Class 8 English · Original EZT practice
Feathered Friend (Class 8 English Chapter 13): Claribel the canary
There is no regulation that forbids pets on a space station - and Sven Olsen, a wiry little construction man, quietly keeps one: Claribel, a small yellow canary who weighs practically nothing, eats tiny amounts, and is not at all worried by the absence of gravity. Then one day Claribel is found unconscious, claws sticking pathetically up into the air - and her fainting reveals a danger nobody on the station had noticed. Arthur C. Clarke's story opens Poorvi Unit 5, Science and Curiosity. 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 23 October 2026:
1. Summary - Sven and Claribel
The narrator, a crew member on a space station, tells us that Sven Olsen was one of their best construction men, collecting girders floating in free fall and fusing them into position - and that Sven, for reasons no one quite knew, smuggled aboard a pet canary, Claribel, when he came back from leave on Earth. The narrator first discovers her when a musical whistle beside his ear turns out not to be the station intercom.
2. Summary - the warning
One day Claribel is found unconscious, hanging upside down with her claws sticking pathetically up into the air. Sven revives her with oxygen - and suddenly remembers that miners used to carry canaries down into mines to warn them of bad air. Claribel's fainting is the alarm: something is wrong with the station's air. The crew discovers that the air purifier had frozen during a rare eclipse, and the single alarm in the circuit had failed - the little bird has saved them all.
3. Theme - science and curiosity
The story fits Unit 5, Science and Curiosity, perfectly: a small observation - a bird fainting - becomes a scientific clue that saves a space station. It shows how careful attention to little signs, and knowledge borrowed from an unexpected place (coal miners), can matter as much as advanced technology.
4. The narrator's voice
The story is told in the first person by a crew member, with light, humorous honesty - 'Don't ask me why Sven wanted a pet - I'm not a psychologist.' The plain, recollecting voice makes an extraordinary setting feel ordinary, until the moment the ordinary bird becomes the station's most important instrument.
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.
Argue why a canary works in space
Choose the method: Weight, food, gravity.
EZT practice question
Why was a canary a sensible choice of pet for a space station?
Show the worked solution
- Claribel weighed practically nothing - important where every pound costs fuel.
- Her food requirements were tiny.
- Unlike most animals, she was not worried by the absence of gravity - so she cost the station almost nothing and adapted perfectly.
Answer: Claribel weighed practically nothing, her food requirements were tiny, and - unlike most animals - she was not worried by the absence of gravity, so she cost the station almost nothing and adapted perfectly.
Check: The narrator calls the selection 'very sensible' - the reasons are practical, not sentimental.
Watch for this: Do not say Sven chose her for her singing alone - the song is how she is discovered, not why she suits space.
Now try it yourself
What was Sven Olsen's job, and why was he suited to space work?
Check your answer
He was a construction man who collected assorted girders floating in free fall and fused them into position; a wiry little fellow, he easily qualified for the 150-pound bonus that kept the spacers on a reducing diet.
His light, wiry build is an advantage where mass matters.
Retell the discovery
Choose the method: Whistle, not intercom.
EZT practice question
How does the narrator discover Claribel's presence?
Show the worked solution
- Sitting in the little cubbyhole called his office, he hears a musical whistle beside his ear.
- He assumes it is the station intercom and waits for an announcement.
- The long, involved melody makes him look up with a start - and he sees Claribel for the first time.
Answer: He hears a musical whistle beside his ear in his office, assumes it is the station intercom, then looks up with a start at the long melody - and sees Claribel.
Check: Sven did not confess to owning her for several days - the bird announced herself.
Watch for this: Do not say Sven shows her off - the discovery is accidental, through her song.
Now try it yourself
What advantage did Sven's team have over construction workers on Earth?
Check your answer
They could step back and admire their handiwork without being abruptly parted from it by gravity.
In free fall, nothing falls - the joke carries real physics.
Sequence the emergency
Choose the method: Faint, oxygen, memory.
EZT practice question
How does Claribel's fainting help the crew?
Show the worked solution
- Claribel is found unconscious, hanging upside down, claws sticking pathetically up into the air.
- Sven revives her with oxygen - and remembers that miners used to carry canaries down to warn them of bad air.
- Checking on that hint, the crew finds the air purifier had frozen during a rare eclipse by Earth's shadow, and its single alarm had failed - the canary's suffering exposes the fault before it harms the humans.
Answer: When Sven realises she has passed out, he remembers miners carried canaries as living alarms for foul air; on that hint the crew finds the air purifier had frozen during the rare eclipse and its alarm had failed - the canary detects the bad air before it harms the humans.
Check: The narrator admits: 'Without Claribel, we should soon have been slightly dead.'
Watch for this: Do not say the station's instruments caught the fault - the expensive engineering 'let us down completely'.
