Mijbil the Otter Class 10: First Flight Chapter 6

This is the Mijbil the Otter Class 10 chapter — Chapter 6 of the NCERT English First Flight textbook, written by Gavin Maxwell.

It is a true story about adopting an otter in Iraq and bringing it home to Scotland. The chapter runs fourteen printed pages (NCERT pages 79 to 92) and is followed by the poem Fog on pages 93 and 94.

The official NCERT PDF is linked right below; the rest of this page explains the story, its vocabulary, the grammar it teaches and the textbook questions.

Download Mijbil the Otter Class 10 PDF

The official NCERT Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 6 Mijbil the Otter PDF on ncert.nic.in contains the complete story on pages 79 to 92, including every margin glossary note, the three Oral Comprehension Check blocks and the Thinking about the Text questions, so you can read and underline exactly what the board book prints.

The same file also carries the poem Fog (pages 93 to 94) with its Thinking about the Poem questions.

Mijbil the Otter at a Glance: What Is Inside the PDF

The counts table on this page shows how much the chapter holds, so you can see its size at a glance.

In story terms, the file contains the narrative in four parts (I to IV), three Oral Comprehension Check blocks, five Thinking about the Text questions, grammar work on would and used to, noun modifiers and quantity phrases, Speaking and Writing tasks, and a closing discussion page.

The same file ends with the poem Fog and its Thinking about the Poem questions.

What This Chapter Covers: A True Story in Four Parts

This is Gavin Maxwell’s account of adopting an otter in Iraq and bringing it home to Scotland. The story moves from Basra to a London flat in four numbered parts, and each part ends with an Oral Comprehension Check.

Part I: The Plan and the Sack (NCERT Pages 81 to 82)

Maxwell arrives in Southern Iraq early in 1956 with the idea of keeping an otter instead of a dog; his home, Camusfearna, is ringed by water a stone’s throw from the door (p. 81). A friend tells him otters are common in the Tigris marshes and are often tamed by the Arabs.

At the Consulate-General in Basra, his friend’s mail has arrived but his has not. Getting his mail took five days of failures:

In his bedroom, two Arabs squat on the floor beside a sack that squirms from time to time. They hand him a note from his friend: “Here is your otter…” (pp. 81-82).

Oral Comprehension Check 1, questions 1 to 3 (pages 84 to 85) belong here — they ask about the experiment, the Basra wait and how the otter arrived.

Part II: The Dragon Emerges (NCERT Pages 82 to 85)

The creature that comes out of the sack looks like a very small medieval dragon: symmetrical pointed scales of mud armour cover it from head to tail, with soft velvet fur like a chocolate-brown mole visible between the scales. Removing the last of the mud takes Maxwell a month (pp. 82-83).

Mijbil — as Maxwell names him — turns out to belong to a race previously unknown to science. Zoologists christen it Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, or Maxwell’s otter (pp. 82-83).

Key behaviour in this part:

• First 24 hours: neither hostile nor friendly — simply aloof and indifferent, sleeping as far from the bed as possible (pp. 82-83).
• Second night: he climbs onto Maxwell’s bed and sleeps in the crook of his knees until tea arrives (pp. 82-83).
• The bathroom: on a lead and body-belt, he goes wild with joy for half an hour — enough slosh and splash for a hippo. Maxwell learns this is a characteristic of otters: every drop of water must be spread about, and water must be kept on the move (p. 83).
• The tap trick: two days later Mij escapes to the bathroom and turns the taps, producing a trickle and then full flow; sometimes he screws the tap the wrong way and chitters with irritation (p. 84).
• Play: he follows without a lead, comes when called, dribbles a rubber ball with all four feet like a four-footed soccer player, throws it with a powerful flick of the neck, and juggles marbles on his belly while lying on his back (p. 84).

Oral Comprehension Check 1, questions 4 to 6 belong here — the naming, the first-day attitude and the bathroom and tap episodes.

