The story begins by telling us about Jack has two little kids. The kids are Jo and Bobby. Jo’s wife, Clare was pregnant with their third one. Thus, to put her daughter to bed, Jack would make up stories for her daughter. This story-telling tradition started when Jo was 2 and thus continued ever since. Jack makes sure that he tells a different story every time. However, a small creature was always common, Roger. For instance, it was either Roger Fish or Roger Chipmunk. Roger goes to the wise old owl with problems that would send him to a Wizard. Thus, the Wizard’s spell would solve the problem after payment of pennies. Now that Jo is growing up, it is getting difficult to put her to bed for nap time in afternoons. Thus, one day Jack decides to tell her a story about Roger Skunk. In this story, there is a little skunk that always smelt very bad. It is so bad that no animals play with him and is always alone. Thus, Roger Skunk decides to go to the wise old owl. As usual, the owl sends him to the Wizard. The Wizard with his spells asks Roger Skunk about his wish. He expresses he wishes to smell like roses to which the Wizard agrees. After that, all the animals start playing with the Skunk and he plays till it gets dark. Finally, Roger Skunk goes home to his mommy. Jo thinks the story is over when Jack continues.

1. E N G L I S H L I T E R AT U R E S U P P L E M E N TA RY B O O K
Vistas
5 . Should wizard hit mommy
Author
John udike
Before you read
Here is a story about the worldview of a little child, and the
difficult moral question she raises during the story session
with her father.

2. Character sketches
Jack : A loving caring and devoted family man
Clare : Jack’s wife, 6 month pregnant
Jo : Jack and Clare's 4 year-old daughter
Bobby : Jack and Clare's 2 year-old son, Jo’s little brother
Roger skunk: : An animal, don’t have any friend due to its bad smell
Mommy skunk : Roger skunk’s mother
Daddy skunk : Roger skunk’s father
Wise owl : Advisor of all the animals in jungle
Wizard : A man with magical powers, solve problems and ask for
money in return

3. In the evenings and for Saturday naps like
today’s, Jack told his daughter Jo a story out
of his head. This custom, begun when she
was two, was itself now nearly two years old,
and his head felt empty (खाली). Each new
story was a slight variation (भिन्न) of a basic
tale: a small creature, usually named Roger
(Roger Fish, Roger Squirrel, Roger
Chipmunk), had some problem and went
with it to the wise (बुद्धिमान) old owl (उल्लू).
The owl told him to go to the wizard
(जादू गर), and the wizard performed a magic
spell (मंत्र) that solved the problem,
demanding in payment a number of pennies
(1 penny=1 cent=0.77 indian Rs.) greater than the
number that Roger Creature had, but in the
same breath (एक ही सांस में/उसी क्षण)
directing the animal to a place where the
extra pennies could be found. Then Roger
was so happy he played many games with
other creatures (जीव), and went home to his
mother just in time to hear the train
whistle(सीटी) that brought (लाना) his daddy
home from Boston(USA).

4. Jack described their supper (रात का
खाना), and the story was over.
Working his way through this
scheme was especially fatiguing
(थका देने वाला) on Saturday,
because Jo never fell asleep in naps
any more, and knowing this made
the rite (अनुष्ठान) seem futile
(भनरथथक).
The little girl (not so little anymore; the
bumps (उिार) her feet made under
the covers were halfway down the
bed, their big double bed that they
let her be in for naps (झपकी) and
when she was sick) had at last
arranged herself, and from the way
her fat face deep in the pillow
shone (shine) in the sunlight sifting
(छनकर आती धूप) through the
drawn shades (नीचे भगराए परदे), it
did not seem fantastic (भदलचस्प)
that some magic would occur (घभटत
होना), and she would take her nap
like an infant of two. Her brother,
Bobby, was two, and already asleep
(सोता हुआ) with his bottle.