Now try it yourself
Why did miners carry canaries underground?
Check your answer
Canaries are more sensitive to bad air than humans, so a canary collapsing warned miners of dangerous gases in time to escape.
The old mining practice is the scientific clue that saves the station.
Explain the actual fault
Choose the method: Eclipse, freeze, silence.
EZT practice question
What had actually gone wrong on the station?
Show the worked solution
- The station had one of its rare eclipses by Earth's shadow that night.
- Part of the air purifier froze up in the cold of the shadow.
- The single alarm in the circuit failed to go off - so the air was slowly going bad without anyone noticing, until Claribel fainted.
Answer: The air purifier had partly frozen during a rare eclipse by Earth's shadow, and the single alarm in the circuit had failed - so the air was going bad silently until Claribel fainted.
Check: Two failures at once - frozen purifier and dead alarm - which is why nobody noticed.
Watch for this: Do not blame the crew's carelessness - the fault was hidden, and the backup alarm failed too.
Now try it yourself
What does the narrator say visitors to space stations should feel on hearing birdsong?
Check your answer
No need to be alarmed - on the contrary; it means they are being doubly safeguarded, at practically no extra expense.
The closing joke states the story's whole argument.
Justify the title
Choose the method: Pet plus protector.
EZT practice question
Why is the story called Feathered Friend?
Show the worked solution
- Claribel is literally feathered - a small yellow canary.
- She is Sven's beloved pet - a friend he smuggled back from Earth leave.
- Her sensitivity to air quality protects the whole crew - a true friend to everyone aboard.
Answer: Claribel, the feathered canary, is both Sven's beloved pet and a true friend to the whole crew - her sensitivity to air quality protects them all.
Check: The title works on both levels before and after the fainting scene.
Watch for this: Do not limit the title to Sven's companionship - by the end the 'friend' is the whole crew's.
Now try it yourself
Name two ways of referring to future time taught in this chapter's grammar section, with an example each.
Check your answer
'Will' future - 'The weather forecast says it will rain later today'; present progressive for fixed plans - 'I am leaving for Chennai in an hour.'
The chapter pairs its story with a grammar goal - both are worth revising.
Connect story to unit theme
Choose the method: Small sign, big save.
EZT practice question
What does the story suggest about the relationship between simple living things and advanced technology?
Show the worked solution
- The station carries half a million dollars' worth of chemical and electronic engineering - and it fails silently.
- A tiny living creature's body detects the bad air first.
- So even on a high-tech space station, a living thing can be the most sensitive instrument of all - nature and science work best together.
Answer: Even on a high-tech space station, a tiny living creature can be the most sensitive instrument of all - technology failed silently, but the canary's body detected the bad air first, so nature and science work best together.
Check: The Unit 5 theme - Science and Curiosity - is exactly this: a small observation becomes a scientific clue that saves lives.
Watch for this: Do not conclude technology is useless - the point is partnership, not rejection of engineering.
Now try it yourself
What quality shows when the narrator says 'Don't ask me why Sven wanted a pet - I'm not a psychologist'?
Check your answer
A light, humorous honesty - he admits what he does not know, which makes the story feel like a real recollection.
The plain voice makes the extraordinary setting believable.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Who wrote Feathered Friend?
Show answer and reason
Arthur C. Clarke.
Opens Poorvi Unit 5, Science and Curiosity.
2. Sven's pet and its name?
Show answer and reason
A small yellow canary, Claribel.
Smuggled back from Earth leave.
3. Why did Claribel faint?
Show answer and reason
The air purifier froze during a rare eclipse; the air was going bad.
Canaries sense bad air first.
4. Old practice that saved the crew?
Show answer and reason
Miners carrying canaries to warn of foul air.
Sven remembers it just in time.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Quote the narrator's line admitting what the canary saved them from.
- Explain the double failure that hid the danger from the crew.
- In one sentence, state what the story says about living things and technology.
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Questions about this practice page
- Who wrote Feathered Friend in Class 8 Poorvi?
- Arthur C. Clarke. The story opens Unit 5, Science and Curiosity, of the NCERT Class 8 English textbook Poorvi.
- Who is Claribel in Feathered Friend?
- A small yellow canary that Sven Olsen brings back from Earth leave as his pet; she adapts happily to weightlessness and becomes loved by the whole crew.
- Why does Claribel faint in the story?
- Because the station's air purifier had frozen during a rare eclipse and the air was going bad - the canary, more sensitive than the humans, was affected first.
- What real-world practice does Feathered Friend refer to?
- Miners carrying canaries underground: the birds' sensitivity to foul air made them living alarms that warned miners of dangerous gases.
- What is the main idea of Feathered Friend?
- A small observation can carry a big warning - curiosity and attention to little signs (a fainting bird) can save lives, even amid advanced space technology.