Get out your paper and pen to jot down the answers to this “Out of Africa” quiz.  Even if you didn’t read the book, you might enjoy the challenge.  Looking anything up on your computer or in you book is considered “smart thinking.”  The prize goes to the commenter with the most correct answers.  I have a leather-bound journal in which to write out your memoirs, or favorite recipes, or great quotes, or latest quip from your little guy. 

1.  What is the first line from the book “Out of Africa”?

• A)  I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills.
• B)  I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills.
• C)  I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills.
• D)  All of the above.

2.  On the cover pages of the book Izak Dinesen writes, “Equitare, Arcum tendere, Veritatem dicere” which is Latin for. . .

• A)  Equal, Accurate, Verifiable
• B)  at the Equator, with the Arc, a desirable vocation
• C)  to ride a horse, to aim a bow, to speak the truth
• D)  Equality, Kills, Ideas

3.  Fill in the blank.  “It is impossible that a ________ will not play a part in your life.

• A)  town
• B)  servant
• C)  mountain
• D)  gazelle

4.  Why did Kamante awaken Karen early one morning?

• A) Christ was coming
• B) A plague of locusts were coming
• C) A lion was on the porch
• D) Kamante wanted tobacco

5)  When Karen taught the Kikuyu rhymes in their language they said. . .

• A)  Your mouth drips with honey.
• B)  What wonderment.
• C)  Nonsense talk, all nonsense
• D) Speak again, Speak like rain

6)  Capons and Poulardes are

• A)  Spices
• B)  Chickens
• C)  Precious stones
• D)  Trees

7)  The definition of atavism is. . .

• A)  the study of birds who are flightless
• B)  the tendency to revert to a previous ancestral trait
• C)  a coffee weevil that eats the beans prior to ripening
• D)  wasting time on an unimportant matter

8)  Izaak prefaces her first chapter with the quote, “From the Forests and Highland we come, we come,”  and prefaces her last chapter with the quote, “Gods and men, we are all deluded thus!”  Both of these quotes come from. . .

• A) “The Hymn of Pan” by Shelley
• B)  “King Lear” by Shakespeare
• C)  “Panis Angelica” by St. Francis
• D)  None of the above, these are Izaak’s own words

9)  When Karen was trying to learn the Swahili language, which number was she told was missing?

• A)  7
• B)  8
• C)  9
• D) 10

10) Karen said, “One can always impress a Native by . . .”

• A)  arriving in a fast, sleek, car.
• B)  speaking in French.
• C)  telling a good joke.
• D)  wasting more time than they.

11) The definition of “troglodyte” is. . .

• A)  a caveman
• B)  a fossil of a crustacean
• C)  a person with frog-like features
• D) an excellent swimmer

12) Complete the quote.  “Noble found I ever the _______ and insipid the ________.

• A)  gazelle; ox
• B)  native; immigrant
• C)  morning; evening
• D)  opera; daily news

Well, that’s the quiz.  Enter you answers in the comment section for a leather bounded journal.

–rebecca