Chapter 8, Mijbil the Otter and the poem “Fog.”
Mijbil the Otter
Activity (Page 2)
2. Imagine someone has gifted you a pet. With your partner’s help, make a list of the things you need to know about the pet in order to take good care of it.
* (i) The food it eats.
* (ii) Its need for exercise, affection, and play.
* (iii) Its grooming and bathing needs.
* (iv) Its toilet training requirements.
* (v) Its annual vaccination needs.
* (vi) Its need for socialisation.
* (vii) The requirement for a licence.
3. Imagine you wanted to bring an otter from Iraq to London, as a pet. What special arrangements would you need to make for your pet otter?
Ans. Based on the information provided:
* Water: You would need to provide a place with lots of water. Since otters are from the marshes in Iraq, a home in London with a park nearby or a flat with a bathtub would be necessary.
* Climate Adaptation: The otter would have to adapt to the climate change. Iraq has dry, hot summers, while London has a temperate climate with regular, light rainfall.
* Transportation: You would need to find an airline that allows animals and arrange for a suitable container (as the story later details).
* Space: London is a busy city, but it has many open parks where the otter could exercise.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 5)
1. What ‘experiment’ did Maxwell think Camusfearna would be suitable for?
Ans. Maxwell thought Camusfearna, “ringed by water a stone’s throw from its door,” would be an “eminently suitable spot” for the experiment of keeping “an otter instead of a dog”.
2. Why does he go to Basra? How long does he wait there, and why?
Ans. He goes to Basra to the Consulate-General “to collect and answer our mail from Europe”. He waits for five days because his mail had not arrived.
3. How does he get the otter? Does he like it? Pick out the words that tell you this.
Ans. He gets the otter from his friend, who sent it in a sack delivered by two Arabs to his room.
* Yes, he likes it. He calls the experience “a thraldom to otters, an otter fixation”.
4. Why was the otter named ‘Maxwell’s otter’?
Ans. The otter was named ‘Maxwell’s otter’ because it was “of a race previously unknown to science” and was “at length christened by zoologists Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli”.
5. Tick the right answer. In the beginning, the otter was…
Ans. • aloof and indifferent
* • friendly
* • hostile
6. What happened when Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom? What did it do two days after that?
Ans. When Maxwell took him to the bathroom, Mijbil “for half an hour… went wild with joy in the water, plunging and rolling in it… and making enough slosh and splash for a hippo”.
* Two days later, Mijbil “escaped from my bedroom” and “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”.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 8)
1. How was Mij to be transported to England?
Ans. The British airline to London would not fly animals, so Maxwell 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”.
2. What did Mij do to the box?
Ans. Mij “had torn the lining of the box to shreds”. When Maxwell returned to the box, “blood had trickled and dried” from its airholes.
3. Why did Maxwell put the otter back in the box? How do you think he felt when he did this?
* He put the “miserable Mij back into the box” because “it was just ten minutes until the time of the flight, and the airport was five miles distant”.
* He likely felt panicked, guilty, and miserable.
4. Why does Maxwell say the airhostess was “the very queen of her kind”?
Ans. He says this because she was exceptionally kind and understanding. He “took her into my confidence” about the situation, and she “suggested that I might prefer to have my pet on my knee”.
5. What happened when the box was opened?
Ans. “Mij was out of the box in a flash. He disappeared at high speed down the aircraft”. This caused “squawks and shrieks,” and a woman stood on her seat screaming, “A rat! A rat!”.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 9)
1. What game had Mij invented?
Ans. Mij invented a game with a damaged suitcase that had a sloping lid. He “discovered that if he placed the ball on the high end it would run down the length of the suitcase”. He would then “dash around to the other end to ambush its arrival… grab it and trot off with it to the high end once more”.
2. What are ‘compulsive habits’? What does Maxwell say are the compulsive habits of (i) school children (ii) Mij?
Ans. ‘Compulsive habits’ are “habits impossible to control”.
* (i) School children: They “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”.
* (ii) Mij: On his way home, Mij “would tug me to this wall, jump on to it, and gallop the full length of its thirty yards”.
3. What group of animals do otters belong to?
Ans. Otters belong to “a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines”.
4. What guesses did the Londoners make about what Mij was?
Ans. The guesses included “‘a baby seal'”, “‘a squirrel'”, “‘a walrus'”, “‘a hippo'”, “A beaver, a bear cub, a leopard… and a ‘brontosaur'”.
Thinking about the Text (Pages 9-10)
1. What things does Mij do which tell you that he is an intelligent, friendly and fun-loving animal who needs love?
Ans. Intelligent: He learned to turn on the bathroom tap, eventually achieving a “full flow”. He also invented his own game with the sloping suitcase and a ping-pong ball .
Friendly and Needs Love: On only the second night, he “came on to my bed” and “remained asleep in the crook of my knees”. After the chaos on the plane, he “bounded on to my knee and began to nuzzle my face and my neck”.
* Fun-loving: He “went wild with joy in the water”, spent hours “shuffling a rubber ball round the room”, and would lie on his back juggling marbles on his belly.
2. What are some of the things we come to know about otters from this text?
Ans. We learn that otters:
Are part of a group of animals called Mustellines.
* Have a characteristic love for water, needing to “be sat in and sploshed in until it overflows”.
* Enjoy juggling small objects on their bellies while lying on their backs.
