Very Short and Short Answers - Chapter - 12, Three Men in a Boat | English Class 9 PDF Download

Very Short  Answers Type Questions

Q1. What was special about the ruins of old priory in the grounds of Ankerwyke House?

Ans. The ruins were famous for meetings between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second Queen.

Q2. Why did the writer call the small boy an angel?

Ans. The writer called him an angel because the boy had taken them to his house and his mother provided them with food and shelter at such a time when they could find no room in any hotel.

Q3. What accommodation did the three friends get at Datchet?

Ans. At first they rejected all the hotels for this or that reason and later on there was no room left for them. Then a small boy took them to their house where his mother gave them two beds to sleep in.

Q4. What had the three friends forgotten to bring with them? How did the writer feel about its absence?

Ans. They forgot to bring mustard with them for which the writer hankered at lunch time and had his lunch without mustard.

Q5. What had Jim done while dreaming?

Ans. Jim, while steering the boat, began to dream and barged straight into a boat in which three old men were sitting on chairs and fishing.

Q6. Why did the three old men curse the three friends?

Ans. Jim barged the boat in which three men were sitting on chairs and fishing. They fell down and got badly hurt. After getting recovered, they cursed them comprehensively in a bad manner.

Short  Answers Type Questions

Q1. What was the reason behind rejecting two hotels by Jim and Harris?

Ans. The writer rejected the first hotel as it did not have a honeysuckle in its porch. Harris rejected the second hotel because he didn’t like the look of the man leaning against the front door and wearing ugly boots. These were the only two inns in the place.

Q2. What humour did the three friends experienced at Datchet?

Ans. After rejecting the second hotel they went back to the first hotel to stay. But it was full and there was no accommodation there. Already there were three men in one bed. Then they went to manor, the second hotel. The landlady told them they were the fourteenth party she had refused in the last one and a half hour. A shop nearby was also full with two married couples and a single gentleman. The grocer next door was also full. An old lady took them to her friend’s house which was also full. This way the three friends walked miles. Harris felt exhausted and unable to go further or die there. He requests George and Jim to kiss his mother on behalf of him and tell his relatives that he forgave them and died happily. They fell upon the neck of the small boy in gratitude and the boy unable to sustain himself, sank to the ground and the three friends fell down on top of him.

Q3. Narrate the experience of three friends in opening the pineapple tine.

Ans. George drew out a tin of pineapple from the hamper and all of them felt that life was worth living after all. They searched for a tin opener but could not find it. Harris tried to open it with a pocket knife but broke the knife and cut himself badly. George tried with a pair of scissors but the scissors flow up and struck his eye. Jim tried to make a hole in it with the spiky end of a hitcher which slipped and jerked him out between the boat and the bank into two feet of muddy water and the tin rolled over, uninjured, and broke a tea cup. Then they all tried to smash it with a large stone. George was narrowly saved by his straw hat. The description presents the three friends to be all humorous and behaving like idiots.

Q4. How does the writer describe sailing?

Ans. The writer knew no more thrilling sensation than sailing. He imagines to be flying while sailing. The wings of the rushing wind seem to take him onward. We feel no longer the slow puny thing of clay plodding and creeping tortuously upon the ground rather we are a part of nature. Our heart throbs against hers. The glorious arms of nature are around us, raising us up against her heart. Our limbs grow light. The voices of the air sing to us. We feel away from earth and the clouds close to our heads are like our brothers whom we desire to take in our arms.

Q5. Narrate their trip from Magna Charta Island to Marlow in your own words.

Ans. On the way from Magna Charta Island to Marlow, Jim was sailing the boat. Meanwhile he was lost in imagination dreaming of the beauty of nature and carelessly he barged a boat in which three old men were sitting on chairs and enjoying fishing. The three men fell down their chairs and got hurted and cursed the three friends with long and comprehensive curses. George said that he (Jim) should not give away his brilliant mind is steering boat rather a mere common place human being (like George) should sail it last they all should get drowned. George took the lines then and sailed the boat up to Marlow, where they left the boat by the bridge and went to stay at the “Crown.”