Long Answers - Chapter - 13, Three Men in a Boat | English Class 9 PDF Download

Q1.Describe the event that took place in the lobby of Hay-market stores.

Ans. One day, in the Hay-market stores lobby, different types of dogs were waiting peacefully and patiently for their owners who were busy in shopping. A lady came and tied up her fox-terrier between a bull dog and a poodle. The fox-terrific bit the fore leg of the poodle. The puddle cried loudly and suddenly all the dogs started fighting. There was a pandemonium and terrific din all around. When the situation became more grim police was called. Montmorency had a fight with a long and strong tom cat. After that day Montmorency fears cats.

Q2.Describe the humour in the friends shopping before they left Marlow.

Ans. They did their shopping after breakfast and stored up the boat for three days. On the advice of George they bought vegetables– ten pounds of potatoes, a bushel of peas and a few cabbages. Then they got a beefsteak pie, a couple of gooseberry tarts, a leg of mutton, fruits and cakes, bread and butter, jam, bacon and eggs. They had insisted all the shops they had been, to send the things with them then and there. By the time they finished, they had a fine collection of boys with baskets following them to the river. It looked like a procession. The three friends and several boys were going towards their boat loaded with baskets, hamper, bag, coats, rugs, hats bulged out Gladstone bag and bottle of lime-juice etc. The scene looked very funny and humorous procession.

Q3. Describe the event that happened with Harris when he was carving the beefsteak pie.

Ans. When Harris was carving the beefsteak, George and Jim were waiting with their plates ready. Harris asked them for a spoon to help the gravy with. They both turned to the hamper for a spoon. After five seconds when they looked round again, Harris and the pie were gone. They found him invisible and imagined about various places where he might have gone or what might have happened to him. Actually he had been sitting, without knowing it, on the very verge of a small gully, the long grass hiding it from view; and in leaning a little back, he had fallen into it with pie. Harris believed that George and Jim had done it deliberately.

Q4. What advice did the friends get at Hambledon Lock? What difficulty they found in admitting it?

Ans. The three friends found themselves short of water at Hambledon lock, so they took their jar and went up to the lock keeper’s house to beg for some water. The lock keeper said that they could have as much as they wanted. They thanked him and asked where it was, then he replied, in the same place just behind them. They turned and saw the stream an  realized that he meant the river water. But they were reluctant and so they got some water from a cottage. Still they thought it too might be river water. They were not ready to admit the lock keeper’s advice for fear of falling ill by drinking river water.

Q 5.How was the small boat of three friends more annoying and aggravated then steam launches or all other crafts on the river put all together?

Ans. The writer and his friends did not like steam launches. They disliked the blatant confidence of a steam launch that arouses jealousy in their minds. The writer disliked seeing the man standing with his hands in his pocket, by the stern, smoking a cigar. He feels insulted by their lordly whistle for smaller boats to get out of their way. He says that their small boat (during that week) caused more annoyance and delay to the steam launches than all the other crafts put together. The writer wishes their boat to be directly in the way of the launch. The launch would whistle like a mad, people on board would shriek but for nothing. Then  with one final shriek of a whistle, the launch would swing around and get aground.

Q1.  Give a brief character sketch of Jim as you read this chapter.

Ans. Jim, the writer, becomes poetic while passing through the historical places. He also gives us a brief of anecdotes about important places. We realise that he is a lover of scenery. He says that ‘God has made this sweet spot so bright’. His love for nature and pleasure is revealed when he passed an adverse comment on the life of monks who lived in the abbey “a grim life.” He disapproves their way of life as they remained silent waiting for a voice from heaven whereas God speaks to us in myriad tones through nature which the monks did not hear. The writer has an indulgent attitude towards the antics of Montmorency and puts the entire blame on his breed– the fox-terries. He describes Montmorency’s encounter with the tom cat with a great sense of humour. He is always ready with a story to support his views.

Q2. What does the behaviour of two friends on the event of Harris’s disappearance show about their character?

Ans. George and Jim behave in a manner that arouses laughter and humour. They seem not even the slightest worried about Harris rather they are bent on making fun of him when he fell into the gully. George and Jim gazed all around them but could not find Harris. The writer was surprised–could he have been snatched up by Heaven? To which George replied that they would hardly have taken the pie too and thought there must have been an earthquake. Their shocked eyes came up Harris’s head– sticking bolt upright among the tall grass, the face very red and indignant. George cried, “Speak and tell us whether you are alive or dead-and where is the rest of you?” Actually Harris had been sitting, without knowing it, on the very verge of gully hidden with long grass, and in leaning a little back he had fallen into it along with pie.