Part III: The Box and the Flight (NCERT Pages 85 to 87)

Mij must reach England, but the British airline will not fly animals, so Maxwell books a route via Paris. The airline insists Mij travel in a box no more than eighteen inches square, kept on the floor at Maxwell’s feet (p. 85).

• An hour before the flight, Maxwell puts Mij in the box and leaves for a hurried meal. He returns to an appalling spectacle: silence, and blood trickled and dried round the airholes (p. 85).
• Mij has torn the box lining to shreds and is exhausted and blood-spattered. Maxwell removes the last of the lining so no cutting edges remain, with ten minutes to the flight and the airport five miles away (p. 85).
• The drive is like a ricochetting bullet; infuriated officials rush him to the waiting aircraft. Maxwell covers the floor with newspapers, gives the air hostess a parcel of fish for Mij, and takes her into his confidence. He calls her “the very queen of her kind” because she suggests he keep Mij on his knee (pp. 85-86).
• Mij escapes in a flash. A woman screams “A rat! A rat!”, Maxwell dives after Mij’s tail and ends up with his face covered in curry, and Mij finally bounds on to his knee and nuzzles his face and neck (pp. 86-87).

Oral Comprehension Check 2, questions 1 to 5 (pages 86 to 87) belong here — the box, the damage, the air hostess and the escape.

Part IV: London Streets and Strange Guesses (NCERT Pages 87 to 89)

In London, Mij has a flat full of toys — ping-pong balls, marbles, rubber fruit and a terrapin shell from his native marshes.

With the ping-pong ball he invents a game: the damaged suitcase lid stays at a slope, so Mij places the ball on the high end, dashes round to ambush its arrival, crouches, springs up, grabs it and trots back to the high end (p. 87).

On walks he develops compulsive habits like a schoolchild’s rituals — touching every seventh upright of the iron railings, passing outside every second lamp post — and on the way home he gallops the full thirty-yard length of a low school wall, to the hopeless distraction of pupils and staff (p. 87).

Londoners cannot recognise an otter, and Maxwell faces a barrage of conjectural questions:

Otters actually belong to a small group called Mustellines, shared by the badger, mongoose, weasel, stoat and mink — so the guesses spray across the whole family but never land on the otter itself (p. 88). Maxwell’s highest score goes to a labourer who stares, spits and growls, “Here, Mister — what is that supposed to be?” (p. 88).

Oral Comprehension Check 3, questions 1 to 4 (pages 88 to 89) belong here — the invented game, compulsive habits, the Mustelline group and the guesses.

Key Ideas in Mijbil the Otter: The Writer, the Pet and the Bond

Most answers draw on these six facts and ideas, each straight from the text.

• The experiment — keeping an otter instead of a dog, at Camusfearna, ringed by water a stone’s throw from the door (p. 81).
• How Mijbil arrived — two Arabs, a sack that squirmed, and a note: “Here is your otter…” (pp. 81-82).
• A race unknown to science — the otter is christened Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, Maxwell’s otter (pp. 82-83).
• Otter nature — water must be kept moving; Mij’s bathtub joy and the tap trick show how otters treat water (pp. 83-84).
• Mijbil as companion — follows without a lead, comes when called and invents games (pp. 84, 87-88).
• The bond theme — owning a pet is a lifelong responsibility, a frame set by the SPCA box before the story (p. 80) and the closing ethics discussion (p. 92).

Here is each habit matched to the trait it reveals — the pattern behind Question 4 of Thinking about the Text:

The Word-Pictures in Mijbil the Otter: Dragon, Bathtub, Suitcase

The printed pages carry illustrations but no captioned diagrams, so the chapter’s real pictures are verbal. Three passages are the ones students quote in answers about Maxwell’s style.

