Class 10 English · Original EZT practice
Mijbil the Otter (Class 10 English Chapter 6): an otter from Basra to London
What happens when a writer who lives ringed by water decides to keep an otter? Early in 1956, in Southern Iraq, Gavin Maxwell answers a delayed parcel of mail - and out of a squirming sack comes a small, dragon-like creature who will change his life: Mijbil, of a race previously unknown to science. From the tiled floor of the Basra Consulate to a chaotic flight to London, this memoir follows an otter learning to play - and a man learning his pet. This page gives a summary, themes and practice questions. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 24 October 2026:
1. Summary - an otter in a sack: Basra, 1956
Early in the New Year of 1956 Maxwell travels to Southern Iraq, having decided that his home Camusfearna, ringed by water, would suit an otter - in the Tigris marshes otters were as common as mosquitoes and often tamed by the Arabs. At the Basra Consulate-General his friend's mail has arrived but his own has not; five days later it comes, and with it a sack that squirms. Out of the sack onto the spacious tiled floor emerges a creature most like a very small, medievally-conceived dragon: an otter, later christened by zoologists Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli - Maxwell's otter. For the first twenty-four hours Mijbil is aloof and indifferent; on the second night he comes onto Maxwell's bed and sleeps in the crook of his knees, and by day begins to take a keen - much too keen - interest in his surroundings.
2. Summary - water games and escapes
Taken to the bathroom on a body-belt and lead, Mijbil goes wild with joy for half an hour - plunging and rolling, shooting up and down the bathtub underwater. Maxwell learns the otter's rule: every drop of water must be extended and spread about; a bowl must be overturned or sat in until it overflows, for water kept static is wasted and provoking. Two days later Mijbil escapes from the bedroom, and Maxwell watches amazed as the otter fumbles at the chromium taps with his paws and in less than a minute produces first a trickle, then a full flow. Soon Mij follows without a lead and comes when called; he dribbles a rubber ball like a four-footed soccer player, and his favourite pastime is lying on his back juggling marbles up and down his wide, flat belly without dropping one.
3. Summary - the flight to London and the memoir's theme
The airline insists the otter travel in a box not more than eighteen inches square, carried on the floor at Maxwell's feet. Left alone in it, Mijbil tears the lining to shreds and injures himself; but on the flight he is out of the box in a flash, sending passengers screaming 'A rat! A rat!' - a woman stands up on her seat - until the air hostess, whom Maxwell calls the very queen of her kind, helps him recover his pet with the most charming smile. In London, where they remain for nearly a month, Mijbil turns walks into rituals like those of school children, and Londoners guess wildly at what the creature might be. The memoir celebrates curiosity and patience between species - an animal of marsh water adapting, comically and stubbornly, to boxes, bathtubs and city streets, and a human learning to read an otter's rules instead of imposing his own.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Justify the experiment
Choose the method: A home ringed by water.
EZT practice question
Why does Maxwell think of keeping an otter at all?
Show the worked solution
- His home Camusfearna is ringed by water, a stone's throw from places otters love.
- In the Tigris marshes of Southern Iraq otters were as common as mosquitoes.
- They were often tamed by the Arabs - so an otter, not a dog, is the fitting pet for such a place.
Answer: His home Camusfearna is ringed by water, a stone's throw from places otters love - and in the Tigris marshes of Southern Iraq otters were as common as mosquitoes and were often tamed by the Arabs, so an otter suits his life better than a dog.
Check: The reasoning is habitat first: the home fits the animal, and the region already tames it.
Watch for this: Do not say Maxwell wanted an exotic novelty - the memoir grounds the choice in the water-ringed house.
Now try it yourself
When and where does the story begin?
Check your answer
Early in the New Year of 1956, when Maxwell travels to Southern Iraq - to the Basra Consulate-General.
The date and place frame the arrival that follows.
Describe the arrival
Choose the method: A sack that squirms.
EZT practice question
How does the otter first arrive in Maxwell's life, and how does Maxwell describe him?
