Why Did They Do That? Trivia Quiz

Answer: He convinces them that whitewashing the fence is fun.

"Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart...[t]he retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his legs, munched his apple and planned the slaughter of more innocents. There was no lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to jeer, but remained to whitewash."

Tom seemed able to talk himself out of almost any situation. If he had grown up in New York City, I suspect he might have tried to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to tourists.

Answer: Gulliver urinated on the palace.

"I had the evening before, drunk plentifully of a most delicious wine...By the luckiest chance in the world, I had not discharged any part of it. The heat I had contracted by coming very near the flames, and by labouring to quench them made the wine begin to operate my urine; which I voided in such a quantity and applied so well to the proper places, that in three minutes the fire was whole extinguished."

The full title of the book is: "Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In four parts, By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships." In the book, Gulliver visits a land of tiny people, a land of giants, a land of science run amuck, and a land of talking horses. As far as the royal apartments after that fire, I probably would not want to see or smell them either!

Answer: David was born a boy, rather than a girl.

" 'The baby,' said my aunt. 'How is she?' 'Ma'am,' returned Mr. Chilip. 'I apprehended you had known. It's a boy.' My aunt never said a word, but took her bonnet by the strings, in the manner of a sling, aimed a blow at Mr. Chilip's head with it, put it on bent, walked out, and never came back. She vanished like a discontented fairy; or like one of those supernatural beings who it was popularly supposed I was entitled to see; and never came back any more."

The full title of this book is "The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences and Observations of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (which he Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)." Miss Trotwood is shown in a much better light when she takes David into her home after his mother's death. Incidentally, David is a posthumous baby--his father died six months before he was born.

Answer: Moby Dick has destroyed Ahab's lower leg.

" 'Who told thee that?' cried Ahab; then pausing, 'Aye, Starbuck; aye, my hearties all round; it was Moby Dick that dismasted me; Moby Dick that brought me to this dead stump I stand on now. Aye, aye,' he shouted with a terrific, loud, animal sob, like that of a heart-stricken moose; 'Aye, aye! it was that accursed white whale that razed me; made a poor pegging lubber of me for ever and a day!' Then tossing both arms, with measureless imprecations he shouted out: 'Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up. And this is what ye have shipped for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out. What say ye, men, will ye splice hands on it, now? I think ye do look brave.' "

Through most of the book, Ahab, uses a lower leg made from whale bone to walk about the ship. Late in the story, however, when his whalebone leg is destroyed, the ship's carpenter fashions Ahab a temporary one made from wood.

Answer: He can propose marriage without seeming a fortune hunter.

" 'The treasure is lost,' said Miss Morstan, calmly. As I listened to the words and realized what they meant, a great shadow seemed to pass from my soul. I did not know how this Agra treasure had weighed me down, until now that it was finally removed. It was selfish, no doubt, disloyal, wrong, but I could realize nothing save that the golden barrier was gone from between us. 'Thank God!' I ejaculated from my very heart. She looked at me with a quick, questioning smile. 'Why do you say that?' she asked. 'Because you are within my reach again,' I said, taking her hand. She did not withdraw it. 'Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said, "Thank God.' 'Then I say, "Thank God," too,' she whispered, as I drew her to my side. Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one."

Conan Doyle wrote four novels and dozens of short stories about the detective and the doctor. Holmes rather liked Miss Morstan, but he seems disappointed that Watson wanted to marry her.

Answer: The Martians are infected by Earth germs and die.

"A mighty space it was, with gigantic machines here and there within it, huge mounds of material and strange shelter places. And scattered about it, some in their overturned war-machines, some in the now rigid handling-machines, and a dozen of them stark and silent and laid in a row, were the Martians--dead!--slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared; slain as the red weed was being slain; slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth. For so it had come about, as indeed I and many men might have foreseen had not terror and disaster blinded our minds. These germs of disease have taken toll of humanity since the beginning of things--taken toll of our prehuman ancestors since life began here. But by virtue of this natural selection of our kind we have developed resisting power; to no germs do we succumb without a struggle, and to many--those that cause putrefaction in dead matter, for instance--our living frames are altogether immune. But there are no bacteria in Mars, and directly these invaders arrived, directly they drank and fed, our microscopic allies began to work their overthrow. Already when I watched them they were irrevocably doomed, dying and rotting even as they went to and fro. It was inevitable."

H. G. Wells wrote many other novels including "The Invisible Man" and "The Time Machine." He also wrote many short stories and works of non-fiction.

Answer: Frankenstein had promised to create a mate for the monster and went back on his word.

"The monster saw my determination in my face and gnashed his teeth in the impotence of anger. 'Shall each man,' cried he, 'find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn. Man! You may hate, but beware! Your hours will pass in dread and misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish from you your happiness forever. Are you to be happy while I grovel in the intensity of my wretchedness? You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains-revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery. Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict.' 'Devil, cease; and do not poison the air with these sounds of malice. I have declared my resolution to you, and I am no coward to bend beneath words. Leave me; I am inexorable.' 'It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding-night.'"

The monster in the original story is far more verbally articulate than he is portrayed by Boris Karloff in the 1933 movie. The original novel was framed by a series of letters from a ship's captain to his sister.

Answer: Tom refuses to divulge the whereabouts of two other escaped slaves.

" 'Speak!" thundered Legree, striking him furiously. "Do you know anything?' 'I know, Mas'r; but I can't tell anything. I can die!' Legree drew in a long breath; and, suppressing his rage, took Tom by the arm, and, approaching his face almost to his, said, in a terrible voice, 'Hark 'e, Tom!-ye think, 'cause I've let you off before, I don't mean what I say; but, this time, I've made up my mind, and counted the cost. You've always stood it out again' me: now, I'll conquer ye, or kill ye!-one or t' other. I'll count every drop of blood there is in you, and take 'em, one by one, till ye give up!' "

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was one of the best selling books of the 19th century. It is popularly thought to have helped push the United States towards the Civil War. When meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1862, Abraham Lincoln supposedly said, "So this is the little lady who started this great war."

Answer: He is serving as a chaplain with the Union Army.

"The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly, 'We haven't got Father, and shall not have him for a long time.' She didn't say 'perhaps never,' but each silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was."

The hugely popular "Little Women" inspired two sequels "Little Men" and "Jo's Boys". It has also appeared on the big screen in several different versions.

Answer: They planted a white rose-tree rather than a red rose-tree.

" 'Would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, 'why you are painting those roses?' Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a low voice, 'Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know. So you see, Miss, we're doing our best, afore she comes, to-' At this moment Five, who had been anxiously looking across the garden, called out 'The Queen! The Queen!' and the three gardeners instantly threw themselves flat upon their faces. There was a sound of many footsteps, and Alice looked round, eager to see the Queen."

Lewis Carroll wrote a sequel to this novel, "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There" (1871). His real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and he was a mathematician.