CBSE Class 10 English Chapter 6 Mijbil the Otter Question Answers (Important) from First Flight Book
Class 10 English Mijbil the Otter Question Answers – Looking for Mijbil the Otter question answers (NCERT solutions) for CBSE Class 10 English First Flight Book Chapter 6? Look no further! Our comprehensive compilation of important questions will help you brush up on your subject knowledge. Practising Class 10 English question answers can significantly improve your performance in the board exam. Our solutions provide a clear idea of how to write the answers effectively. Improve your chances of scoring high marks by exploring Chapter 6: Mijbil the Otter question answers now. The questions listed below are based on the latest CBSE exam pattern, wherein we have given NCERT solutions to the chapter’s extract based questions, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and long answer questions.
Also, practising with different kinds of questions can help students learn new ways to solve problems that they may not have seen before. This can ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and better performance on exams.
- Mijbil the Otter NCERT Solutions
- Mijbil the Otter Chapter 6 Extract-Based Questions
- Mijbil the Otter Short Answer Questions
- Class 10 Chapter 6 Mijbil the Otter Long Answer Questions
Related:
- Class 10 Mijbil the Otter Class 10 Summary, Explanation, Word meanings
- Mijbil the Otter Character Sketches
- Class 10 Mijbil the Otter MCQs
Mijbil the Otter NCERT Solutions
Q1. What ‘experiment’ did Maxwell think Camusfearna would be suitable for?
A. Maxwell thought that as Camusfearna was close to water, it was suitable for an experiment to domesticate an otter.
Q2. Why does he go to Basra? How long does he wait there, and why?
A. He had gone to Basra to the Consulate-General to receive and answer his mail from Europe. Unfortunately, only his friend’s mail had arrived. Therefore, he tried connecting to England via telegraph and telephone but could not associate due to waiting period, holidays and technical glitches for another couple of days. His mail arrived after waiting for 5 days.
Q3. How does he get the otter? Does he like it? Pick out the words that tell you this.
A. When the author came to his room to read the mail, he found two Arabs with a sack that was twisting again and again. One of them handed the author a note from his friend that said the otter was a gift from him.
The author liked the otter very much. This is evident from the fact that he later uses words like “otter fixation” which means a strong connection between the otter and the owner. This feeling is shared by other otter owners as well.
Q4. Why was the otter named ‘Maxwell’s otter’?
A. Otters are of a race previously unknown to science, and were at length named by zoologists as Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, or Maxwell’s otter.
Q5. Tick the right answer. In the beginning, the otter was
• Aloof and indifferent
• friendly
• hostile
A. In the beginning, the otter was aloof and indifferent.
Q6. What happened when Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom? What did it do two days after that?
A. When Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom, 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. Two days later, it escaped into the bathroom and Maxwell saw it opening the tap, all by itself.
Q7. How was Mij to be transported to England?
A. Mij was to be carried in a box, not more than eighteen inches square, to be kept on the floor at the author’s feet. British airlines did not allow transporting animals, so they booked another flight to Paris and from there to London.
Q8. What did Mij do to the box?
A. Mij had torn the inner lining of the box to shreds. The lining was made of metal, thus, in the process of tearing off the lining, he hurt himself and started bleeding.
Q9. Why did Maxwell put the otter back in the box? How do you think he felt when he did this?
A. Maxwell removed every bit of the shredded inner lining so that Mij won’t hurt himself. He then kept the otter back in the box as they had to reach the flight on time. He must have felt pity and be worried about Mij.
Q10. Why does Maxwell say the airhostess was “the very queen of her kind”?
A. When Maxwell boarded the flight, he took the air hostess into confidence about the latest incidents. Being understanding, friendly and kind, she advised him to keep the box on his lap. Thus, the way she listened and helped him, led to an admiration that made the narrator say that she was “the very queen of her kind”.
Q11. What happened when the box was opened?
