The Kite
The Kite
by Mrs. W. K. Clifford
British writer Lucy Clifford (1846–1929), also known as Mrs. W. K. Clifford, was born in the West Indies and later studied art in London, where she met her husband, William Kingdon Clifford. William Kingdon Clifford was a mathematician and philosopher. Among the Cliffords’ friends were many well-known authors of their time, including Henry James, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf. Mrs. Clifford wrote novels, plays, and stories. She also wrote literature for children.—Ed.
1
It was the most tiresome kite in the world: always wagging its tail, shaking its ears, breaking its string, sitting down on the tops of houses, getting stuck in trees, entangled in hedges, flopping down on ponds, or lying flat on the grass, and refusing to rise higher than a yard from the ground.
2
I have often sat and thought about that kite, and wondered who its father and mother were. Perhaps they were very simple people, just made of newspaper and little bits of common string knotted together, obliged to fly day and night for a living. It was pretty, for it had a smooth, broad face, and little pink and white ears; and with these, no one, let alone a kite, could help being pretty.
3
But though the kite was pretty, it was not good, and it did not prosper; it came to a bad end, oh! a terrible end indeed. It stuck itself on a roof one day, a common red roof with a broken chimney and three tiles missing. It stuck itself there, and it would not move. The children tugged and pulled and coaxed and cried, but still it would not move. At last they fetched a ladder, and had nearly reached it when suddenly the kite started and flew away—right away over the field and over the heath, and over the far far woods, and it never came back again—never—never.
4
Dear, that is all. But I think sometimes that perhaps beyond the dark pines and the roaring sea the kite is flying still, on and on, farther and farther away, forever and forever.
Public Domain Based on the information in the passage, the author would most likely agree with which saying?
A )Pretty is as pretty does.
B)A watched pot never boils.
C)Every cloud has a silver lining.
D) Actions speak louder than words.
1 answer
Based on the information in the passage, the author would most likely agree with the saying:
A) Pretty is as pretty does.
This is because the passage discusses the kite's outward beauty ("it was pretty") but emphasizes that it was not good and did not prosper, indicating that external beauty does not necessarily correspond to inherent value or success.