English Class 9th NCERT Solution|UP board and CBSE board | Question and Answer and Summary
Hi there,
Today, I will dive in deep to discuss all the important points of the Chapter ‘ The Snake and The Mirror written by Vakom Mohammad Basheer. I ensure you will get a complete idea to write the summary and explanation orderly. You will be able to write a good answer as well. After reading this page you will find the secret to score outstanding marks in your examination. The content is organized in this way
Let’s get started
- Summary Of the Chapter
- Theme and main Ideas
- Keywords and Quick Point after each Stanza
- Videos just like a live class
- Relevant Quotations and statements
- Difficult words
- Question Answer
Theme: The Snake and The Mirror
This story is about a strange love of a snake towards mirror, which turns out to be life-saver for a homeopathic doctor
Summary: The Snake and The Mirror
It is a story that tells about the love of a snake towards a mirror, which saved the life of a homeopathic doctor. The doctor in the story lived in a small rented room, with no electric supply. The room was occupied by the rats, who used to run to and from the beam continuously.
On a summer night, when the doctor returned home after taking his meal at a restaurant and failed to sleep, he settled on the chair in front of a large mirror and took out a medical book named ‘Materia Medica’ to read. But eventually, he started admiring himself and planning to improve his appearance as he was an eligible bachelor. While planning about his marriage, he thought Of marrying a fat and rich doctor, so that she would not be able to catch him after having a fight.
In the process of thinking, he didn’t give ear to a strange sound, that was on its way to near him to his death. But as soon as he turned to look at the sound of something falling behind him, a cobra coiled around his left arm’s above-elbow portion. But there comes the clever part of the doctor, as he saw the snake, he started thinking of the medicines which can treat a snake bite, but unfortunately, he didn’t have any with him. So he stood like a statue in order to fool the snake that he was a leaving creature.
As the saying goes that God is the only hope in the time of trouble, the doctor too started praying the god for help. Fortunately, the miracle happened, and the snake turned its hood towards the mirror that was kept in front of the doctor’s chair and started staring his image into it. And giving him further relief, it climbed down the chair.
As soon as it moved a little far from him, he ran away breathlessly and didn’t stop until he reached a friend’s house, where he spent that night. The next day when he turned back to his house along with his friend and few others, he discovered that along with that snake, his all belongings, except a dirty vest, had been disappeared, as a thief had stolen them all, in his absence.
Summary In Hindi: The Snake and The Mirror
यह एक कहानी है जो दर्पण के प्रति सांप के प्यार के बारे में बताती है, जिससे होम्योपैथिक डॉक्टर की जान बच गई। कहानी में डॉक्टर एक छोटे से किराए के कमरे में रहते थे, जिसमें कोई बिजली की आपूर्ति नहीं थी। कमरे में चूहों द्वारा कब्जा कर लिया गया था, जो लगातार और बीम से चलते थे।
गर्मियों की रात में, जब डॉक्टर एक रेस्तरां में अपना भोजन लेने के बाद घर लौटा, और सोने में विफल रहा, तो वह एक बड़े दर्पण के सामने की कुर्सी पर बैठ गया और पढ़ने के लिए ia मटेरिया मेडिका ’नामक एक चिकित्सा पुस्तक निकाली।
लेकिन अंततः, उन्होंने खुद को निहारना शुरू कर दिया, और अपनी उपस्थिति में सुधार करने की योजना बना रहे थे क्योंकि वह एक योग्य स्नातक थे। अपनी शादी की योजना बनाते समय, उसने एक मोटे और अमीर डॉक्टर से शादी करने की सोची, ताकि झगड़ा होने के बाद वह उसे पकड़ न सके।
सोचने की प्रक्रिया में, उसने एक अजीब आवाज के लिए कान नहीं दिया, जो कि उसकी मृत्यु के करीब आने के रास्ते पर था। लेकिन जैसे ही वह अपने पीछे कुछ गिरने की आवाज़ को देखता है, एक कोबरा उसके बाएं हाथ के ऊपर-कोहनी वाले हिस्से के आसपास कुंडलित हो जाता है।