A. As soon as he opened the box, Mij flashed out of it and disappeared. Everyone in the flight panicked and a lady even climbed her chair. Finally when he saw Mij’s tail disappearing beneath a turbaned man, he tried to catch hold of him and in the process, ended up covering his face with curry. After having created such a chaos, the air hostess advised him to go to his seat while she brought Mij back to him.
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Class 10 English Mijbil the Otter Question Answers Lesson 6 – Extract Based Questions
Extract-based questions are of the multiple-choice variety, and students must select the correct option for each question by carefully reading the passage.
A. 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.
1. ‘a very small, medievally conceived, dragon’ means-
a. It looked like a dragon to the people of the middle ages
b. it was a dragon during the middle ages
c. it dreaded a dragon
d. It was a small sized dragon
A. a
2. Find a synonym of covered from the extract
A. Coated with
3. The statement ‘From the head to the tip of the tail he was coated with symmetrical pointed scales of mud armour’ means –
a. It wore metal clothes
b. It was covered in layer of mud
c. it was covered in sharp metal layer
d. All of these
A. b
4. How long did it take to see the true colours of the otter?
A. It took the author almost a month to remove the mud and see the true colour of the otter
5. State true or false
The fur of the otter was like velvet
A. True
B. 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 bloodspattered, whimpered and caught at my leg. He had torn the lining of the box to shreds; 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.
1. Appalling means-
a. Amazing
b. Shocking
c. as expected
d. Not as expected
A. b
2. Find a synonym of ‘flown’
A. Trickled
3. Why was Mij exhausted?
A. Mij had been trying to escape from the box. It had torn the lining into shreds and got injured, so, it was exhausted
4. ‘Bloodspattered’ means –
a. Bleeding
b. To have spots of blood
c. loss of blood
d. Soaked in blood
A. b
5. Miles is a unit of measuring –
a. Time
b. Speed
c. weight
d. Distance
A. d
C. 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.
1. State true or false
The driver was tearing things on the streets of Basra
A. False
2. Why were the officials infuriated?
A. They were infuriated because the author was late for the flight and the aircraft was waiting for take off.
3. Why did the author get fish?
a. Mij played with fish
b. Mij was friends with fish
c. Mij ate fish
d. All of these
A. c
4. What does the author mean by saying that he took the airhostess into confidence?
a. He was confident in front of her
b. He lacked confidence while talking to her
c. He was building confidence
d. He shared his private matter with her
A. d
D. 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 animal 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 — and a ‘brontosaur’; Mij was anything but an otter.
1. Why did a Londoner not recognize an otter?
a. He hadn’t seen it before
b. Otters were not found in London
c. both a and b
d. None of these
A. c
2. Find a synonym of unplanned
A. Random
3. State true or false
Most of the people guessed Mij to be a baby seal or a squirrel
A. True
E. Early in the new year of 1956 I traveled to Southern Iraq. By then it had crossed my mind that I should like to keep an otter instead of a dog and that Camusfeama, ringed by water a stone’s throw from its door, would be an eminently suitable spot for this experiment.
1. When did the author travel to Southern Iraq?
A. In the new year of 1956 the author had traveled to southern Iraq.
2. What did the author desire to keep instead of a dog?
A. The author desired to keep an otter instead of a dog.
3. Pick out the words from the passage that mean the same as- thought came to mind.
A. crossed my mind
4. What did the writer decide to experiment with?
A. The writer decided to have an otter as a pet instead of a dog.
F. When I casually mentioned this to a friend, he 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.
1. Who is ‘I’ in this passage?
A. ‘I’ in the passage is used for Gavin Maxwell.
2. What did the author mention to a friend?
A. The author mentioned that he wanted to keep an otter as a pet.
3. What did his friend advise him?
A. His friend advised him to get an otter from Tigris marshes.
4. Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as “Post”.
A. Mail
G. 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 the line was out of order on the second the exchange was closed for a religious holiday. On 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.
1. What did the author cable to England?
A. The author cabled to England to get information about his mail.
2. What happened after three days?
A. The author did not receive any mail after three days.
3. When did the author receive the mail?
A. Five days later the author received the mail.
4. Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as- sent a message by telegram.
