Question 1
"…house and grounds were of Grandfather's domain. But the magnificent old banyan tree was mine." Why did the boy say so?
Answer: The boy claimed the banyan tree as his own because his 65-year-old grandfather could no longer climb it due to his age. While the house and grounds belonged to grandfather's domain, the tree became the boy's special territory since he was the only one who could access it by climbing.
Question 2
How did the squirrel become a friend of the boy?
Answer: Initially, the small grey squirrel resented the boy's presence and seemed to arch his back defensively. However, when the squirrel realized that the boy didn't carry any weapons like a catapult or air-gun, he became friendlier. The friendship deepened when the boy started leaving pieces of cake and biscuit for the squirrel, who eventually became bold enough to take food directly from the boy's hands and search through his pockets.
Question 3
What did the friends of the squirrel think about his friendship with a human? What might have made them think so?
Answer: The squirrel's friends and relatives probably thought him headstrong and foolish for trusting a human. They might have thought this because humans are generally considered dangerous to wild animals, often hunting them with weapons or disturbing their natural habitat. Trusting a human would seem risky and unwise to other squirrels.
Question 4
How was the banyan tree the noisiest place during the fig season?
Answer: During spring, when the banyan tree was full of small red figs, birds of all kinds would flock to its branches - red-bottomed bulbuls (cheerful and greedy), gossiping rosy-pastors, parrots, and crows. All these birds would be squabbling with each other constantly, making the banyan tree the noisiest place on the road during fig season.
Question 5
How did the boy make the spring season exciting for himself?
Answer: The boy made spring exciting by observing the variety of birds that came to feed on the banyan tree's figs. He enjoyed watching the different species - bulbuls, rosy-pastors, parrots, and crows - as they fed and squabbled with each other, creating a lively and noisy atmosphere around his tree.
Question 6
What was the incident that triggered a long-lasting excitement for the boy in summer?
Answer: The incident was witnessing a fight to the death between a mongoose and a huge black cobra in the garden while he sat directly above them in the banyan tree. This thrilling battle provided him with enough excitement to last through the entire summer.
Question 7
How did the cobra regard his opponent? Were they true warriors?
Answer: The cobra knew very well that the grey mongoose was a superb fighter, clever and aggressive. However, the cobra was also confident in his own abilities as a skilled and experienced fighter who could move swiftly and strike with lightning speed, with deadly venom in his fangs. Yes, they were true warriors as both were skilled fighters - it was described as "a battle of champions."
Question 8
How did the mongoose manage to escape from the snake's bite?
Answer: The mongoose managed to escape the snake's bite through several clever tactics: he refused to look directly into the cobra's mesmerizing eyes, instead fixing his gaze just below the cobra's hood. He used feints (fake movements) to confuse the cobra, and when the cobra struck, the mongoose would jump neatly to one side with lightning speed, then dart in quickly to bite the snake before retreating out of reach.
Question 9
The cobra was a good fighter. Pick out one of his fighting techniques.
Answer: One of the cobra's fighting techniques was trying to mesmerize the mongoose by swaying slowly from side to side with his glassy, unwinking eyes, attempting to make the mongoose make a false move. He also used his speed, striking with lightning quickness when the opportunity arose.
Question 10
The mongoose proved that he was clever. Can you cite any instance of his cleverness?
Answer: The mongoose showed cleverness by refusing to meet the cobra's hypnotic gaze, knowing the power of the cobra's mesmerizing eyes. Instead, he fixed his gaze at a point just below the cobra's hood. He also used strategic feints to confuse the cobra and timed his attacks perfectly, darting in to bite and then quickly retreating out of reach.
Question 11
What were the reactions of the spectators when the cobra struck?
Answer: When the cobra struck, the two bird spectators (the crow and the myna) hurled themselves at the cobra to help, but only succeeded in colliding heavily with each other in mid-air. They returned to the cactus plant, shrieking at each other in frustration.
Question 12
How did the crow push itself into trouble?
Answer: The crow pushed itself into trouble by repeatedly trying to interfere in the fight between the mongoose and cobra. In the third round, when the crow tried to pull up in mid-air and turn back after diving at the cobra, it took a crucial second too long. During this moment of vulnerability, the cobra whipped his head back and struck the crow with great force, flinging it twenty feet across the garden where it died.
Question 13
Why is the myna said to be wise?
Answer: The myna is said to be wise because after witnessing the crow's death, it learned from the mistake and "very wisely refrained from interfering again." Unlike the crow, the myna understood the danger and stayed safely on the cactus plant, showing wisdom through restraint.
Question 14
Who won the battle? What made the myna peer into the bushes?
Answer: The mongoose won the battle. After the cobra weakened, the mongoose walked fearlessly up to it and gripped the snake by the snout with a lightning snap, holding on grimly until the cobra stopped struggling. The mongoose then dragged the dead cobra into the bushes. The myna peered into the bushes from a safe distance to confirm that the battle was truly over before flying away with a shrill cry of congratulation.
Question 15
What prevented Grandfather from taming the mongoose?
Answer: Grandfather never tried taming the mongoose because he believed that a wild mongoose was more useful than a domesticated one. He encouraged it to live in the garden and fed it regularly with kitchen scraps, but kept it wild so it could effectively keep snakes away from the house.
Question 16
Why would Grandmother forgive the mongoose for stealing the eggs?
Answer: Grandmother would forgive the mongoose for stealing eggs because the mongoose served a much more important purpose - keeping snakes away from the house. As long as the mongoose protected them from dangerous snakes, his occasional egg theft was a small price to pay for this valuable service.
Question 17
Who was the new friend of the squirrel? How did they enjoy their friendship?
Answer: The new friend of the squirrel was Grandfather's white rat, which he had bought from the bazaar for four annas. The boy would often take the white rat with him into the banyan tree, where it struck up a friendship with one of the squirrels. They enjoyed their friendship by going off together on little excursions among the branches of the tree.
Question 18
How did the boy come to know that the squirrel was building a nest?
Answer: The boy discovered the squirrel was building a nest when she first tried building it in his pockets. When he went indoors and changed his clothes, he would find straw and grass falling out of his pockets. Later, when Grandmother's knitting went missing and they couldn't find it anywhere, the boy investigated a glinting object in a hole in the banyan tree and discovered it was Grandmother's steel knitting-needle, confirming the squirrel's nest-building activity.
Question 19
What was the wonder that nature had kept for them in the nest?
Answer: The wonder that nature had kept for them in the nest was three baby squirrels - all of them white! This was extraordinary because normal squirrels are grey. Grandfather explained that since the white rat was the father and rats and squirrels are related, it was possible for them to have offspring, resulting in these unique white squirrels that no one had seen before.