Summary
Chapter 8: Mijbil the Otter
The story begins when the author is travelling to Basra with his friend. During their jou rney, the author expresses his wish to tame an otter after he had lost his pet dog. His life had become deserted. His friend suggested that he should get one from the Marshes along river Tigris in Iraq.
When they reached the target, they found that only the friend’s mail had arrived. After a few days, the friend left but the narrator waited there to receive his mail. On receiving it, he went to his room and found an otter with two Arabs who had a note with them. It was a gift from his friend. He named the otter Mijbil or shortly, Mij . Mij took time to open up and get familiar with his surroundings.
He was covered with mud. It took almost a month to clean and wash to divulge his actual colour. Mij loved playing with water so he learned to open the tap on his own. He wanted each drop of water to be splashed till the bowl would get empty. Everything was going on smoothly in Basra, but now he ha d to fly back to London. But British airlines did not allow animals, so he had to take another flight that allowed him to take Mij with him with a condition that he had to be carried in a box. As Mij was in a box, he could get familiar to it. But when he returned, he saw that Mij had created a clutter by destroying the inner lining.
As a result, blood was sopping out of the holes. So he got afraid and hurried. They were quite far from the airport and there were only ten minutes left for the flight to take off. He cleaned everything, hurried in a cab and managed to reach in nick of time. He explained the events to an air hostess who was very kind and generous.
She advised him to keep the box on his lap. He developed an admiration for the air hostess as she was very kin d hearted. As soon as he opened the box, the otter pepped out and disappeared .All this created a chaos. Passengers got frightened. A lady jumped up from her chair and while trying to catch Mij,the author himself got covered in curry. The air hostess offered him help and brought him back to Gavin and finally, they could reach London. Mij was fond of playing with ping-pong balls and marbles. It could keep him busy for a long period of time. He used to go for walks .
But People of London were unfamiliar with otters, so had wild guesses about what Mij was. Some though t it to be a baby seal, squirrel or a hippo. The most shocking reaction came when a labour digging the hole asked the author, “What is that supposed to be?”
Chapter 8: Poem – Fog
The poem was written by Carl Sandburg, which is written in 25 words and is about the fog which arrives in Chicago. The poet compares the fog with a kitten because kitten who has soft paws and without even giving any notice, similarly the fog is soft and it also comes in the same way. It tells that fog does not stay in the same place for a longer period of time.
It stays at one place for a shorter period of time and then moves on. It also tells that the fog can also be very harm ful some times. The poet says that the accidents occur due to fog and people cannot see what is happening. The fog just sits there quietly and sees what is going on around just like kitten. Fog is a poem that wonderfully captures a moment or two when the fog comes moving as a powerful image through a metaphorical cat.