NCERT Class 7 English The Invention of Vita Wonk

Before you read

Who are the oldest people you know? What are the oldest things you have (i) in your house, (ii) in your city, town or village? How old are they? Have you ever wished that you were older? Have you wished that you could grow up in a hurry?

The Invention of Vita-Wonk

Mr Willy Wonka begins by inventing Wonka- Vite, which makes people younger. But Wonka- Vite is too strong. So some people disappear, because their age becomes Minus! One person actually becomes minus eighty-seven, which means he’s got to wait eighty-seven years before he can come back. Mr Willy Wonka must invent a new thing...

Mr Wonka said, “So once again I rolled up my sleeves and set to work. Once again I squeezed my brain, searching for the new recipe... I had to create age... to make people old... old, older, oldest... ‘Ha-ha!’ I cried, for now the ideas were beginning to come. ‘What is the oldest living thing in the world? What lives longer than anything else?’

“A tree,” Charlie said. “Right you are, Charlie! But what kind of a tree? Not the Douglas fir. Not the oak. Not the cedar. No, no, my boy. It is a tree called the Bristlecone pine that grows upon the slopes of Wheeler Peak in Nevada, U.S.A. You can find Bristlecone Pines on Wheeler Peak today that are over 4000 years old! This is fact, Charlie. Ask any dendrochronologist you like (and look that word up in the dictionary when you get home, will you please?). So that started me off. I jumped into the Great Glass Elevator and rushed all over the world collecting special items from the oldest living things...

•  A PINT OF SAP FROM A 4000-YEAR-OLD BRISTLECONE PINE
•  THE TOE-NAIL CLIPPINGS FROM A 168-YEAR-OLD RUSSIAN FARMER CALLED PETROVITCH GREGOROVITCH
•  AN EGG LAID BY A 200-YEAR-OLD TORTOISE BELONGING TO THE KING OF TONGA
•  THE TAIL OF A 51-YEAR-OLD HORSE IN ARABIA
•  THE WHISKERS OF A 36-YEAR-OLD CAT CALLED CRUMPETS
•  AN OLD FLEA WHICH HAD LIVED ON CRUMPETS FOR 36 YEARS
•  THE TAIL OF A 207-YEAR-OLD GIANT RAT FROM TIBET
•  THE BLACK TEETH OF A 97-YEAR-OLD GRIMALKIN LIVING IN A CAVE ON MOUNT POPOCATEPETL
•  THE KNUCKLEBONES OF A 700-YEAR-OLD CATTALOO FROM PERU...”

Working with the Text

1. (i) What trees does Mr Wonka mention? Which tree does he say lives the longest?

    (ii) How long does this tree live? Where can you find it?

2. How many of the oldest living things can you remember from Mr Wonka’s list? (Don’t look back at the story!) Do you think all these things really exist, or are some of them purely imaginary?

3. Why does Mr Wonka collect items trom the oldest things? Do you think this is the right way to begin his invention?

4. What happens to the volunteer who swallows four drops of the new invention? What is the name of the invention?

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 7 English The Invention of Vita  Wonk