1. Unit at a glance
- Contains the prose piece “Mijbil the Otter” by Gavin Maxwell and the poem “Fog” by Carl Sandburg.
- Explores the bond between humans and unusual pets alongside quiet observation of nature.
- Shows the responsibilities and surprises of keeping a wild animal as a companion.
- Contrasts the otter’s energetic, water-loving behaviour with the fog’s silent, cat-like movement.
- Highlights everyday human reactions (curiosity, fear, amusement) to unfamiliar animals.
- Emphasises careful, affectionate observation of an animal’s habits and personality.
2. Prose
Summary
After his dog dies, Gavin Maxwell decides to keep an otter at Camusfearna. In Basra he receives a young otter in a sack. He names it Mijbil and gradually wins its trust through play in water and daily routines. On the flight to London the otter escapes its box, causes chaos, then returns to him. In London, Mijbil invents games, develops compulsive walking habits, and is repeatedly mistaken for other animals by passers-by.
Setting
Camusfearna (Scotland), Basra (Iraq) in early 1956, and a flat in London.
Main characters
- Gavin Maxwell: narrator who chooses and cares for the otter.
- Mijbil: the otter of a previously unknown race, playful, intelligent and water-loving.
Sequence of key events
- Maxwell travels to Basra and waits five days for mail.
- Two Arabs deliver the otter in a sack; he names it Mijbil.
- Mijbil becomes friendly, plays in the bath and learns to turn taps.
- Maxwell builds a box; Mijbil injures himself trying to escape.
- On the flight the otter runs loose, returns, and is allowed on the narrator’s knee.
- In London, Mijbil plays with toys and develops ritual walking habits; Londoners guess wrongly what animal he is.
3. Poem
Central idea
The fog arrives and departs as silently and stealthily as a cat.
Stanza-by-stanza sense
The single six-line stanza describes the fog coming “on little cat feet,” sitting quietly on “silent haunches” to watch the harbour and city, then moving on without a sound.
Tone/mood
Calm, gentle and observant; creates a peaceful, slightly mysterious atmosphere.
4. Themes and messages
The writer shows that animals can form deep attachments and display intelligence and playfulness when treated with patience (Mijbil “nuzzle[s] my face and my neck”). Readers are also reminded that nature and animals often behave in unexpected yet consistent ways, as when the fog “moves on” like a cat.
5. Literary devices
- Simile: “they were as common as mosquitoes”
- Metaphor (poem): “The fog comes / on little cat feet”
- Imagery: “blood had trickled and dried” from the air-holes
- Personification (poem): fog “sits looking / over harbour and city”
- Imagery: “shuffling a rubber ball round the room like a four-footed soccer player”
6. Vocabulary
- thraldom: state of being under control
- fixation: very strong attachment
- aloof: keeping a distance
- apathy: lack of interest
- ricochetting: changing direction after hitting a surface
- engrossed: completely absorbed
- compulsive: impossible to control
- nuzzle: rub gently with the nose
- portly: stout, heavily built
- haunches: bent knees / crouched position
7. Exam pitfalls
- Mixing up the airline rules or the size of the box (18 inches square).
- Forgetting that Mijbil turns the tap the wrong way and becomes irritated.
- Claiming the poem has a rhyme scheme when it is free verse.
- Stating Londoners correctly identify the otter (they guess seal, squirrel, walrus, hippo, etc.).
- Confusing “would” (actions) with “used to” (states) in the grammar section.