Show the worked solution
- At the Basra Consulate-General his friend's mail arrives but his own does not; it comes five days later.
- With it comes a sack that squirms from time to time.
- Out emerges a creature most like a very small, medievally-conceived dragon - later christened Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, Maxwell's otter, a race previously unknown to science.
Answer: He arrives by mail at the Basra Consulate-General, five days after Maxwell expected his post, in a sack that squirms; the creature that emerges Maxwell compares to a very small, medievally-conceived dragon - later formally named Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, or Maxwell's otter, a race previously unknown to science.
Check: Two images carry the scene: the squirming sack and the small medieval dragon.
Watch for this: Do not say Maxwell bought or caught the otter - it arrives through the post, with the delayed mail.
Now try it yourself
What is special about Mijbil as an otter?
Check your answer
He belonged to a race previously unknown to science, later christened Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli - Maxwell's otter - by zoologists.
The Latin name literally writes Maxwell into zoology.
Track the thaw
Choose the method: Floor first, then the bed.
EZT practice question
How does Mijbil behave in his first twenty-four hours, and what changes on the second night?
Show the worked solution
- For the first twenty-four hours he is neither hostile nor friendly - simply aloof and indifferent, sleeping on the floor as far from Maxwell's bed as possible.
- On the second night he comes onto Maxwell's bed in the small hours and sleeps in the crook of his knees until morning.
- By day he begins to lose his apathy and take a keen - much too keen - interest in his surroundings.
Answer: The first twenty-four hours he is aloof and indifferent, choosing to sleep on the floor as far from Maxwell's bed as possible; on the second night he comes onto the bed and sleeps in the crook of Maxwell's knees until morning, and by day begins to take a keen - much too keen - interest in his surroundings.
Check: The shift has an exact clock: aloof for one day, in the crook of the knees by the second night.
Watch for this: Do not read the early distance as fear or hostility - the memoir says he was simply aloof and indifferent.
Now try it yourself
What does 'much too keen' signal about life with Mijbil from then on?
Check your answer
That his curiosity will be constant and hard to manage - the household is about to be investigated by an otter.
Maxwell's parenthesis is the memoir's first warning of chaos.
State the water rule
Choose the method: Water must move.
EZT practice question
What is the characteristic of otters that Maxwell discovers in the bathroom?
Show the worked solution
- On a body-belt and lead, Mijbil goes wild with joy in the bath for half an hour - plunging and rolling, shooting up and down underwater.
- Every drop of water must be extended and spread about: a bowl must be overturned or sat in until it overflows.
- Water kept static is, to an otter, wasted and provoking.
Answer: That water must be kept on the move and made to do things - an otter will plunge and roll in a bathtub for half an hour, overturn a bowl or sit in it until it overflows; to an otter, static water is wasted and provoking.
Check: The rule is the discovery; the bathtub and the bowl are its demonstrations.
Watch for this: Do not call it messiness - the memoir frames it as a law of otter nature, not bad behaviour.
Now try it yourself
What happens when Mijbil escapes to the bathroom two days later?
Check your answer
He scrambles onto the end of the bathtub and fumbles at the chromium taps with his paws; in less than a minute he turns a tap far enough for a trickle, then a full flow - though later he sometimes screws it tighter, chittering with irritation.
The tap scene is the water rule learned by the otter himself.
Catalogue the games
Choose the method: A ball and some marbles.
EZT practice question
How does Mijbil play with a rubber ball, and what is his favourite pastime?
Show the worked solution
- He shuffles a rubber ball round the room like a four-footed soccer player, dribbling with all four feet.
- He can throw it with a powerful flick of the neck to a surprising height and distance.
- His favourite pastime is lying on his back juggling marbles - two or more at a time - up and down his wide, flat belly without ever dropping one.
Answer: He dribbles a rubber ball round the room like a four-footed soccer player, using all four feet, and can throw it with a powerful flick of the neck; his favourite pastime is lying on his back juggling marbles up and down his wide, flat belly without ever dropping one.