• The mud-armoured dragon (pp. 82-83) — Mij emerges with “symmetrical pointed scales of mud armour” and “soft velvet fur like that of a chocolate-brown mole”. The mud delays the reveal: Maxwell does not see the otter in his true colours for a month, which builds anticipation.
• The bathroom scene (pp. 83-84) — “enough slosh and splash for a hippo”, and the rule that every drop of water must be spread about. The exaggeration makes the passage comic and tells us what otters need.
• The suitcase game and the school wall (pp. 87-88) — the crouch, the ambush, the spring, the thirty-yard gallop. Giving Mij a child’s game plan makes him seem almost human.

Glossary: Difficult Words from Mijbil the Otter, Explained

Every word the book glosses in the margin, in plain English, grouped by the page where it appears.

Grammar in the Chapter: Would and Used To for Repeated Past Actions

When Maxwell writes that Mij would follow me, he is describing something Mij did regularly in the past — a repeated action, not a single event. This chapter teaches exactly when to use would and used to for the past (pp. 89-90).

The rule: for repeated actions in the past, either would or used to plus the base verb works. For repeated states or situations, only used to works — so we do not use would with verbs like be, have or believe (pp. 89-90).

Fresh examples, made up for practice (not from the textbook):

• “During the rains, the stream outside our school would overflow the path.” (repeated action)
• “We used to believe the old library clock chimed only for visitors.” (state of mind — only used to)
• “My grandmother used to have a cupboard full of labelled jars.” (situation — only used to)

The book’s table exercise (p. 90) asks you to combine these sentence halves. The hint: first decide whether the italic verb shows an action or a state.

The classic error is writing would believe or would have — see the common-mistakes table below for the fix.

Grammar in the Chapter: Noun Modifiers and Quantity Phrases

Modifiers are words placed before a noun to add detail, and this chapter is full of them. The textbook groups them into four patterns (pp. 90-91).

Quantity phrases name an amount of something that is not usually countable — the book’s example is a cloud of dust (p. 91). The matching exercise pairs: a portion of fried fish, a pool of water, flakes of snow, a huge heap of stones, a gust of wind, little drops of blood, a piece of cotton, a pot of gold (p. 91).

Original sentences for the second quantity exercise (p. 91):

• a bit of — “Can you give me a bit of clay, please?”
• a piece of — “The information you gave was a very useful piece of information.”
• a bunch of — “He gave me a bunch of flowers on my birthday.”
• a cloud of — “A cloud of smoke hangs over the city.”
• a lump of — “Two lumps of stone rubbed together can produce sparks.”

Common Mistakes Students Make With Mijbil the Otter

Six mistakes appear again and again in answers; each is corrected here straight from the text.

Mijbil the Otter: Textbook Questions, Answered

The book’s own questions are the best revision there is. The three Oral Comprehension Checks map onto the story like this:

The five Thinking about the Text questions (pp. 89-90) are answered below in original words.

Question 1: What things does Mij do which tell you that he is intelligent, friendly and fun-loving and needs love?

• Intelligent: he works out how to turn the bathroom taps and produce a full flow (p. 84).
• Friendly: he follows Maxwell without a lead, comes when called (p. 84), and on the plane he bounds on to Maxwell’s knee and nuzzles his face and neck (p. 87).
• Fun-loving: he plays for hours — dribbling the rubber ball with all four feet, throwing it with a flick of the neck, juggling marbles on his belly (p. 84), and inventing the suitcase game (p. 87).
• Needs love: the second night he sleeps in the crook of Maxwell’s knees (pp. 82-83), and after the frightening flight he seeks Maxwell’s face at once (p. 87).

Question 2: What are some of the things we come to know about otters from this text?

• They love water and keep it moving; every drop must be spread about (p. 83).
• They are playful, intelligent and curious — the tap trick and the games (p. 84).
• They can form strong bonds with humans — the plane welcome (p. 87).
• They belong to a small group of animals called Mustellines (p. 88).
• Some races were unknown to science as recently as the 1950s (pp. 82-83).

Question 3: Why is Mij’s species now known to the world as Maxwell’s otter?

