Class 8 English (It so Happened) Chapter 6 Important Question Answers - The Fight

Q1: What is it that Ranji finds difficult to explain at home?
Ans: Ranji’s violent fight with the Warrior near the pool left him with cuts and bruises on the face, arms and legs. Ranji did not want to reveal this fight to his mother; otherwise, she would not let him go outside the house.

Q2: Where, when and with whom did Ranji chance upon the pool?
Ans: Since Ranji had recently moved to Rajpur, he was yet to make an acquaintance. It was summer vacation, and he was freely wandering in the forest area one day when he came across the pool.

Q3: “Then we will have to continue the fight,” said the other.
(i) What made him say that?
(ii) Did the fight continue? If not, why not?
Ans:
(i) Both the boys fought tooth and nail for about five minutes, after which they were bruised and exhausted. Since the decision on who would be the pool’s rightful owner was pending, the Warrior suggested they continue the fight the next day.
(ii) No, the fight did not continue after that day. The Warrior dared Ranji to come the next day for the decisive fight, to which Ranji agreed. Both boys dressed up and went their different ways. The fight also did not continue the next day since the other boy came to know and admire Ranji’s diving and underwater swimming technique. Moreover, Ranji even promised to teach him, which turned their hostility into friendship.

Q4: Ranji sees his adversary in the bazaar.
(i) What does he wish to do?
(ii) What does he do, and why?
Ans:
(i)  In the bazaar, Ranji was sitting by himself eating jalebis and drinking his lemonade, when he spotted the other boy walking down the road. The first reaction was to avoid his adversary and look elsewhere. . He was still angry at the other boy and even thought of hurling the empty lemonade bottle at him.
(ii) Ranji did not do any of these. He mustered up enough courage to stay put while the other boy was passing by and glared hard at him. The other boy, in turn, returned his hostility with equal measure.

Q5: Ranji’s superiority over the other boy is obvious in the following:
(i) Good diving, sense of humour, swimming underwater, willingness to help
(ii) Physical strength, his being a fighter, swimming underwater
(iii) Making a good point, sense of humour, willingness to help
Ans:
(i) Good diving, sense of humour, swimming underwater, and willingness to help make him stand out from all the rest.

Q6: Why was Ranji so happy to see the pool in the forest?
Ans: Ranji was already tired and thirsty after walking long on a very hot and sunny day when he discovered the pool in the forest, with its translucent water nestled within the rocks. He knew how refreshing it would be to swim here and felt very happy about it.

Q7: How is the forest pool different from the one that Ranji knew in the Rajputana desert?
Ans: The forest pool in this semi-hilly town was different and something that Ranji had never seen or experienced. The deserts of Rajputana contained dirty, muddy, slimy pools that fill up during the scanty rains. Buffaloes wallowed in these waters, where women also came to wash clothes. In sharp contrast,  the pool in the forest was cool and translucent to the extent that one could spot the pebbles at the bottom. The perennial pool was held together by gathering rocks and fed from a stream coming from the hills.

Q8: Between Ranji and the other boy, who was trying to start a quarrel? Give a reason for your answer.
Ans: Ranji was ready to welcome company in the pool, but the other boy approached with hostility. He proclaimed the pool as his own and preferred swimming alone, threatening Ranji to leave the pool. When it didn’t work, the other boy slapped Ranji on the face. Ranji hit him back, and the fight started between the two boys.

Q9: Ranji was not at all eager for a second fight. Why does he go back to the pool, then?
(i) Ranji felt very sorry for what had happened the previous day and wanted to apologise.
(ii) Ranji wanted to make peace and was ready to give up the pool.
(iii) Ranji valued self-respect and didn’t want to give up so easily.
Ans: (iii) Ranji valued self-respect and didn’t want to give up so easily.

Q10. What surprises the Warrior?
(i) The Warrior is surprised at seeing a thin person like Ranji swimming so fast
(ii) Ranji can swim easily despite his bruised body
(iii) Ranji’s clean dive and underwater swimming technique
Ans: (iii) Ranji’s clean dive and underwater swimming technique