Class 10 English Chapter 1 Question Answers - First Flight

Short Answers Questions

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.

Long Answer Questions
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.