Page 4 - LN3-MIJBIL THE OTTER-MODULE

 The author made a small box for the otter. He had to face a lot of difficulty and it
made him late for the plane.
 While in the plane, the otter escaped from the box. There was a lot of hue and cry.
At last, the otter came back and settled on the author’s knees.
 After an eventful journey, the author and his otter at last reached London where he
lived in a flat.
 The otter spent most of its time playing with its toys. Sometimes the author took it
out for a walk. He would take it on a lead as if it were a dog.
 Opposite to the author’s flat, there was a primary school that had a low outer wall
about thirty yards long. The otter would jump on to it and go running all the length
of the wall.
 Different people made different guesses as to what animal it was. They would say it
was a baby seal, squirrel, a walrus, a hippo, a beaver, a bear cub or even a leopard
with spots.
 Very few Londoners had ever seen an otter. They were filled with surprise on seeing
such a strange animal.
 One day a labourer was digging a hole in the street. Looking at the author’s otter, he
exclaimed, “Here, Mister, what is that supposed to be?”

summary

In this story the author Gavin Maxwell tells us about his pet. After the death of the dog, he
thought to have another pet. Early in 1956 he travelled to Southern Iraq. He saw some Arab
people with otters. Then, he also thought of having an otter. He told this to his friend. His
mail was due; therefore, with a friend he went to Basra to receive his mail. His friend
collected his mail and went away. After he had left, he received a sack in which there was
something. The sack was for the narrator and there was an otter in it. The narrator
christened it, Mijbil. First the otter slept on the floor but soon he entered the bed till the
servant bought tea. When it went to bathroom it plunged and rolled in the bath tub joyfully.
The narrator was extremely surprised when he found it struggling with the water tap. It had
learnt how to turn on the tap. It spent most of its time playing with the rubber ball and
marbles.

He was staying at Basra while he had to move to England and then to Camusfearna.
But the problem was that some of the airlines did not allow transporting animals. Therefore,
the narrator had to choose a different flight that allowed animals on board. As a result,
Mijbil was packed in a box of its size. Then the narrator went for the meals. When he
returned to his room, he noticed blood coming out from the air holes. He got frightened. He
hurriedly opened it and saw that Mij was almost unconscious. He removed all the sharp
edges from the box and placed it again into the box. The time was passing and he managed
to hire a taxi. There were only ten minutes in his flight. So he sat at the back seat of the taxi
and placed the box on his lap. Somehow he managed to catch the flight and he boarded the
plane. The air hostess was somewhat friendly and she allowed the narrator to place the otter
on his lap. But as soon as the narrator opened the box the otter disappeared in the plane.