Henry: A Chameleon by Ruskin Bond

‘Henry (the Chameleon) is a short story by Ruskin Bond, who happens to be an Indian author of British descent. This story is in the Class 4 syllabus for most schools.

Henry: Summary

In this story, Henry is the name of a chameleon. One day, the author’s grandfather saw some people near a garden gate, ready to kill a poor chameleon, who was out enjoying the sun in winter. His grandfather saved the chameleon and brought it home.

Ruskin, as a young boy, would tickle the chameleon at its ribs or place his finger in its mouth. However, Henry never bit him, as he looked around with suspicion.

Grandfather’s love for random and most ousted animals always irked grandmother. Henry didn’t create any trouble at home, but, somewhere else.

When the papayas in the garden ripened, the author’s grandmother decided to give a bucket full of papayas to Mrs. Ghosh – the Principal of a nursery school. Henry, while searching for his food (insects) went inside the basket and stayed there.

In the school, when Mrs. Ghosh was checking out the basket, all of sudden Henry came out. Seeing a chameleon in the basket, the Principal screamed in horror, and another teacher joined her as well. Alarmed by their reaction, Henry ran out of the window. The grandmother heard of the incident but was relieved to know that no one realised that the chameleon was theirs.

The author felt that Henry may not be able to find his way back home, but a few days later the author found Henry sunning on the wall of the garden, and it continued to live there thereafter.

Main points from the story:

Physical features: Chameleons have long tongues, slender limbs, parrot-like claws, ornaments on their heads, rigid crest on head, eyes can move independently.

Saving Henry: Grandfather, an animal lover, saves Henry from being killed by the residents near a garden who believed that he is a poisonous reptile. Chameleons are non-poisonous.

Is suspicious: Henry is cautious and suspicious when the narrator first meets him. He responds to friendly gestures with suspicion.

Intimidates: When tickled, Henry would blow up and change color to red, swaying from side to side, but he never bites.

Harmless: Henry chews food but not fingers. He would take food from the narrator’s hands using his tongue.

Adventure in nursery school: Grandfather sends basket of Papayas to Mrs. Das (principal). Henry appears out of the basket and create a riot in the school; Mrs. Das. and assistant teacher scream. Grandfather does not reveal to Mrs. Das that the chameleon was theirs to save their friendship.

Ending: Henry eventually returns to the garden and spends the rest of his days there. He keeps the insect population in check in the garden.

Henry: A Chameleon – Story

This is story of Henry, Our pet Chameleon.

Chameleon are in a class by themselves and are no ordinary reptiles. They are easily distinguished from their nearest relatives, Like lizards, By certain outstanding features.

A chameleon’s tongue is as long as its body. Its limbs are long and slender and its fingers and toes resemble a parrot’s claws. On its head may be any of several ornaments. Henry had a rigid crest that looked like a fireman’s helmet.

Henry’s eyes were his most remarkable feature. they were not beautiful, but his left eye was quite independent of his right. He could move one eye without disturbing the other. Each eyeball, bulging out of his head, wobbled up and down, backward and forward. This frenzied movement gave Henry a horrible squint. And one look into Henry’s frightful gaze was often enough to scare people into believing that chameleon are dangerous and poisonous reptiles.

One day, Grandfather was visiting a friend, when he came upon a noisy scene at the garden gate. Men were shouting, hurling stones, and brandishing sticks. The cause of the uproar was a chameleon that had been discovered sunning itself on a shrub. Someone claimed that the chameleon could poison people twenty feet away, simply by spitting at them. The residents of the area had risen up in arms. Grandfather was just in time save the chameleon from certain death- he brought the little reptile home.

That chameleon was Henry, and that was now he came to live with us.

When i first visited Henry, he would treat me with great caution, sitting perfectly still on his perch with his back to me. The eye nearer to me would move around like the beam of a searchlight until it had me well in focus. The it would stop and the other eye would begin an independent survey of its own. For a long time Henry trusted no one and responded to my friendliest gestures with gave suspicion.

