Mijbil the Otter class 10 chapter 8 summary Question and Answer

Mijbil the Otter class 10 chapter 8 English First Flight summary and Question and Answer

Mijbil the otter class 10 chapter 8 NCERT Solution for class 10 English First Flight summary and Detailed Explanation of the lesson along with the meaning of difficult words. also the explanation is followed by a summary of the lesson.

Mijbil the Otter class 10 Introduction

Gavin Maxwell lives in a cottage in Casusfearna. in the west Highlands in Scotland when his dog Jonnie died. Maxwell wanted to bring an otter from Iraq to England and keep it as a pet. this story tells us about the author and his pet otter describing how his life changed after he decided to domesticate an otter after losing his pet dog.

Mijbil the Otter class 10 About the Author

Gavin Maxwell (15 July 1914 -7 September 1969) was a British naturalist and author. best known for his non-fiction writing and his work with otters. he wrote the book Ring of Bright water (1960) about how he brought an otter back from Iraq and raised in Scotland. the otter was of a previously unknown sub-species which was subsequently named after maxwell Ring of Bright water sold more than a million copies and was made into a film starring bill travels and Virginia Mckenna in 1969.

Mijbil the Otter class 10 Theme

The story clearly reflects the love that the author had for animals, especially the otter. after having lost his pet dog, the author decides to keep an otter as a pet. this story explains the beautiful bond of the author with his pet otter, Mijbil and the series of incidents that followed during their onward journey to London.

Mijbil the Otter class 10 Explanation

I

Early in the new year of 1956 I travelled to Southern Iraq. by then it had crossed my ,mind that I should like to keep an otter instead of a dog. and that Camusfearna. ringed by water a stone’s throw from its door. would be an eminently suitable spot for this experience.

when I casually mentioned this to a friend. he as casually replied that i had better get one in the Tigris Marshes. for there they were as common as mosquitoes. and were often tamed by the Arabs. we were going to Basra to the Consulate-general to collect and answer our mail from Europe. at the consulate-general we found that my friend’s mail had arrived but that mine had not.

I cabled to England, and when three days later. nothing had happened. I tried to telephone .the call had to be booked twenty-four hours in advance. On the first day line was out of order. on the second the third day there was another breakdown. my friend. left, and I arranged to meet him in a week’s time. five days later. my mail arrived.

I carried it to my bedroom to read. and there squatting on the floor. were two Arabs. beside they lay a sack that squirmed from time to time. they handed me a note from my friend. here is your otter. ..

II

with the opening of that sack began a phase of my life that has not yet ended. and may for all I know not end before I do. it is in effect. a thraldom to Otters. an other fixation. that I have since found to be shared by most other people. who have ever owned. one.

The creature that emerged from this sack on to the spacious tiled floor of the Consulate bedroom resembled most of all a very small, medievally-conceived dragon. from the head to the tip of the

Tail he was coated with symmetrical pointed scales of mud armour. between whose tips was visible a soft velvet fur like that of a chocolate-brown mole. he shook himself and I half expected a cloud of dust. but in fact it was not for another month that I managed to remove the last of the mud and see the otter. as it were in his true colours.

Mijbil as I called the Otter. was in fact. of a race previously unknown to science. and was at length Christened by Zoologists Lutrogale Perspicillata maxwelli, or Maxwell’s Otter. for the first twenty-four hours Mijbil was neither hostile nor friendly he was simply aloof and indifferent, Choosing to sleep on the floor as far from my bed as possible the second night Mijbil

Came on to my bed in the small hours and remained asleep in the crook of my knees until the servant brought tea in the morning. and during the day he began to lose his apathy . and take a keen much too keen, Interest in his surrounding. I made a body-belt for him and took him on a lead to the bathroom. where for half an hour he went wild with joy in the water. plunging and rolling in it.

Shooting up and down the length of the bathtub underwater. and making enough slosh and splash for a hippo. this I was to learn is a characteristic of otters. every drop of water must be so to speak extended and spread about the place. a bowl must at once be overturned or, if it will not be overturned be sat in and Sploshed in until it overflows. water must be kept on the move and made to do things’ when static it is wasted and provoking.

Two days later, Mijbil escaped from my bedroom as I entered it. and I turned to see his tail disappearing round the bend of the corridor that led to the bathroom. by the time I got there he was up on the end of the bathtub and fumbling at the Chromium taps with his paws. 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. ( he had been lucky to turn the tap the right way. on later occasions he would sometimes screw it up still tighter chittering with irritation and disappointment at the tap’s failure to cooperate).

