Class 6 English Honeysuckle Chapter 10 Question Answers - The Banyan Tree

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Ques 1: Why did the speaker find the old banyan tree exclusively his own?
Ans: The old banyan tree became the narrator’s own property because his grandfather was too old to climb it.

Ques 2: What did the speaker do while hiding himself in the banyan tree branches?
Ans: The author used to read story books and watch the world below.

Ques 3: When did the banyan tree become a noisy place?
Ans: The banyan tree became the noisiest place in the garden during the fig season.

Ques 4: Where did the author usually spend his afternoons?
Ans: The author usually spent his afternoons on the platform he had built half way up the tree.

Ques 5: What exciting scene did the author enjoy from his platform in the banyan tree?
Ans: The author enjoyed the fight between a mongoose and a cobra, a battle of two champions.

Ques 6: What trick did the mongoose apply to overpower and kill the cobra?
Ans: He first bit the snake twice on the back. When the cobra was tired, the mongoose caught it by the snout. He finally dragged the dead snake into the bushes.

Ques 7: creatures lost their lives in the classic struggle between the cobra and the mongoose. Who were those victims?
Ans: The cobra and the crow.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Ques 1: What is the story The Banyan Tree about? Narrate the incident in brief.
Ans: The Banyan Tree is about a deadly fight between a mongoose and a snake. The outcome of such a fight is the death of the cobra. The mongoose is faster in movement than his opponent. The writer witnessed such a fight, sitting on a branch of a banyan tree. He enjoyed the fight. Both the mongoose and the cobra were experienced fighters. They could strike with speed. A myna and a crow also arrived to feed on the dead crew. The crow had hard luck. He was bitten and he fell dead. The cobra got tired in the fight and the mongoose dragged it into the bushes.

Ques 2: Bring out the relevance/significance of the banyan tree in the title of Ruskin Bond’s story.
Ans: The banyan tree served as a platform for the writer to sit and watch the thrill­ing fight between a cobra and a wild mongoose. The tree was almost the speaker’s property because his grandfather could not climb it. The fight started under that tree in sunshine. Two other spectators, a myna and a crow, also arrived to feed on the dead cobra. But they sat on a cactus plant not the tree.