A. cabled
H. 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.
1. Write the name of the creature which came out from the sack?
A. The creature which came out of the sack was an otter.
2. What was there on its tips?
A. There was a small chocolate brown mole.
3. How did the creature/otter look?
A. The creature looked like a small medievally conceived dragon.
4. Pick out the word from the passage that means the same as- clean.
A. ‘remove’
Class 10 English Mijbil the Otter Question Answers (including questions from Previous Years Question Papers)
In this post we are also providing important short answer questions from the chapter Mijbil the Otter for CBSE Class 10 Boards in the coming session. These questions have been taken from previous years class 10 Board exams and the year is mentioned in the bracket along with the question.
Q1. What special characteristic of Mijbil did Maxwell learn after he took it to the bathroom?
Ans. 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.
Q2. Why did the writer stay in Basra?
Ans. The writer and his friend were going to Basra to the Consulate General to collect and answer their mail. They found that the mail of his friend was available but the author had to stay in Basra for five days for it.
Q3. What did the otter look like?
Ans. 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.
Q4. How did Maxwell get the otter?
Ans. Maxwell wanted to keep an otter as a pet instead of a dog. He expressed his wish before his friend who managed to get an otter and sent it to Maxwell through two Arabs. Thus Maxwell got his tamed otter.
Q5. Why was the otter called Maxwell’s otter?
Ans. The otter was not a common wild creature. It belonged to an unknown race of otters that was later christened by zoologists as Lutrogale perspicillata Maxwell. As it came into light as Maxwell’s pet, it was named as Maxwell’s otter.
Q6. Why did Maxwell call the airhostess “the very queen of her kind”?
OR
Maxwell was justified in thinking very highly of the airhostess. Justify. (CBSE QUESTION BANK)
Ans. Maxwell was worried about Mijbil’s welfare. Mijbil was exhausted and wounded. His condition was very miserable in the box Maxwell wanted Mijbil to be free. The airhostess allowed him to have Mijbil on his knee out of gratitude for her sympathy and kindness, the author said.
Q7. What happened when Maxwell decided to transport Mijbil to England by air?
OR
What would you say was the greatest obstacle faced by the narrator in transporting Mijbil to Camusfearna? (CBSE QUESTION BANK)
Ans. When Maxwell decided to transport Mijbil to England, Mijbil was kept into a box. He tore off the box and wounded himself. Then Mijbil disappeared down the aircraft, terrorizing the other passengers. After that he settled on Maxwell’s knee and gave no further inconvenience to others.
Q8. Write a short paragraph from the text to show that Mijbil was an intelligent animal.
Ans. One day Mijbil escaped from Maxwell’s room and went to the bathroom. When the writer reached there he found that the otter had turned on the tap in less than a minute and he had managed to get a full flow of water for a bath.
Q9. What game did Mijbil invent?
Ans. Mijbil discovered that if he placed the ball on the high end of the damaged suitcase, 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 price more.
Q10. What guesses did the Londoners make about what Mijbil was?
Ans. The writer was not surprised to know that the Londoners could not recognize an otter. They thought he was a baby seal, a squirrel, a walrus, a hippo, a beaver, a bear cub, a leopard.
Q11. What ‘experiment’ did Maxwell think Camusfearna would be suitable for?
Ans. Maxwell was staying in a cottage in Camusfearna. There was a lot of water around the cottage. He thought of having an otter as a pet instead of a dog. An otter likes flowing water. So the author thought that Camusfearna would be a suitable spot for that experiment.
Q12. 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 his mail from Europe. His mail did not arrive in time. He cabled to England, and when, three days later, nothing had happened, he tried to telephone. The call had to be booked twenty-four hours in advance. On the first day the line was out of order, on the second day, the exchange was closed for a religious holiday. On the third day there was another breakdown. His mail arrived five days later. He had to wait for five days.
Q13. What happened when Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom? What did it do two days after that? (CBSE 2013)
Ans. When Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom he went wild with joy in the water, plunging and rolling in the shooting operand down the length of the bathtub underwater and making enough slosh and splash for a hippo. Two days after, Mijbil escaped from the bedroom and entered the bathroom. He struggled with the chromium tap till it had a full flow.
Q14. How was Mijbil transported to England?
Ans. The British airline to London did not permit flying animals. The author had to book a flight to Paris on another airline. The airline insisted that Mij should be packed into a box not more than eighteen inches square. The author acted accordingly and transported Mijbil to England.
Q15. What did Mijbil do to the box?
Ans. The author put Mijbil into the box an hour before he started for the airport so that Mijbil would become accustomed to it and left for a meal. When he came back he found complete silence in the box. He saw blood stains around the air holes. Mijbil had torn the lining of the box to shreds. He got himself hurt.
Q16. Why did Maxwell put the otter back in the box? How do you think he felt when he did this?
Ans. Maxwell put the otter back in the box because he was already late for the airport. It was just ten minutes time for the fight, and the airport was five miles distant. He felt bad in doing so. He did not want to keep the miserable otter in the box but there was no other option due to time constraints.
Q17. What happened when the box was opened?
Ans. The airhostess suggested to the author that he could keep the pet on his knee. The author opened the box: Mij was out of the box in a flash. He disappeared at high speed down the aircraft. There was chaos all around the plane.
Q18. What are compulsive habits? What does Maxwell say are the compulsive habits of
- School children
- Mijbil
Ans. Compulsive habits are those acts which result from an irresistible urge. School children 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. Mij had also developed certain compulsive habits. There was a single-storied primary school opposite the author’s home. There was a two feet high wall also. On his way to the home, Mij would tug the author to that wall, jump on to it, and gallop the full length of its thirty yards.
Q19. Why did Maxwell get his mail after five days and what did he do to get it? [CBSE 2011]
Ans. Maxwell got his mail after 5 days due to some delay. He cabled and tried to telephone in order to get his mail.
Q20. What, according to the writer, is the ‘real play’ of the otter? [CBSE 2015]
Ans. The real play of an otter is lying on his back and juggling with small objects between his paws. Mijbil would roll two or more marbles up and down on his wide, fat belly. He never dropped one to the floor.
Q21. What was the first characteristic of the otter discovered by the narrator? [CBSE 2014]
Ans. The first thing that the narrator observed about the otter was that he liked to play with water. When he was taken to the bathroom, for half an hour he went wild in the water with joy. He was plunging, jumping and rolling in the water.
Class 10 Mijbil the Otter Long Answer Questions Lesson 6
Q1. The airhostess was “the very queen of her kind”. Do you agree? Comment.
OR
Without the assistance of the airhostess, the narrator could not have transported Mijbil from Basra to London safely. Comment. (CBSE QUESTION BANK)
Ans. 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 lose 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 air hostess was really a nice lady/kind lady.
Q2. What do you know about Mijbil’s journey to London?
OR
Mijbil caused a sensation in London. Expound with reference to the chapter “Mijbil the Otter”. (CBSE QUESTION BANK)
Ans. The author had to come back to London from Basra. The British Airlines did not allow animals to fly so he had to book his ticket in another airline. The airline authorities insisted the author pack Mijbil in a box. The author had a box and put Mijbil in it an hour before he started for the airport so that Mijbil would become accustomed to it and left for a hurried meal. When he came back he found Mijbil wounded in the box. He had ten minutes left to catch the flight, so he kept it back in the box.
In the flight, the author told the airhostess about the miserable condition of Mijbil and took her into confidence. She was a considerate lady and suggested that he could keep Mijbil on his knee. The author opened the box. Mijbil was out of the box in a flash and disappeared down the aircraft. The author dived to catch Mijbil and he missed, but he found his mouth covered with curry. The airhostess helped in the search. The author came back to his seat and found Mijbil near his knee.
Q3. If you were in place of the airhostess and some incidents might have happened with you in the flight, how would you describe your experience?
