Class 7 English An Alien Hand Question Answers - Long Question Answer: The Bear Story

Q1. What did the mistress see one Sunday? Who was following her? 
Ans: One Sunday, when the mistress left the bear tied and was on her way to her sister’s house what she saw and who was following her can be elaborated as follows—

• Firstly, she heard the sound of a tree cracking.
• In the next moment, the lady felt that a snaky footpath was following her. 
• She looked back and was shocked to see the bear running towards her. 
• And in a moment, she witnessed the bear join her panting and sniffing.
• Then the bear placed his body at her heels in a dog-fashion manner.

Q2. What did the lady do with the bear? 
Ans: When the lady was going to her sister’s house and the bear came on her way, she did the following things with him—

• Firstly, she expressed her anger that the bear had broken his chain, disobeyed her orders of behaving well and ran to her. 
• But as she was late for lunch and couldn’t take the bear back to the house, the next thing she did was order him to return home. 
• But as the bear kept sniffing at her, the lady noticed that he had lost his new collar. This made her even angrier. She scolded him and hit him with her umbrella.
• Lastly, getting all the beatings and scolding from her mistress, the bear gave in, stopped following her, and started going back home. 

Q3. What did the lady see when she returned from his sister’s house? 
Ans: When the lady returned in the evening from her sister’s house, what she saw is described in the following points—

• The bear was sitting where he usually sat outside his kennel.
• The bear looked as if he was feeling sorry for his behaviour. 

However, these sights didn’t let the lady’s anger wash away. She was still mad and started scolding him in the most severe manner possible. She told him that he would be chained for two more days.

Q4. Who scolded the lady when she was scolding the bear? Why did the person do so? 
Ans: When the lady was scolding the bear, the old cook of hers scolded her. She asked him the reason for her scolding as the bear had been a very good boy the whole day. He had been sitting in his place in silence since the lady left, looking at the gate for her return. 

• The cook scolded the lady because of the following reasons—
• The cook loved the bear very dearly as her own child. 
• She felt bad and sorry for the bear when he was getting scolded.
• So, she started scolding the lady back.

Q5. If you had to pet an animal from the wild animals, what animal would you choose? How would you look after it?
Ans: If I had to pet an animal from the wild animals, I would choose an Elephant. I love elephants especially when they are babies. They are really cute and behave like children. I would look after it in the following manner—

• Firstly, I would try to take care of it as I would do in the case of a dog. 
• He would be given a bath daily in a river. 
• I would feed him the amount of food he would need daily.
• Then I would take him out for a walk in a nearby forest and play with him. I would also train him like other elephants are trained. 

He would also let him roam freely and would chain him only at night.

Q6. ‘Corporal Punishment should be banned’. Discuss.
Ans: Punishment of any kind is bad. Instead one should politely counsel the wrong doers. However, saying of old times emphasize on corporal punishment. It says ‘spare the rod spoil the child’. In contrast to this opinion, psychologists emphasize on presenting ideal behaviour. Innate qualities of a child should be groomed. Every child is born with special abilities and it is the duty of the elders and society in large to provide them love and compassion.

Q7. What did the bear eat? There were two things he was not allowed to do. What were they?
Ans: The bear ate the same food as the dogs. He was given bread, porridge, potatoes, cabbages and turnips. He was a vegetarian. He liked the apple most. He was not allowed to pluck apples from the tree and attack the beehive.

Q8. What happened one Sunday when the lady was going to her sister’s house? What did the lady do? What was the bear’s reaction?
Ans: One Sunday when the lady was going to her sister’s house, she saw a bear coming along at full speed. Thinking that he was her pet, the lady got very angry. Being already late for lunch, she scolded him and told him to go back. She saw that he had even lost his new collar. This made her angrier, and she hit him on his nose with her parasol. The parasol broke in two. The bear opened his mouth several times as if he wanted to say something, and then it turned around and went on its way.

