NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 8 Mijbil the Otter WITH POEM

 

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 8 Mijbil the Otter

Oral Comprehension Check
Page 106

Question 1.
What ‘experiment’ did Maxwell think Camusfearna would be suitable for?
Answer:
The writer had gone to Southern Iraq in the year 1956. He took a fancy to the idea that instead of keeping a dog as a pet, he would go for an otter. Camusfearna was surrounded by water, so it would be an eminently suitable spot for this experiment.

Question 2.
Why does he go to Basra? How long does he wait there, and why?
Answer:
The writer went to Basra to collect and answer his mail from Europe.
He had to wait there for 5 days as his mail did not arrive.

Question 3.
How does he get the otter? Does he like it? Pick out the words that tell you this.
Answer:
His friend bought the otter for him and sent it to the place where he was staying.
The author liked it. This is seen in “The second night Mijbil came on to my bed in the small hours and remained asleep in the crook of my knees….” “ I made a body-belt for him…”.

Question 4.
Why was the otter named ‘Maxwell’s otter’?
Answer:
The otter was named by zoologists as Lutrogale Perspicillata Maxwelli. Hence, it was called Maxwell’s otter in short.

Question 5.
Tick the right answer. In the beginning, the otter was
1. aloof and indifferent
2. friendly
3. hostile
Answer:
What happened when Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom? What did it do two days after that?
In the beginning, the otter was aloof and indifferent.

Question 6.
What happened when Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom? What did it do two days after that?
Answer:
When the author first took Mijbil to the bathroom, the otter first went wild with joy in the water. He plunged and rolled in it. He jumped up and down the length of the bathtub. He made enough slosh and splash. After two days, the otter suddenly disappeared and went to the bathroom to play in the water and opened the tap on his own.

Page 108

Question 1.
How was Mijbil transported to England?
Answer:
Mijbil was packed in a box as the airlines had directed the author. As British airlines did not allow pets on board the author had to book a ticket on a different airline from Iraq to Paris and then Paris to London.

Question 2.
What did Mij do to the box?
Answer:
The box was lined with a metal sheet. Mij didn’t feel comfortable in the box and tried to escape. In his attempt to escape, Mij tore into the metal lining of the box and in the process hurt himself.

Question 3.
Why did Maxwell put the otter back in the box? How do you think he felt when he did this?
Answer:
As there was no other way to carry Mij to London, Maxwell put in the box again. He must have felt pity on the way the otter hurt himself. Moreover, he must be worried as well.

Question 4.
Why does Maxwell say the airhostess was “the very queen of her kind”?
Answer:
The airhostess was very sympathetic after listening to Maxwell’s story. She understood how he might be feeling and then gave him permission to take the otter out of the box. Due to all this, Maxwell referred her as “the very queen of her kind”.

Question 5.
What happened when the box was opened?
Answer:
As soon as the box was opened, Mij ran out. Then it ran all over the place scaring all the passengers. It created a claos and most of the people in the plane got scared.

Page 110

Question 1.
What game had Mij invented?
Answer:
Mij invented a game of playing with the ball in a unique way. One of the author’s suitcase was damaged and had a slope on the top part. Mij would put the ball on the high end and run to catch it as it slided to the lower end.

Question 2.
What are ‘compulsive habits’? What does Maxwell say are the compulsive habits of
1. school children
2. Mij?
Answer:
Compulsive habits are usually strange act or behaviour which a person does without clear reason. For example a cricket player may put on his right shoes first as he believes it would bring him good luck or a kid jumping over a fence, instead of going through the passage way. Usually compulsive beahviour of children are full of childhood mischief and those of adults are of incorrigible type.
1. As per this story, children must place their feet squarely on the centre of each paving block; must touch every seventh upright of the iron railings, or pass to the outside of every second lamp post.
2. Mijbil while on its way to home would jump over the boundary wall railing and run at full speed throughout its length.

Question 3.
What group of animals do otters belong to?
Answer:
Otters belong to a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines. The other animals of this group are badger, mongoose, weasel, stoat, mink and others.

Question 4.
What guesses did the Londoners make about what Mij was?
Answer:
As otters are not found in England so Londoners made the wildest possible guesses about Mij. Their guesses ranged from a baby seal, a squirrel, a hippo to a brontosaurus.

Thinking about the Text
(Page 110, 111)

Question 1.
What things does Mij do which tell you that he is an intelligent, friendly and fun-loving animal who needs love?
Answer:
Mij invented his own game out of ping-pong ball and a worn down suitcase. He loved water, and once he understood that on opening the tap water came out of it, he would get into the tub and played with water.
He had gradually formed a special attachment with Maxwell. It giyw desperate when Maxwell left it in a box and wanted to come out as soon as possible.