Ans. If I were in place of the airhostess and the same incidents might have happened with me in the flight, my experience might be the same as that of the airhostess. But I would like to say something about this matter. As an airhostess, I would never permit myself to open the box of the otter (animal). I know that kindness has a unique importance in our life. But duty is above all. I would think about the bad impacts of a free otter in the plane. It might be a great risk for all the passengers in that condition. My reaction might be different. When the author would ask me to let him open the box, I would make him understand about the risk in the name of rules and regulations. Basic values are ignored but people like the airhostess in “Mijbil the Otter” act as a ray of hope.
Q4. What things does Mij do which tell you that he is an intelligent, friendly and fun-loving animal who needs love?
OR
Peculiar behaviours are a characteristic of Otters. Discuss with respect to “Mijbil the Otter”. (CBSE QUESTION BANK)
OR
Why do you think the otter was not friendly at first with the narrator? Can you relate this to human nature as well? [CBSE 2016]
Ans. Mij was an intelligent, friendly and fun-loving animal. When the author received it, for the first twenty-four hours it remained aloof and indifferent but later on, he took interest in his surroundings. He became friendly to the author. He enjoyed his bath. One day, he disappeared from the bedroom and entered the bathroom where he tried to open the tap.
His intelligence is further revealed when he invented a game of his own called ping-pong. Mij discovered that if the ball was placed on the high end of the suitcase, it would rather run down the length of the suitcase. He enjoyed playing with balls and marbles. Mijbil had developed certain compulsive habits like school children. He used to gallop at full speed on the thirty yards wall of a primary school.
Q5. What are some of the things we come to know about otters from this text?
Ans. Some of the things we come to know about otters from this text are as under
- they are intelligent, friendly and fun-loving creatures
- they love to see water flowing
- they don’t like static water
- they love galloping and jumping
- they like to be in wate
Q6. Why is Mij’s species now known to the world as Maxwell’s otter?
Ans. Maxwell brought an otter back from Iraq and raised it in Scotland. He took the otter, called Mijbil, to the London zoological society, where it was decided that this was a previously unknown sub-species of smooth coated otter, and it was named after him. Since then Mij’s species is known as Maxwell’s otter.
The otter was not a common wild creature. It belonged to an unknown race of otters that was later christened by zoologists as Lutrogale perspicillata Maxwell. As it came into light as Maxwell’s pet, it was named as Maxwell’s otter.
Q7 Mijbil and the Tiger, both were looked after by humans. Assume they both meet each other in the zoo and have a conversation about their lifestyle and feelings. Write this conversation as per your understanding of Mijbil the Otter and A Tiger in the Zoo. (SQP 2022-23)
Ans. Tiger: Thanks for visiting me, though I don’t usually like visitors
Mijbil: Oh? I would love visitors, I think
Tiger: Why do you think that is? How on earth can you appreciate these obnoxious people who put me in this cage?
Mijbil: This is how I feel comfortable. That is why I do not despise them and believe that I am safe in this way.
Tiger: How can you feel safe when you’re not in your natural habitat, the jungles?
Mijbil: I don’t think I’d be able to survive in the wild because I’m not as big and scary as you in the wild, any predator can easily harm me
Tiger: I see but they can learn to co-exist. It is their nonsensical activities such as hitting us with stones etc that make us attack them. If they learn how to behave then we will stay out of their way.
Mijbil: I understand your reasoning and am sorry for your predicament. I hope they can learn to coexist one day, but I also want you to be pleased about your circumstances.
Tiger: It is easier said than done, but I shall give it my best.
Also See:
Class 10 English Syllabus
Character Sketches of Class 10 English
CBSE Class 10 English Lesson Explanation, Summary
CBSE Class 10 English Question Answers (Important)
CBSE Class 10 English MCQs
Class 10 English Complete Study Guide
Class 10 English First Flight book Prose word meanings
Class 10 English First Flight Poems word meaning
Class 10 English Footprints without Feet word meanings
List of Poetic Devices in Class 10 Poems (Poem-wise)
10 Important Poetic Devices for Class 10