The Snake and The Mirror

AP 9th Class English Beehive5th Lesson The Snake and The Mirror Questions and Answers

Thinking About the Text : I. Discuss in pairs and answer each

Question below in a short paragraph (30-40 words)

Question 1.
"The sound was a familiar one." What sound did the doctor hear? What did he think it was? How many times did he hear it? (Find the places in the text.) When and why did the sounds stop?

Answer: The doctor heard a familiar sound. He thought the sound was made by rats in his room moving this way and that way. He heard the sound thrice. The sound stopped suddenly when a snake fell to the ground from the above. It made a dull sound as if a rubber tube had fallen to the ground. The rats might have noticed the snake and stopped their movement

Question 2.
What two "important" and "earth-shaking" decisions did the doctor take while he was looking into the mirror?

Answer: While the doctor was looking into the mirror, he took two important and earth-shaking decisions. They are (1) he decided to shave daily and grow a thin moustache. (2) He always wanted to keep an attractive smile on his face

Question 3.
"I looked info the mirror and smiled," says the doctor. A little later he says, "I forgot my dangerand smiled feebly at myself." What is the doctors opinion about himself when : (i) he first smiles, and (ii) he smiles again ? In what way do his thoughts change in between, and why ?

Answer: When he first smiles it is out of his contentment about his handsomeness but when he smiles again it is out of fear about his destiny

QuestionII.
This story about a frightening incident is narrated in a humorous way. What makes it humorous? (Think of the contrasts it presents between dreams and reality. Some of them are listed below.)?

1. The kind of person the doctor is (money, possessions)
2. The kind of person he wants to be (appearance, ambition)
3. The person he wants to marry
4. The person he actually marries
5. His thoughts when he looks into the mirror
6. His thoughts when the snake is coiled around his arm Write short paragraphs on each of these to get your answer

Answers:

1. He had a little money and his earnings were meagre. He possessed a suitcase with sixty rupees in it. He had some shirts, dhotis and a single black coat
2. He wants to improve his handsomeness by growing a thin moustache and wearing a smile on his face. He wants to marry a woman doctor to improve his financial status
3. The doctor wants to marry a woman with good medical practice and a lot of money. He wants her to be fat so that she would not be able to run after him and catch him when he will make any silly mistake
4. He marries a thin reedy woman who could run like as sprinter. The person he actually married was quite opposite to the person he wanted to marry.
5. His thoughts were full of contentment. He decided to grow a thin moustache and always wear a smile on his face
6. He feared to make a slight moment from the place where he sat. He became motionless like a stone. However, his mind was very active. He felt the great presence of creator. The fear of death haunted him

Thinking About Language :

QuestionI.
Here are some sentences from the text. Say which of them tell you, that the author: (a) was afraid of the snake, (b) was proud of his appearance, (c) had a sense of humour, (d) was no longer afraid of the snake?

1. I was turned to stone
2. I was no mere image cut in granite
3. The arm was beginning to be drained of strength
4. I tried in my/magination to write in bright letters outside my little heart the words, O God
5. I didnt tremble. I didnt cry out
6. I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile
7. I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood
8. I was after all a bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it
9. The fellow had such a sense of cleanliness.! The rascal could have taken it and used it after washing it with soap and water
10. Was it trying to make an important decision about growing a moustache or using eye shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead

Answer:

Sentences that tell us that the author was (a) was afraid of the snake :
1. I was turned to stone
2. The arm was beginning to be drained of strength
3. I tried in my imagination to write in bright letters outside my little heart the words, O God.
4. I didnt tremble. I didnt cry out. Sentences that tell us that the author was (b) was proud of his appearance
5. I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile
6. I was after all a bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it! Sentences that tell us that the author was (c) had a sense of humour
7. The fellow had such a sense of cleanliness.! The rascal could have taken it and used it after washing it with soapand water
8. Was it trying to make an important decision about growing a moustache or using eye shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead Sentences that tell us that the author was (d) was no longer afraid of the snake
9. I was no mere image cut in granite
10. I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood

II. Expressions used to show fear

Question.
Can you find the expressions in the story that tell you that the author was frightened? Read the story and complete the following sentences?

I was turned ________

I sat there holding ________

In the light of the lamp I sat there like ________

Answers :

I was turned to stone

I sat there holding my breath

In the light of the lamp, I sat there like a stone image in the flesh

QuestionIII.
In the sentences given below some words and expressions are italicised. They are variously mean that one?

