Summary:
In the story, the narrator tells about the emotional bond
shared by his wife and their pet bear Bruno. He got the baby bear in an
accident and presented it to his wife. She named the bear ‘Bruno’ and treated
it like a baby. Bruno is a fun-loving, affectionate bear.
One day, accidentally, Bruno eats Barium Carbonate poison.
The poison is kept in the library to kill mice and rats. Bruno suffers a stroke
of paralysis and recovers with the help of a veterinary doctor. In another
incident, he drinks a gallon of old engine oil which the narrator has kept to
fight a termite attack. The oil could not affect Bruno in any way.
As days pass, Bruno grows bigger. Now his name is changed as
‘Baba’. Baba has learned a few tricks.
He wrestles with people, holds a stick as a gun, and cradles a wooden block as a
baby As he is big now, he has to be chained because he could harm the tenant’s
children.
Keeping the safety of children in view, they send Baba to
the zoo at Mysore. The narrator’s wife misses Baba immensely. Baba also misses
her. After three months, they visit Baba at the zoo. Baba recognizes her at
once. The narrator wife cannot leave Baba in the zoo. So, she takes permission
from the authorities and brings Baba back home.
They make a special island made for Baba to live on. It is
surrounded by a deep dry pit. Baba has a box to sleep in, straw to keep him
warm, his stick, and a piece of wood to play with.
The narrator’s wife visits Baba on the island by swinging on
a rope tied to a mango tree. She lets the big bear sit in her lap for hours and
pats him affectionately.
II. Answer the following questions.
Q1. “I got him for her by accident.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) Who do ‘him’ and ‘her’ refer to?
(iii) What is the incident referred to here?
A.
(i) The narrator says this.
(ii) ‘him’ refers to the bear and ‘her’ refers to the narrator’s wife.
(iii) The incident referred to here is when the narrator’s companion shot a bear dead and they found that the baby bear was alive. They caught the baby bear and took it along with them.
Q2. “He stood on his head in delight.”
(i) Who does ‘he’ refer to?
(ii) Why was he delighted?
A.
(i) ‘he’ refers to Baba.
(ii) Baba was delighted to see the narrator’s wife.
Q3. “We all missed him greatly: but in a sense we were relieved.”
(i) Who does ‘we all’ stand for?
(ii) Who did they miss?
(iii) Why did they nevertheless feel relieved?
A.
(i) ‘we all’ stands for the narrator, his wife, his son, the Alsatian dogs and the tenant’s children.
(ii) They missed Baba.
(iii) They nevertheless felt relieved because Baba was a big bear now and keeping him at home was inconvenient for them.
III. Answer the following questions in 30 to 40 words each.
Q1. On two occasions Bruno ate/drank something that should not be eaten/ drunk. What happened to him on these occasions?
A. In the first incident, Bruno ate the poison Barium carbonate. The narrator kept the poison to kill rats. Bruno was struck by an attack of paralysis. The narrator took him to a veterinary doctor who injected medicines twice to revive Bruno.
In the second incident, Bruno drank the old engine oil. It was drained out of the sump of the narrator’s old car. He kept it to fight a termite attack. The oil had no effect on Bruno at all.
Q2. Was Bruno a loving and playful pet? Why, then, did he have to be sent away?
A. Yes, Bruno was a loving and playful pet. He was sent away because as he had grown into a big bear. It was not safe to keep him in a household where there are children. Bruno could harm people. The narrator, his son, and their friends convinced his wife who was particularly attached to Bruno and finally, it was sent to the zoo at Mysore.
Q3. How was the problem of what to do with Bruno finally solved?
A. The problem of what to do with Bruno was finally solved by sending him off to the zoo at Mysore. They wrote a letter to the zoo in charge at the zoo at Mysore. Upon his consent, Baba was packed in a cage and was sent away.
