Chapter 6 Mijbil the Otter (GAVIN MAXWELL)

Maxwell thought about keeping an Otter as a pet after the death of his dog. Camusfearna, ringed by water a very short distance from its door, he thought would, therefore, be a suitable spot for this experiment he had in mind.

He went to Basra, to Consulate-General, to collect and answer his mail from Europe. He had to wait there for five days because his mail did not reach on time. At first, he sent a telegraph to England but nothing happened for three days. Then he had to book an international call 24hours in advance and on the very first day the line was not working properly. On the second day, it was a public holiday followed by another breakdown on the third day. However, after a tedious time of five days, his mail finally arrived.

When he received his mail, he carried it to his bedroom to read it. There, he saw two Arabs with a sack. They handed him a note from his friend saying that he had sent him an otter.

Yes, he liked it very much. The sentence from the text, ‘It is, in effect, a thraldom to otters, an otter fixation, that I have since found to be shared by most other people, who have ever owned one’ throws light on the strong feeling of happiness that he had.

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

In the beginning, the otter was aloof and indifferent.

When Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom, it was plunging and rolling in the bathtub, 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 the bedroom to the bathroom. By the time he got there, Mijbil was fumbling at the chromium taps with its paws and in less than a minute, it had turned the tap enough to produce some water and after some time, achieving full flow.

Maxwell booked a flight to Paris and then 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.

Mij did not sit silently in the box and found it very uncomfortable. It kept on moving round and round and in an attempt to escape; he tore the metal lining of the box. As a result, Mij had hurt himself and started bleeding.

Maxwell put the otter back in the box because he was left with no other option at the last moment. Only ten minutes were left for the flight to take off and the distance of airport was about five miles. When he did this, he must have felt pity for the way the otter was hurt as well as worried at the same time.

Maxwell said that the air hostess was ‘the very queen of her kind' because she was very friendly and helpful. When Maxwell took her into confidence about the incident with the box, she suggested him to keep his pet on the knees. The author, therefore, developed a profound admiration for the cooperative lady who could understand his pain and trouble.

When the box was opened, Mij went out of the box and disappeared at a high speed down the aircraft. The passengers started panicking and there were cries all around. A woman stood up on her seat crying, "a rat-a rat!" Maxwell dived to catch his disappearing tail but failed. He was then asked to be seated by the air hostess and suggested that she would find the otter. After a while, Mij returned to him and began climbing on his knees and rubbing his nose and neck.

Mijbil had invented a game of his own which he played with a ping-pong ball. There was a slope on one end of the suitcase. Mij placed the ball on one end of the sloping lid, and then grab it as it ran down to the other-end.

'Compulsive habits' are strange acts of behaviour which one does without a particular reason.

School children on their way to school and back placed their feet on the center of the each paving block. Similarly, Mijbil would tug the author to the two feet high wall of a school when he walked with him. On his way home, he made it a habit of jumping on to the wall and go galloping all along its length of thirty yards.

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

According to Maxwell, the average Londoner could not recognize an otter. They made varied guesses about who he was considering him to be 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 invented a game of his own out of the ping-pong balls. It was able to screw the tap till water began to flow and then it would play and splash underwater. Though it was aloof and indifferent in the beginning, it soon became very friendly and developed a special attachment with Maxwell. It gradually began responding to him when he called Mij. It grew extremely desperate when Maxwell left him in a box and clung to his feet as soon as he came out. Mij was also a fun loving animal who liked to play all kinds of games including toys, ping-pong balls, marbles, rubber fruit and a terrapin shell.

Otters belong to a comparatively small group of animals called Mustellines shared by 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 as Lutrogale Perspicillata Maxwell or Maxwell's Otter. In accordance with the text, Mijbil was a very friendly, intelligent and fun loving animal who developed his own sliding game and also liked to play ping-pong balls and going up and down the bathtub underwater. He possessed an exquisite way of enjoying his free life and surroundings. We can thus conclude that not only otters but all kinds of animals posses a hilarious as well as caring attitude and tend to build a very healthy and affectionate relationship with whomsoever they live.