5. Jack asked, “Who shall the story be
about today?”
“Roger...” Jo squeezed (दबायी) her eyes
shut and smiled to be thinking she
was thinking. Her eyes opened, her
mother’s blue (color of eye blue as
her mother). “Skunk,” she said
firmly (दृढ़ता से).
A new animal; they must talk about
skunks at nursery school. Having a
fresh hero momentarily (क्षण िर क
े
भलए) stirred (प्रेररत) Jack to creative
enthusiasm (उत्साह). “All right,” he
said. “Once upon a time, in the
deep dark woods, there was a tiny
little (बहुत छोटा, नन्हा) creature (जंतु)
by the name of Roger Skunk. And he
smelled very bad.”
“Yes,” Jo said.

6. “He smelled (गंध) so bad that none of the
other little woodland creatures (जंतु)
would play with him.” Jo looked at him
solemnly (गंिीरता से); she hadn’t
foreseen (अनुमान) this. “Whenever he
would go out to play,” Jack continued
with zest (भदलचस्पी), remembering
certain humiliations (अपमान) of his
own childhood, “all of the other tiny
animals would cry, “Uh-oh, here comes
Roger Stinky (बदबूदार) Skunk,” and they
would run away (िाग जाना), and Roger
Skunk would stand there all alone, and
two little round tears (आँसू) would fall
from his eyes.” The corners of Jo’s
mouth drooped (लटक
े हुए) down and
her lower lip bent forward as he traced
(दर्ाथना/ अनुरेखण करना) with a
forefinger along the side of her nose
the course of one of Roger Skunk’s
tears.
“Won’t he see the owl?” she asked in a
high and faintly (थोडे बल से) roughened
(रूखी) voice.

7. Sitting on the bed beside her, Jack felt the covers
(चादर) tug (जोर से खींचना) as her legs switched
tensely (तनाव से). He was pleased(प्रसन्न) with
this moment — he was telling her something
true, something she must know — and had no
wish to hurry (जल्दी) on. But downstairs(सीढ़ी
क
े नीचे /निचली मंऩिल पर) a chair scraped
(खुरचना), and he realised he must get down to
help Clare (jack’s wife) paint the living-room
woodwork.
“Well, he walked along very sadly and came to a
very big tree, and in the tiptop of the tree was
an enormous wise(भवर्ाल बुद्धिमान) old owl.”
“Good.”
“Mr. Owl,” Roger Skunk said, “all the other little
animals run away from me because I smell so
bad.” “So you do,” the owl said. “Very, very
bad.” “What can I do?” Roger Skunk said, and he
cried very hard. “The wizard, the wizard
(जादू गर),” Jo shouted (भचल्लाना), and sat right
up (उठ जाना), and a Little Golden Book
spilled(सरकना) from the bed.
“Now, Jo. Daddy’s telling the story. Do you want to
tell Daddy the story?”
“No. You me.”
“Then lie(लेटना) down and be sleepy().”
“Mr. Owl,” “all
the other little
animals run away
from me because
I smell so bad.”
“So you do,”

8. Her head relapsed (पुनरावभतथत) onto the
pillow(तभकया) and she said, “Out of your
head.”
“Well. The owl thought and thought. At last he
said, “Why don’t you go see the wizard?”
“Daddy?”
“What?”
“Are magic spells (जादू -मंत्र) real?” This was a new
phase, just this last month, a reality phase.
When he told her spiders eat bugs, she turned
to her mother and asked, “Do they really?”
and when Clare told her God was in the sky
and all around them, she turned to her father
and insisted (आग्रह करना), with a sly
(र्रारती) yet eager (उत्सुक) smile, “Is He
really?”
“They’re real in stories,” Jack answered
curtly(संभक्षप्त). She had made him miss a
beat(एक पल क
े भलए धडकन रुकना) in the
narrative. “The owl said, “Go through the dark
woods, under the apple trees, into the
swamp(दलदल), over the crick —”
“What’s a crick?”
“Go through the dark woods,
under the apple trees, into
the swamp, over the crick —”

