NCERT solutions for English - Honeysuckle Class 6 chapter 18 - The Banyan Tree [Latest edition]

Complete the following sentence.
The old banyan tree “did not belong” to grandfather, but only to the boy, because _________

Complete the following sentence.
The small gray squirrel became friendly when _________

Complete the following sentence.
When the boy started to bring him pieces of cake and biscuit, the squirrel _________

Complete the following sentence.

In the spring, the banyan tree ________________, and _______________ would come there.

Complete the following sentence.

The banyan tree served the boy as a ________.

Complete the following sentence.

The young boy spent his afternoons in the tree  ________.

Answer the following question:

“It was to be a battle of champions.” (8)
(i) What qualities did the two champions have? Pick out words and phrases from the paragraph above this line in the text and write them down.

(ii) What did the cobra and the mongoose do, to show their readiness for the fight?

Who were the other two spectators? What did they do? (Did they watch, or did they join in the fight?

Read the descriptions below of what the snake did and what the mongoose did. Arrange their actions in the proper order

What happened to the crow in the end?

What did the myna do finally?

The word ‘round’ usually means a kind of shape. What is its meaning in the story?

Find five words in the following paragraph, which are generally associated with trees. But here, they have been used differently. Underline the words.

Hari leaves for work at nine every morning. He works in the local branch of the firm of which his uncle is the owner. Hari’s success is really the fruit of his own labour. He is happy, but he has a small problem. The root cause of his problem is a stray dog near his office. The dog welcomes Hari with a loud bark every day.

The words in the box are all words that describe movement. Use them to fill in the blank in the sentence below.
When he began to trust me, the squirrel began ____________ into my pockets for morsels of cake.

The words in the box are all words that describe movement. Use them to fill in the blank in the sentence below.
I saw a cobra ___________ out of a clump of cactus.

The words in the box are all words that describe movement. Use them to fill in the blank in the sentence below.
The snake hissed, his forked tongue ____________ in and out.

The words in the box are all words that describe movement. Use them to fill in the blank in the sentence below.
When the cobra tried to bite it, the mongoose ____________ aside.

The words in the box are all words that describe movement. Use them to fill in the blanks in the sentence below.
The snake _______________ his head ______________ to strike at the crow.

The words in the box are all words that describe movement. Use them to fill in the blank in the sentence below.
The birds _______________ at the snake.

Find words in the story, which show things striking violently against each other.
The cobra struck the crow, his snout th___ing against its body.

Find words in the story, which show things striking violently against each other.
The crow and the myna c_ll____in mid-air.

Find words in the story, which show things striking violently against each other.
The birds dived at the snake, but b____d into each other instead.

Look at these sentences.

Choose would and could to replace the italicised words in the following sentences.

Choose would and could to replace the italicised words in the following sentences.

Grandfather says, in the old days,

1. elephants were able to fly in the sky, like clouds. They were also able to change their shapes. They used to fly behind clouds and frighten them. People used to look up at the sky in wonder.

2. because there was no electricity, he used to get up with the sun, and he used to go to bed with the sun, like the birds.

3. like the owl, he was able to see quite well in the dark. He was able to tell who was coming by listening to their footsteps.

Look at these sentences.

• The tree was older than Grandfather.
• Grandfather was sixty-five years old. How old was the tree? Can you guess?

How old was the tree? Can you guess?

• The tree was as old as Dehra Dun itself.

Suppose Dehra Dun is 300 years old. How old is the tree?

When two things are the same in some way, we use as … as. Here is another set of examples.

• Mr Sinha is 160 centimetres tall.
• Mr Gupta is 180 centimetres tall.
• Mrs Gupta is 160 centimetres tall.

Mrs Gupta is as tall as Mr Sinha.

Use the words in the box to speak about the people and the things below, using as … as or er than

(Notice that in the word ‘hot’, the letter ‘t’ is doubled when -er is added.)

1. Heights

_______________________________

2. Weight Lifters

_________________________________

3. City Temperatures

______________________________

4. Lengths

_______________________________

5. City Temperatures

_______________________________

‘My Favourite Place’

Read again the paragraphs of the story in which the author describes the banyan tree, and what he used to do there. Is there a place in your house, or in your grandparents’ or uncles’ or aunts’ houses, that you specially like? Write a short paragraph about it, saying

• where it is
• what you do there
• why you like it

You may instead write about a place you dislike, or are afraid of.

Why did the speaker find the old banyan tree exclusively his own?

What did the speaker do while hiding himself in the banyan tree branches?

When did the banyan tree become a noisy place?

Where did the author usually spend his afternoons?

What exciting scene did the author enjoy from his platform in the banyan tree?

What trick did the mongoose apply to overpower and kill the cobra?

creatures lost their lives in the classic struggle between the cobra and the mongoose. Who were those victims?

What is the story The Banyan Tree about? Narrate the incident in brief.

Bring out the relevance/significance of the banyan tree in the title of Ruskin Bond’s story.