CH - The Bond Of Love
Introduction
This story signifies the relation between human beings and animals. The narrator’s wife shares affection with a wild sloth bear and they get attached to each other, shows that animals have feelings and reciprocate to love with warmth affection and care.
Summary
In this story 'The Bond of Love' Kenneth Anderson shows that there can be a bond of love and friendship between humans and animals. It is a story of deep bond of love between his family and a pet sloth bear.
The author got the sloth bear by accident. It was presented to his wife. She named it 'Bruno' and took great care of him. Bruno was attached to everyone including their tenant’s children and their pet Alsatian dogs. It would play, run around the house and even sleep in their bed.
One day, accidentally, he ate a poison - Barium carbonate which had been kept in the library to kill rats. Bruno was sent under a fit of paralysis and was taken to a veterinary doctor. He was injected twice and finally, revived. After a while, Bruno resumed eating normally. In another incident, he drank a gallon of old engine oil which the narrator had kept to fight a termite attack. This did not have any ill - effect on Bruno.
As days passed, Bruno grew bigger but remained as sweet and playful. The name of 'Bruno' was changed by the author's wife to 'Baba'. He had learned a few tricks too. When commanded ‘Baba, wrestle’ or ‘Baba, box’, he would tackle and overpower the person. When ordered ‘Baba, hold gun’ he would point a stick at the person. When asked ‘Baba, where’s baby?’ he would take out the piece of wood and would cradle it affectionately like a baby. As he was big now, he had to be chained because he could harm the tenant’s children.
The narrator, his son and their friends advised the narrator’s wife to send Baba to a zoo as he was too big to be kept as a pet. So, packing were made and 'Baba' was sent to the Mysore zoo. Everyone missed him but felt relieved as it was not comfortable to keep him at home. The author's wife missed 'Baba' greatly. She cried and worried about him.
After three months had passed, the narrator’s wife convinced him to take her to meet Baba. Everyone had predicted that the bear would not recognize her but she had not even reached the cage when Baba recognized her. He stood on his two paws and was delighted to see her. She spent three hours there until the visiting hours ended and left teary - eyed. She requested the zoo in-charge to allow them to take Baba back for which they had to take permission from the Superintendent in Bangalore. After they got the permission 'Baba' was packed in a cage and he came back to the author's house. They got a special island made for Baba to live on. It was surrounded by a deep dry pit. Baba was provided with his belongings, a box to sleep in, straw to keep him warm, his stick and piece of wood to play with.
The narrator’s wife would visit Baba on the island by swinging on a rope tied to a mango tree.
The author got the sloth bear by accident. It was presented to his wife. She named it 'Bruno' and took great care of him. Bruno was attached to everyone including their tenant’s children and their pet Alsatian dogs. It would play, run around the house and even sleep in their bed.
One day, accidentally, he ate a poison - Barium carbonate which had been kept in the library to kill rats. Bruno was sent under a fit of paralysis and was taken to a veterinary doctor. He was injected twice and finally, revived. After a while, Bruno resumed eating normally. In another incident, he drank a gallon of old engine oil which the narrator had kept to fight a termite attack. This did not have any ill - effect on Bruno.
As days passed, Bruno grew bigger but remained as sweet and playful. The name of 'Bruno' was changed by the author's wife to 'Baba'. He had learned a few tricks too. When commanded ‘Baba, wrestle’ or ‘Baba, box’, he would tackle and overpower the person. When ordered ‘Baba, hold gun’ he would point a stick at the person. When asked ‘Baba, where’s baby?’ he would take out the piece of wood and would cradle it affectionately like a baby. As he was big now, he had to be chained because he could harm the tenant’s children.
The narrator, his son and their friends advised the narrator’s wife to send Baba to a zoo as he was too big to be kept as a pet. So, packing were made and 'Baba' was sent to the Mysore zoo. Everyone missed him but felt relieved as it was not comfortable to keep him at home. The author's wife missed 'Baba' greatly. She cried and worried about him.
After three months had passed, the narrator’s wife convinced him to take her to meet Baba. Everyone had predicted that the bear would not recognize her but she had not even reached the cage when Baba recognized her. He stood on his two paws and was delighted to see her. She spent three hours there until the visiting hours ended and left teary - eyed. She requested the zoo in-charge to allow them to take Baba back for which they had to take permission from the Superintendent in Bangalore. After they got the permission 'Baba' was packed in a cage and he came back to the author's house. They got a special island made for Baba to live on. It was surrounded by a deep dry pit. Baba was provided with his belongings, a box to sleep in, straw to keep him warm, his stick and piece of wood to play with.
