NCERT Class 7 English A Tiger in the House

A Tiger in the House

TIMOTHY, the tiger-cub, was discovered by Grandfather in the Terai jungle near Dehra. One day, when Grandfather was strolling down the forest path at some distance from the rest of the party, he discovered a little tiger about eighteen inches long, hiding among the intricate roots of a banyan tree. Grandfather picked him up, and brought him home. He had the distinction of being the only member of the party to have bagged any game, dead or alive.

At first the tiger-cub, who was named Timothy by Grandmother, was brought up entirely on milk given to him in a feeding-bottle by our cook, Mahmoud. But the milk proved too rich for him, and he was put on a diet of raw mutton and cod-liver oil, to be followed later by a more tempting diet of pigeons and rabbits.

Timothy was provided with two companions —Toto, the monkey, who was bold enough to pull the young tiger by the tail, and then climb up the curtains if Timothy lost his temper; and a small mongrel puppy, found on the road by Grandfather. At first Timothy appeared to be quite afraid of the puppy, and darted back with a spring if it came too near. He would make absurd dashes at it with his large forepaws, and then retreat to a ridiculously safe distance. Finally, he allowed the puppy to crawl on his back and rest there!

One of Timothy’s favourite amusements was to stalk anyone who would play with him, and so, when I came to live with Grandfather, I became one of the tiger’s favourites. With a crafty look in his glittering eyes, and his body crouching, he would creep closer and closer to me, suddenly making a dash for my feet, rolling over on his back and kicking with delight, and pretending to bite my ankles. He was by this time the size of a full-grown retriever, and when I took him out for walks, people on the road would give us a wide berth. When he pulled hard on his chain, I had difficulty in keeping up with him.

His favourite place in the house was the drawing-room, and he would make himself comfortable on the long sofa, reclining there with great dignity, and snarling at anybody who tried to get him off. Timothy had clean habits, and would scrub his face with his paws exactly like a cat. He slept at night in the cook’s quarters, and was always delighted at being let out by him in the morning. “One of these days,” declared Grandmother in her prophetic manner, “we are going to find Timothy sitting on Mahmoud’s bed, and no sign of the cook except his clothes and shoes!

Of course, it never came to that, but when Timothy was about six months old a change came over him; he grew steadily less friendly. When out for a walk with me, he would try to steal away to stalk a cat or someone’s pet dog. Sometimes at night we would hear frenzied cackling from the poultry house, and in the morning there would be feathers lying all over the verandah. Timothy had to be chained up more often. And finally, when he began to stalk Mahmoud about the house with what looked like villainous intent, Grandfather decided it was time to transfer him to a zoo.

Exercise 

Answer the following questions.

1. Where was the tiger cub hiding when Grandfather found him?

2. (i) What did Toto do to entertain Timothy?

   (ii) What did he do when Timothy lost his temper?

3. “I became one of the tiger’s favourites”. Who is ‘I’ in the statement? Why did he think so?

4. Where was Timothy most comfortable during the day? Where was he during the night?

5. What was Grandmother’s prophecy about the cook? Did it come true?

6. What made Grandfather decide to transfer Timothy to the zoo?

7. Why did Grandfather want Timothy to be put in another enclosure?

8. What shocked Grandfather in the end? 

Discuss the following topics in groups.

1. Shoot animals with a camera, not with a gun.

2. Keeping pets helps us become more loving and tolerant. It also helps us respect life in any form. Do you agree?

3. Have you heard of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)? What do they do?

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 7 English A Tiger in the House