Very soon Mij would follow me without a lead and come to me when I called his name. he spent most of his time in play’ he spent hours shuffling a rubber ball round the room like a four-footed soccer player using all four feet to dribble the ball, and he could also throw it. with a powerful flick of the neck to a surprising height and distance. but the real

Play of an otter is when he lies on his bac and juggles with small objects between his paws. Marbles were Mij’s favourite toys for this pastime he would lie on his back rolling two or more of them up and down his wide. flat belly without ever dropping one to the floor.

III

The days passed peacefully at Basra, but I dreaded the prospect of transporting Mij to England. and to Camusfearna. the British airline to London would not fly animals so I booked a flight to Paris on another airline. and from there to London the airline insisted that Mij should be packed into a box not more than eighteen inches. square to be carried on the floor at my feet. I had a box made. and an hour before we started. I put Mij into the box so that he would become accustomed to it. and left for a hurried meal.

when I returned there was an appalling spectacle. there was complete silence from the box. but from its airholes and chinks around the lid. blood had trickled and dried I whipped off the lock and tore open the lid. and Mij. exhausted and blood spattered whimpered and caught at my leg. he had torn the lining of the box shred’s

When I removed the last of it so that there were no cutting edges left, it was just ten minutes until the time of the flight, and the airport was five miles distant I put the miserable Mij back into the box. holding down the lid with my hand.

I sat in the back of the car with the box beside me as the driver tore through the streets of Basra like a ricochetting bullet. the aircraft was waiting to take. off. I was rushed through to it by Infuriated officials luckily. the seat booked for me was at the extreme front.

I covered the floor around my feet with newspapers rang for the air hostess, and gave her a parcel of fish (for Mij) to keep in a cool place. I took her into my confidence about the events of the last half hour. I have retained the most profound admiration for that air hostess. she was the very queen of her kind. she suggested I could have kissed her hand in the depth of my gratitude but, I not knowing otters I was quite unprepared for what followed.

Mij was out of the box in a flash. he disappeared at high speed down the aircraft. there were squawks and shrieks. and a woman stood up on her seat screaming out’ A rat I caught sight of Mij’s tail disappearing beneath the legs of a portly white-turbaned Indian. Diving for it. I missed but found my face covered in curry’

Perhaps said the air hostess with the most charming smile. it would be better if you resumed your seat. and I will find find the animal and bring it to you. I returned to my seat. I was craning my neck trying to follow the hunt when suddenly I head from my feet a distressed Chitter of recognition and welcome. and Mij bounded on to my knee and began to nuzzle my face and my neck.

Iv

After an eventful journey, Maxwell his otter reach London. where he has a flat.

Mij and I remained in London for nearly a month he would play for hours with a selection of toys. ping-pong balls. marbles rubber fruit. and a terrapin shell that I had brought back from his native marshes. with the ping-pong ball he invented a game of his own which could keep him engrossed for up to half an hour at a time.

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.

Outside the house I exercised him on a lead. precisely as if he had been a dog. Mij quickly developed certain compulsive habits on these walks in the London streets. like the ritual of children who on their way to and from school 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 Opposite to my flat was a single-storied primary school. along whose frontage ran a low wall some two feet high. on his way home but never on his way out Mij would tug me to this wall. Jump on to it, and gallop the full length of its thirty yards. to the hopeless distraction both of pupils and of staff within.

It is not, I suppose in any way strange that the average Londoner should not recognise an otter. but the variety of guesses as to what kind of animals this might be came as a surprise to me. Otters belong to a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines. shared by the badger. mongoose. weasel stoat mink and others.

I faced a continuous barrage of conjectural questions that sprayed all the Mustellines but the otter. more random. guesses hit on ‘ a baby seal. and a squirrel is that a walrus mister? reduced me to giggles and outside a dog show I heard a hippo. A beaver a bear cub a leopard one apparently that had changed its spots.

Mijbil the Otter class 10 summary

The story , Mijbil the otter begins with the writer, Gavin Maxwell who was travelling to Basra with his friend to the Consulate-general to collect and answer their mail from Europe. During their journey maxwell Expressed his desire to keep an otter as a pet instead of a dog as he felt very lonely after losing his pet dog earlier. his friend suggested he get an otter from the Tigris marshes in Iraq. when they reached the destination his friend received the mail immediately, while Maxwell had to wait for a few more days to receive his mail. once he received the mail, he took the sack that was brought by who Arabs carrying a message from his friend and discovered an otter inside it.