Because the race was previously unknown to science; when zoologists classified it, they christened it Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, so Maxwell’s name became part of the species name (pp. 82-83). The printed question carries a photograph of Mijbil; the answer comes from the text, not the photograph.

Question 4: Complete the table — what Maxwell says Mij feels and thinks

What Mij does	How Mij feels or thinks (Maxwell’s words)
Plunges, rolls in the water and makes it splash	He went wild with joy (p. 83)
Screws the tap the wrong way	He chitters with irritation and disappointment at the tap’s failure (p. 84)
Nuzzles Maxwell’s face and neck in the aeroplane	A distressed chitter of recognition and welcome (p. 87)

Question 5: Which statements about Maxwell’s description are true?

True: (i), (iii), (iv), (v) and (vii). False: (ii) and (vi).

• (i) makes Mij seem almost human — his walking rituals match a schoolchild’s exactly, and the suitcase game is played with a child’s plan (p. 87).
• (iii) often surprised — “I watched, amazed” at the tap trick (p. 84), and “I was quite unprepared for what followed” on the plane (p. 86).
• (iv) comical — “enough slosh and splash for a hippo” (p. 83) and Maxwell’s curry-covered face (p. 86).
• (v) observes carefully — every stage of the suitcase ambush is recorded separately (p. 87).
• (vii) thinks the otter unusual — he is of a race “previously unknown to science” (p. 82), and Londoners guess everything but the truth (p. 88).
• (ii) false — wonder and amusement dominate; real irritation appears only in Mij’s chittering (p. 84).
• (vi) false — Maxwell finds him anything but ordinary; he is “anything but an otter” to the Londoners (p. 88).

One honest note: textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus for what is assessable.

The Activities Around the Story: Pet Care and the Ethics of Wild Pets

The chapter opens and closes with activities students often skip, and both are useful for classwork and homework.

• Before reading (p. 80): the SPCA box lists the real obligations of owning a dog — an annual licence, vaccination, toilet training, regular grooming, obedience training, a balanced diet, socialisation, and daily exercise, affection and play. It frames the whole story: a pet is a serious responsibility.
• List-building task (p. 80): imagine someone has gifted you a pet; list what you need to know to care for it, starting with the food it eats.
• Closing discussion (p. 92): research how pet-keeping, wildlife trade and import-export laws, and airline rules for animals have changed since 1956, then discuss whether keeping a wild animal as a pet is ethical. The prompts ask what the animal misses most from its natural habitat and whether Mij on a leash is really “cute”.

One detail worth noting: the story is set before modern wildlife-protection laws. That is why an otter could be flown home in 1956, and the same journey would be far harder today.

Mijbil the Otter: Quick Recap of the Whole Chapter

A night-before recap in ten steps:

• Early 1956: Maxwell decides to keep an otter instead of a dog at Camusfearna (p. 81).
• In Basra for mail, his mail is late; the cable fails and three attempts to telephone also fail (p. 81).
• Five days later, two Arabs bring a sack that squirms, with a note: “Here is your otter…” (pp. 81-82).
• Mijbil emerges like a small mud-armoured dragon; the mud takes a month to remove (p. 82).
• His race is unknown to science, so zoologists name him Maxwell’s otter (pp. 82-83).
• First 24 hours he is aloof and indifferent; the second night he sleeps on Maxwell’s knees (pp. 82-83).
• In the bath he goes wild with joy — and Maxwell learns otters must keep water moving (p. 83).
• He masters the taps, follows without a lead, and plays soccer-style with a rubber ball (p. 84).
• The eighteen-inch box: Mij tears the lining and bloodies himself, then escapes on the plane, is mistaken for a rat, and nuzzles Maxwell when found (pp. 85-87).
• In London: the suitcase game, compulsive street habits, the thirty-yard wall gallop, and guesses from baby seal to brontosaur (pp. 87-88).

