Question

What is meant by ‘ the day was almost done’?

Answer 1

Hint: The context of the above line is given in the poem “ A legend of the Northland'' by Phoebe Cary. The poem is the narration of the legend where Saint Peter got angry seeing an old lady’s greed. The theme of the poem reflects that being greedy is a sin and as per Saint Peter those who are greedy do not deserve the comforts of life (like the old lady had food, shelter and fire to keep her warm’.

Complete answer:
‘And being faint with fasting,
For the day was almost done,
He asked her, from her store of cakes,
To give him a single one.’

The line quoted in the question can be found in the above quatrain. ‘He’, in the above line, refers to Saint Peter while ‘her’, refers to an old lady. Saint Peter had stopped at a cottage after seeing a lady baking cake in her fireplace.

The ‘day was almost done’ precisely implies that Saint Peter’s fasting for the day was over. It also implies that the fasting saint had done all his business of the day(preaching, teaching, fasting) and the day was about to end. Therefore, since he was tired and hungry as well, he asked the lady for a single cake from her store.

Note: However, the poet doesn’t find this legend true, its narration is mainly done to teach a valuable moral of life. The moral is that we must not be greedy. The character of saints is often used in a poem or story to teach people ways of living a better life.