NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 6 Mijbil the Otter PDF download are available here. NCERT questions and answers of Class 10 English From the Mijbil the Otter are prepared by expert teachers. All these solutions are updated as per the latest CBSE syllabus and contain questions related to the story, which will help you to score good marks in the exams.
NCERT Class 10 Mijbil the Otter Questions and Answers
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 84)
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: 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
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 a race previously unknown to science and was at length named by zoologists Lutrogale Perspicillata Maxwell or Maxwell’s otter.
Question 5. Tick the right answer. In the beginning, the otter was
- aloof and indifferent
- friendly
- Hostile
Answer: 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 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. 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.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 86)
Question 1. How was Mijbil transported to England?
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
Question 2. What did Mij do to the box?
Answer: The box was lined with a 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.
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: 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.
Question 5. What happened when the box was opened?
Answer: 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.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 88)
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
- school children
- 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.
- 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.
- 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: 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 (Page No. 88)
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 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.
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 Maxwell, 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.
| 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 |
Answer:
| What Mij Does | How Mij Feels or Thinks |
| Plunges, rolls in the water and makes the water splosh and splash | He thinks it is a hippo and is very happy. |
| Screws the tap in the wrong way | He chitters with irritation and disappointment. |
| Nuzzles Maxwell’s face and neck in the aeroplane | He feels much comfort and content after its distressed chitter. |
Question 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
- makes Mij seem almost human, like a small boy.
- shows that he is often irritated with what Mij does.
- shows that he is often surprised by what Mij does.
- of Mij’s antics is comical.
- shows that he observes the antics of Mij very carefully.
- shows that he thinks Mij is a very ordinary otter.
- shows that he thinks the otter is very unusual.
Answer:
- True
- False
- True
- True
- True
- False
- True