The Adventures of Toto – by Ruskin Bond – CBSE Class 9 – English Book : Moments : Supplementary Reader – Chapter 2
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Course
English
Institution
The Adventures of Toto – by Ruskin Bond – CBSE Class 9 – English Book : Moments : Supplementary Reader – Chapter 2 – Notes – 5 Short and Long Questions with Answers
GRANDFATHER bought Toto from a tonga-driver for the sum of five rupees. The
tonga-driver used to keep the little red monkey tied to a feeding-trough, and the
monkey looked so out of place there that Grandfather decided he would add the little
fellow to his private zoo.
Feeding-trough: a large container for feeding animals
Tonga: horse cart
The writer’s grandfather purchased a monkey named Toto from a tonga driver by
paying five rupees to him. The tonga driver had tied the little red - coloured monkey
to a feeding trough, so that he could not run away. When the writer’s grandfather saw
the monkey, he had a desire to add him to the collection of animals which he had in
his zoo at home.
Toto was a pretty monkey. His bright eyes sparkled with mischief beneath deep-set eyebrows, and
his teeth, which were a pearly white, were very often displayed in a smile that frightened the life
out of elderly Anglo-lndian ladies. But his hands looked dried-up as though they had been pickled
in the sun for many years. Yet his fingers were quick and wicked; and his tail, while adding to his
good looks (Grandfather believed a tail would add to anyone’s good looks), also served as a third
hand. He could use it to hang from a branch; and it was capable of scooping up any delicacy that
might be out of reach of his hands.
Anglo-lndian: a person relating to both britain and india
Pickled: food that is preserved in vinegar
scooping up: lifting
The writer gives a description of Toto. He had bright, shiny eyes which were full of mischief. The
eyebrows were deeply set on his face. His teeth were like pearls. Many ladies belonging to the
, Anglo - Indian community got scared when they saw his teeth which were displayed when he
smiled. Toto’s hands were dry and wrinkled as if they had been dried in the sun like pickled
vegetables. He had a long tail. The writer’s grandfather thought that the tail added to the good
looks of an animal. Toto’s tail was like a third hand for him. It helped him hang from the branch of
a tree. He also used it to lift objects which were beyond his hand’s reach.
Grandmother always fussed when Grandfather brought home some new bird or animal. So it was
decided that Toto’s presence should be kept a secret from her until she was in a particularly good
mood. Grandfather and I put him away in a little closet opening into my bedroom wall, where he
was tied securely — or so we thought — to a peg fastened into the wall.
Peg: a hook
The writer’s grandmother was against the grandfather's attitude of bringing new pets - birds and
animals. So, the grandfather thought that they would conceal this fact from her until she was in a
good mood. At that time, they would disclose this to her. The writer and his grandfather secured
Toto in a little cupboard in the writer’s room. In order to be sure that Toto did not escape, they
tied him to a hook in the wall.
A few hours later, when Grandfather and I came back to release Toto, we found that the walls,
which had been covered with some ornamental paper chosen by Grandfather, now stood out as
naked brick and plaster. The peg in the wall had been wrenched from its socket, and my school
blazer, which had been hanging there, was in shreds. I wondered what Grandmother would say.
But Grandfather didn’t worry; he seemed pleased with Toto’s performance.
Ornamental: decorative
Naked: uncovered
Wrenched: broke
Socket: attachment
Shreds: cut into thin slices
The writer and his grandfather went to Toto after a few hours. The sight was shocking. Toto had
torn the decorative wallpaper. He had broken the hook and had escaped from his binding. Also, he
tore the writer’s balzer into thin pieces.
“He’s clever,” said Grandfather. “Given time, I’m sure he could have tied the torn pieces of your
blazer into a rope, and made his escape from the window!”
The grandfather was quite delighted to see Toto's adventure. He felt that Toto was very clever. He
said that if they would have given him more time, he would have tied the thin pieces of the writer’s
torn blazer into a rope and would have escaped out of the window.
His presence in the house still a secret, Toto was now transferred to a big cage in the servants’
quarters where a number of Grandfather’s pets lived very sociably together — a tortoise, a pair of
rabbits, a tame squirrel and, for a while, my pet goat. But the monkey wouldn’t allow any of his
companions to sleep at night; so Grandfather, who had to leave Dehradun next day to collect his
pension in Saharanpur, decided to take him along.
Sociably: in a friendly manner
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