8 English It So Happened


How Did The Camel Got His Hump

NCERT Solution

Question 1: What tasks, do you think, were assigned to the dog and the ox?

Answer: The ox was to plough the land for man. The dog's duty was to carry sundry items. Since time immemorial ox has been used to till the land. The dog has been used to keep the herd of animals together and protect them.

Question 2: Why did the camel live in the middle of the desert?

Answer: As per the man in the story the camel did not want to do a work. That is why it preferred to live in the middle of the desert.

Question 3: What made the dog, the horse and the ox very angry?

Answer: As the camel refused to work the extra workload was passed on to remaining three animals. That is why the dog, the horse and the camel became angry.

Question 4: How did the Djinn know the horse was complaining against the camel?

Answer: The Djinn knew everything, because he had special magical powers. Earlier also he could not understand the camel's unwillingness to do the work.

Question 5: The camel was looking at this own reflection in the pool. What does it suggest to you about the camel?

Answer: The camel was obsessed with its beauty. Moreover, being idle it had all the time in the world to look at its reflection. It thought of other animals as fools as they used to toil hard. The camel wanted to preserve its physical beauty by shrugging off responsibility.

Question 6: The camel said, "Humph" repeatedly. How did it affect him?

Answer: Because of camel's indifference everybody else was annoyed. The annoyance finally resulted in a curse for the camel. It was left with an ugly hump on its back and was left all alone in the desert.

Question 7: What, according to the Djinn, was the use of the "humph"?

Answer: The "humph" was to enable the camel work continuously for three days without taking a break for eating anything. It is a known fact that camels store fat in their humps which helps them tide over the bad weather of the desert.

Question 8: "...he has never yet learnt to behave". In the light of this, what is the writer's opinion about the camel?

Answer: Camel is a very stubborn animal. It is difficult to tame a camel. In India nobody knows to which side the camel will lean. This means that nobody can be sure about a camel's unpredictable behaviour.