The Hundred Dresses Part2 (contd)

Q9. What did the girls write to Wanda?

Ans. The girls wrote a friendly letter to Wanda telling her that she had won the
competition and how pretty her drawings were. They also asked her if she liked the
new place and her teacher. Though they wanted to say that they were sorry but they
ended up writing a friendly letter and signed with lots of love.

Q10. Did they get a reply? Who was more anxious for a reply? How do you know?
Ans. No, they did not get a reply to their letter. Maddie was more anxious as she
thought more about it. She would put herself to sleep making speeches for Wanda,
defending her from great crowds of girls who were trying to tease her with “How
many dresses have you got?” Before Wanda would answer, she would ask everybody
to stop and then everybody would feel ashamed the way she felt.
Peggy, on the other hand, had begun to forget about it.

Q11. How did the girls know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased
her?
Ans. The girls knew that Wanda liked them as through the letter Wanda had asked
Miss Mason to give the green dress with red trimmings to Peggy and blue one to
Maddie. When Maddie looked at the drawing carefully, she realized that the dress
had a face and head that resembled her own self. In Peggy’s drawing, the head and
the face looked like Peggy. She also wrote that she missed her teacher. She wished all
a merry Christmas.

Q12. Maddie thought her silence was as bad as Peggy’s teasing. Was she right?
Ans. Yes, Maddie was right when she thought that her silence was as bad as Peggy’s
teasing because her silence encouraged Peggy to tease Wanda. Maddie is equally
responsible for committing the offence as Peggy. Though she never teased Wanda
directly, but she never showed her courage to stop Peggy from doing so. Maddie was
always a mute spectator.

Q13. What led Peggy to believe that Wanda was dumb? Did she change her opinion
later?
Ans. Peggy believed that Wanda was dumb as whenever Peggy asked her the
question related to the number of her dresses, she would always reply that she had
hundred dresses, even when everyone knew that she was poor. She also knew that
everyone laughed at her, and then too she kept on giving the same answer. She even
gave a description of her hundred dresses. All this made Peggy think that she was
dumb.
She changed her opinion later when she saw the drawings of hundred dresses Wanda
had talked about. She was highly impressed by her exquisite drawings and
appreciated her talent.

Q14. Why do you think Wanda gave Maddie and Peggy the drawings of the dresses?
Why are they surprised?
Ans. When Maddie and Peggy wrote a letter to Wanda, she might have understood
their feelings behind their letter. So she requested Miss Mason to give two of her
drawings to them and taught them a lesson of life. She surprised them as she gifted
them the drawings with their faces.

Q15. Do you think Wanda really thought the girls were teasing her?
Ans. Yes, Wanda really thought that the girls were teasing her as the note from her
father indicated that the students made fun of her. Though she was aware of the
misbehavior of the girls towards her but she did not react. She fabricated a story of
hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes to quiet them. She knew that the children
intended to make fun of her poverty and laughed at her whatever she said. So she
exaggerated everything whenever she answered their questions.