3. Why is Mij’s species now known to the world as Maxwell’s otter?
Ans. This is because Mijbil was “of a race previously unknown to science”. When zoologists identified him, they named the new species after Maxwell, calling it Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli.
4. Complete the column on the right to say what Maxwell says about what Mij feels and thinks.
Ans. Plunges, rolls in the water and makes the water splosh and splash – He went wild with joy; he feels water must be extended and spread about, and that when static it is wasted and provoking.
Screws the tap in the wrong way – He would be chittering with irritation and disappointment at the tap’s failure to cooperate.
Nuzzles Maxwell’s face and neck in the aeroplane – He was giving a 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.
* (i) makes Mij seem almost human, like a small boy. (True)
* Example: “Mij quickly developed certain compulsive habits… like the rituals of children who on their way to and from school…”
* (ii) shows that he is often irritated with what Mij does. (False)
* (iii) shows that he is often surprised by what Mij does. (True)
* Example: “I watched, amazed; in less than a minute he had turned the tap far enough to produce a trickle of water…”
* (iv) of Mij’s antics is comical. (True)
* Example: “…diving for it, I missed, but found my face covered in curry.”
* (v) shows that he observes the antics of Mij very carefully. (True)
* Example: (The detailed description of the suitcase game) “He would dash around to the other end to ambush its arrival, hide from it, crouching, to spring up and take it by surprise…”
* (vi) shows that he thinks Mij is a very ordinary otter. (False)
* (vii) shows that he thinks the otter is very unusual. (True)
* Example: “The creature that emerged… resembled most of all a very small, medievally-conceived, dragon.”
Thinking about Language (Pages 10-13)
I. Describing a Repeated Action in the Past
Make as many correct sentences as you can using would and/or used to.
* Emperor Akbar used to be fond of musical evenings. (would is not correct, as be fond of is a state)
* Every evening we would take long walks on the beach.
* Every evening we used to take long walks on the beach.
* Fifty years ago, very few people used to own cars. (would is not correct, as own is a state)
* Till the 1980s, Shanghai used to have very dirty streets. (would is not correct, as have describes a situation)
* My uncle would spend his holidays by the sea.
* My uncle used to spend his holidays by the sea.
II. Noun Modifiers
1. …say whether the modifiers (in italics) are nouns, proper nouns, or adjective plus noun.
* (i) An otter fixation: Noun
* (ii) The iron railings: Noun
* (iii) The Tigris marshes: Proper Noun
* (iv) The London streets: Proper Noun
* (v) soft velvet fur: Adjective plus Noun
* (vi) A four-footed soccer player: Adjectival Phrase
2. Combine the nouns and modifiers to make as many appropriate phrases as you can.
(These are examples based on the provided lists)
* stone temple
* three girls
* hundred dresses
* ordinary person
* uncomfortable thoughts
* marriage gifts
* loud scream / loud roar
* heartbreaking farewell
* birthday celebration
* railroad crossing
* first flight
* incorrigible chatterbox
* family profession
* plump physique
* invigorating coffee
* panoramic view
* ridiculous subject
* white handkerchief
III. Quantity Phrases
1. Match the words on the left with a word on the right.
* (i) a portion of: fried fish
* (ii) a pool of: blood, water
* (iii) flakes of: snow
* (iv) a huge heap of: stones
* (v) a gust of: wind
* (vi) little drops of: blood, water
* (vii) a piece of: cotton, gold
* (viii) a pot of: gold
2. Use a bit of/a piece of/a bunch of/a cloud of/a lump of with the italicised nouns…
* (i) My teacher gave me a bit of advice. (Given)
* (ii) Can you give me a lump of clay, please.
* (iii) The piece of information you gave was very useful.
* (iv) Because of these factories, a cloud of smoke hangs over the city.
* (v) Two stones rubbed together can produce a bunch of sparks of fire. (Using “a bunch of” to match the plural “sparks”)
* (vi) He gave me a bunch of flowers on my birthday.
Fog
Thinking about the Poem (Page 14)
1. (i) What does Sandburg think the fog is like?
Ans. Sandburg thinks the fog is like a cat.
(ii) How does the fog come?
Ans. It comes “on little cat feet”, which implies it comes silently and stealthily.
(iii) What does ‘it’ in the third line refer to?
Ans. ‘It’ refers to the fog.
(iv) Does the poet actually say that the fog is like a cat? Find three things that tell us that the fog is like a cat.
Ans. * No, the poet does not explicitly say “the fog is like a cat”; it is an implied metaphor.
* The three things are:
* It comes “on little cat feet” (silent movement).
* “It sits looking… on silent haunches” (the way a cat sits).
* “and then moves on” (the quiet, independent departure of a cat).
2. (i) Find metaphors for the following words and complete the table below.
(This is a creative exercise. The answers are examples.)
Ans. Storm – Tiger – Pounces over the fields, growls.Train – Snake – Slides along the tracks, hisses.Fire – Dancer – Leaps and twists, dies down.School – Beehive – Buzzing with activity, orderly.Home – Anchor – Keeps you safe and secure.
(ii) Think about a storm… Write a poem about the storm comparing it with an animal.
(This is a creative writing prompt for the user.)
3. Does this poem have a rhyme scheme?
No, the poem does not have an “obvious rhythm or rhyme”. It is written in ‘free verse’.
