10. Fill in the blanks to form the summary

 

"Princess September" is written by Somerset Maugham, abridged from "Princess September and the Nightingale". Like usual Maugham's works, this story is based on the  of human .

 

 

The King and Queen of  give birth to several daughters and name them in the order of the months, with the last being Princess September (the Protagonist). On one of his birthdays, the King presents to each of his daughters a parrot in a golden cage. The parrots become much talked about in the palace until September's parrot dies in the cage, and she befriends a  out of the blue.

 

 

While the parrots can only utter a few words, the songbird can  the crowd with  songs. The Nightingale now grabs all the , much to the  of the other eight princesses. Hence the sisters manipulate September into shutting the bird in a cage, citing the hawks and snares in the kingdom.

 

 

The songbird's plea goes in . Nevertheless, the bird is locked in a cage, thereby refusing to sing or eat. However, on witnessing the bird's plight, September goes against her sisters' misadvise to free the bird. The bird, in return, promises to visit her often and sticks to its .

 

 

The bird, when let free, comes back with the loveliest of songs. The  between the bird and Princess grows beautifully, and so does the Princess. On the other hand, the eight princesses grow to be ugly and .

 

 

At the end of the story, Princess September is married to the King of Cambodia, being carried off on a white elephant while the other eight princesses are married off to the less-worthy councillors of the King with a pound of tea and a Siamese cat.