Students can also check the English Summary to revise with them during exam preparation.
Princess September Summary Analysis and Explanation By William Somerset Maugham
About the Poet William Somerset Maugham
| Poet Name | William Somerset Maugham |
| Born | 25 January 1874, Paris, France |
| Died | 16 December 1965, Nice, France |
| Short stories | The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Verger |
| Movies | The Painted Veil, Quartet, Trio, The Razor’s Edge |
Princess September Introduction
This is an interesting story that talks about the love and bond of humans and birds. Freedom is the basic right of every individual. No one should take it away for his own greed. Doing good always pays back in the manifold.
The princess was a good human being. Her essential goodness was reflected in her behavior with the bird. She believed in ‘live and let live’. In contrast to her, her sisters did evil and received the evil fate in return.
Princess September Summary of the Lesson in English
The story is set in Thailand. There live a king and his queen with many daughters. To make it easy to remember the names of his daughter, he kept their names on months. His youngest daughter was named ‘September’.
The king gave away gifts on his birthday. Once he gave green parrots in a golden cage to all his daughters. The princesses were fond of the parrots and taught them to talk. ‘God save the king’ and ‘Pretty Polly’.
One day Princess September found her parrot lying dead in the cage. It was heart-rending to her. She kept on crying at the loss. Her maids of honor tried to comfort her but failed in their effort.
So they went to the queen who did not pay heed to her distress. The maid of honor was to go to a party left the princess crying in bed with taking supper. Then they entered a little bird and hopped into her room.
It started singing a beautiful song about the lake in the king’s garden, willow trees; goldfish etc. that made September forget all her sadness and hunger. The little bird offered herself in place of her pet parrot. Princess September was delighted to own such a melodious singing bird.
The next morning, he wished her good morning when the maid of Honour brought her breakfast; it was fed to him by the Princess. His singing impressed the audiences and the princess feels elated.
She then took him to tour to her sisters and parents’. Everyone was delighted by his performance. Queen did not like the parrots saying repeated lines.
Whereas the king admired the parrot saying ‘God save the king’. Yet condemned ‘Pretty Polly’. That discouraged the princesses and their parrot. September enjoyed the song of the bird.
That went on for a few days unless the other sister poisoned the mind. They said that she had to bear the death of her pet and they would arrange a parrot for her.
But September replied that she did not need parrot anymore as she had a better bird. They asked the whereabouts of the bird. To which she replied that the bird flew off to meet his father-in-law.
The princesses tried to scare her that he might not come back because he was not caged. Their persistent nagging made her uncomfortable.
Insecure Princess September felt that something might happen to him. She was worried that hawks or someone might have trapped his. All she wanted was his safety.
Then appeared the bird and started chirping in her ears. She grew angry. The bird told her that he would not have replied as his father – in – law was giving a party.
He wanted him to attend the party. But he knew that she would be worried so he returned. September was not willing to take any chance further, she decided to cage him she put him in the cage.
The bird was shocked at the sudden reaction of her. The reason she gave was that the queen’s cat might harm her. The bird agreed to it but for once only. He wanted to sing after supper but could not continue as he did not feel like.
The next morning he wanted to be free. His desperation grew, he beat against the door and shout but all his efforts went in vain. Rather eight princesses were delighted to see him in pain.
On the request to set him free, September replied that she knew what’s better of him. She wanted him to sing for her and offered him a piece of sugar. He could not sing inside the cage.
He wanted to see the trees, the lake and willow trees all by himself. He was not willing to see through the cage. He gave up eating and singing, then anxious princess turned to her sisters for their opinion.
They called him obstinate and wanted her to conform to her stand. September agreed to their suggestion and felt the same way. She assumed that he might be accustomed to bars of the cage.
The next morning she wished the bird but got no answer. She was shocked to see that the bird was lying unmoved in the cage. She took him out of the cage and started crying. When her tears fell on him, he looked up.
He pleaded that he could not sing inside the cage and if he could not sing, he would die.
She freed him then and there. He promised her that he would return to her. She sobbed and was feeling lonely. Her sisters mocked at her. But he returned to her and sang beautiful songs for her.
She kept her windows open to let him go or come whenever he felt like. She grew beautiful and got married to the king of Cambodia and was carried on a white elephant. Her sisters were married to the councilor only as they were not as beautiful.
What is the summary of the lesson Princess September?
It is a story about a princess, September. The king had gifted a parrot to all the nine princesses. But princess September’s parrot died. While she was weeping all alone in her room, a little bird came into her room.
What lesson did Princess September teach you?
Princess September learnt a valuable lesson in the story. She understood that if we love someone then we must let that person go. We should not be selfish and consider the other person’s happiness and freedom before our happiness. In real life too, we can apply this theory.
Why did the princess agree to let the bird free?
Answer: The falling condition of the bird and danger of its death convinced the princess to give freedom to the bird. The bird was happy and thankful to the Princess. She promised to come every day and sing for the Princess. Question 13: Princess September kept her window open day and night.
Why did Princess clap her hands?
Explanation: The princess clapped with delight as the bird wished to live her.
What is the most important idea in the story Princess September?
The most important idea conveyed by the story is that freedom is a valuable thing. No amount of money and comforts can make for the loss of freedom. In this story, Princess September put the bird in the golden cage as gave all the comfort.
Why did Princess September put the bird in a cage?
Yes, The sisters were unkind and cruel to Princess September. They were jealous of her little bird because it sang sweet songs for her. Also every time he was asked to sing, he sang a new song. … ‘ They, therefore, instigated the Princess September to put her bird in the cage and aroused unnecessary fear in her.