The Banyan Tree - NCERT

1 124 HONEYSUCKLEThe fight of the cobra and themongoose is a classic drama oftenseen in India, and the outcome islargely the same. The mongoose isnot immune to the venomous bite,but is faster and quicker in motionthan the snake. The cobra assumesa posture of defence and attempts toreach the animal by a sweepingstrike, but the quick-movingmongoose jumps out of reach andcomes at the snake from another10 Before you readlllllHave you seen a mongoose? You have read inLesson 9 that a mongoose can fight with andkill a snake. Look at the pictures and read thelines given along with Banyan TreeThe Banyan Treedirection, before the snake canget into striking position constant movement tires anddiscourages the snake, and themongoose is finally able to leap inclose and bury its teeth in thesnake s neck, usually severing thejoints of its Banyan TREE125morsels: smallpieces of fooddelving: goingdeep intospy: watch secretlyresent: dislike.

2 Feelangry aboutPart the house and grounds belongedto my grandparents, the magnificent oldbanyan tree was mine chiefly becauseGrandfather, at sixty-five, could nolonger climb spreading branches, which hungto the ground and took root again,forming a number of twisting passages,gave me endless pleasure. Among themwere squirrels and snails andbutterflies. The tree was older than thehouse, older than Grandfather, as oldas Dehra Dun itself. I could hide myselfin its branches, behind thick greenleaves, and spy on the world first friend was a small greysquirrel. Arching his back and sniffinginto the air, he seemed at first to resentmy invasion of his privacy.

3 But whenhe found that I did not arm myself withcatapult or air gun, he became friendly,and when I started bringing him piecesof cake and biscuit he grew quite boldand was soon taking morsels from long, he was delving into mypockets and helping himself to whateverhe could find. He was a very youngsquirrel, and his friends and relativeslYou must have seen a Banyan tree . This is astory about what the author saw, as a youngboy, when he was sitting in an old Banyan treein his grandfather s thought him foolish andheadstrong for trusting a the spring, when the Banyan treewas full of small red figs, birds of allkinds would flock into its branches: thered-bottomed bulbul, cheerful andgreedy; parrots, myna and crowssquabbling with one another.

4 During thefig season, the Banyan tree was thenoisiest place in the up the tree I had built acrude platform where I would spend theafternoons when it was not too hot. Icould read there propping myself upagainst the tree with a cushion from theliving room. Treasure Island, HuckleberryFinn and The Story of Dr Dolittle wereduring the figseason: the timewhen figs appearedpropping myself up:leaning against2022-23 THE Banyan TREE127some of the books that made up mybanyan tree I did not feel like reading, Icould look down through the leaves atthe world below. And on one particularafternoon I had a grandstand view ofthat classic of the Indian wilds, a fightbetween a mongoose and a warm breezes of approachingsummer had sent everyone, includingthe gardener, into the house.

5 I wasfeeling drowsy myself, wondering if Ishould go to the pond and have a swimwith Ramu and the buffaloes, when Isaw a huge black cobra gliding out of aclump of cactus. At the same time amongoose emerged from the bushes andwent straight for the a clearing beneath the banyantree, in bright sunshine, they cameface to face. The cobra knew only toowell that the grey mongoose, threefeet long, was a superb fighter, cleverand aggressive. But the cobra, too,was a skilful and experienced could move swiftly and strike withthe speed of light; and the sacsbehind his long sharp fangs were fullof deadly poison. It was to be a battleof : movingsmoothlyclump: group (ofbushes or trees)emerged: cameoutclearing: an openspace in a forestwhere there areno treessacs: a part (of ananimal or plant)shaped like a bagfangs: long sharpteeth (of a snakeor dog)grandstand view:a clear view fromthe best position(a grandstand isa large coveredspace with rowsof seats for peopleto watch sports) defiance, his forked tonguedarting in and out, the cobra raisedthree of his six feet off the ground, andspread his broad, spectacled hood.

6 Themongoose bushed his tail. The long hairon his spine stood the combatants wereunaware of my presence in the tree , theywere soon made aware of the arrival oftwo other spectators. One was a myna,the other a jungle crow. They had seenthese preparations for battle, and hadsettled on the cactus to watch theoutcome. Had they been content onlyto watch, all would have been well withboth of :participants in afightspectators: thosewho watch a show,a game, : resultdefiance: rebellion;resistancedart: move quickly,suddenly2022-23 THE Banyan cobra stood on the defensive,swaying slowly from side to side, tryingto mesmerise the mongoose into makinga false move. But the mongoose knewthe power of his opponent s glassy,unwinking eyes, and refused to meetthem.

7 Instead he fixed his gaze at a pointjust below the cobra s hood, and openedthe forward quickly until he wasjust within the cobra s reach, themongoose made a pretended move toone side. Immediately the cobra great hood came down so swiftlythat I thought nothing could save themongoose. But the little fellow jumpedneatly to one side, and darted in asswiftly as the cobra, biting the snakeon the back and darting away againout of the same moment that the cobrastruck, the crow and the myna hurledthemselves at him, only to collide heavilyin mid-air. Shrieking insults at eachother they returned to the cactus few drops of blood glistened on thecobra s cobra struck and missed.

8 Againthe mongoose sprang aside, jumped inand bit. Again the birds dived at thesnake, bumped into each other instead,and returned shrieking to the safety ofthe : here,magically persuadea false move: anunwise actionglistened: third round followed the samecourse as the first but with one dramaticdifference. The crow and the myna, stilldetermined to take part in theproceedings, dived at the cobra; but thistime they missed each other as well astheir mark. The myna flew on andreached its perch, but the crow tried topull up in mid-air and turn back. In thesecond that it took the bird to do thisthe cobra whipped his head back andstruck with great force, his snoutthudding against the crow s saw the bird flung nearly twenty feetacross the garden.

9 It fluttered about fora while, then lay still. The mynaremained on the cactus plant, and whenround: here, astage in a fight orcompetitionpull up: here, : the noseand mouth of ananimal2022-23 THE Banyan TREE131the snake and the mongoose returnedto the fight, very wisely decided not tointerfere again! The cobra wasweakening, and the mongoose, walkingfearlessly up to it, raised himself on hisshort legs and with a lightning snap hadthe big snake by the snout. The cobrawrithed and lashed about in afrightening manner, and even coileditself about the mongoose, but to noavail. The little fellow hung grimly on,until the snake had ceased to then smelt along its quivering length,gripped it round the hood, and draggedit into the myna dropped cautiously tothe ground, hopped about, peeredinto the bushes from a safe distance,and then, with a shrill cry ofcongratulation, flew BOND[slightly abridged] the following old Banyan tree did not belong tograndfather, but only to the boy, because WORKING WITH THE TEXTto no avail.

10 Withno small gray squirrel became friendly when the boy started to bring him pieces of cake and biscuit,the squirrel the spring, the Banyan tree , and would come Banyan tree served the boy as a young boy spent his afternoons in the tree the following It was to be a battle of champions. (8)(i)What qualities did the two champions have? Pick out wordsand phrases from the paragraph above this line in the textand write them (a)_____(a)_____(b)_____(b)_____(c)_____ (c)_____2022-23 THE Banyan TREE133(ii)What did the cobra and the mongoose do, to showtheir readiness for the fight?