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The Devoted Friend

by Oscar Wilde

This passage tells the story of a rodent named Water-rat who lacks close personal connections. Water-rat’s conversation with a duck and a bird centers around the true meaning of friendship.

As you read, pay attention to who is telling the story.



One morning the old Water-rat put his head out of his hole. He had bright beady eyes and stiff grey whiskers and his tail was like a long bit of black rubber. The little ducks were swimming about in the pond, and their mother, who was pure white with red legs, was trying to teach them how to stand on their heads in the water.


“You will never be in the best society unless you can stand on your heads,” she kept saying to them. Every now and then she showed them how it was done. But the little ducks paid no attention to her. They were so young that they did not know what an advantage it is to be in society at all.


“What disobedient children!” cried the old Water-rat.


“Nothing of the kind,” answered the Duck, “every one must make a beginning. Parents cannot be too patient.”


“Ah! I know nothing about the feelings of parents,” said the Water-rat; “I am not a family man. In fact, I have never been married, and I never intend to be. Love is all very well in its way, but friendship is much higher. Indeed, I know of nothing in the world that is nobler or rarer than a devoted friendship.”


“And what is your idea of the duties of a devoted friend?” asked a Bird, who was sitting in a willow-tree and had overheard the conversation.


“Yes, that is just what I want to know,” said the Duck.


“What a silly question!” cried the Water-rat. “I should expect my devoted friend to be devoted to me, of course.”


“And what would you do in return?” said the little bird flapping his tiny wings.


“I don’t understand you,” answered the Water-rat.


“Let me tell you a story on the subject,” said the Bird.


“Is the story about me?” asked the Water-rat. “If so, I will listen to it”


“It is applicable to you,” answered the Bird; and he flew down and told the story of The Devoted Friend.


“Once upon a time,” said the Bird, “there was an honest little fellow named Hans.”


“Was he very famous and well respected?” asked the Water Rat.


“No,” answered the Bird, “I don’t think he was very famous at all, except for his kind heart and his good-humored face.”


___


Adapted from “The Devoted Friend,” by Oscar Wilde, Public domain.

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Questions
Which of these inferences about the narrator’s point of view is most supported by the passage?


The first-person narrator shares their motivations and thoughts about events.


The third-person narrator knows the inner thoughts of each character.


The first-person narrator describes events from their own perspective.


The third-person narrator describes events from an omniscient perspective.

Answer 1

The third-person narrator describes events from an omniscient perspective.

Explanation: The passage is told in third person ("the old Water-rat put his head out of his hole") and the narrator supplies information beyond any one character's viewpoint (for example, general observations about the ducklings and the situation), indicating an omniscient narrator.