The Adventures of Toto, Explanation, Line by Line, Meaning of Difficult Words, Class 9 CBSE English Chapter 2 NCERT Moments

The Adventures of Toto Explanation, Line by Line, Meaning of Difficult Words, Class 9  CBSE English Chapter 2 NCERT Moments

THE ADVENTURES OF TOTO

(Explanation)

Author – Ruskin Bond

 

Word	Meaning
Feeding trough	Arrangement for putting food to animals
Out of place	Inappropriate, Not suitable, Improper

Toto is name of a monkey. Grandfather bought it from a tonga-driver for five rupees. The tonga-driver use dot tie the monkey to its feeding trough. That place appeared improper for a monkey. So grandfather decided to take the monkey to his personal zoo.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Pretty	Beautiful
Sparkle	Shine
Mischief	Tricks, Pranks
Beneath	Below
Pearly	Like a pearl
Frightened the life out	Frightened a lot

Toto was a beautiful monkey. His eye were bright, shining and full of naughtiness. His eye brows were thick and wide.  His teeth were as white as a pearl. Whenever Toto smiled it teeth were visible. Elderly Anglo-Indian ladies got very much afraid to see its teeth.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Pickled in the sun	Kept in the sun for long time

His hands looked dry. It appeared that his hands had become black because of exposure to sun for a many years.

 

Word	Meaning
Wicked	Notorious, Mischievious

But he moved his fingers quickly. These fingers looked capable of doing any mischief. Because of his tail he looked more beautiful. My grandfather believed that tail improves looks of everyone. He used his tail as his thirds hand.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Scooping up	To take or lift quickly
Delicacy	Material, Food article

He used his tail to hang from a branch of a tree. He also used its tail to quickly lift any material that was beyond the range of his hand. He used his tail to pick up material if his hands did not reach upto that material.

 

Word	Meaning
Fussed	Got angry

Grandmother would always get angry when grandfather brought any bird or animal at home. So he decided that he will not inform grandmother immediately. He will inform her when she is in a good mood.

 

Word	Meaning
Closet	An Almira without shutters
Securely	Tightly
Fasten	To tie

Grandfather and I put him in a closet of my bedroom. We tied him tightly with a peg that was driven into the wall. We thought he will not be able to free himself.

 

Word	Meaning
Release	To make free, To untie
Ornamental	Decorative

After some hours we both came into the bedroom. We wanted to untie Toto for some time. We noticed that decorative paper pasted on the wall had been removed. This paper was personally selected by grandfather. Now we could see brick and plaster of the wall.

 

Word	Meaning
Wrenched	Twisted
Shreds	Small pieces

The peg in the wall had been twisted and removed from the wall. My school blazer was hanging on that peg. Not it had turned into small pieces. I was worried what Grandmother would say. But my Grandfather was not worried. He was happy with the work done by Toto.

 

My Grandfather said that the monkey was clever. If we had a bit later, he would have tied all the pieces of blazer to make a rope. With help of rope he would have climbed down from the window

 

Word	Meaning
Transferred	Shifted
Sociably	In friendly manner
Tame	Timid, Coward

We did not tell anybody about Toto. He was shifted from my room to a big cage in the area of servant quarters. Many other animals – a tortoise, a pair of rabbits, a coward squirrel and my pet goat – lived there. The all lived in a friendly manner.

 

Word	Meaning
Companion	Colleague, Person living or working together

But the monkey did not permit any other animal to sleep during the night. My Grandfather was to do the Dehradun next day to collect his pension. He decided to take the monkey with him.

 

Word	Meaning
Accompany	To be together
Trip	Journey
Provided	Made
Straw	Hay, Grass
Abode	Home

Unluckily, I could not go with my Grandfather on that journey. He narrated about the journey after his return. A kit-bag made out of black canvas was prepared for Toto. Some grass was spread on it. This was the new home of Toto.

 

After closing, the bag did not have any scope for Toto to come out of it. Toto could not stretch his hands through the opening of the bag. The canvas was made of strong material. He could not cut it through his teeth.

 

Whenever Toto tried to come out of the bag, the bad either rolled on the floor or it sometimes jumped in the air. Many people in the crowd were attracted towards this scene on Dehra Dun railway station. They were anxious to know what was happening.

 

Word	Meaning
Turnstile	Automatic gate
Poked his head out	Took out his head
Grin	Smile

Upto Saharanpur, Toto remained in the bag. At the automatic gate of this station my Grandfather was showing ticket to the ticket collector. Toto took his face out of the bag and gave a broad smile to the ticket collector.

 

Word	Meaning
Taken aback	Surprised
Annoyance	Anger

The helpless man was surprised. He had a presence of mind though he was a bit angry also. He told that my Grandfather was carrying a dog with him. So my Grandfather need to pay for the journey of the dog also.

