124 HONEYSUCKLE

The fight of the cobra and themongoose is a classic drama oftenseen in India, and the outcome islargely the same. The mongoose isnot immune to the venomous bite,but is faster and quicker in motionthan the snake. The cobra assumesa posture of defence and attempts toreach the animal by a sweepingstrike, but the quick-movingmongoose jumps out of reach andcomes at the snake from another

10Before you read� Have you seen a mongoose? You have read in

Lesson 9 that a mongoose can fight with andkill a snake. Look at the pictures and read thelines given along with them.

The Banyan TreeThe Banyan Tree

direction, before the snake canget into striking position again.This constant movement tires anddiscourages the snake, and themongoose is finally able to leap inclose and bury its teeth in thesnake’s neck, usually severing thejoints of its vertebrae.

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THE BANYAN TREE 125

morsels: smallpieces of food

delving: goingdeep into

spy: watch secretly

resent: dislike; feelangry about

Part I

1. THOUGH the house and grounds belongedto my grandparents, the magnificent oldbanyan tree was mine — chiefly becauseGrandfather, at sixty-five, could nolonger climb it.

2. Its spreading branches, which hungto the ground and took root again,forming a number of twisting passages,gave me endless pleasure. Among themwere squirrels and snails andbutterflies. The tree was older than thehouse, older than Grandfather, as oldas Dehra Dun itself. I could hide myselfin its branches, behind thick greenleaves, and spy on the world below.

3. My first friend was a small greysquirrel. Arching his back and sniffinginto the air, he seemed at first to resentmy invasion of his privacy. But whenhe found that I did not arm myself withcatapult or air gun, he became friendly,and when I started bringing him piecesof cake and biscuit he grew quite boldand was soon taking morsels from hand.Before long, he was delving into mypockets and helping himself to whateverhe could find. He was a very youngsquirrel, and his friends and relatives

� You must have seen a banyan tree. This is astory about what the author saw, as a youngboy, when he was sitting in an old banyan treein his grandfather’s house.

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126 HONEYSUCKLE

probably thought him foolish andheadstrong for trusting a human.

4. In the spring, when the banyan treewas full of small red figs, birds of allkinds would flock into its branches: thered-bottomed bulbul, cheerful andgreedy; parrots, myna and crowssquabbling with one another. During thefig season, the banyan tree was thenoisiest place in the garden.

5. Halfway up the tree I had built acrude platform where I would spend theafternoons when it was not too hot. Icould read there propping myself upagainst the tree with a cushion from theliving room. Treasure Island, HuckleberryFinn and The Story of Dr Dolittle were

during the figseason: the timewhen figs appeared

propping myself up:leaning against

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THE BANYAN TREE 127

some of the books that made up mybanyan tree library.

6. When I did not feel like reading, Icould look down through the leaves atthe world below. And on one particularafternoon I had a grandstand view ofthat classic of the Indian wilds, a fightbetween a mongoose and a cobra.

Part II

7. The warm breezes of approachingsummer had sent everyone, includingthe gardener, into the house. I wasfeeling drowsy myself, wondering if Ishould go to the pond and have a swimwith Ramu and the buffaloes, when Isaw a huge black cobra gliding out of aclump of cactus. At the same time amongoose emerged from the bushes andwent straight for the cobra.

8. In a clearing beneath the banyantree, in bright sunshine, they cameface to face. The cobra knew only toowell that the grey mongoose, threefeet long, was a superb fighter, cleverand aggressive. But the cobra, too,was a skilful and experienced fighter.He could move swiftly and strike withthe speed of light; and the sacsbehind his long sharp fangs were fullof deadly poison. It was to be a battleof champions.

gliding: movingsmoothlyclump: group (ofbushes or trees)emerged: cameoutclearing: an openspace in a forestwhere there areno trees

sacs: a part (of ananimal or plant)shaped like a bag

fangs: long sharpteeth (of a snakeor dog)

grandstand view:a clear view fromthe best position(a grandstand isa large coveredspace with rowsof seats for peopleto watch sports)

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128 HONEYSUCKLE

9. Hissing defiance, his forked tonguedarting in and out, the cobra raisedthree of his six feet off the ground, andspread his broad, spectacled hood. Themongoose bushed his tail. The long hairon his spine stood up.