Q9. The second bear did not attack the lady because he was afraid of her. Do you agree?
Ans: The second bear did not attack the lady because he too was a friendly bear. He was charging towards her and it seemed as if he wanted to sit near her heels. Thinking that he was her pet bear, the lady scolded him and even hit him with her parasol. The bear did not respond angrily, and slowly turned around and went away. Perhaps sad at being shouted at.

Q10. Give the character sketch of the bear.
Ans: The bear was lived with a lady in an old manor house on the border of a big forest. She was very fond of him. The bear was found in the forest almost dead of hunger, so the lady and her cook brought up home and took care of him. The bear was very kind and gracious who did not harm any man or animals. The children used to play with him and also the three dogs loved to play all sorts of games. He did not eat because he was given the same food as the dog’s ear, so he never tasted meat Rather he loves to eat vegetables, apples and honey. Whenever, he does any mischief, he was punished as being chained up for two days. The bear loved his master mistress and also obeyed her.

Q11. Why was the lady angry?
Ans: On Sundays, the lady used to visit the afternoon on her married sisters residence. Who lived in a solitary house on the other side of the mountain lake. It takes an hour of walk through the dark forest. So, the lady put the bear on the chain on Sundays.
On Sunday’s when she was going to visit her sister as usual thorough the forest,  She heard the cracking sound of a tree branch behind her. Then she turned back and see that the bear was rushing towards her full speed and followed her. This made the lady very angry, and she was already running late for her lunch. And there was no time for her to take the bear back home because she did not want him to come with her.

Q12. Why did the lady regret later?
Ans: The lady regretted because when she was going to visit her sister’s place through the dense forest, she saw that a bear was following her. She felt like to have disobeying her form the bear. She told him to go back to his kennel, but he looked at her with his cunning eyes. Also she saw that the bear had lost his new collar. From all this, the lady was very angry and hit him on the nose was broken into two.
Later when the lady returned home, she get to know from the cook the bear did not move from his kennel and looking towards the gate the whole time for her to return. She realised that she had hit the other bear with her parasol. So, the lady regretted by scolding the bear.

Q13. How Should we behave with our pets?
Ans: The pets should be taken care of. They need our love and appreciation. They are not only the watch-dogs that need pampering only, they want to be protected and trusted. The lady took the other bear for her pet and brutally beaten him. She was ready to punish him severely unless she was told the truth by the cook. The pets are speechless but they want to be heard.

Q14. When was the bear tied up with a chain? Why?
Ans: He was also put in chain during nights and on Sunday when his mistress went to spend the afternoon with her married sister. It was done because it was not supposed to be good for him to wander about in the forest with all its temptations; it was better to be on the safe side.

Q15. Why was the bear looking sorry for himself in the evening? Why did the cook get angry with her mistress?
Ans: The bear was looking sorry for himself in the evening because he had been chained for the whole Sunday afternoon and was looking for his mistress without doing anything. The cook got angry with her mistress because she was scolding the bear without any mistake who had been sitting there quite still on his haunches as meek as an angel, looking the whole time towards the gate for the mistress to come back.

Q16. Who was the lady and how did she find a bear?
Ans: The lady, who lived in her old manor – house on the border of a big forest. She loved to have pets. One day she found a bear in the middle of the forest, almost half dead of hunger. The bear was so small and helpless and then he was brought up by the lady and her old cook to her house. They feed them well and now he had grown up to a big bear.

Q17. Why the bear had never tasted meat?
Ans: Mostly bears are vegetables until they were given any flesh by someone. So the bear ate the some food as given to the digs and even sometimes ate on the same plate given by the mistress. He had a fine appetite and the foods like bread, porridge, potato, cabbage and turnip were given to him. He was treated name as the other pets in the house by the lady and her cook.

Q18. Why did the cook rush out from the kitchen?
Ans: when the lady returned back home, she began to scold the bear for disobeying her because she was still angry with her bear. The lady said that the bear would be put on the chain for two more days. This made the old cook very angry ad rushed out from the kitchen because the bear did not move from his kennel the whole day.