Read the extract and answer the following questions briefly:

And I had done a hellish thing,

And it would work’em woe;

For all averred, I had killed the bird

That made the breeze to blow.

(a) What ‘hellish thing’ had ‘I’ done?

(b) What made the other mariners contradict themselves?

(c) Explain the meaning of ‘averred’.

(a) In the question, the ‘hellish thing’ is the cruel act of killing the Albatross. ‘I’ is the mariner. The mariner had killed the Albatross without any justified reason. The bird, Albatross, was considered to be a Christian soul and a good omen for sailors. It was the sole source of life and recreation to the stranded sailors. The Albatross was the one which helped the helmsman to steer their ship through glaciers. Without rhyme or reason the mariner had shot the Albatross with his crossbow.

(b) Earlier the sailors had criticized the mariner’s hellish action of killing the Albatross. The sailors believed that it was the Albatross that made the breeze blow. Now they thought differently and contradictorily. The sailors began to appreciate the mariner’s action because they thought that it was the Albatross that brought the fog and mist.

(c) It means to say firmly. The mariner strongly believed that the Albatross was the reason behind the fog and mist which prohibited the rays of the Sun god from reaching the ship. This he said firmly.