9. A little river. “Over the crick, and there
will be the wizard’s house.” And that’s
the way Roger Skunk went, and pretty
soon he came to a little white house,
and he rapped(खटखटाना) on the
door.” Jack rapped on the window
sill(base), and under the covers Jo’s
tall figure clenched(जकडना) in an
infantile(र्ैर्भवक) thrill().
“And then a tiny little old man came out,
with a long white beard and a pointed
blue hat, and said, “Eh? Whatzis?
Whatcher(what do you) want? You smell
awful (भयंकर).” The wizard’s voice was
one of Jack’s own favourite effects; he
did it by scrunching up (भसक
ु डना) his
face and somehow whining(भचल्लाना)
through his eyes, which felt for the
interval rheumy (to have watery
eyes). He felt being an old man suited
him.
“Eh? Whatzis?
Whatcher want?
You smell awful.”

10. “I know it,” Roger Skunk said, “and all the
little animals run away from me. The
enormous(भवर्ाल) wise owl said you
could help me.”
“Eh? Well, maybe. Come on in. Don’t get
too close.” Now, inside, Jo, there were
all these magic things, all
jumbled(अव्यवद्धथथत) together in a big
dusty heap(धूल िरा ढेर), because the
wizard did not have any cleaning lady.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because he was a wizard, and a
very old man.”
“Will he die?”
“No. Wizards don’t die. Well, he
rummaged(लापरवाही से ढूँढना) around
and found an old stick called a magic
wand and asked Roger Skunk what he
wanted to smell like. Roger thought and
thought and said, “Roses.”
“Yes. Good,” Jo said smugly(संतुभि से).
Jack fixed her with a trance (समाभध मुद्रा
में) like gaze(एकटक देखना) and
chanted in the wizard’s elderly
irritable(irritable) voice:
“Abracadabry, hocus-poo,
Roger Skunk, how do you do,
Roses, boses, pull an ear,
Roger Skunk, you never fear:
Bingo!”

11. He paused as a rapt(मगन) expression
widened out from his daughter’s nostrils,
forcing her eyebrows up and her lower lip
down in a wide noiseless grin(मुसकान), an
expression in which Jack was
startled(च ंकिा) to recognise his wife
feigning pleasure(खुर्ी का बहाना) at
cocktail parties. “And all of a sudden,” he
whispered, “the whole inside of the
wizard’s house was full of the smell of —
roses! ‘Roses!’ Roger Fish cried. And the
wizard said, very cranky(भचडभचडे िाव से),
“That’ll be seven pennies.”
“Daddy.”
“What?”
“Roger Skunk. You said Roger Fish.” “Yes.
Skunk.”
“You said Roger Fish. Wasn’t that silly?”
“Very silly of your stupid old daddy. Where
was I? Well, you know about the pennies.”
“Say it.”
“O.K. Roger Skunk said, ‘But all I have is four
pennies,’ and he began to cry.”

12. Jo made the crying face again, but this time
without a trace of sincerity. This
annoyed(परेर्ान) Jack. Downstairs some
more furniture rumbled(गडगडाहट).
Clare shouldn’t move heavy things; she
was six months pregnant. It would be
their third (third child).
“So the wizard said, ‘Oh, very well. Go to the
end of the lane(गली) and turn around
three times and look down the magic
well(जादुई क
ुँ आ) and there you will find
three pennies. Hurry up.’ So Roger Skunk
went to the end of the lane and turned
around three times and there in the
magic well were three pennies! So he
took them back to the wizard and was
very happy and ran out into the woods
and all the other little animals gathered
around him because he smelled so good.
And they played tag, baseball, football,
basketball, lacrosse, hockey, soccer, and
pick-up-sticks.”
What’s pick-up-sticks?”
“It’s a game you play with sticks.”

