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They were a wooden box which was previously used to keep cocks and
hens and would now be used by Baba to sleep in at night. Straw was
kept in the box to keep him warm. The piece of wood which Baba
cradled like a baby, the stick that he used to point a gun were also
placed on the island so that he could play with them.

In a few days the coolies hoisted the cage on to the island and Baba
was released. He was delighted; standing on his hind legs, he pointed
his „gun‟ and cradled his „baby‟. My wife spent hours sitting on a chair
there while he sat on her lap. He was fifteen months old and pretty
heavy too!

Hoisted: lifted
Cradled: held

When the place was ready, the workers placed the cage on the island
and Baba was removed from it. He was happy to be free, stood on his
back legs, pointed the stick and cradled the piece of wood. The
narrator’s wife spent many hours with him as he lay in her lap although
he was fifteen months old and was quite heavy in weight.

The way my wife reaches the island and leaves it is interesting. I have
tied a rope to the overhanging branch of a mango tree with a loop at its
end. Putting one foot in the loop, she kicks off with the other, to bridge
the six-foot gap that constitutes the width of the surrounding pit. The
return journey is made the same way. But who can say now that a sloth
bear has no sense of affection, no memory and no individual
characteristics?

The narrator’s wife visits Baba frequently and the way in which she
reaches and leaves the island is interesting. They have a rope tied to a
mango tree with a loop at one end. She would place one foot in the loop
and kick off with the other. This way she would fly in the air to cover the
six foot long distance to reach the island. She would make the return trip
in a similar way.

On seeing the affection shared by Baba and the narrator’s wife, we can
conclude that animals have emotions, they remember people and all of
them have individual qualities just like human beings have.

SHORT QUESTIONS

Q: Who was Bruno and how it was caught?
A: Bruno was a sloth bear. Once the author and his friends were passing
through the sugarcane fields near Mysore. Bruno‟s mother was shot