was allowed to sit on them and hatch them herself. Only four hatched into ducklings, which she thought was due to her nerves, but the narrator believed was because she was poor at sitting.