13. “Like the wizard’s magic wand(जादू ई छडी)?”
“Kind of. And they played games and laughed
all afternoon and then it began to get dark
and they all ran home to their mommies.”
Jo was starting to fuss(मटकािा) with her
hands and look out of the window, at the
crack of day(सूयोदय) that showed under
the shade(परदे क भनचे). She thought the
story was all over. Jack didn’t like women
when they took anything for granted; he
liked them apprehensive(समझदार),
hanging on(गौर करना) his words. “Now,
Jo, are you listening?”
“Yes.”
“Because this is very interesting. Roger
Skunk’s mommy said, ‘What’s that awful
smell?’
“Wha-at?”
“And, Roger Skunk said, ‘It’s me, Mommy. I
smell like roses.’ And she said, ‘Who made
you smell like that?’ And he said, ‘The
wizard,’ and she said, ‘Well, of all the
nerve(shock/disapproval). You come with
me and we’re going right back to that very
awful wizard.”
‘What’s that
awaful smell?’
I smell like
roses.’
‘Who made
you smell like
that?’
‘The wizard,’
‘Well, of all the nerve.
You come with me
and we’re going right
back to that very
awful wizard.”

14. Jo sat up, her hands dabbling(भछडकाना) in
the air with genuine fright(िय). “But
Daddy, then he said about the other
little animals run away!” Her hands
skittered off(move quickly.), into the
underbrush(छोटा सा जंगल).
“All right. He (Roger skunk) said, ‘But
Mommy, all the other little animals run
away,’ and she (mommy skunk) said, ‘I
don’t care. You smelled the way a little
skunk should have and I’m going to take
you right back to that wizard,’ and she
took an umbrella and went back with
Roger Skunk and hit that wizard right
over the head.”
“No,” Jo said, and put her hand out to touch
his lips, yet even in her
agitation(घबराहट) did not quite dare to
stop the source of truth. Inspiration
came to her. “Then the wizard hit her on
the head and did not change that little
skunk back.”

15. “No,” he said. “The wizard said ‘O.K.’
and Roger Skunk did not smell of
roses any more. He smelled very bad
again.”
“But the other little amum — oh! —
amum — ”
“Joanne. It’s Daddy’s story. Shall Daddy
not tell you any more stories?” Her
broad face looked at him through
sifted light, astounded(चनकत).
“This is what happened, then. Roger
Skunk and his mommy went home
and they heard Woo-oo, woooo-oo
and it was the choo-choo() train
bringing Daddy Skunk home from
Boston. And they had lima beans,
celery, liver, mashed potatoes, and
Pie-Oh-My for dessert(भमठाई). And
when Roger Skunk was in bed
Mommy Skunk came up and hugged
him and said he smelled like her
little baby skunk again and she loved
him very much. And that’s the end
of the story.”

16. “But Daddy.”
“What?”
“Then did the other little animals run away?”
“No, because eventually() they got used to
the way he was and did not mind it at all.”
“What’s evenshiladee(eventually)?”
“In a little while.”
“That was a stupid mommy.”
“It was not,” he said with rare emphasis, and
believed, from her expression, that she
realised he was defending his own mother
to her, or something as odd. “Now I want
you to put your big heavy head in the
pillow and have a good long nap(झपकी).”
He adjusted the shade so not even a crack
of day showed, and tiptoed to the door, in
the pretense that she was already asleep.
But when he turned, she was
crouching(झुकना) on top of the covers
and staring at him. “Hey. Get under the
covers and fall faaast asleep. Bobby’s
asleep.”

17. She stood up and bounced
gingerly(सावधानी) on the springs.
“Daddy.”
“What?”
“Tomorrow, I want you to tell me the story
that that wizard took that magic wand
and hit that mommy” — her
plump(मांसल) arms chopped forcefully
— “right over the head.”
“No. That’s not the story. The point is that
the little skunk loved his mommy more
than he loved all the other little animals
and she knew what was right.”
“No. Tomorrow you say he hit that mommy.
Do it.” She kicked her legs up and sat
down on the bed with a great heave (़िोर
से खींचिे, फ
ें किे आनद की निया) and
complaint of springs, as she had done
hundreds of times before, except that
this time she did not laugh. “Say it,
Daddy.”
“Well, we’ll see. Now at least have a rest.
Stay on the bed. You’re a good girl.”