10. Though the combatants wereunaware of my presence in the tree, theywere soon made aware of the arrival oftwo other spectators. One was a myna,the other a jungle crow. They had seenthese preparations for battle, and hadsettled on the cactus to watch theoutcome. Had they been content onlyto watch, all would have been well withboth of them.

combatants:participants in afight

spectators: thosewho watch a show,a game, etc.

outcome: result

defiance: rebellion;resistancedart: move quickly,suddenly

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THE BANYAN TREE 129

11. The cobra stood on the defensive,swaying slowly from side to side, tryingto mesmerise the mongoose into makinga false move. But the mongoose knewthe power of his opponent’s glassy,unwinking eyes, and refused to meetthem. Instead he fixed his gaze at a pointjust below the cobra’s hood, and openedthe attack.

12. Moving forward quickly until he wasjust within the cobra’s reach, themongoose made a pretended move toone side. Immediately the cobra struck.His great hood came down so swiftlythat I thought nothing could save themongoose. But the little fellow jumpedneatly to one side, and darted in asswiftly as the cobra, biting the snakeon the back and darting away againout of reach.

13. At the same moment that the cobrastruck, the crow and the myna hurledthemselves at him, only to collide heavilyin mid-air. Shrieking insults at eachother they returned to the cactus plant.A few drops of blood glistened on thecobra’s back.

14. The cobra struck and missed. Againthe mongoose sprang aside, jumped inand bit. Again the birds dived at thesnake, bumped into each other instead,and returned shrieking to the safety ofthe cactus.

mesmerise: here,magically persuade

a false move: anunwise action

glistened: shone

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15. The third round followed the samecourse as the first but with one dramaticdifference. The crow and the myna, stilldetermined to take part in theproceedings, dived at the cobra; but thistime they missed each other as well astheir mark. The myna flew on andreached its perch, but the crow tried topull up in mid-air and turn back. In thesecond that it took the bird to do thisthe cobra whipped his head back andstruck with great force, his snoutthudding against the crow’s body.

16. I saw the bird flung nearly twenty feetacross the garden. It fluttered about fora while, then lay still. The mynaremained on the cactus plant, and when

round: here, astage in a fight orcompetition

pull up: here, stop

whipped...back:moved...backsuddenly

snout: the noseand mouth of ananimal

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the snake and the mongoose returnedto the fight, very wisely decided not tointerfere again! The cobra wasweakening, and the mongoose, walkingfearlessly up to it, raised himself on hisshort legs and with a lightning snap hadthe big snake by the snout. The cobrawrithed and lashed about in afrightening manner, and even coileditself about the mongoose, but to noavail. The little fellow hung grimly on,until the snake had ceased to struggle.He then smelt along its quivering length,gripped it round the hood, and draggedit into the bushes.

17. The myna dropped cautiously tothe ground, hopped about, peeredinto the bushes from a safe distance,and then, with a shri l l cry ofcongratulation, flew away.

RUSKIN BOND

[slightly abridged]

A. Complete the following sentences.

1. The old banyan tree “did not belong” to

grandfather, but only to the boy, because

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WORKING WITH THE TEXT

to no avail: withno success

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132 HONEYSUCKLE

2. The small gray squirrel became friendly when —————————

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3. When the boy started to bring him pieces of cake and biscuit,

the squirrel ——————————————————————————————

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4. In the spring, the banyan tree —————————————–, and

—————————————– would come there.

5. The banyan tree served the boy as a —————————————–—–

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6. The young boy spent his afternoons in the tree —————————

————–—————————————–—————————————–———–––—

B. Answer the following questions.

1. “It was to be a battle of champions.”(8)

(i) What qualities did the two champions have? Pick out wordsand phrases from the paragraph above this line in the textand write them down.

Mongoose Cobra

(a) ________________ (a) ________________

(b) ________________ (b) ________________

(c) ________________ (c) ________________

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(ii) What did the cobra and the mongoose do, to showtheir readiness for the fight?

2. Who were the other two spectators? What did they do? (Didthey watch, or did they join in the fight?) (10)

3. Read the descriptions below of what the snake did and what themongoose did. Arrange their actions in the proper order. (11, 16)

(i) ceased to struggle � grabbed the snake bythe snout

(ii) tried to mesmerise � dragged the snake intothe mongoose the bushes

(iii) coiled itself around � darted away and bit thethe mongoose cobra on the back

(iv) struck the crow � pretended to attack thecobra on one side

(v) struck again and � refused to look into themissed snake’s eyes

(vi) struck on the side � sprang aside, jumped inthat the mongoose and bitpretended to attack

4. (i) What happened to the crow in the end? (16)

(ii) What did the myna do finally? (17)

A. 1. The word ‘round’ usually means a kind of shape. What is itsmeaning in the story?

2. Find five words in the following paragraph, which are generallyassociated with trees. But here, they have been used differently.Underline the words.