The chapter has no formal closing summary; instead it ends with What We Have Done and What You Can Do (p. 92), which leads into the pet-ethics discussion. The following poem, Fog, compares fog to a cat in free verse (p. 93).

The Poem Fog by Carl Sandburg: A Cat Made of Mist

The six lines of Fog print right after the story, and the poem works by turning fog into a cat (p. 93).

• Paraphrase: the fog arrives on little cat feet, sits looking over the harbour and the city on silent haunches, and then moves on (p. 93).
• Three cat-like details: the fog comes on little cat feet, it sits looking, and it rests on silent haunches (p. 94).
• Metaphor, not simile: the fog is presented as the cat; it is never compared with “like”, so it is a metaphor (p. 94).
• Free verse: the poem has no rhyme scheme and no obvious rhythm, which is what free verse means — this answers question 3 of Thinking about the Poem (p. 94).
• Glossary: on haunches means sitting with the knees bent (p. 93).

Related Resources: The Rest of First Flight

This listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session using the NCERT textbook information available to us. NCERT remains the authority for confirming the latest edition.

Fog is part of First Flight’s poetry section, so it sits inside the same book as this story. To keep moving through the book:

• The previous chapter, The Hundred Dresses II, is covered alongside the rest of the book on the Class 10 English First Flight page.
• Read the next chapter, Madam Rides the Bus, the story that follows Mijbil the Otter.
• Use the Mijbil the Otter revision notes for a condensed version of this chapter’s key points.
• Browse all Class 10 English resources or the Class 10 hub, or start from the CBSE notes home page.

All official editions, including First Flight, are published on the NCERT textbook portal.

Chapter-wise notes for this subject are not published yet. The unit-wise syllabus on this page is complete and verified against the official CBSE curriculum document.

Reference: NCERT Class 10 English (First Flight) textbook, chapter 6, official edition on ncert.nic.in.

Sources and Data Verification

• This page describes NCERT Class 10 English (First Flight), chapter 6, Mijbil the Otter, printed pages 79 to 92, with the poem Fog on pages 93 to 94.
• The counts and figures refer to the First Flight textbook only; this page covers chapter 6 and its printed poem, not the whole book.
• The listing is maintained for the current academic session using the NCERT information available to us.
• NCERT settles textbooks, editions and official PDFs; CBSE settles the curriculum, syllabus and examinations.

FAQs: Mijbil the Otter Class 10

Why is Mijbil the otter called Maxwell’s otter?

Because his race was previously unknown to science. When zoologists classified it, they named it Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, which puts Maxwell’s name inside the species name (pp. 82-83).

Why did Mijbil hurt himself in the box, and what happened on the flight?

Mijbil tore the box lining to shreds and cut himself; when Maxwell returned, blood had trickled from the airholes and dried (p. 85). On the flight he escaped in a flash, ran down the aircraft, a woman screamed “A rat!”, Maxwell ended up with curry on his face, and Mijbil finally bounded on to his knee and nuzzled him (pp. 86-87).

The airline had insisted on a box no more than eighteen inches square (p. 85).

In the beginning, was the otter aloof and indifferent, friendly, or hostile?

Aloof and indifferent. The text says that for the first twenty-four hours Mijbil was “neither hostile nor friendly; he was simply aloof and indifferent”, choosing to sleep as far from the bed as possible (pp. 82-83). The Oral Comprehension Check asks for exactly this three-way choice (p. 84).

What game did Mij invent with the ping-pong ball and the suitcase?

The slope game. The damaged suitcase lid stayed at a slope, so Mijbil placed the ball on the high end, dashed round to the other end, crouched to ambush it as it arrived, sprang up, grabbed it and trotted back to the high end (p. 87).

What does the poem Fog compare the fog to, and why is it called free verse?

It compares the fog to a cat. The three cat-like details the poem question asks for are: the fog comes on little cat feet, it sits looking, and it rests on silent haunches (p. 94). The poem is free verse because it has no rhyme scheme and no obvious rhythm (p. 94).