Question 2.
What are some of the things we come to know about otters from this text?
Answer:
Otters belong to a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines, shared by badger, mongoose, weasel, stoat, mink and others. They are found in large numbers in marshes. Arabs keep them as pets and tame them. Otters love to spread water and splash in it. Maxwell’s otter was of a race previously . unknown to science and was at length named by zoologists Lutrogale Perspicillata Maxwelli.

Question 3.
Why is Mij’s species now known to the world as Maxwell’s otter?
Answer:
Maxwell’s otter was of a race previously unknown to science and was at length named by zoologists Lutrogale Perspicillata Maxwelli, hence, it is known as Maxwell’s otter in short.

Question 4.
Maxwell in the story speaks for the otter, Mij. He tells us what the otter feels and thinks on different occasions. Given below are some things the otter does. Complete the column on the right to say what Maxwell says about what Mij feels and thinks.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 8 The Trees

Thinking about the Poem
(Page 100,101)

Question 1.
1. Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest.
2. What picture do these words create in your mind: “….. sun bury its feet in shadow…..1′? What could the poet mean by the sun’s ‘feet’?
Answer:
1. The three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest are – the sitting of a bird on trees, the hiding of insects and the sun burying its feet in the shadow of the forest.
2. The sun’s ‘feet’ refers to the rays of the sun that fall on the earth. When there is no shadow on the ground, because there are no trees, the rays fall directly on the ground. In a forest with trees, the shadow hides the sun rays and it seems that the sun is burying its feet in the shadow that fall from the trees.

Question 2.
1. Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves and their twigs do?
2. What does the poet compare their branches to?
Answer:
1. In the poem, the trees are trapped in the poet’s house. Their roots work all night to disengage themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor. The leaves try very hard to move towards the glass and put a lot of pressure on it so that it breaks, while the small twigs get stiff with exertion.
2. The poet compares the branches to newly discharged patients of a hospital. The large branches of the trees become cramped due to the roof above them, and when they get free they rush stumblingly to the outside world. While doing so, they look half-shocked like the patients, who wait for a long time to get out of the hospital.

Question 3.
1. How does the poet describe the moon:
(a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and
(b) at its end? What causes this change?
2.What happens to the house when the trees move out of it?
3. Why do you think the poet does not mention “the departure of the forest from the house” in her letters? (Could it be that we are often silent about important happenings that are so unexpected that they embarrass us? Think about this again when you answer the next set of questions.)
Answer:
1. At the beginning of the third stanza, the poet says that the full moon is shining in the open sky in the fresh night. At the end of the stanza, she describes that the moon breaks into pieces like a broken mirror and shines on the heads of the tallest oak trees. As the trees move outside, they cover some of the shine of the moon and it can be seen only in parts. This is why, it seems that the moon has broken into pieces.
2. When the trees move out of the house, the glasses break and the whispers of the trees vanish, leaving the house silent.

3. The poet hardly mentions about “the departure of the forest from the house” in her letters because it is humans, who did not care for nature in the first place. So, maybe, the poet now thinks that nobody would be interested in knowing about the efforts that the trees are making in order to set themselves free. If other men cared about the trees, they would not have destroyed them. It seems that this whole beauty of trees moving back to forests can be seen and felt only by the poet.

Question 4.
Now that you have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poem might mean. Here are two suggestions. Can you think of others?
1. Does the poem present a conflict between man and nature? Compare it with A Tiger in the Zoo. Is the poet suggesting that plants and trees, used for ‘interior decoration’ in cities while forests are cut down, are ‘imprisoned1, and need to ‘break out’?
2. On the other hand, Adrienne Rich has been known to use trees as a metaphor for human beings: this is a recurrent image in her poetry. What new meanings emerge from the poem if you take its trees to be symbolic of this particular meaning?

Answer:
Since a poem can have different meaning for different
readers and the poet can mean two different things using the same imagery, both these meanings can be justified in . context of the poem:
1. Yes, the poem presents a conflict between man and nature. Man has always caused much harm to nature, without realizing that it actually is a harm to the human race. Humans cut down forests for forest goods, which has destroyed a lot of natural beauty. By keeping trees inside walls and denying them their natural home, they are denying them their freedom. That is why, the trees want to move out. Similarly, in the poem A Tiger in the Zoo, the poet shows that animals feel bounded by cages and they want to get free and run wild in the open.

2. If trees have been used as a metaphor for human beings, then the poem would mean that like the trees, humans too want to break free of the boundaries that life puts on them. Modern life with all kinds of physical comfort has also brought a lot of moral downfall. Our lives have become busy and we have become selfish and greedy. Man would also want to enjoy the beauty of nature and go out in the open and be free, just like trees.