NCERT Solutions for Class 6 English Honeysuckle Chapter 10 The Banyan Tree
Here the students can find the NCERT Solutions for Class 6 English Honeysuckle Chapter 10 The Banyan Tree. The solutions contain questions, answers, explanations and images to all the questions present in the prescribed textbook of CBSE board. All the questions are solved by experts with a detailed explanation that help students to complete their assignments & homework. Students can refer to the Class 6 English NCERT solutions in order to obtain a clear idea of the type of questions that would appear in the annual exams.
NCERT Solutions for Class 6 English Honeysuckle Chapter 10
Working with the Text
Question A. Complete the following sentences.
1. The old banyan tree “did not belong” to grandfather, but only to the boy, because ______.
Answer: The old banyan tree “did not belong” to grandfather, but only to the boy, because his grandfather was sixty-five years old, who could no longer climb it.
2. The small gray squirrel became friendly when __________________.
Answer: The small gray squirrel became friendly when he found that the boy did not harm himself with catapult or air gun.
3. When the boy started to bring him pieces of cake and biscuit, the squirrel ________________.
Answer: When the boy started to bring him pieces of cake and biscuit, the squirrel grew quite bold and was soon taking morsels from his hand.
4. In the spring, the banyan tree ___________, and __________ would come there.
Answer: In the spring, the banyan tree was full of small red figs, and birds of all kinds would come there.
5. The banyan tree served the boy as a ______________.
Answer: The banyan tree served the boy as a library where he had made a crude platform to sit and read books.
6. The young boy spent his afternoons in the tree _____________.
Answer: The young boy spent his afternoons in the tree when it was not too hot, leaning against it and read story books.
Question B. Answer the following questions.
1. “It was to be a battle of champions.”
(i) What qualities did the two champions have? Pick out words and phrases from the paragraph above this line in the text and write them down.
| Mongoose | Cobra |
| (a) | (a) |
| (b) | (b) |
| (c) | (c) |
Answer: (i)
| Mongoose | Cobra |
| (a) superb fighter | (a) skilful |
| (b) clever | (b) experienced fighter |
| (c) aggressive | (c) swift |
(ii) What did the cobra and the mongoose do, to show their readiness for the fight?
Answer: To show its readiness for the fight, the cobra hissed defiance, his forked tongue darting in and out. It raised three of its six feet off the ground, and spread its broad and spectacled hood. The mongoose bushed his tail. The long hair on his spine stood up.
2. Who were the other two spectators? What did they do? (Did they watch, or did they join in the fight)?
Answer: The other two spectators were a jungle crow and a myna. They settled on a cactus to watch the outcome. But they did not just watch. They tried to join the fight by hurling themselves at the cobra.
3. Read the descriptions below of what the snake did and what the mongoose did. Arrange their actions in the proper order.
| (i) ceased to struggle | • grabbed the snake by the snout |
| (ii) tried to mesmerise the mongoose | • dragged the snake into the bushes |
| (iii) coiled itself around the mongoose | • darted away and bit the cobra on the back |
| (iv) struck the crow | • pretended to attack the cobra on side |
| (v) struck again and missed | • refused to look into the snake’s eyes |
| (vi) struck on the side that the mongoose pretended to attack | • sprang aside, jumped in and bit |
Answer:
| Snake | Mongoose |
| (ii) tried to mesmerise the mongoose | • refused to look into the snake’s eyes |
| (vi) struck on the side that the mongoose pretended to attack | • pretended to attack the cobra on side |
| (v) struck again and missed | • sprang aside, jumped in and bit |
| (iv) struck the crow | • darted away and bit the cobra on the back |
| (iii) coiled itself around the mongoose | • grabbed the snake by the snout |
| (i) ceased to struggle | • dragged the snake into the bushes |
4. (i) What happened to the crow in the end?
(ii) What did the myna do finally?
Answer: (i) In the end the crow flung nearly twenty feet across the garden by a blow from the cobra’s snout. It fluttered about for a while, then lay still.
(ii) The myna dropped cautiously to the ground, hopped about, peered into the bushes from a safe distance and then with a shrill cry of congratulation flew away.
Working with Language
A. 1. The word ‘round’ usually means a kind of shape. What is its meaning in the story?
Answer: The word ’round’ in the story means the different phases of the fight between the cobra and the mongoose.
2. Find five words in the following paragraph, which are generally associated with trees. But here, they have been used differently. Underline the words.
Hari leaves for work at nine every morning. He works in the local branch of the firm of which his uncle is the owner. Hari’s success is really the fruit of his own labour. He is happy, but he has a small problem. The root cause of his problem is a stray dog near his office. The dog welcomes Hari with a loud bark every day.
