NCERT Solutions for Class 8th English Chapter 6 This is Jody’s Fawn

Comprehension Check

1. What had happened to Jody’s father?

Answer

Jody’s father had been bitten by a rattlesnake.

2. How did the doe save Penny’s life?

Answer

The doe’s liver and heart were used to draw out the poison from Penny.

3. Why does Jody want to bring the fawn home?

Answer

 The fawn has become an orphan because its mother was killed by Jody. He wants to bring the fawn to return the obligation because he was the one who made the fawn an orphan.

4. How does Jody know that the fawn is a male?

Answer

Jody’s father told him that in a male fawn the spots are all in a line and in females they are randomly arranged. This knowledge helped him recognize it being a male fawn.

Page No: 91

1. Jody didn’t want Mill-wheel with him for two reasons. What were they?

Answer

Jody did not want Mill-wheel with him for two reasons. First was that if fawn was dead then Jody didn’t want Mill-wheel to see the disappointment on his face. Second reason if the fawn was alive then Jody did not want to share his happiness with anybody else.

2. Why was Mill-wheel afraid to leave Jody alone?

Answer

Mill-wheel did not want to leave Jody alone as he was afraid that Jody could lose his way or get bitten by a snake.

Page No: 94

1. How did Jody bring the fawn back home?

Answer

Jody did not want to scare the fawn away. That is why he first stroked its neck slowly, and then put his arms around it. Then, he picked it up and carried it through the thick bushes. He tried to shield its face from the sharp vines. He stopped to rest on his way home. On walking a little, he saw the fawn following him. After this, he would either carry the fawn, or put it down so that it would follow him by itself. When they reached home, it refused to climb the stairs. He then picked it up and took it inside the house.

2. Jody was filled with emotion after he found the fawn. Can you find at least three words or phrases which show how he felt?

Answer

Jody was filled with emotion after he found the fawn. When he stroked its neck, the touch made him ‘delirious’. When he realised that it was his fawn now, he was ‘lightheaded with his joy’. When he finally brought the fawn into the house, Penny thought that “the boy’s eyes were as bright as the fawn’s”.

3. How did the deer drink milk from the gourd?

Answer

The deer drank the milk from Jody’s hands. When Jody gave milk to the fawn in a gourd, it butted it suddenly, smelling the milk and not knowing what to do with the milk in the gourd. It was then that Jody dipped his fingers in the milk and pushed them into the fawn’s soft wet mouth so that it would drink the milk.

4. Why didn’t the fawn follow Jody up the steps as he had thought it would?

Answer

The deer is a wild animal. It is used to a life in the forest. When the fawn reached Jody's home, it did not follow Jody up the steps because of the strangeness of the house and the steps and everything. This is similar to its reaction to the milk in the gourd. It simply did not know what to do.

Working with Text

1. Why did Penny Baxter allow Jody to go find the fawn and raise it?

Answer

Penny allowed Jody to go find the fawn and raise it because it seemed ungrateful to him to leave the fawn to starve. He agreed with Jody that they had killed the doe for their purpose and the fawn was orphaned for no fault of its own. They could not let the fawn starve. They felt a responsibility towards it.

2. What did Doc Wilson mean when he said, “Nothing in the world ever comes quite free”?

Answer

Penny had killed the doe to save his life. Therefore, in regard for what the doe had done, its fawn needed to be taken care of and saved from starvation. It would be ungrateful to leave it alone. This was what Doc Wilson meant when he said that nothing in the world came for free.

3. How did Jody look after the fawn, after he accepted the responsibility for doing this?

Answer

After Jody accepted the responsibility for looking after the fawn, he cared for it like its own mother would. When he first found it he reached out one hand and laid it on its soft neck. He then put both his arms around its body. While taking it home, he shielded its face from the sharp vines. He carried it in his arms most of the way even though he was tired. On reaching home, he gave it the milk that was meant for him. When he saw that the fawn did not drink the milk kept in the gourd, he fed it with his own hands.  Hence, one can say that Jody carried out his responsibility quite well.

4. How does Jody’s mother react when she hears that he is going to bring the fawn home?  Why does she react in this way?

Answer

When Jody's mother heard that he was going to bring the fawn home, she was a little surprised and asked Jody what fawn he was talking about. He then told her that it was the fawn whose mother they had killed to save Penny. She gasped and was not to happy with the idea. She helplessly informed him that they had nothing else to feed it and so he would have to sacrifice the milk they gave him for the fawn. She reacted this way because she was not present at the site where Penny had been bitten, where they had killed the doe. She had not seen the fawn and therefore, was not as concerned as Penny and Jody. Besides they did not have too many things to feed the fawn on in their home and she may have been worried about how she would feed the fawn.

Page No: 95

Working with Language

1. Here are some questions in direct speech. Put them into reported speech.

(i) Penny said, “Do you really want it son?”

(ii) Mill-wheel said, “Will he ride back with me?”

(iii) He said to Mill-wheel, “Do you think the fawn is still there?”

(iv) He asked Mill-wheel, “Will you help me find him?”

(v) He said, “Was it up here that Pa got bitten by the snake?”

Answer

(i) Penny asked his son if he really wanted it.
(ii) Mill-wheel asked if he would ride back with him.
(iii) He asked Mill-wheel if he thought the fawn was still there.
(iv) He asked Mill-wheel if he would help him find him.
(v) He asked if it was up there that Pa had got bitten by the snake.

2. Say whether the verb in each sentence below is transitive or intransitive. Ask yourself a 'what' question about the verb. (For some verbs, the object is a person, so  ask the question 'who' instead of 'what').

(i) Jody then went to the kitchen.
► Intransitive

(ii) The fawn wobbled after him
► Intransitive

(iii) You found him.
► Transitive

(iv) He picked it up.
► Transitive

(v) He dipped his fingers in the milk.
► Transitive

(vi) It bleated frantically and butted him.
► Intransitive, Transitive

(vii) The fawn sucked  his fingers.
► Transitive

(viii) He lowered his fingers slowly into the milk.
► Transitive

(ix) It stamped its small hoofs impatiently.
► Transitive

(x) He held his fingers below the level of the milk.
► Transitive

(xi) The fawn followed him.
► Transitive

(xii) He walked all day.
► Intransitive

(xiii) He stroked its sides.
► Transitive

(xiv) The fawn lifted its nose.
► Transitive

(xv) Its legs hung limply.
► Intransitive