• is very frightened
• is too scayed to move
• is frightened by something that happens suddenly
• makes another feel frightened

Match the meanings with the words/expressions in italics, and write the appropriate meaning next to the sentence. The first one has been done for you

1. I knew a man was following me, I was scared out of my wits. (very frightened)
2. I got a fright when I realised how close I was to the cliff edge
3. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the bull coming towards him
4. You really gave me a fright when you crept up behind me like that
5. Wait until I tell his story - it will make your hair stand on end
6. Paralysed with fear, the boy faced his abductors
7. The boy hid behind the door, not moving a muscle

Answers:

1. I knew a man was following me, I was scared out of my wits. (very frightened)
2. I got a fright when I realised how close I was to the cliff edge. (frightened by something that happens suddenty)
3. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the bull coming towards him. (very frightened)
4. You really gave me a fright when you crept up behind me like that. (frightened by something that happens suddenly)
5. Wait until I tell his story - it will make your hair stand on end. (makes another feel frightened)
6. Paralysed with fear, the boy faced his abductors. (too scared to move)
7. The boy hid behind the door, not moving a muscle. (too scared to move)

IV. Reported

Questions Study these sentences :

His friend asked, "Did you see the snake the next day, doctor?" His friend asked the doctor whether/if he had seen the snake the next day. The little girl wondered, "Will I be home before the TV show begins?"

The little girl wondered if/whether she would be home before the TV show began. Someone asked, "Why has the thief left the vest behind?" Someone asked why the thief had left the vest behind. The words if/whether are used to report

Questions which begin with: do, will,can, have, are etc. These

Questions can be answered yes or no.

Questions beginning with why/when/where/how/which/what are reported using these same words. The reporting verbs we use in

Questions with if/whether/why/when etc.are: ask, inquire and wonder

Remember that in reported speech

• the present tense changes to past tense
• here, today, tomorrow, yesterday etc. change to there, that day, the next day, the day before, etc
• I/you change to me/him/he, etc., as necessary

Example :

- He said to me, "I dont believe you." He said he did not believe me. - She said to him, I dont believe you. She told him that she did not believe him

Question.
Report these

Questions using if/whether or why/when/where/how/which/what. Remember the italicised verbs change into the past tense?

1. Meena asked her friend, "Do you think your teacher will come today?"
2. David asked his colleague, "Where will you go this summer?"
3. He asked the little boy, "Why are you studying English?"
4. She asked me, "When are we going to leave?"
5. Pran asked me, "Have you finished reading the newspaper?"
6. Seema asked her, "How long have you lived here?"
7. Sheila asked the children, "Are you ready to do the work?"

Answers :

1. Meena asked her friend if she thought her teacher would come that day
2. David asked his colleague where he would go that summer
3. He asked the little boy why he was studying English
4. She asked me when we were going to leave
5. Pran asked me if (whether) I had finished reading the newspaper
6. Seema asked her how long she had lived there
7. Sheila asked the children if (whether) they were ready to do the work

Speaking :

Question.
Using some of the expressions given above in exercise III, talk about an incident when you were scared. You may have a competition to decide whose story was the most frightening?

Answer: When I was studying class 8 , I used to stay in my school hostel. One night my friend Mohan and I were asleep in our room. Suddenly we heard some noises-rustling of leaves, scratching sound on our door and rattling of pebbles. Both of us got up in a jerk. I sat on my bed paralysed with fear. There was silence for the next few minutes before we heard that scratching sound again. Mohan got up from the bed to look out of the glass window but I sat there without moving a muscle

When he removed the blinders I could see darkness all around. Suddenly we noticed a hooded figure moving in the darkness. Seeing this, my hair stood on end. Both of us started crying and shouting for help. Then we heard some voices calling our names. Somebody turned on the lights outside our room and we saw our friends standing outdoors. They apparently were playing a prank. Till this day I remember the way I was horrified and scared out of my common sense

Dictation :

The following paragraph is about the Indian cobr

Answer: Read it twice and close your book. Your teacher will then dictate the paragraph to you. Write it down with appropriate punctuation marks

The Indian cobra is the common name for the members of the family of venomous snakes, known for their intimidating looks and deadly bite. Cobras are recognised by the hoods that they flare when angry or disturbed; the hoods are created by the extension of the ribs behind the cobras heads

Obviously, the best prevention is to avoid getting bitten. This is facilitated by the fact that humans are not the natural prey of any venomous snake. We are a bit large for them to swallow whole and they have no means of chopping us up into bite-size pieces

Nearly, all snakebites in humans are the result of a snake defending itself when it feels threatened. In general, snakes are shy and will simply leave if you give them a chance

Writing :

Question 1.
Try to rewrite the story without its humour, merely as a frightening incident. What details or parts of the story would you leave out?