Tiring of his attitude, I would tickle him gently on the ribs with my finger. This always threw him into a great rage. He would blow himself up to an enormous size as his lungs filled up with air, while his color changed from green to red. He would sit up on his hind legs, swaying from side to side, hoping to overawe me.

Opening his mouth very wide, he would let out an angry hiss. But his threatening display went no further, he did not bite.

Henry was a harmless fellow. If I put my finger in his mouth, even during his wildest moments, he would simply wait for me to take it out again.

I suppose he could bite. His rigid jaws carried a number of finely pointed teeth, But Henry seemed convinced that his teeth were there for the sole purpose of chewing food, not fingers.

Henry was sometimes willing to take food from my hands. This he did very swiftly. His tongue performed like a boomerang and always come back to him with the food. usually an insect, attached to it.

Although Henry did not cause any trouble in our house, he did create somewhat of a riot in the nursery down the road, it started out quite innocently.

When the papaya in our orchard were ripe, Grandfather sent a basket full to her friend Mrs Das, who was the principal of the nursery school. While the basket sat waiting, Henry searching for the beetles and slipped in among the papayas, unnoticed. The gardener dutifully carried the basket to the school and left it in Mrs Das’s office. When Mrs. Das returned after making her rounds, she began examining and admiring the papayas.

And Out popped Henry.

Mrs. Das Screamed. Henry squinted up at her, Bith eyes revolving furiously. Mrs Das screamed again, Henry’s color changed from green to yellow to red. His Mouth opened as though he too would like to scream. An assistant teacher rushed in, took one look at the chameleon , and joined in the shrieking.

Henry was terrified. He fled from the office running down the corridor an into one of the classrooms. There he climbed up on a desk while children ran in all directions- some to get away from Henry, some to catch him. Henry finally made his exit through a window and disappeared in the garden.

Grandfather heard about the incident from Mrs Das but did not mention that the chameleon was ours, It might have spoiled their friendship.

Grandfather and i did not think Henry would find his way back to us, because the school was three blocks away, But a few days later, I found him sunning himself on the garden wall. Although he looked none the worse for his adventure, he never went abroad again.

Henry spent the rest of his days in the garden, where he kept the insect population well within bounds.

A story by Ruskin Bond…

Question and Answers

Question: Describe the chameleon’s features.
Answer: Chameleons are no ordinary reptiles and can be easily distinguished by certain outstanding marks from their nearest relatives, the lizards. A chameleon’s tongue is as long as its body. It has a rigid crest on its head and has long and slender limbs.

Question: Why had the entire household risen in arms?
Answer: Men were shouting, hurling stones and brandishing sticks at a chameleon which was discovered sunning himself on a shrub. The gardener had declared that it was a thing capable of poisoning people at a distance of twenty feet and so the entire household had risen in arms.

Question: Describe how Henry used to have its food?
Answer: Henry was a harmless creature. Provided the author was patient, Henry was willing to take food from his hands very swiftly. The chameleon’s tongue was the sort which came back to him with the food, an insect, attached to it.

Question: Did the author find the chameleon back after the nursery school incident? Where?
Answer: Yes. Three days after the nursery incident, the author found Henry, the chameleon sunning himself on the garden wall. It readily accepted some food from the author’s hand.

Question: How did Henry manage to smuggle into the papayas’ basket?
Answer: When the papayas in the author’s garden were ripe, his Grandmother usually sent a basket of them to her friend, Mrs Ghosh, who was the principal of the nursery school. On this occasion, Henry managed to smuggle himself into the basket of papayas when no one was looking.

Question: What were the gardener’s views about the chameleon? Was it true or false?
Ans. The gardener had declared that it was a thing capable of poisoning people at a distance of twenty feet. The gardener’s views were false as Henry was a harmless creature.

Henry by Ruskin Bond: Questions and Answers

Question: State whether the following statements are true or false:

• a) The chameleon is not a poisonous reptile: True
• b) The gardener knew a lot about chameleons: False
• c) Henry created no trouble at all: False
• d) Henry got into the basket to frighten Mrs Ghosh: False
• e) Miss Daniels rushed into the room on hearing the principal scream: True

Question: Reference to context

“Grandfather was in time to save the Chameleon from certain death and brought the little reptile home.”

