Answers to NCERT Questions

ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK

1. What ‘experiment’ did Maxwell think Camusfearna would be suitable for?

Ans: 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.

2. Why does he go to Basra? How long does he wait there, and why?

Ans: He went to Basra, to the Consulate-General, to collect and answer his mail from Europe. He had had to wait there for five days. To start with, his mail didn’t reach on time. Then he tried to make a telephone call. This incident is of those days when one had to book an international call 24 hrs in advance. The telephone line was not working properly on the first day. Next day, it was some public holiday, so it was not working. Finally, after a torturous wait of five days, his mail arrived.

3. How does he get the otter? Does he like it? Pick up the words that tell you this.

Ans: 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 has 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 his otter fixation or this strong attachment towards otters was something that was shared by most other people who had ever owned one.

4. Why was the otter named ‘Maxwell’s’ otter?

Ans:The otter was a race previously unknown to science and was at length named by zoologists Lutrogale Perspicillata Maxwell or Maxwell’s otter.

5. Tick the right answer. In the beginning, the otter was aloof and indifferent

friendly hostile

Ans: In the beginning, otter was aloof and indifferent.

6. What happened when Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom? What did it do two days after that?

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 under water, and making enough slosh and splash for a hippo.

Two days after that, it escaped from his bedroom. 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.

7. How was Mij to be transported to England?

Ans: 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.

8. What did Mij do to the box?

Ans: The box was lined with metal sheet. Mij didn’t find it comfortable to be there, so he tried to escape. In its attempt to escape, Mij tore into the metal lining of the box. As a result, it hurt itself and started bleeding.

9. Why does Maxwell say the air-hostess was “the very queen of her kind”?

Ans: Maxwell said that the air-hostess was “the very queen of her kind because she was extremely kind 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.

10. What happened when the box was opened?

Ans: When the box was opened, Mij went out of the box. He disappeared at a high speed down the aircraft. There were cries all around. 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 air-hostess suggested him to be seated and that she would find the otter. After a while, Mij returned to him. It climbed on his knees and began to rub its nose, his face and neck.

11. What game had Mij invented?

Ans: Mij had invented a game with ping-pong ball. He would put the ball at one end of the sloping lid of a suitcase and then grab it as it ran to the other end.

12. What are ‘compulsive habits’? What does Maxwell say are the compulsive habits of

i. school children?

ii. Mij?

Compulsive habits are usually strange act of behaviour which a person does without clear reason.

On their way to and from school, children make it a habit to place their feet exactly on the centre of each paving block. Similarly, Mij had made it a habit to jump on to the school wall and go galloping all along its length of thirty yards.

13. What group of animals do otters belong to?

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

14. What guesses did the Londoners make about what Mij was?

Ans:According to Maxwell, the average Londoner does not recognise 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.

THINKING ABOUT THE TEXT

1. What things does Mij do which tell you that he is an intelligent, friendly and fun-loving animal who needs love?

Ans: Mij was an intelligent animal. It invented its own games out of the ping-pong ball. It screwed the tap till the 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 its 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.

2. What are some of the things we got to know about otters from the text?

Ans: Otters belong to a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines, shared by the badgers, mongoose, weasel, stoat, mink and others. Maxwell’s otter was 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 number in marshes. They are often tamed by the Arabs. It is the 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 could not be overturned, be sat in and splashed in until overflowed. For them, water must be kept on the move. Otters love playing various games, especially with a ball.

3. Why is Mij’s species now known to the world as Maxwell’s otter?

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.

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 otter does. Complete the column on the right to say what Maxwell says about what Mij feels and thinks.

What Mij does	How Mij feels or thinks
Plunges, rolls in the water and makes the water splosh and splash
Screws the tap in the wrong way
Nuzzles Maxwell’s face and neck in the aeroplane

Ans:

What Mij does	How Mij feels or thinks
Plunges, rolls in the water and makes the water splosh and splash	went wild with joy
Screws the tap in the wrong way	irritated and disappointed
Nuzzles Maxwell’s face and neck in the aeroplane	distressed chitter of recognition and welcome

5. Read the story and find the sentences where Maxwell describes his pet otter. Then choose and arrange your sentences to illustrate those statements below that you think are true.

Maxwell’s description

i. makes Mij seem almost human, like a small boy. ii. shows that he is often irritated with what Mij does. iii. shows that he is often surprised by what Mij does.

iv. of Mij’s antics is comical.

v. shows that he observes the antics of Mij very carefully.

vi. shows that he thinks Mij is a very ordinary otter. vii. shows that he thinks the otter is very unusual.

Ans:

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