Class 10 English Chapter 8 Mijbil the Otter

Answer:

Maxwell
thought that he would keep an otter instead of a dog. Camusfearna,
ringed by water a very short distance from its door, would be an
eminently suitable spot for the experiment.

Answer:

He
went to Basra, to the Consultate-General,
to collect and answer his mail from Europe. There, he found that his
friend’s mail had arrived, but his had not. He sent a message
to England. When nothing happened even after three days, he tried
placing a call to England. On the first day, the line was out of
order; on the second day, the exchange was closed for a religious
holiday. On the third day, there was another breakdown. He arranged
to meet his friend, who had left, in a week’s time. His mail
finally arrived five days later.

Answer:

When
he received his mail, he carried it to his bedroom to read. There,
he saw two Arabs and beside them was a sack that twisted from time to
time. They handed him a note from his friend saying that he had sent
him an otter.

Yes,
he liked it. We know this because he uses the term ‘otter
fixation’ to refer to his feeling towards the otter. He felt
that this otter fixation or this strong attachment towards otters was
something that was shared by most other people who had ever owned
one.

Answer:

The
otter was of a race previously unknown to science and was at length
named by zoologists Lutrogale
perspicillata maxwelli or Maxwell’s
otter.

Answer:

In the
beginning, the otter was aloof and indifferent.

Answer:

When
Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom, it went wild with joy in the
water for half an hour. It was plunging and rolling in it, shooting
up and down the length of the bathtub underwater, and making enough
slosh and splash for a hippo.

Two days
after that, it escaped from his bedroom to the bathroom. By the time
he got there, Mijbil was up on the end of the bathtub and fumbling at
the chromium taps with its paws. In less than a minute, it had turned
the tap far enough to produce some water and after a moment, achieved
the full flow.

Answer:

Maxwell
booked a flight to Paris and from there he
would go on to London. The airline insisted that Mij should be packed
in a box (not more than eighteen inches square) that was to be placed
on the floor, near his feet.

Answer:

Maxwell
had put Mij in the box and left for a meal. When he came back, he saw
a horrific spectacle. There was complete silence from the box.
However, from its airholes and chinks around the lid, blood had
trickled and dried. He took off the lock and tore open the lid. Mij,
exhausted and covered with blood, whimpered and caught his leg. It
had torn the lining of the box to shreds. He removed the last of it
so that there were no cutting edges left.

Answer:

By
the time Maxwell had removed the last of the lining of the box so
that there were no cutting edges left, it was just ten minutes for
the flight to take off. He had to rush to the airport, which was five
miles away, and that is why he put the miserable otter back into the
box. Like the otter, Maxwell would also
have felt miserable for putting it back in the box, particularly so,
after seeing that the otter disliked being in the box.

Answer:

Maxwell
said that the airhostess was “the very queen of her kind”
because she was extremely friendly and helpful. He took her into his
confidence about the incident with the box.
She suggested that he might prefer to have his pet on his knee.
Hearing this, he developed a profound admiration for her, for she
understood the pain of both the otter and its owner.

Answer:

When
the box was opened, Mij leapt out of it
immediately. It disappeared very quickly down the aircraft. Several
passengers shrieked. A woman stood up on her seat screaming that
there was a rat. He saw Mij’s tail disappearing beneath the
legs of an Indian passenger. He dived for it, but missed. The
airhostess suggested him to be seated and that she would find the
otter. After a while, Mij had returned to him. It climbed on his knee
and began to rub its nose on his face and neck.

Answer:

Mij
was an intelligent animal. It invented it own game out of the
ping-pong balls. It screwed the tap till water began to flow and then
it would play and splash in the water. Though it was aloof and
indifferent in the beginning, it soon
became very friendly. It formed a special attachment with Maxwell. It
responded when Maxwell called out his name. It grew desperate when
Maxwell left it in a box and it got hurt while trying to come out of
it. After Maxwell took it out, it clung to his feet. It was a
fun-loving animal. It enjoyed playing all kinds of games. It would
play with a selection of toys, ping-pong balls, marbles, rubber
fruit, and a terrapin shell. It required love and affection from
Maxwell and it got that readily.

Answer:

Otters
belong to a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines,
shared by the badger, mongoose, weasel, stoat, mink and others.
Maxwell’s otter was of a race
previously unknown to science and was at length named by zoologists
Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli
or Maxwell’s otter. They are found in large numbers in marshes.
They are often tamed by the Arabs. It is characteristic of otters
that every drop of water must be extended and spread about the place;
a bowl must at once be overturned, or, if it would not be overturned,
be sat in and splashed in until it overflowed. For them, water must
be kept on the move. Otters love playing various games, especially
with a ball.