18. He closed the door and went downstairs.
Clare had spread the newspapers and
opened the paint can and, wearing an
old shirt of his on top of her maternity
smock(लंबा क
ु रता), was
stroking(नकसी वस्तु को सरकािा) the
chair rail with a dipped brush. Above
him footsteps vibrated and he called,
“Joanne! Shall I come up there and
spank(थप्पड) you?” The footsteps
hesitated.
“That was a long story,” Clare said.
“The poor kid,” he answered, and with
utter weariness(अत्यभधक थकान)
watched his wife labour(श्रम). The
woodwork, a cage of moldings and
rails and baseboards all around them,
was half old tan and half new ivory
and he felt caught in an ugly middle
position, and though he as well felt his
wife’s presence in the cage with him,
he did not want to speak with her,
work with her, touch her, anything.

19. Reading with Insight
1. What is the moral issue that the story raises?
Ans. The story raises a moral issue—should parents always decide what the children
should do or let the children do what they like to do. There is an evident contrast
between an adult’s perspective on life and the world view of a little child.
2. How does Jo want the story to end and why?
Ans. According to her, neither Roger Skunk nor the wizard was wrong in the story. Jo
refused to accept the end where Roger Skunk's mother hits the wizard and that too
without being hit back. She wanted the story to end with the wizard hitting back
the mother skunk with his magic wand and chopping off her arms 'forcely'.
3. Why does Jack insist that it was the wizard that was hit and not the mother?
Ans. He pictured his own mother in place of Roger Skunk's mother and thus could not
imagine his own mother being hit by anyone. Moreover, he personally considered her
to have made right decisions for him.
4. What makes Jack feel caught in an ugly middle position?
Ans. As the story of Roger Skunk is unfolded, the impatient and unsatisfied Jo strongly
puts forth her point of view. She did not want the story to end the way her father had
perceived and narrated it. According to her point of view, the wizard should have hit
the skunk’s mommy hard. Jack knew that from the ethical point of view, and according
to the principles of respect that one is taught from the early childhood, what she was
asking for was wrong. However, the force with which Jo had asked him to change the
end of the story left him in a dilemma. He was caught in a battle between the two
perspectives, and could not find a way to make Jo understand his point of view that
mothers are never wrong.

20. 5. What is your stance regarding the two endings to the Roger Skunk story?
Ans.: Considering the tender age of Jo, both the endings seem a little irrational. It is certain
that she will be learning from whatever she hears and visualizes at this age. If the story
ends according to Jack, Jo will never be able to question anything she considers wrong
in life since this ending stresses that elders are always right in whatever they do. In
addition, the story shows the skunk’s mommy hitting the wizard for no fault of his. The
wizard had only done what he was asked to. This may scare the four-year-old Jo, as it
teaches that mothers, being elders, have the right to hit anyone, even if they are not at
fault.
On the contrary, if the story ends as Jo wanted it to, it will stop her from believing
in and respecting her elders. She may even start believing that there is nothing wrong
in hitting elders.
A balanced view may be given in an apt ending, where the mommy either does
not hit the wizard at all or realizes her mistake soon.
6. Why is an adult’s perspective on life different from that of a child’s?
Ans.: A child’s speech and line of thought, his actions and reactions, are natural and not
guided by any outward influence. He speaks from his heart in accordance with what is
ethically right in his perspective. On the other hand, an adult has many things to
consider before speaking or reacting. Thus, the influence of society governs and
dominates his thoughts.
In this chapter, Jo speaks what she considers correct. But Jack, an adult caught in
a dilemma, kept thinking on the consequences of accepting his daughter's ending to
the story and what the society has made him learn over time.