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

(i)The following instances show that Mij seems almost human, like a small boy.

He plunges and rolls in the water. He shoots up and down the bathtub underwater. He makes enough slosh and splash and turns the water tap enough to produce a trickle of water. He plays and juggles small objects between his paws lying on its back. He nuzzles the author's face and neck.

(iii) Mij turned the tap enough to produce a trickle of water, followed by full flow in less than a minute with the help of his paws.

(v) Mij developed his own game from the damaged suitcase of the author. He discovered that if he would place the ball at the high end, it would slide down to the lower end. He always dashed around from one end of the suitcase to another and would grab the ball and trot it off to the high end again and again.

(vii) He did not believe that the otter is an unusual animal. However, the variety of guesses Londoners made about who Mij was what came as a surprise to the author.

(i) Emperor Akbar used to be fond of musical evenings.

(ii) Every evening we used to take long walks on the beach.

OR

Every evening we would take long walks on the beach.

(iii) Fifty years ago, very few people used to own cars.

(iv)Till the1980's Shanghai used to have very dirty streets.

(v) My uncle used to spend his holidays by the sea.

More Example-

(i) Our English teacher used to teach us moral education.

(ii) My mother used to read the Ramayana in the morning.

(i) Noun

(ii) Noun

(iii) Proper noun

(iv) Proper noun

(v) Adjective plus Noun

(vi) Adjective plus Noun

Temple – white temple, stone temple

Person- incorrigible person, ridiculous person

Gifts – birthday gifts

Time – first time, rough time

Crossing – railroad crossing

Physique – plump physique

Three girls – incorrigible three girls, first three girls

Thoughts – heartbreaking thoughts, ridiculous thoughts

Scream – loud scream

Subject – college subject

Flight – first flight

Coffee – invigorating coffee

Triangle – love triangle

Boys – college boys

Farewell – heartbreaking farewell

Landscape- bare landscape

Chatterbox – incorrigible chatterbox

View – panoramic view

Dresses – birthday dresses, marriage dresses

Roar – loud roar

Expression – bare expression

Handkerchief – white handkerchief

Profession – family profession

Celebration – birthday celebration, family celebration

NOTE – Students can frame more phrases using suitable words given. The above given are few examples.

(i) a piece of cotton

(ii) a pool of blood

(iii) Flakes of snow

(iv) a huge heap of stones

(v) a gust of the wind

(vi) little drops of water

(vii) a portion of fried fish

(viii) a pot of gold

(i) My teacher gave me some advice - My teacher gave me a bit of advice.

(ii) Can you give me some clay, please? - Can you give me a lump of clay, please?

(iii) The information you gave was very useful. - The piece of information you gave was very useful.

(iv) Because of these factories, smoke hangs over the city. - Because of these factories, a cloud of smoke hangs over the city.

(v) Two stones rubbed together can produce sparks of fire. - Two pieces of stones rubbed together can produce sparks of fire.

(vi) He gave me some flowers on my birthday. - He gave me a bunch of flowers on my birthday.

According to Sandburg, fog is like a cat.

The fog comes silently like a cat. It sits on haunches looking around the harbour and the city and then moves on.

In the third line, ‘it’ refers to the fog that has covered the city.

No, the poet does not actually say that the fog is like a cat. However, he uses the cat as a metaphor to describe the fog. The three things that tell us that the fog is like a cat are:

(i) The fog comes slowly and silently like a cat.

(ii) It spreads over the city and stays for some time like a cat sitting on its haunches.

(iii) The fog disappears after some time just as a cat moves away after some time.

NOTE – Metaphor refers to a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not applicable in a practical sense.

(i)

(ii) Ferocious as a leopard,

It touches the terrain.

Growling all over the place,

Howling at its highest pace.

NOTE - This is just a small example using leopard as a metaphor. Students can write the poem using innovative ideas.

No, this poem has no rhyme scheme. It is written in ‘free verse’.