Answer:

Maxwell’s
otter was of a race previously unknown to science and was at length
named by zoologists Lutrogale
perspicillata maxwelli or Maxwell’s
otter.

Answer:

Mij
invented a game with a ping-pong ball,
which kept him engrossed for up to half an hour at a time. Maxwell
had a suitcase that had become damaged, such that the lid, when
closed, remained at a slope from one end to the other. Mij discovered
that if the ball was placed on the high end, it would run down the
length of the suitcase. It would dash around to the other end to
surprise the ball. Then, it would grab it and trot off with it to the
high end once more.

Answer:

Compulsive
habits are habits that are impossible to
control. According to Maxwell, children on their way to and from
school must place their feet squarely on the centre of each paving
block; they must touch every seventh upright of the iron railings, or
pass to the outside of every second lamp post. Such were the
compulsive habits of children.

Opposite
to Maxwell’s flat, there was a single-storied primary school.
Along its frontage ran a low wall some two feet high. On its way
home, Mij would tug Maxwell to this wall, jump onto it, and gallop
the full length of its thirty yards, distracting both the pupils and
the staff. Such was the compulsive habit of Mij.

Answer:

Otters
belong to a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines,
shared by the badger, mongoose, weasel, stoat, mink and others.

Answer:

According
to Maxwell, the average Londoner does not
recognize an otter. The Londoners who saw Mij made different guesses
about who Mij was. They guessed, among other things, that it was a
baby seal, a squirrel, a walrus, a hippo, a beaver, a bear cub, a
leopard and a brontosaur.

Answer:

Answer:

(i)He
spent most of his time in play.

(iii)I
watched, amazed; in less than a minute he had turned the tap far
enough to produce a trickle of water, and after a moment or two
achieved the full flow.

(v)A
suitcase that I had taken to Iraq had become damaged on the journey
home, so that the lid, when closed, remained at a slope from one end
to the other. Mij discovered that if he placed the ball on the high
end it would run down the length of the suitcase. He would dash
around to the other end to ambush its arrival, hide from it,
crouching, to spring up and take it by surprise, grab it and trot off
with it to the high end once more.

(vii)It
is not, I suppose, in any way strange that the average Londoner
should not recognize an otter, but the variety of guesses as to what
kind of animal this might be came as a surprise to me. Mij was
anything but an otter.

Answer:

1.Emperor Akbar used to be fond of
musical evenings.

2.
Every evening we used to take long
walks on the beach.

3.
Fifty years ago, very few people used
to own cars.

4.
Till the 1980s, Shanghai used to have
very dirty streets.

5.
My uncle would spend his holidays by
the sea.

6.
My uncle used to take long walks on the
beach.

7.
My uncle used to be fond of musical
evenings.

Answer:

1.Emperor Akbar used to be fond of
musical evenings.

2.
Every evening we used to take long
walks on the beach.

3.
Fifty years ago, very few people used
to own cars.

4.
Till the 1980s, Shanghai used to have
very dirty streets.

5.
My uncle would spend his holidays by
the sea.

6.
My uncle used to take long walks on the
beach.

7.
My uncle used to be fond of musical
evenings.

Answer:

1.

(i)
Noun

(ii)
Noun

(iii)
Proper noun

(iv)
Proper noun

(v)
Adjective plus noun

(vi)
Adjective plus noun

2.

Temple
− white temple, stone temple, first temple

Person
− incorrigible person, ridiculous person

Gifts
− hundred gifts, ordinary gifts, birthday gifts

Time
− college time, rough time, first time

Crossing
− railroad crossing, first crossing

Physique
− plump physique, ordinary physique

Three
girls −
first three girls, incorrigible three girls

Thoughts
− incorrigible thoughts, uncomfortable thoughts, ridiculous
thoughts, heartbreaking thoughts, first thoughts, ordinary thoughts

Scream
− tremendous scream, loud scream

Subject
− college subject, ordinary subject

Flight
− rough flight, first flight

Coffee
− invigorating coffee, ordinary coffee

Triangle
− love triangle

Boys
− college boys, incorrigible boys, rough boys, hundred boys

Farewell
− college farewell, heartbreaking farewell

Landscape
− bare landscape, rough landscape, white landscape

Chatterbox
− incorrigible chatterbox

View
− tremendous view, panoramic view, ordinary view

Dresses
− hundred dresses, ordinary dresses, birthday dresses, marriage
dresses

Roar
− tremendous roar, loud roar

Expression
− bare expression, slang expression, slack expression

Handkerchief
− white handkerchief, ordinary handkerchief

Profession
− family profession, first profession, ordinary profession

Celebration
− tremendous celebration, family celebration, birthday
celebration

Answer:

1.

2.