WORKING WITH LANGUAGE

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134 HONEYSUCKLE

Hari leaves for work at nine every morning. He works inthe local branch of the firm of which his uncle is the owner.Hari’s success is really the fruit of his own labour. He ishappy, but he has a small problem. The root cause of hisproblem is a stray dog near his office. The dog welcomesHari with a loud bark every day.

B. The words in the box are all words that describe movement. Usethem to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.

dived gliding sprang darting

whipped...back delving

1. When he began to trust me, the squirrel began —————————into my pockets for morsels of cake.

2. I saw a cobra ——————————— out of a clump of cactus.

3. The snake hissed, his forked tongue ———————— ———— inand out.

4. When the cobra tried to bite it, the mongoose ——————————aside.

5. The snake ——————————— his head ——————————— tostrike at the crow.

6. The birds ——————————— at the snake.

C. Find words in the story, which show things striking violentlyagainst each other.

1. The cobra struck the crow, his snout th — — — ing against itsbody. (15)

2. The crow and the myna c — ll — — — — in mid-air. (13)

3. The birds dived at the snake, but b — — — — d into eachother instead. (14)

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• In the spring, birds of allkinds would flock into thebanyan tree’s branches.

• I would spend the afternoonsthere.

‘Would’ tells us what theauthor used to do, or whatused to happen.

• Grandfather, at sixty-five,could no longer climb thebanyan tree.

• I could hide myself in itsbranches.

• I could look down through theleaves at the world below.

• I could read there.

‘Could’ tells us what theauthor was usually able todo, or grandfather is nownot able to do.

D. Look at these sentences.

Choose would and could to replace the italicised words in the followingsentences.

Grandfather says, in the old days,

1. elephants were able to fly in the sky, like clouds. They werealso able to change their shapes. They used to fly behindclouds and frighten them. People used to look up at the skyin wonder.

2. because there was no electricity, he used to get up with thesun, and he used to go to bed with the sun, like the birds.

3. like the owl, he was able to see quite well in the dark. He wasable to tell who was coming by listening to their footsteps.

Look at these sentences.

� The tree was older than Grandfather.� Grandfather was sixty-five years old.

How old was the tree? Can you guess?

SPEAKING

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� The tree was as old as Dehra Dun itself.

Suppose Dehra Dun is 300 years old. How old is the tree?

When two things are the same in some way, we use as...as.

Here is another set of examples.

� Mr Sinha is 160 centimetres tall.

� Mr Gupta is 180 centimetres tall.

� Mrs Gupta is 160 centimetres tall

Mrs Gupta is as tall as Mr Sinha.

Use the words in the box to speak about the people and the thingsbelow, using as...as or -er than

tall – taller cold – colder hot – hotter

strong – stronger short – shorter

(Notice that in the word ‘hot’, the letter ‘t’ is doubled when -er is added.)

1. Heights

Zeba (155cm) Ruby (150cm) Rani (155cm)

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2. Weight Lifters

Vijay (50kg) Akshay (50kg) Anwar (65kg)

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3. City Temperatures

Shimla (60) Gangtok (60) Srinagar (20)

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4. Lengths

Romi’s pencil Mona’s pencil Raja’s pencil(3 inches long) (5 inches long) (3 inches long)

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5. City Temperatures

Delhi (430) Chennai (390) Nagpur (430)

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138 HONEYSUCKLE

‘My Favourite Place’

Read again the paragraphs of the story in which the authordescribes the banyan tree, and what he used to do there. Isthere a place in your house, or in your grandparents’ or uncles’or aunts’ houses, that you specially like? Write a short paragraphabout it, saying

• where it is

• what you do there

• why you like it

You may instead write about a place you dislike, or are afraid of.

WRITING

Answers

1. The Mahanadi.Measuring 4800 metres, the Hirakud Dam is thelargest in the country.

2. Tamil Nadu.The merger of the Arabian sea, the Bay of Bengal andthe Indian ocean at this point is an unforgettablespectacle.

3. Ten Degree Channel.

Know Your CountryKnow Your CountryKnow Your CountryKnow Your CountryKnow Your Country

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