लेकिन डॉक्टर का चतुर हिस्सा आता है, जैसा कि उसने सांप को देखा, उसने उन दवाओं के बारे में सोचना शुरू कर दिया जो सांप के काटने का इलाज कर सकते हैं, लेकिन दुर्भाग्य से, उसके पास कोई नहीं था।
इसलिए वह सांप को बेवकूफ बनाने के लिए मूर्ति की तरह खड़ा था कि वह एक छोड़ने वाला प्राणी था। जैसा कि कहा जाता है कि मुसीबत के समय में ईश्वर ही एकमात्र आशा है, डॉक्टर भी मदद के लिए ईश्वर से प्रार्थना करने लगे। सौभाग्य से, चमत्कार हुआ, और साँप ने अपना हुड उस दर्पण की ओर कर दिया जो डॉक्टर की कुर्सी के सामने रखा गया था, और उसमें अपनी छवि घूरने लगा। और उसे और राहत देते हुए यह कुर्सी पर चढ़ गया।
जैसे ही यह उससे थोड़ा दूर चला गया, वह बेदम होकर भाग गया, और जब तक वह एक दोस्त के घर नहीं पहुंचा, जहां उसने उस रात बिताई। अगले दिन जब वह अपने दोस्त और कुछ अन्य लोगों के साथ अपने घर वापस गया, तो उसे पता चला कि उस सांप के साथ, उसका सारा सामान, एक गंदे बनियान को छोड़कर, गायब हो गया था, क्योंकि उनकी अनुपस्थिति में एक चोर ने उन सभी को चुरा लिया था।
Difficult Words and their Meaning
- Meager: small in quantity.
- Possessed: had
- Solitary: single
- Yard: an open area like a garden or veranda.
- Gable: upper part of a wall below a sloping roof
- Taken time off: to take a day off, take a holiday
- Bachelor: a man who is not and has never been married
- Earth-shaking decision: something very important
- On top of it: to add on to something
- Paced: walked
- Valid: logical, justifiable
- Wriggled: crawled
- Simultaneous: happened at the same time
- Slithered: Twisting and crawling motion of the snake
- Hood: head of the snake.
- Strike: attack
- Lurked: hid
- Feebly: weakly
- Vermilion spot: red bindi
- Closer quarters: to get a closer look
- Granite: a form of marble.
- All I was worth: all the strength that I had
- Reedy person: a thing or person resembling a tall, thin-leaved plant of the grass family
- Smeared: covered with
- Rascal: a mischievous or cheeky person, especially a child or a man, a naughty person
- Taken with: attracted by
Answer these Questions: The Snake and The Mirror
- “The sound was a familiar one.” What sound did the doctor hear? What did he think it was? How many times did he hear it? (Find the places in the text.) When and why did the sounds stop?
Answer : The doctor heard the sounds of rats moving to and from the beam.
He thought that sound to be the squeaking of the rats.
He heard the sound thrice. The places in the text which indicate this are as follows –
(i)“I heard a noise from above as I opened the door”.
(ii)“Again I heard that sound from above”.
(iii)“Again came that noise from above”.
When the rats saw the snake, their squeaking stopped out of fear.
2) What two “important” and “earth-shaking” decisions did the doctor take while he was looking into the mirror?
Answer :The two “important and earth – shaking” decisions, which aimed at making him attractive were :
(i) he would shave daily and grow a thin moustache, and
(ii) he would always keep smiling as he looked attractive when he smiled.
3) “I looked into the mirror and smiled,” says the doctor. A little later he says, “I forgot my danger and smiled feebly at myself.” What is the doctor’s opinion about himself when:
(i) he first smiles, and
(ii) he smiles again?
In what way do his thoughts change in between, and why?
Answer :(i)-When the doctor smiled for the first time, he thought that him being an unmarried doctor was what had added him to the list of perfect bachelor’s men as he was an unmarried doctor.
(ii)- When he smiled for the second time, he was looking at himself in the mirror, and feeling himself to be so silly, as in spite of being a doctor, he didn’t kept any medicine to treat snake bite.
“ DO NOT TELL THE MAN WHO IS CARRYING YOU THAT HE STINKS ”
AFRICAN PROVERB
Content Writer: Vaishnavi Tripathi …..Edited By Shadab Akhter