MOWGLI'S BROTHERS

READ AND ANSWER

A. 1. Tick (V) the most appropriate answers.

a. Why was it time for father wolf to go out and hunt again?

The wolf family had no food.
The wolf family had eaten up their food.
Father Wolf had to go and hunt for an animal to bring home for his family as they had eaten up what he had brought for them earlier.
The cubs and their parents were hungry and needed more food.

Answer: 4

b. Why did Tabbaqui, the jackal call the wolf cubs noble and keep wishing the wolf family good luck?

He wanted them to feel happy with him so that they would give him some food
He wanted to praise them so that they would think he liked them and they would give him something to eat.
He was hoping to get some leftovers to eat.
He hoped that they would be happy with his false praise and give him some leftovers to eat.

Answer: 2

c. Why did Shere Khan only kill cattle?

Shere Khan was lame, so he couldn't run fast enough to kill wild animals. It was easier to catch cattle that ran slowly.
Cattle ran slowly so Shere Khan could catch them quite easily.
Wild animals ran off fast and knew when Shere Khan was close to them. It was easy for tigers to catch cattle that were slow and not used to wild animals being around them.
A lame tiger found farm animals easier to catch than wild animals who were always on the lookout for predators.

Answer: 1

d. Why was Shere Khan supposed to warn the other animals when he changed his quarters?

According to the law of the jungle, Shere Khan had to tell the other animals that he was moving, so that they could stock up food for a few days.
When a tiger changes its home, its prey move far away. This means that other predators also don't get their food. The Law of the Jungle is that the tiger has to inform the other predators so that they can catch their prey before the tiger moves.
The tiger had to warn the other predators about his move so that they could get their food before their prey ran away.
The other carnivorous animals have to get their food before their prey runs off due to the arrival of the tiger.

Answer: 2

e. Why did all animals suffer when one of them killed a man?

Man came out of his home to look for man-eating animals to trap or kill them before they killed more men.
If an animal killed a man, white men came out on elephants and with groups of brown men beating gongs, sending up rockets and carrying torches in search of man-eaters. Then the animals were not safe as they couldn't go out and hunt for food for themselves.
Other animals lost their safety when a man was killed by a man-eating animal, because men came out in groups to catch and kill man-eaters.
Men became angry if one of them was killed by a man-eating animal. They came out in large numbers to kill the man-eater.

Answer: 2

A. 2. Answer the following questions.

a. Why was Father Wolf angry at the dry, angry, snarly, singsong whine of a tiger?

Answer: Father wolf was angry because he thought that he was foolish to begin hunting with so much noise, as the deer were not as fat and slow as the buffaloes he used to hunting, and they would run away and hide, making it a problem for other animals to hunt for their food.

b. What made Father Wolf get ready to leap and why did he stop in mid-spring?

Answer: The wolves heard a sound and father wolf got ready to leap. He stopped because he saw a little baby or 'man's cub'.

c. What strange sight did father Wolf see?

Answer: Father wolf saw a naked brown baby, barely able to walk, holding on to a low branch. He looked up in the Father Wolf's eyes and laughed.

d. Why did Father Wolf refuse to give the man cub to Shere Khan?

Answer: He told Shere Khan that the wolves were free people and did not take orders from him and that the man cub was his and it was his choice if he wanted to kill it or let it live.

e. Why was Shere Khan not able to fight with Mother Wolf?

Answer: Shere Khan could not face mother wolf because he knew it would be a mean fight and that could lead to the death.

f. Why did Mother Wolf want to keep the man cub and what did she call him?

Answer: Mother Wolf wanted to keep him because he had come to them at night, naked, very hungry and yet unafraid. Also she thought that if a man child was killed, the villagers would attack them for revenge. She called him 'little frog', Mowgli.

g. Who was Akela and why was the man cub taken with the other cubs to Akela and the pack of wolves?

Answer: Akela was the great grey Lone Wolf who was the leader of the pack. The Law of the Jungle said that the wolf when he marries, he may withdraw from the pack for a year, but when his cubs were old enough to stand on their feet, he must present them to the Pack Council, in order that other wolves may identify them. As the man cub now was their baby, it had to be presented to Akela and the Pack Council.

h. Which animals spoke in favour of keeping the man cub as part of the free people? What did they say?

Answer: Bhaloo, the brown bear and Bhagheera, the black panther spoke in favour of keeping the man cub in the pack. He said there was no harm in a man cub being included in the pack and that he would teach him himself, Bagheera said that it was a shame to kill a naked cub and that he would give them something to eat instead of it.

i. What did the other wolves feel about keeping the man cub in the pack?

Answer: The other wolves had no objections as they felt a small little naked baby could do no harm to them.

j. What did Akela think about when Bhageera said that no one could lead the pack forever?

Answer: Akela began to think about the time when the leader of the pack became more and more weak till at last the wolves killed him and a new leader took over the pack.