NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 6 Mijbil the Otter

Maxwell thought it was better to keep an otter instead of a dog. Camusfearna, ringed by water a very short distance from its door, would be an eminently suitable spot for the experiment.

Maxwell went to Basra, to the Consulate-General to collect and answer his mail from Europe. He had to wait for three days before anything could happen. It took him a waiting period of five days. His mail didn’t reach on time. The call had to be booked 24 hours in advance in those times. Then he tried to make a telephone call but telephone line was not working properly on the first day. Next day it was some public holiday so it was not operational. Finally after a tortuous wait of five days his mail arrived.

When he finally received his mail after waiting for five long days, he carried it to his bedroom to read. There, he saw two Arabs squatting on the floor and beside them was a sack that squirmed from time to time. They handed him a note from his friend saying that he had sent him an otter. Yes liked otter. We know this because he uses the term ‘otter fixation’ to refer to his feeling towards the otter. He felt that this otter fixation or this strong attachment towards otters was something that was shared by most other people who had ever owned one.

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

Maxwell made a body-belt for Mijbil and took him on a lead to bathroom. It went wild with joy in the water for half an hour, 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 from his bedroom to the bathroom. By the time Maxwell got there, Mijbil was up on the end of the bathtub and fumbling at the chromium taps with its paws. Maxwell was left amazed. In less than a minute, it had turned the tap far enough to produce some water and after a moment, achieved the full flow.

Maxwell was in great fear by the thought of transporting Mij to England and to Camusfearna. He booked a flight to Paris and from there he would go on to London. The airlines insisted that Mij should be packed in a box not more than eighteen inches square, so that it could be carried on the floor near his feet.

When Maxwell came after having his hurried meal he observed complete silence from the box. Blooded had trickled and dried. Mij didn’t find it comfortable to be there so tried to escape. In its attempt to escape Mij tore into the metal lining of the box to shreds. As a result it hurt itself and started bleeding.

As there was no other way to carry Mij to London so the author had put it back into the box. He must have felt pity on the way the otter had hurt itself. Moreover, he must be worried as well.

Luckily Maxwell got a seat in front. He covered the floor with newspaper. He rang for the air hostess and gave her a parcel of fish to keep in cool place. 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. This is because he calls the airhostess “the very queen of her kind”.

When the box was opened, Mij went out of the box. He disappeared at a high speed down the aircraft. There were squawks and shrieks. 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 a portly white-turbaned Indian passenger. He dived for it, but missed. The airhostess suggested him to be seated and that she would find the animal and bring it back to him. After a while, Mij had returned to him. It climbed on his knee and began to rub its nose on his face and neck.

Mij had invented a game with ping-pong ball. He would put the ball at one end of a sloping lid and then grab it as it ran to the other end.

Otters belong to a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines, shared by the badger, mongoose, weasel, stoat, mink and others.

According to Maxwell, he faced a continuous barrage of conjectural questions that sprayed all the Mustellines but the otter. He said that the average Londoner does not recognize an otter. The Londoners who saw Mij made different guesses about who Mij was. Some same that it was a baby seal, a squirrel, a walrus, a hippo, a beaver, a bear cub, a leopard and a brontosaur.

Mij was an intelligent animal. It had invented its own game out of the ping-pong balls. He was fond of water. He was intelligent enough that it screwed the tap till water began to flow and then it would play and splash in the water. Initially Mij was aloof and indifferent but soon became very friendly. It formed a special attachment with Maxwell we can say this after the incident, when Maxwell locked Mij in the box it became desperate to come out as it felt uncomfortable. When Maxwell took him out it clung to his feet. It was a fun-loving animal. It responded when Maxwell called out his name 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.

Otters belong to a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines, shared by the badger, mongoose, weasel, stoat, mink and others. Maxwell’s otter was of a race previously unknown to science and was at length named by zoologists Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli or Maxwell’s otter. They are found in large numbers in marshes.

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