Answer: It was a hot summer. One night, a doctor returned his room late at night. There were some rats in his room. He heard a familiar sound of rats from above when he opened the door. He heard the same kind of sound thrice. The doctor was sitting at a table and looking into a mirror thinking of his handsomeness and his future

Suddenly he heard a dull thud as if a rubber tube had fallen to the ground. At the same time the doctor turned his back to find out what it was. He found a snake wriggling at the back of his chair. As the snake slowly slid along the arm of the doctor, he found himself paralysed with fear. The doctor sat there without moving his body parts, silently praying to God

The doctor felt helpless and foolish at that time as he did not have any medicine for snakebite. By chance, the snake turned his head to the mirror and it slowly slithered away towards it. Taking the opportunity, the doctor ran till he reached his friends house, where he took bath and changed into fresh clothes. Next morning, he returned to his house to shift his belongings only to find that his belongings had been stolen by a thief. To turn the story into just a frightening incident without humour, I would leave out the authors silly thoughts about his handsomeness, his marriage, the snakes admiration of its beauty and his comment on the thief who stole his things.

Question 2. Read the destription given alongside this sketch from a photograph in a newspaper (Times of India, 4 September 1999). Make up a story about what the monkey is thinking, or why it is looking into a mirror. Write a paragraph about it.

Answer: A male monkey lived on the branches of a tree. One day, the monkey picked up a broken piece of mirror from the nearby garbage bin. He started looking at himself for a long time daily. He thought the mirror was useful to improve his handsomeness. With the help of the mirror he improved his glamour. One day the monkeys had a competition for the title of Mr. Handsome. Using the mirror, he got ready and participated in the competition. He won the title in the competition. On seeing this, a beautiful female monkey loved him. They got married. The male monkey gave the piece of mirror to the female monkey. The female monkey felt very happy

Translation :

Question.
The text you read is a translation of a story by a well-known Malayalam writer, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. In translating a story from one language to another, a translator must keep the content intact. However, the language and the style differ in different translations of the same text. Here are two translations of the opening paragraphs of a novel by the Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami. Read them and answer the

Questions given below?

Compare the two translations on the basis of the following points

• the tense of narration (past and present tense)
• short, incomplete sentences
• sentence length

Which of these translations do you like? Give reasons for your choice

Answer: Translation A is in past tense and Translation B is in present tense. Translation B is lengthy and has incomplete sentences but Translation A is short and has complete sentences.

Translation A has lengthy sentences where as Translation B has short sentences. I like the Translation B because it is in present tense and lively. The expressions are crispy and catchy. The situation comes alive in Translation B.

The Snake and The Mirror Summary in English

Once there was a doctor wholived alone in a small room. One hot summer evening, he came back to his room after eating at a restaurant. He heard a noise from the roof, but he didnt pay much attention to it. His room was in bad condition, with rats running around

Since there was no electricity, he lit a kerosene lantern to see. The doctor didnt have much money, so he couldnt afford a nicer place to live. He had some clothes and a black coat in his suitcase

The doctor took off his coat, shirt, and vest and hung them up. He opened the windows, made his bed, and tried to sleep, but it was too hot. He went out to the veranda for fresh air, but it was still dry outside. He returned to his room, sat on a chair, and started reading a medical book. He noticed a mirror and a comb on the table. The noise from the roof came again, but he ignored it

The doctor coyldnt resist looking at himself in the mirror. He admired his reflection and thought about improving his appearance. He imagined marrying a rich, overweight woman doctor. He wanted someone who wouldnt be able to chase after him when he made mistakes.

Lost in his thoughts, the doctor didnt notice the silence in the room or the rats running away. Suddenly, he heard a thud and saw a snake on his chair, which then landed on his shoulder. The snake wrapped itself around the doctors arm and came very close to his face. The doctor was too scared to move

While the doctor was lost in his thoughts, the snake moved away from him and went towards the mirror. It admired its own reflection. Taking this opportunity, the doctor silently left the room and ran to a friends house. The next morning, when he returned, he found that everything in his room had been stolen except for a dirty vest. He never saw the snake again

Glossary: