- Action, Linking, and Auxiliary Verb: Definitions, Functions, and Examples
- Correct Use of Verbs
- Correct Use of Preposition
- Present Perfect vs. Present Perfect Continuous Tense
- Uses of Articles (A, An, The)
- Active and Passive Voice
- Indefinite and Definite Articles: Definition and Examples
- Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives
- Comparison of Adjectives & Adverbs: Examples, Sentences & Exercises
- Adjectives
- Irregular Verbs with Examples
- Modal Auxiliary Verb
- Use of Modal Verbs
- Compound Antecedents: Definition & Examples
- What is an Antecedent? Definition, Meaning & Examples
- What Are Collective Nouns?
- What Are Possessive Nouns? Examples, Definition & Types
Comprehensive English: Sentence Structure: Understanding Grammar
- Parts of Speech
- Degree of Comparison
- Difference Between Direct & Indirect Objects in Sentence Structure
- Gerunds: Are They Verbs? Are They Nouns?
- Conjunction vs. Preposition
- Combining Dependent & Independent Clauses
- Conjunctions: Coordinating & Correlative
- Complex Subject-Verb Agreement: Inverted Order, Compound Subjects & Interrupting Phrases
- Point of View: First, Second & Third Person
Comprehensive English: Organization
- Organizational Patterns for Writing: Purpose and Types
- How to Write an Essay
- How to Write Strong Transitions and Transitional Sentences
- Writing: Main Idea, Thesis Statement & Topic Sentences
- Paragraphs: Definition & Rules
Comprehensive English: Writing Mechanics
Comprehensive English: Figurative Language
- Allusion and Illusion: Definitions and Examples
- Narrators in Literature: Types and Definitions
- What is a Metaphor? Examples, Definition & Types
Comprehensive English: Writing Assessment Tools & Strategies
- Qualities of Good Assessments: Standardization, Practicality, Reliability & Validity
- Forms of Assessment
- Self-Assessment in Writing: Definition & Examples
- How to Set a Grading Rubric for Literary Essays
- Standard Score: Definition & Examples
- Raw Score: Definition & Explanation
- How to Create a Writing Portfolio
Comprehensive English: Effective Listening & Speaking
Comprehensive English: Developing Word Identification Skills
English: Class 6 : Honey Suckle
- The Banyan Tree
- Desert Animals
- A Game of Chance
- Fair Play
- Who I Am
- A Different Kind of School
- An Indian-American Woman in Space: Kalpana Chawla
- How the Dog Found Himself a New Master
- Who Did Patrick’s Homework
English: Class 6 : Poem
English: Class 6 : A Pact with the sun
- A Strange Wrestling Match
- What Happened to the Reptiles
- A Pact with the Sun
- The Wonder Called Sleep
- The Monkey and the Crocodile
- Tansen
- The Old Clock Shop
- The Shepherd’s Treasure
- The Friendly Mongoose
- A Tale of Two Birds
English: Class 7 : Honeycomb
English: Class 7: Alien Hand
- An Alien Hand
- A Tiger in the House
- The Bear Story
- Chandni
- I Want Something in a Cage
- Golu Grows a Nose
- The Cop and the Anthem
- The Desert
- Bringing Up Kari
- The Tiny Teacher
English: Class 7: Poem
- Garden Snake
- Meadow Surprises
- Dad and the Cat and the Tree
- Mystery of the Talking Fan
- Trees
- Chivvy
- The Shed
- The Rebel
- The Squirrel
English: Class 8: Honey Dew
- The Great Stone Face II
- The Great Stone Face I
- A Short Monsoon Diary
- A Visit to Cambridge
- This is Jody’s Fawn
- The Summit Within
- Bepin Choudhury’s Lapse of Memory
- Glimpses of the Past
- The Best Christmas Present in the World
English: Class 8: Poem
English: Class 8: It so happened
- Ancient Education System of India
- The Comet — II
- The Comet — I
- Jalebis
- The Open Window
- The Fight
- The Treasure Within
- The Selfish Giant
- Children At Work
English: Class 9: Beehive
- Kathmandu
- If I were You
- The Bond of Love
- Reach for the Top
- Packing
- My Childhood
- The Snake and the Mirror
- A Truly Beautiful Mind
- The Sound of Music
- The Fun They Had
English: Class 9: Poem
English: Class 9: Moments
- A House Is Not a Home
- The Last Leaf
- Weathering the Storm in Ersama
- The Happy Prince
- In the Kingdom of Fools
English: Class 10: First Flight
- The Proposal
- The Sermon at Banaras
- Madam Rides the Bus
- Mijbil the Otter
- Glimpses of India
- The Hundred Dresses - II
- The Hundred Dresses - I
- From the Diary of Anne Frank
- Two Stories about Flying
- Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom
- A Letter to God
English: Class 10: Poem
English: Class 10: Foot prints
English: Class 10: Supplementary : Prose
English: Class 10: Supplementary: Poetry
English: Class 11:Hornbill
- Silk Road
- The Adventure
- The Browning Version
- The Ailing Planet: the Green Movement’s Role
- Landscape of the Soul
- Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues
- We’re Not Afraid to Die..if We Can All Be Together
- The Portrait of a Lady
English: Class 11: Supplementary
- The Tale of Melon City
- Birth
- The Ghat of the Only World
- Albert Einstein at School
- Ranga’s Marriage
- The Address
- The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse
English: Class 11: Poem
- 2Ajamil and the Tigers
- Ode to a Nightingale
- Felling of the Banyan Tree
- Refugee Blues
- For Elkana
- Hawk Roosting
- Mother Tongue
- The World is too Much With Us
- Telephone Conversation
- Coming
- Let me Not to the Marriage of True Minds
- The Peacock
English: Class 12: Prose
- Going Places
- The Interview
- Poets and Pancakes
- Indigo
- The Rattrap
- Deep Water
- Lost Spring
- The Last Lesson
English: Class 12: Supplementary
Chapter Summary
“Mijbil the Otter” by Gavin Maxwell is a beautiful story that describes the relationship between the writer and the Mijbil. The story craftily showcases the way the author’s pfe was altered after he decided to keep an otter. The author has taken the readers on a journey and experience of his interaction and connection with Mijbil, the otter.
The primary incidents of the story took place during the journey from Iraq to London via fpght. The author outpned that Mijbil created a scene in the plane and ‘almost scared everyone with his mischievous actions. Despite the issues with Mijbil in the plane, a generous air hostess allowed the author to keep Mijbil with him and helped him further to travel with the otter. Upon his return in London, the author reapzed that people were clueless about the species of the otter and they kept guessing which kind of animal it can be.
Camusfearna
In the New Year of 1956, the author travelled to Southern Iraq and suddenly he thought of adapting an otter instead of a dog. As soon as the idea crossed the author’s mind, he thought that Camusfearna could be the best place for performing the experiment of keeping an otter. The place was ringed by water bodies and it was only at a stone’s throw distance from the author’s doorstep. Therefore, he decided that this place could be an eminently suitable spot for adapting an otter.
Author’s Reason to Go to Basra
After the author casually mentioned that he wanted to adopt an otter to his friend, his friend suggested that he should better get one in the Tigris marshes. Immediately after considering his friend’s suggestion, the author went to Basra to collect answer mails from the Consulate-General regarding the author’s decision of petting an otter.
At the initial stage, the author waited for about three days but nothing happened there. On the first day, pne phone pne was out of order On the second day, the exchange was closed due to repgious hopday. On the third day, there was another breakdown which caused the delay in the first place.
Bathroom Incidence
After Maxwell took Mijbil to the bathroom one day, Mijbil went wild with joy as soon as he saw the water. For about half an hour he plunged and rolled in the water and shot up and down in the bathtub, considering the length of the bathtub. After two days, the author found out that Mijbil escaped from the bedroom and headed straight towards the bathroom. Upon following him to the bathroom, the author discovered that he was fumbpng at the chromium taps with his paws for turning up the water. After some time, he succeeded in producing a trickle of water from the tap and eventually he achieved a full flow of water in the bathtub.
Transporting Mijbil to England
The author first dreaded the prospect of transporting Mij to England, decided to book a fpght to Paris, and then from Paris to London as the British Airpnes would not have carried Mijbil in their aeroplane. The author was instructed to carry Mij by packing it in an eighteen inches square. Later when the author checked, he suddenly found the box very silent and when he opened it, he found Mij, blood-spattered and exhausted within the box. He also discovered that Mij had torn the pning of the box to shreds and for the rest of their journey, the author had to hold down the pd with his hand all along.
The author had to put the otter in the box according to the instructions from the airpnes he was travelpng with. Therefore, he put Mij in an eighteen inches’ square box and he felt that this can help Mij to become accustomed to the box. After that, he left for a hurried meal as he had to catch a fpght to Paris and then London for returning to London.
What Happened when the Box was Opened?
After the author opened the box in the plane, according to the suggestion of the air hostess, Mij immediately escaped the box in a flash. Suddenly, he disappeared down the aircraft and started squawking and shrieking within the plane. Soon there was chaos within the plane as everyone thought it was a rat.
What Guesses did the Londoners Make About what Mij?
Londoners were almost incapable of recognising an otter and they started assuming the species of Mij when they saw him with the author in the streets of London. Some guessed that it was a baby seal and some thought it was a squirrel. Some also questioned if Mij was a walrus or not. The author had to face a constant barrage of conjectural questions where people guessed Mij to be almost every Mustelpnes but an otter.
Mij - An Intelpgent, Friendly and Fun-Loving Animal
Mij did a series of things that outpnes his intelpgence and friendly nature along with his fun-loving quapties. Once he opened the tap in the bathtub all by himself to pour water in it and play. This showed the level of intelpgence in Mij as he was adaptive to the common systems. Another time he invented a game of his own with a selection of toys. It kept him engrossed for almost half an hour at a time.
“Maxwell’s Otter”
Gavin Maxwell was the first ever person to call Mijbil an otter even before it was introduced to science. Based on the length christened by the zoologists the race was further called Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelp or Maxwell’s otter. Therefore, depending on the contribution of Maxwell in recognising an otter, it was later known as Maxwell’s otter to the world.
FAQs
Q1. Who according to the author’s friend tamed otters in Tigris marshes?
Ans. According to his friend, in Tigris marshes, otters were very common. He also added that they were tamed by the Arabs in that region.
Q2. What made the author reapse Mijbil’s characteristics in the first place?
Ans. Mijbil made a splash and slosh for a hippo when he was taken to the bathroom by the author. It enabled him to learn that otters are very much connected to the water bodies and this was one of Mijbil’s characteristics too.
Q3. Did the author receive its mail after waiting for three days in Basra?
Ans. After waiting for three days in a row, the author further waited for another five days at the place. Finally, he received his mail arrived after waiting for five days there but his friend returned to England at that time.