Check: Soccer with the ball, juggling with the marbles - the two games use different skills.
Watch for this: Do not say he plays only in water - the ball and the marbles are dry-land games.
Now try it yourself
How does Mijbil's behaviour change once he is trained to the lead?
Check your answer
Soon he follows without a lead and comes when called - Mij is quick to learn the household's rules.
The games and the recall show the aloof otter of day one fully attached.
Stage the cabin chaos
Choose the method: Box, escape, queen.
EZT practice question
Why does Maxwell call the air hostess 'the very queen of her kind'?
Show the worked solution
- The airline requires a box not more than eighteen inches square, carried at Maxwell's feet; left alone in it, Mijbil tears the lining to shreds and is found hurt and miserable.
- On the flight Mijbil is out of the box in a flash - passengers scream 'A rat! A rat!', a woman stands up on her seat, and Maxwell's dive for the disappearing tail leaves his face covered in curry.
- The air hostess, with the most charming smile, has Maxwell resume his seat while she finds the animal - and Mij bounds back onto his knee, nuzzling his face; Maxwell's admiration for her is, he says, profound.
Answer: When Mijbil escapes his box mid-flight and throws the cabin into chaos - passengers screaming 'A rat! A rat!' - she responds not with panic but with kindness and quick help: with the most charming smile she has Maxwell resume his seat while she finds the animal, and Mij bounds back onto Maxwell's knee. His admiration for her is, he says, profound.
Check: The title is earned by calm: she solves with a smile what panic could not.
Watch for this: Do not skip the curry - Maxwell's failed dive, face covered in curry, is what the hostess rescues him from.
Now try it yourself
How does Mijbil behave in the London streets, and how long do they stay?
Check your answer
He turns walks into ritual games, like the rituals of children on their way to and from school - and they remain in London for nearly a month, with Londoners guessing wildly at what creature he might be.
The city becomes one more habitat the otter adapts to on his own terms.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Where and when does Maxwell get Mijbil?
Show answer and reason
At the Basra Consulate-General, early in 1956 - in a squirming sack that came with the delayed mail.
His home Camusfearna, ringed by water, was chosen as fit for an otter.
2. Mijbil's scientific name?
Show answer and reason
Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli - Maxwell's otter.
A race previously unknown to science, christened by zoologists.
3. The otter's rule of water?
Show answer and reason
Every drop must be extended and spread about - static water is wasted and provoking.
He works the chromium taps himself in under a minute.
4. What happens on the London flight?
Show answer and reason
Mijbil tears his eighteen-inch box, escapes, passengers scream 'A rat! A rat!', and the air hostess - the very queen of her kind - recovers him.
They then stay in London nearly a month.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Explain in one sentence why an otter suited Camusfearna.
- Describe the second-night change in Mijbil's behaviour.
- Retell the cabin scene from the box to the air hostess's smile.
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Questions about this practice page
- What is Mijbil the Otter about?
- Gavin Maxwell's memoir of keeping a pet otter: receiving Mijbil in a squirming sack in Basra in 1956, watching him discover water games and escape tricks, flying him home to London in chaos, and walking him through city streets for nearly a month.
- What is special about Mijbil as an otter?
- He belonged to a race previously unknown to science, later christened Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli - Maxwell's otter - by zoologists.
- How does Mijbil behave around water?
- He is wild with joy: half an hour of plunging and rolling in a bathtub, overturning bowls or sitting in them until they overflow - for an otter, every drop of water must be extended and spread about, and static water is wasted and provoking.
- What happens on the flight to London in Mijbil the Otter?
- Required to travel in a box not more than eighteen inches square, Mijbil tears the lining to shreds; on the plane he escapes, passengers scream 'A rat! A rat!', and the air hostess - 'the very queen of her kind' - helps Maxwell recover him.
- What is the theme of Mijbil the Otter?
- Understanding an animal on its own terms: Maxwell learns the otter's rules - water on the move, play as serious business - and the bond that grows turns Iraq's marshes, a chaotic flight and London's streets into shared ground between species.