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

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

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 8 Mijbil The Otter is considered as the most scoring subject in Class 10 CBSE. So, a student needs to work on this subject to make good in Class 10 English Exam. It’s very important to build a strong command over the English language. Class 10 forms a stepping stone for a student’s bright future. In this competitive world, it is very important to have good English because effective communication can reach people better. Hence, the English language plays a powerful tool in communication.

Takshila Learning provides you with detailed and well explained NCERT Solutions for Class 10 of each chapter of each subject for NCERT Class 10. These NCERT Solutions help you to easily understand every concept so that you can score high in your CBSE Class 10 Board Exams.

Below you can find the NCERT solution for Class 10th English. You can get a Solution for the all-important question of “Mijbil the Otter”

Ques 1: What ‘experiment’ did Maxwell think Camusfearna would be suitable for?
Ans: Maxwell thought that he would keep an otter rather than a dog. Camusfearna, ringed by water a very short distance from its door, will be an eminent suitable spot for the experiment.

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

Ans: The author goes to Basra, to the Consulate-General, to collect and answer his mail that came from Europe. He waited there for at least five days because his mail didn’t reach on time. Then he tried to make a call via telephone. This incident is of those times when one had to book an international call 24 hrs in advance. The telephone line was not working good on the first day, next day also it was not working because of holiday. Finally after a tortuous wait of five days his mail came.

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

Ans: When he received the mail, he took it to his room to read. There, he saw two Arabs who handed him a note from his friend saying that he had sent him an otter.
Yes, he liked it very much. We know this because he has used the term ‘otter fixation’ to refer to his feeling towards the otter. He felt that this strong attachment towards otters was something that was shared by most other people who had ever owned one as their pet.

Ques 4: Why was the otter named ‘Maxwell’s otter’?

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

Ques 5: Tick the right answer.

In the beginning, the otter was aloof and indifferent friendly hostile

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

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

Ans: When Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom, it goes wild with happiness in the water for half an hour and was plunging and rolling in water, shooting up and down the length of the bathtub underwater, and making enough slosh and splash for a hippo.
After two days, it escaped from his bedroom to bathroom. By the time Maxwell was there, Mijbil was up on the end of the bathtub and fumbling at the chromium taps with its paw. In less than a minute, it on the tap to produce some water and after a moment, the water achieved the full flow.

Oral Comprehension Check:

Ques 1: How was Mijbil to be transported to England?
Ans: Maxwell booked a flight to Paris and then from there he would go to London. The airline insisted that Mijbil should be packed in a box that was to be placed on the floor, that is near his feet.

Ques 2: What did Mijbil do to the box?
Ans: The box was lined with a metal sheet. Mijbil did not find it very comfortable to be there so it tried to escape. In its attempt to escape Mijbil tore into the metal lining of the box. As a result it harm itself and started bleeding.

Ques 3: Why did Maxwell put the otter back in the box? How do you think he felt when he did this?

Ans: As there was no other way to carry otter to London so the author put it back into the box. He must have also felt pity on the way the otter harmed itself.

Ques 4: Why does Maxwell say the airhostess was “the very queen of her kind”?

Ans: Maxwell said that the airhostess was “the very queen of her kind” because she was extremely friendly, caring and helpful. He took her into his confidence about the incident of box. She suggested that he can have his pet on his knee. Hearing this, he developed a kind of admiration for her, as she understood the pain of both the Mijbil and its owner.

Ques 5: What happened when the box was opened?

Ans: When the box was opened, Mijbil went out of the box. He escaped at a high speed down the aircraft. There were cries everywhere. A woman stood up on her seat screaming that there was a rat in the aircraft. He saw Mijbil’s tail disappearing beneath the legs of an Indian passenger. He dived for it, but in vain. The airhostess suggested him to be seated and assured him she would find the otter. After a while, Mijbil had returned to him. It climbs on his knee and began to rub its nose on his face and neck.

Oral Comprehension Check:

Ques 1: What game had Mijbil invented?
Ans: Mijbil had invented a game with ping-pong ball , in which it puts the ball at one end of a sloping lid and then grab it as it ran to the other end.

Ques 2: What are ‘compulsive habits’? What does Maxwell say are the compulsive habits of:
(i) school children?

(ii) Mijbil?

Ans: Compulsive habits are usually strange behaviour which a person doesor shows without clear reason.
On their way to school and home, children make it a habit to place their feet exactly on the centre of each paving block. Similarly, Mijbil had made it a habit to jump on to the school wall and go galloping all along its length of thirty yards.

Ques 3: What group of animals do otters belong to?

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

Ques 4: What guesses did the Londoners make about what Mijbil was?
Ans: According to Maxwell, the average Londoner couldn’t recognize an otter. The Londoners who saw Mijbil made different guesses about who Mijbil was. The guesses that they made were 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:

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

Ans: Mijbil was an intelligent and smart animal. It invented its own game out of the ping-pong balls. It kept on screwing the tap till water began to flow and then it would play and splash in the water and enjoy. Though it was aloof and indifferent in the beginning, it soon became very friendly and sweet. It formed a special attachment with its owner Maxwell. It responded whenever Maxwell called out his name. It grew desperate when Maxwell left it in a box and tries to get out of the box but harm itself. After Maxwell took it out, it clung to his feet. It was a loving and friendly animal. It enjoyed playing different kinds of games. It played with selected toys, ping-pong balls, marbles, rubber fruit, and a terrapin shell. It just required love and affection from Maxwell and that was given by Maxwell to otter readily.

Ques 2: What are some of the things we come to know about otters from this text?

Ans: Otters comes from a small group of animals called Mustellines, shared by the badger, mongoose, weasel, stoat, mink and others. Maxwell’s otter was of a race which was previously unknown to science and was named by zoologists Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli or Maxwell’s otter. They can be found in large numbers in marshes. They are often tamed by the Arab descents. The important features  of otters can be 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 motion. Otters love playing various games, specially with a ball.

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

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

Ques 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.

Ans:

Ques 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.
(iii) shows that he is often surprised by what Mij does.
(v) shows that he observes the antics of Mij very carefully.
(vii) shows that he thinks the otter is very unusual.

Ans:

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

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

(v) A suitcase that I had taken to Iraq had damaged on the journey back to home, so that the lid, when closed, remained at a slope from one end to another. Mijbil 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.