Q. Where was the chameleon?
Answer: The chameleon was at the garden gate sunning himself on a shrub.

Q. What does the author tell us to show that the chameleon was harmless?
Answer: The chameleon used to swiftly take food from the authors hands without biting the authors fingers. This shows that the chameleon was harmless.

Q. Grandfather saved the reptile and brought him home. What does this tell us about the author’s grandfather?
Answer: This tells us that the author’s grandfather cared for animals and also had good knowledge about reptiles.

”Mrs Ghosh screamed. Henry would probably have to blush a deep red, but he turned a bright green instead, as that was the colour of the papayas. Mrs Ghosh’s assistant, Miss Daniels, rushed in, took one look at the chameleon and joined the screaming.”

Q. Why did Mrs Ghosh scream?
Answer: Mrs Ghosh screamed because she found a chameleon in the basket of papayas.

Q. Why do you think Henry turned a bright green?
Answer: A chameleon changes its colour based on its surrounding; it turned bright green because it was the colour of the papayas it was hiding in.

Q. Which word in the given lines means ‘someone whose duty is to help’?
Answer: Assistant.

Q. What did Henry do when Miss Daniel started screaming?
Answer: Henry got frightened and and seeing the reaction of the teachers and fled from the principal’s office, running down the corridor and got into one of the classrooms.

Q. Read, reflect and write

Q. What danger did grandfather save Henry from?

Answer: Henry was surely going to die because the gardener wrongly declared that the reptile was capable of poisoning people from a distance of 20 feet and as a result the entire household had risen in arms to kill Henry. Fortunately for Henry, the grandfather saved him.

Q. When the children saw Henry, they ran in all directions. Why did they do this? What would you have done if you were in the classroom?

Answer: The children started running in all directions on seeing Henry because they felt that it would harm them. If I were in the class, I would have tried to keep calm and let him go out of the class.

Q. What do we learn about the writer’s feelings for animals from this story? Do you share these feelings? Give reasons for your answer.

Answer: The writer was very fond of Henry and he would often feed the reptile with his own hands. This shows that the author was an animal lover, just like his grandfather. When Henry disappeared from the nursery school, the author thought that Henry would never come back, but he was pleasantly surprised to see Henry back on their garden wall.

I am also extremely fond of animals and feel that we should care for animals and should not harm them in any way.

Venn diagram for Reptiles

Fill the Venn diagram with the interesting features of the reptiles and note down their common points.

Chameleon

:

1. Chameleon has a rigid crest on its head.
2. Its fingers and toes are more developed.
3. Its tongue is as long as its body.
4. Its limbs are long and slender.
5. It can change its skin colour to match the surrounding in times of danger.

Lizard

:

1. House lizards are usually smaller in size.
2. House lizards can lose its tail when scared. The tail grows back.
3. It has short and small limbs.
4. It has sticky feet and can climb smooth walls.

Common points

:

1. Both of them are reptiles.
2. Both have a sticky tongue to catch its prey.
3. Both eat insects.
4. Both are not poisonous.

Match the words with the describing words

(three, bright, harmless, noisy, rigid, ordinary, outstanding, poisonous, pet, deep, entire)

a. three houses b. outstanding marks c. rigid crest d. bright green e. noisy scene f. entire household g. harmless creature h. deep red

Find the hidden textual word

Find the textual word hidden in these sentences for the given group of underlined words.

• a. We can easily see the difference between an army officer and a policeman. Ans. distinguish
• b. Vishwanathan Anand is an exceptionally good chess player. Ans. outstanding
• c. The branch was not easy to bend amongst the thorny bushes. Ans. rigid
• d. The players were throwing the ball with a lot of strength during the shotput game. Ans- hurling
• e. The children did all the things expected from them for their parents. Ans. dutifully
• f. The news was filled with something that had happened the previous night. Ans. incident

Word web for ‘chameleon’

Fill the word web with words related to the animal, ‘chameleon’.

Chameleon – rigid crest on its head, long and slender limbs, reptile, similar to lizards, food- insects, moveable eyes, can change skin colour, trees/forests, long sticky tongue