He Christened the otter ‘ Mijbil and would often refer to it as Mij. it took a little while for the little creature to adapt to its surroundings . In due course Maxwell observed that Mij enjoyed playing with water and how it learned to open the bathroom faucet on its own. the writer was thoroughly amazed with the games played by Mij with its own touch of creativity. Soon it was time for Maxwell to return to England with his pet otter. however. the British Airlines had a few restriction that barred animals from travelling with human beings. so he booked another flight that allowed Mij to travel with him.

Mijbil the Otter class 10 Question and Answer

Question:1 where did Gavin Maxwell live?

Answer: Gavin Maxwell lived in Camusfeama.

Question:2 what did the author decide to Experiment?

Answer: The author decided to have an otter as a pet instead of a dog.

Question:3 why was his place a suitable place for that experiment ?

Answer: The author’s place was a suitable place for that experiment because otters love to see flowing water and feed on fish.

Question:4 when did the author receive his mail?

Answer: Five days later, the author received his mail.

Question:5 what did the author find in his bedroom?

Answer: The author found two Arabs in his bedroom.

Question:6 what special characteristic of Mijbil did Maxwell learn after he took it to the bathroom?

Answer: when Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom. he learnt that he went wild with joy in water plunging and rolling in it and splashed water.

Question:7 why did the writer stay in Basra ?

Answer: The writer and his friend were going to Basra to the Consulate-general to collect and answer their mails. they found that the mail of his friend was available but the author had to stay in Basra for five days.

Question:8 what did the otter look like ?

Answer” The otter looked like a very small dragon. its appearance was very pretty. it was coated with pointed scales of mud on its back. it spread mud all round.

Question:9 what game had Mij incented ?

Answer: Mij had Invented a game of his own with a ping-pong ball. during the journey the suitcase of the author was damaged. it got a slope on one end. Mij discovered that if he placed the ball on the high end it would run down the length of the suitcase.

Question:10 The airhostess was the very queen of her kind” do you agree?

Answer: The airhostess was the very queen of her kind. I fully agree with the author’s statement the chief duty of an airhostess is to make the passengers feel comfortable during the journey the airhostess on Maxwell’s plane does all she can do for him. that is why Maxwell calls her the very queen of her kind.

She calmly listens to the author. allows him to keep the animal on his knees and tries to catch it when it escapes. In doing so she does not loose her patience. the author also tries to catch the animal and in doing so he lands himself on a passenger. his face is covered with curry. once again the airhostess comes to Maxwell’s help thus we see that the airhostess was really a nice lady/kind /lady.

Mijbil the Otter class 10 MCQs

Question:1 How was Mij to be transported to England?

  1. By packing in a box
  2. On a seat
  3. Through ship
  4. None of the above

Answer (A) by packing in a box

Question:2 what did the otter look like ?

  1. small dog
  2. small dragon
  3. small rabbit
  4. small cat

Answer (B) small dragon

Question:3 when did the author travel ?

  1. New year of 1955
  2. New year of 1956
  3. New year of 1957
  4. New year of 1958

Answer:(B) New year of 1956

Question:4 How did the otter spend most of hit time ?

  1. New year of 1955
  2. New year of 1956
  3. New year of 1957
  4. New year of 1958

Answer (B) New year of 1956

Question:5 How would Mij follow the author ?

  1. with a lead
  2. Via a thread
  3. without a lead
  4. None of the above

Answer (C) without a lead

Question:6 what were Mij’s favourite toys ?

  1. Toy car
  2. Marbles
  3. Soil
  4. None of the above

Answer (B) Marbles

Question:7what did Mijbil do during the second night?

  1. Came on to Maxwell’s bed soon after midnight
  2. Run away from Maxwell’s house
  3. Slip away from Maxwell’s hand
  4. None of the above

Answer (A)

Question:8 why does Maxwell go to Basra?

  1. Broke the toy car
  2. threw the marbies
  3. torn the lining of box
  4. None of the above

Answer (C) Torn the lining of box

Question:9 How does Maxwell get the otter?

  1. by His uncle
  2. by his mother
  3. by his father
  4. by his father

Answer (D) by his father

Question:10 what group of animals does otters belongs to ?

  1. EIK
  2. Hedgehogs
  3. Mustellines
  4. By his friend

Answer (C) Musterllines

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