Q. What had happened to Jody’s father?
Ans. Jody’s father had been bitten by a rattlesnake.
Q. How did the doe save Penny’s life?
Ans. Jody’s father killed the doe or she dear. He used her heart and liver to draw out the snake’s poison. In this way the doe saved Penny’s life.
Q. Why does Jody want to bring the fawn home?
Ans. Jody’s father had killed the doe. Without the mother-deer, the fawn was likely to starve to death in the forest. So Jody wanted to bring the young fawn home.
Q. How does Jody know that the fawn is a male?
Ans. The spots on the fawn’s body made Jody know that it was a male.
Q. Jody didn’t want Mill-wheel with him for two reasons. What were they?
Ans. Jody didn’t want Mill-wheel to join him in the search for the fawn. The reason was that he was not sure about the fawn’s safety. He didn’t want Mill-wheel to see his disappointment.
Q. Why was Mill-wheel afraid to leave Jody alone?
Ans. Mill-wheel was afraid that Jody might be lost in the jungle.
Q. How did Jody bring the fawn back home?
Ans. Jody picked up the fawn into his arms and proceeded to home. After some distance, he kept the fawn down and took rest. Later on, the fawn followed him. Thus he brought the fawn back home.
Q. Jody was filled with emotion after he found the fawn. Can you find at least three words or phrases which show how he felt?
Answer
- (The fawn) shook him through with the stare of its liquid eye.
- The touch of the fawn made him delirious.
- As though the fawn were a china deer.
Q. How did the deer drink milk from the gourd?
Ans. Jody dipped his fingers in the milk. Then he left the fawn suck his fingers. He did so several times. Finally, the fawn drank off all the milk from the gourd.
Q. Why didn’t the fawn follow Jody up the steps as he had thought it would?
Ans. The fawn didn’t know how to raise its feet to climb the steps.
Q. Why did Penny Baxter allow Jody to go find the fawn and raise it?
Ans. Penny was convinced by Jody’s argument that it would be ungrateful if they left the fawn in the forest to starve. He realised that Jody was right.
Q. What did Doc Wilson mean when he said, “Nothing in the world ever comes quite free”?
Ans. Doc Wilson meant that Penny must pay back to the doe whom he had killed for his own gain by bringing up her fawn.
Q. How did Jody look after the fawn, after he accepted the responsibility for doing this?
Ans. Jody looked after the fawn like a mother. He made it drink milk with his fingers dipped in milk. This is how a mother feeds her baby. Jody was glad that he had found the fawn.
Q. How does Jody’s mother react when she hears that he is going to bring the fawn home? Why does she react in this way?
Ans. Jody’s mother turned her nose when she heard that he was going to bring back the fawn. She gasped with surprise because she didn’t want to see an animal in her home.
Q. Here are some questions in direct speech. Put them into reported speech.
- Penny said, “Do you really want it son?”
- Mill-wheel said, “Will he ride back with me?”
- He said to Mill-wheel, “Do you think the fawn is still there?”
- He asked Mill-wheel, “Will you help me find him?”
- He said, “Was it up here that Pa got bitten by the snake?”
Answer
- Penny asked his son if he really wanted the fawn.
- Mill-wheel enquired if Jody would ride back with him.
- Jody asked Mill-wheel if he thought the fawn was still there.
- He asked Mill-wheel if he would help him find the fawn.
- Mill-wheel wanted to know if that was the place where Pa had got bitten by the snake.
Q. Say whether the verb in each sentence below is transitive or intransitive. Ask yourself a ‘what’ question about the verb, as in the example above. (For some verbs, the object is a person, so ask the question ‘who’ instead of ‘what’).
- Jody then went to the kitchen.
- The fawn wobbled after him.
- You found him.
- He picked it up.
- He dipped his fingers in the milk.
- It bleated frantically and butted him.
- The fawn sucked his fingers.
- He lowered his fingers slowly into the milk.
- It stamped its small hoofs impatiently.
- He held his fingers below the level of the milk.
- The fawn followed him.
- He walked all day.
- He stroked its sides.
- The fawn lifted its nose.
- Its legs hung limply.
Answer
- intransitive
- intransitive
- transitive
- transitive
- transitive
- intransitive, transitive
- transitive
- transitive
- transitive
- transitive
- transitive
- intransitive
- transitive
- transitive
- intransitive
Q. Write down some idioms and phrasal verbs connected to these words. Use the dictionary for more idioms and phrasal verbs.
close, draw, make, wonder, scrawny, parted, clearing, sweet, light, pick
Ans. Idioms or phrasal verbs connected to the above words.
- Clearing: clearing, campaign
- Close: close shave, close up, close quarters
- Draw: draw the curtain on/over, draw a blank
- Light: in the light of, bring to light
- Make: make the most of, make up
- Part: part with, parted comparing
- Pick: pick up, pick and choose
- Scrawny: the scrawny neck
- Sweet: have a sweet tooth, sweet seventeen, sweet tongued, sweet nothings
- Wonder: wonder world, wonder load, nine day’s wonder, wonder about, do wonders.
Q. Do you think it is right to kill an animal to save a human life? Give reasons for your answer.
Ans. Most of the animals are our friends. Dogs, horses, elephants, cows are a few such animals that serve us. But man has been killing codfish or the whales for oil. Tigers are killed for their skin and bones. This is not fair. But there is no harm if any of them are killed strictly to save human life, property and agriculture. However, killing animals is a crime. It is wrong to kill wild life for their hide or for pleasure.
Q. Imagine you wake up one morning and find a tiny animal on your doorstep. You want to keep it as a pet but your parents are not too happy about it. How would you persuade them to let you keep it? Discuss it in groups and present your arguments to the class.
Ans. The young ones of cats, dogs and some birds attract us as does a human child. When I was a child, I wanted to adopt a kitten or a puppy as pet. I found a good breed puppy at my doorstep one day. But it created a commotion in the house. My mother got irritated at the very presence of pets in the house. They bite and bark, enter the kitchen or sit on our beds and make things dirty. But I assured her that I would look after my puppy and train it. The loyal dog would act as security guard and a playmate. My parents finally relented and let me have the poor puppy as a pet.