The narrator’s wife would visit Baba on the island by swinging on a rope tied to a mango tree.
Solutions ( NCERT )
Answer the following questions.
Q. “I got him for her by accident.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) Who do ‘him’ and ‘her’ refer to?
(iii) What is the incident referred to here?
A.
(i) The author says this.
(ii) Here, ‘him’ refers to the sloth bear and ‘her’ refers to the narrator’s wife.
(iii) The incident referred to here is when the narrator’s companion shot a sloth bear dead and they found that the baby bear was alive. They caught the baby bear and took it along with them.
Q. “He stood on his head in delight.”
(i) Who does ‘he’ refer to?
(ii) Why was he delighted?
A.
(i) ‘he’ refers to Baba or Bruno.
(ii) Baba was delighted to see the narrator’s wife.
Q. “We all missed him greatly: but in a sense we were relieved.”
(i) Who does ‘we all’ stand for?
(ii) Who did they miss?
(iii) Why did they nevertheless feel relieved?
A.
(i) ‘we all’ stands for the narrator, his wife, his son, the Alsatian dogs and the tenant’s children.
(ii) They missed Baba (Bruno).
(iii) They nevertheless felt relieved because Baba was a big bear now and keeping him at home was inconvenient for them.
Answer the following questions in 30 to 40 words each.
Q. On two occasions Bruno ate/drank something that should not be eaten/ drunk. What happened to him on these occasions?
A. In the first incident, Bruno ate the poison Barium carbonate which had been kept to kill rats. He was struck by an attack of paralysis. The narrator took him to a veterinary doctor who injected medicines twice to revive Bruno.
In the second incident, Bruno drank the old engine oil which the narrator had drained out of the sump of his old car in order to fight a termite attack. This did not have any adverse effect on Bruno.
Q. Was Bruno a loving and playful pet? Why, then, did he have to be sent away?
A. Yes, Bruno was a loving and playful pet. He was sent away because as he had grown into a big bear, it was not safe to keep him in an inhabited area as he could harm people. The narrator, his son and their friends convinced his wife who was particularly attached to Bruno and finally, it was sent to the zoo at Mysore.
Q. How was the problem of what to do with Bruno finally solved?
A. The problem of what to do with Bruno was finally solved by sending him off to the zoo at Mysore. They wrote a letter to the zoo in-charge at the zoo at Mysore. Upon his consent, Baba was packed in a cage and was sent away.
Q. “I got him for her by accident.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) Who do ‘him’ and ‘her’ refer to?
(iii) What is the incident referred to here?
A.
(i) The author says this.
(ii) Here, ‘him’ refers to the sloth bear and ‘her’ refers to the narrator’s wife.
(iii) The incident referred to here is when the narrator’s companion shot a sloth bear dead and they found that the baby bear was alive. They caught the baby bear and took it along with them.
Q. “He stood on his head in delight.”
(i) Who does ‘he’ refer to?
(ii) Why was he delighted?
A.
(i) ‘he’ refers to Baba or Bruno.
(ii) Baba was delighted to see the narrator’s wife.
Q. “We all missed him greatly: but in a sense we were relieved.”
(i) Who does ‘we all’ stand for?
(ii) Who did they miss?
(iii) Why did they nevertheless feel relieved?
A.
(i) ‘we all’ stands for the narrator, his wife, his son, the Alsatian dogs and the tenant’s children.
(ii) They missed Baba (Bruno).
(iii) They nevertheless felt relieved because Baba was a big bear now and keeping him at home was inconvenient for them.
Answer the following questions in 30 to 40 words each.
Q. On two occasions Bruno ate/drank something that should not be eaten/ drunk. What happened to him on these occasions?
A. In the first incident, Bruno ate the poison Barium carbonate which had been kept to kill rats. He was struck by an attack of paralysis. The narrator took him to a veterinary doctor who injected medicines twice to revive Bruno.
In the second incident, Bruno drank the old engine oil which the narrator had drained out of the sump of his old car in order to fight a termite attack. This did not have any adverse effect on Bruno.
Q. Was Bruno a loving and playful pet? Why, then, did he have to be sent away?
A. Yes, Bruno was a loving and playful pet. He was sent away because as he had grown into a big bear, it was not safe to keep him in an inhabited area as he could harm people. The narrator, his son and their friends convinced his wife who was particularly attached to Bruno and finally, it was sent to the zoo at Mysore.
Q. How was the problem of what to do with Bruno finally solved?
A. The problem of what to do with Bruno was finally solved by sending him off to the zoo at Mysore. They wrote a letter to the zoo in-charge at the zoo at Mysore. Upon his consent, Baba was packed in a cage and was sent away.