Hi Everyone!! This article will share Harold Our Hornbill Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions & answers of To a Butterfly, Scratching the Tiger’s Back and Three at Table so, you can check these posts as well.
Harold Our Hornbill Questions & Answers
Question 1: Choose the correct option:
1. Harold’s father built an enclosure of ________ in a tree trunk for Harold’s mother.
a. beetles, leaves and earth
b. earth, sticks and dung
c. dung, leaves and beetles
d. bread, rice and sticks
2. When the author said, ‘In his nak*d boyhood Harold was no beauty’, he meant that
a. Harold was never beautiful.
b. as a baby, Harold wasn’t beautiful.
c. Harold was always nak*d.
d. Harold’s boy was not beautiful.
3. The enclosure in the verandah was not required after a while because
a. Harold made no effort to go away.
b. Harold had grown up.
c. Harold had flown away.
d. Harold’s parents took him away.
Question 2: Read the sentences and answer the questions.
1. As he grew bigger, the room became more cramped.
a. Who grew bigger?
Answer: Harold grew bigger.
b. Who built the room and how?
Answer: Harold’s father built the room in the hollow of a tree trunk which he closed with a wall made of earth, sticks and dung.
c. What was the purpose of the room?
Answer: The room was built so that Harold’s mother could lay an egg and Harold could be born.
2. One afternoon, he was awakened from his siesta by a loud thumping on the wall, a sound quite different from that made by his parents.
a. Who was awakened?
Answer: Harold was awakened.
b. Who had disturbed him?
Answer: A civet cat had disturbed him.
c. Describe the one who awakened him.
Answer: The civet cat was large, yellow and furry.
3. Grandfather and I took over the duties of his parents.
a. Why did the narrator and his grandfather take on the duties of Harold’s parents?
Answer: Harold was still young when the narrator and his grandfather found him. Also, Harold had been injured when he tumbled out of the tree hollow. The narrator and his grandfather took on the duties of Harold’s parents so that Harold could survive and grow strong.
b. What were these duties?
Answer: The duties were to provide Harold with shelter and food.
c. Did Harold accept them as his parents?
Answer: Harold was nervous around them at the beginning but soon got used to them and accepted them as his parents.
4. He was willing even to share his food with us.
a. Who was willing to share his food and with whom?
Answer: Harold was willing to share his food with the narrator and his grandfather.
b. What food did ‘he’ share with the narrator?
Answer: Harold offered the narrator beetles and other insects.
c. What food did ‘he’ like?
Answer: Harold liked fruit, insects, green leaves, dates and rice balls.
Harold Our Hornbill Questions & Answers
5. ……his chuckle change to an eerie whistle.
a. When did Harold chuckle?
Answer: Harold chuckled an hour before it began to rain.
b. When did his chuckle change to a whistle?
Answer: Harold’s chuckle changed to a whistle when storm clouds gathered and the wind blew strong.
c. Did Harold’s whistle indicate excitement or a warning?
Answer: Harold’s whistle indicated excitement.
Question 3: Describe the nest in which Harold was born.
Answer: Harold’s nest was in the hollow of a tree trunk. It was closed by a wall made of earth, sticks and dung.
Question 4: Why did Harold fall out of his nest?
Answer: Harold fell out of his nest in the midst of a fight between his parents and a civet cat who had broken the wall of his room.
Question 5: How did Harold improve his appearance periodically?
Answer: Harold had a rouge pot on his person which he used regularly. The rich yellow fluid that the rouge pot produced was used by Harold to rub all over his feathers and the back of his neck.
Question 6: Describe the way Harold ate the rice balls the narrator threw towards him.
Answer: Harold would use his beak to catch the rice balls the narrator threw towards him, toss them in the air and then let them drop into his open mouth.
Question 7: Which habit of Harold imitated Aunt Ruby?
Answer: Harold used to start chuckling an hour before it began to rain. Aunt Ruby was always getting caught in the rain and so, found this habit irritating.
Question 8: Do you think Harold’s physical appearance was important to the narrator and his family? What was their reaction to the hornbill?
Answer: Harold’s physical appearance was not important to the narrator and his family who acted as his parents while he was young, weak and injured.
Question 9: What did the narrator wish for Harold many years later? What does this indicate about his relationship with the hornbill?
Answer: The narrator wished that Harold had tennis balls to catch and all the rain he wanted in heaven. This shows that the narrator and Harold had shared very affectionate bond that lasted even after the narrator grew up and Harold passed away.
Question 10: Do you agree that the hornbill seems to have human characteristics in the story? Identify the words and phrases that Ruskin Bond has used to indicate this.
Answer: Ruskin Bond has ascribed human characteristics to the hornbill in the story. The words and phrases that indicate this are ‘early attacks of nerves’, ‘asserted his tenancy rights’, ‘summon me’, ‘much time and thought to his personal appearance’, ‘start chuckling to himself’, ‘in fits of laughter’ and ‘roaring with pleasure’.
So, these were Harold Our Hornbill Questions & Answers.