Class 10 English First Flight. MIJBIL THE OTTER

2. About The
Writer
• He was a Scottish naturalist and
author, best known for his work with
otters. He wrote the book Ring of Bright
Water about how he bought an otter
from Iraq and raised it in Scotland. Ring
of Bright Water sold more than a million
copies and was made into a film starring
Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna in
1969. The title Ring of Bright Water was
taken from a poem by Kathleen Raine,
who said in her autobiography that '
Maxwell had been the love of her life'.

3. Part-1
ADD A FOOTER 3

4. 1

5. Maxwell mentioned about his wish to keep an
otter as a pet to his friend. His friend
suggested him to take an otter from Tigris
Marshes as they were common at that place
and were often domesticated by the Arabs.
Maxwell and his friend were going to Basra to
Consulate-General to collect and answer their
mail from Europe. There, they found that
Maxwell's friend's mail had arrived but the
Maxwell's mail didn’t had arrived.
2

7. 3
Maxwell's Mail
Arrives

8. The Otter
Arrives
• As the sack opened, a
creature that looked like a
dragon came out. His body
was covered with pointed
scales and mud. It took about
a month for Maxwell to
remove the mud. He named it
Mijbil. According to Maxwell,
Mijbil's species was unknown
to science. The zoologists
named him 'Lutrogale
Perspicillata Maxwell' or
'Maxwell's Otter'.
4

9. Mijbil's
Activities
• For the first 24 hours, Mijbil
was neither unfriendly nor
friendly. He Slept on the floor.
But on the second night,
Mijbil came on to the bed and
slept between the narrator's
knees. He started taking
interest in his surroundings. He
would spend most of his time
playing in water. The author
discovered that Otter loved to
play in water.
• Two days later, Mijbil
escaped from Maxwell's bedroo
m. He went to the bathroom.
He entered the bathtub and
turned the tap on with his
paws within minutes. 5

10. 6
Mijbil Becomes
Friendly