Answer: Hari leaves for work at nine every morning. He works in the local branch of the firm of which his uncle is the owner. Hari’s success is really the fruit of his own labour. He is happy, but he has a small problem. The root cause of his problem is a stray dog near his office. The dog welcomes Hari with a loud bark every day.
B. The words in the box are all words that describe movement. Use them to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.
| dived | gliding | sprang | darting |
| whipped…back | delving |
1. When he began to trust me, the squirrel began ————— into my pockets for morsels of cake.
Answer: delving
2. I saw a cobra ————— out of a clump of cactus.
Answer: gliding
3. The snake hissed, his forked tongue ————— in and out.
Answer: darting
4. When the cobra tried to bite it, the mongoose ——————— aside.
Answer: sprang
5. The snake —————— his head —————— to strike at the crow.
Answer: whipped, back
6. The birds —————— at the snake.
Answer: dived
C. Find words in the story, which show things striking violently against each other.
1. The cobra struck the crow, his snout th — — — ing against its body.
Answer: thudding
2. The crow and the myna c — ll — — — — in mid-air.
Answer: collided
3. The birds dived at the snake, but b — — — — d into each other instead.
Answer: bumped
D. Look at these sentences
| In the spring, the birds of all kinds would flock into the banyan tree’s branches.I would spend the afternoons there. | Grandfather, at sixty-five, could no longer climb the banyan tree.I could hide myself in its branchesI could look down through the leaves at the world belowI could read there |
| ‘Would’ tells us what the author used to do, or what used to happen. | “could’ tells us what the auther was usually able to do, or the grandfather is now not able to do. |
Choose would and could to replace the italicised words in the following sentences. Grandfather says, in the old days,
1. elephants were able to fly in the sky, like clouds. They were also able to change their shapes. They used to fly behind clouds and frighten them. People used to look up at the sky in wonder.
Answer: elephants couldfly in the sky, like clouds. They could also change their shapes. They wouldfly behind clouds and frighten them. People would look up at the sky in wonder.
2. Because there was no electricity, he used to get up with the sun, and he used to go to bed with the sun, like the birds.
Answer: Because there was no electricity, he would get up with the sun, and he would go to bed with the sun, like the birds.
3. like the owl, he was able to see quite well in the dark. He was able to tell who was coming by listening to their footsteps.
Answer: like the owl, he could see quite well in the dark. He could tell who was coming by listening to their footsteps.
EXTRA QUESTIONS
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. Why did the speaker find the old banyan tree exclusively his own?
Answer: The old banyan tree became the narrator’s own property because his grandfather wastoo old to climb it. ‘
2. What did the speaker do while hiding himself in the banyan tree branches?
Answer: The author used to read story books and watch the world below.
3. When did the banyan tree become a noisy place?
Answer: The banyan tree became the noisiest place in the garden during the fig season.
4. Where did the author usually spend his afternoons?
Answer: The author usually spent his afternoons on the platform he had built half way up the tree.
5.What exciting scene did the author enjoy from his platform in the banyan tree?
Answer: The author enjoyed the fight between a mongoose and a cobra, a battle of twochampions.
6. What trick did the mongoose apply to overpower and kill the cobra?
Answer: He first bit the snake twice on the back. When the cobra was tired, the mongoose caughtit by the snout. He finally dragged the dead snake into the bushes.
7. Creatures lost their lives in the classic struggle between the cobra and the mongoose. Who were those victims?
Answer: The cobra and the crow.
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. What is the story The Banyan Tree about? Narrate the incident in brief.
Answer: The Banyan Tree is about a deadly fight between a mongoose and a snake. The outcomeof such a fight is the death of the cobra. The mongoose is faster in movement than his opponent. The writer witnessed such a fight, sitting on a branch of a banyan tree. He enjoyed the fight. Both the mongoose and the cobra were experienced fighters. They could strike with speed. A myna and a crow also arrived to feed on the dead crew. The crow had hard luck. He was bitten and he fell dead. The cobra got tired in the fight and the mongoose dragged it into the bushes.
2. Bring out the relevance/significance of the banyan tree in the title of Ruskin Bond’s story.
Answer: The banyan tree served as a platform for the writer to sit and watch the thrilling fight between a cobra and a wild mongoose. The tree was almost the speaker’s property because his grandfather could not climb it. The fight started under that tree in sunshine. Two other spectators, a myna and a crow, also arrived to feed on the dead cobra. But they sat on a cactus plant not the tree.
The Banayan Tree Class 6 English NCERT Questions and Answers
To understand this chapter in a better way, students can refer to the NCERT Solutions for Class 6 English Honeysuckle Chapter 10 The Banyan Tree PDF while answering the textbook problems. You can download these NCERT Solutions for Class 6 English in PDF format through the links provided here.