 

Word	Meaning
In vain	Unsuccessfully
Quadruped	An animal having four feet
Classified	Identified, categorised

Unsuccessfully father tried to take out Toto from the bad. He was unsuccessful in roving that monkey and dogs are different animals. Monkeys are not even a four footed animal. Ticket-collector was firm to call Toto a dog. My Grandfather had to pay three rupees as fare for Toto.

 

Word	Meaning
Get one’s own back	To take revenge

My grandfather wanted to take a revenge from ticket collector. He took out our pet tortoise from his pocket. He showed it to ticket collector. He asked ticket collector what fare should be paid for the tortoise. Because ticket collector was charging fair for all animals.

 

Word	Meaning
Closely	Carefully
Prodded	Pushed
Forefinger	Index finger, Finger nearest to thumb
Triumphant	Victorious

The ticket collector carefully looked at it. He pushed it with his first finger. He happily looked at my Grandfather. He was having a feeling of victory. He told my Grandfather that since it was not a dog, fare will not be charged.

 

Word	Meaning
Stable	Place where animals are tied

My grandmother finally agreed to allow Toto to remain in the house. To make him comfortable, Toto was placed in the stable. In the same stable our donkey Nana had been placed. On the first night, my Grandfather went to the stable to confirm that Toto was comfortable.

 

Word	Meaning
Apparent	Clear, Evident
Halter	Rope around the neck of animal to pull it

Grandfather was surprised to notice that Nana was trying to keep her head away from the stack of hay. She was pulling his halter to the maximum.

 

Word	Meaning
Haunches	Buttocks

My grandfather gave a slap on the buttocks of Nana. She gave a jerk and pulled back. Toto was also got dragged with her. Actually Toto was holding long ears of Nana with his sharp teeth. Toto and Nana never became friends.

 

Word	Meaning
Treat	Party, Event that causes happiness

During winter season my grandmother gave hot water to Toto in a large container. It was for his bath. Toto used to be happy to receive hat water.

 

Word	Meaning
Cunningly	Cleverly
Gradually	Slowly

He would cleverly check temperature of water with his hand. Then he would slowly put one foot into water then the other. He had seen me doing it. He copied my style. He would sit in water till water came upto his neck. 

 

When he became comfortable, he would take soap in his feet or hands. He would rub the soap all over his body.

 

When water became cold, he would come out of it. He would quickly run to the fire burning in the kitchen. He would sit there to dry himself.

 

Word	Meaning
Go on	Continue

If anyone laughed at him while he was taking bath, he used feel insulted. So he would not take bath. Once while taking bath Toto nearly boiled himself alive. 

 

A large pot was on the stove in the kitchen. It had water in it for making tea and bathing. That day Toto could not think of doing any work. So he removed the lid of the utensil.

 

He noticed that water was adequately warm for taking bath. So he sat in that utensil. His body was immersed in water and his head was out of the water. He felt good till water started boiling.

 

Word	Meaning
Hop up	Jump up, Stand up quickly
Hop down	Jump down, Sit down quickly
Hauled	Pulled

Toto got up in the utensil. His body was out of water. So he started feeling cold. He sat down in water to get warmth. He did this many times. Then Grandmother arrived in the kitchen. She pulled out Toto out of the utensil. Toto was half boiled till that time.

 

Word	Meaning
Especially	Specially, Specifically
Mischief	Prank

Brain of Toto was full of mischief and pranks. He was able to think of new tricks. He used to tear things into pieces. Whenever  my aunt came near him, he used to try to catch her dress. He wanted to make a hole in her dress.

 

Word	Meaning
Stuffing himself with rice	Eating rice greedily

One day a large plate full of rice was lying on the dining table. When we came ot dining hall, we found that Toto was greedily eating rice.

 

Word	Meaning
Screaming	Shouted

My grandmother shouted at Toto. He threw a plate at her. My aunt tried to move forward. Toto threw water on her face.  When my Grandfather arrived, Toto picked up the plate of pullao and went out through a window.

 

We saw that he was sitting on a jackfruit tree. The plate was still in his hand. Throughout the afternoon he sat on the tree. He was slowly eating from the plate. He was determined to eat every grain of rice.

 

Word	Meaning
To spite	To tease
Chatter	Voice of monkey, Shouted
Delight	Happiness

In order to tease my Grandmother, he threw the plate from the tree to the ground. He shouted with happiness to observe that the plate had broken into hundreds of pieces.

 

We certainly could not keep an animal like Toto as a pet for long time. My Grandfather also understood it. 

 

Word	Meaning
Well-to-do	Rich
Afford	Tolerate to loss

We were not rich people. We could not tolerate loss of dishes, clothes, curtains and wall papers. So Grandfather found the tongs-driver. Grandfather sold Toto back to him for three rupees.

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