Packing Important Questions Class 9 Beehive English
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What irritates Jerome most?
Answer
Seeing other people sitting around when he is working, irritates him most.
Question 2. What did Montmorency pretend the lemons?
Answer
He pretended the lemons were rats.
Question 3. Why did George and Harris offer to pack the hamper?
Answer
George and Harris offered to pack the hamper because Jerome had already taken a lot of time packing the bag. It was late at night, and they had less than twelve hours to leave.
Question 4. According to Jerome, who was the worst packer?
Answer
According to Jerome, Harris was the worst packer in the world.
Question 5. What kind of a man did the narrator once live with?
Answer
The narrator lived with a man who used to annoy him. He would loll on the sofa and watch the narrator doing things by the hour together. He said it did him real good to look on at the narrator, messing about.
Question 6. Name the two friends of Jerome.
Answer
Their names were George and Harris.
Question 7. Who was Montmorency?
Answer
Montmorency was the author’s pet dog.
Question 8. Why did George and Harris have to pick out the tomato with a teaspoon?
Answer
While packing the hamper, Harris packed a strawberry jam on top of a tomato and squashed it. So, they had to pick out the tomato with a teaspoon which was a messy and time-consuming task.
Question 9. Who offered to pack hampers?
Answer
George and Harris offered to pack hampers.
Question 10. What did Harris start with packing the hampers?
Answer
He started by breaking a cup.
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. Describe the butter incident.
Answer
George and Harris started packing the bag. George trod on the butter and it stuck to his slipper. When they came to know of it, they got it off the slipper. They put the butter on the chair. By mistake, Harris sat on it and it stuck behind him. They searched all over the room for the butter. At last, they were found it sticking on Harris’s back. The incident of the butter creates a lot of humour in the story.
Question 2. Why did the narrator have to pack for the journey?
Answer
As soon as the narrator offered to pack for the journey, his two friends, George and Harris accepted the offer with readiness and sat back to let him do it all. He had expected his friends would work under his guidance and directions rather than doing the task himself.
Question 3. What kind of a man was the person with whom the author once lived?
Answer
The author once lived with a man. He often irritated the author. He would take rest on the sofa. He would watch the author doing work. His eyes followed the author wherever he went. He often called life a noble task, full of duty and stern work. But he would never offer to work.
Question 4. Why did the narrator volunteer to do the packing?
Answer
Jerome, the narrator, prided himself in his packing skills. He wanted to show off his skills to his friends so he volunteered to do the packing. However, he had expected that his friends would work under his guidance and directions. He expected that under his guidance even poor packers like Harris and George could accomplish this task with great efficiency.
Question 5. When did George go off to sleep and what did the narrator and Harris do to ensure that he would wake up fully in the morning?
Answer
George went off to sleep when the narrator and Harris were still arguing over the time they wanted him to wake them up in the morning. To ensure that he would wake up fully, they placed the bath where he could tumble into getting out in the morning.
Question 6. How did George and Harris react to Jerome’s offer to do the packing? Did Jerome like their reaction?
Answer
George and Harris, who were rather lazy, agreed readily to Jerome’s offer to do the packing because both took it as an opportunity to sit back and relax while someone else did the work. George sprawled over the easy-chair while Harris cocked his legs on the table. Jerome did not at all like this reaction because he had actually wanted to supervise and instruct them on how to do the packing instead of doing it himself.
Question 7. Do you think the author packed better than George and Harris? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer
Yes, the author packed better than his friends, George and Harris. He forgot to put in some things. But he did not create any chaos. On the other hand, George and Harris breaks cups and plates, squash a tomato and make a mess of butter. They put the pies at the bottom and put heavy things on it. Thus the author packed better than George and Harris.
Question 8. What did Harris ask the narrator after the bag was shut and strapped? Why do you think he waited till then to ask?
Answer
After the bag had been shut and strapped by the narrator, Harris asked him whether he wasn’t going to pack the boots. He waited till the completion of packing to say this because he either thought the narrator knew about them and would pack them as he wanted to, or more likely, he wanted to irritate the narrator and have fun at his expense.
Question 9. Why did the author take pride in his packing skills?
Answer
The author felt that packing was one of those things that he knew more about than anyone else. This made him develop a sense of superiority about his ability as the best packer and he took pride in his packing skills.
Question 10. Where did Jerome finally find the toothbrush?
Answer
Jerome finally found the toothbrush inside a boot that he had packed in the bag. He found it after having taken out all the items he had packed and searching thoroughly for the toothbrush leading to a terrible mess.
Question 11. What were the foolish things done by George and Harris while packing the hamper?
Answer
George and Harris fumbled and flustered many times while packing the hamper. They broke a cup at the outset and then squashed tomato and stepped on the butter. They jumbled up the items to be packed and crushed softer things like pies under heavy objects.
Question 12. Why did Jerome have to reopen the packed bag again and again?
Answer
Jerome had to reopen the packed bag because he kept forgetting things. First, he forgot to pack his boots and then couldn’t remember having packed his toothbrush. After having spent a lot of time unpacking and packing, he packed his spectacles and spectacles in by mistake and had to reopen the bag yet again.
Question 13. What was Jerome’s real intention when he offered to pack?
Answer
Jerome’s real intention was not to pack himself but to make his friends George and Harris work under his direction and supervision. He intended to prove his superiority by bossing over them and throw his weight around while they packed.
Question 14. Who was Montmorency and how did he contribute to the packing?
Answer
Montmorency was the pet dog of the narrator and his two friends. He made a complete nuisance of himself. He sat down on things which had to be packed, pushed his nose into Harris or George’s hand whenever they reached out for anything, put his leg into the jam, played with a teaspoon and pretended the lemons were rats. He chased the lemons inside the hamper till he ‘killed’ three of them, before he was hit by Harris with a frying pan.
Question 15. What did Harris say after the bag was shut and strapped? Why do you think he waited till then to ask?
Answer
After the bag had been shut and strapped by the narrator, Harris reminded him that he had forgotten to pack the boots. He waited till the completion of packing to say this because he wanted to irritate the narrator and have fun at his expense.
Question 16. How did Harris and George fare at packing the hamper?
Answer
Harris and George fared miserably at packing, the hamper. Salt flew all over while they packed. They put the things to be packed in the most disorganised manner. They damaged a lot of items by breaking, crushing or stepping on them.
Question 17. Why does the narrator say that the packing of his toothbrush drives him to a point of madness?
Answer
The narrator says that the packing of his toothbrush drives him to a point of madness because he either packs it even before he has brushed his teeth or doesn’t pack it at all. In both cases, he has to unpack everything to locate his brush.
Question 18. Why did Harris tell Jerome that he encouraged the antics of Montmorency? What was Jerome’s defence?
Answer
Harris blamed Jerome for encouraging Montmorency because Jerome did not prove effective in shooing away the dog. Jerome’s defence was that an ill-trained dog like Montmorency did not need any encouragement to misbehave. Indiscipline came naturally to him.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. How did the butter episode in the story cause nuisance?
Answer
The butter episode in the story caused a lot of nuisance as it brought out the bungling clumsiness of George and Harris. First of all, George stepped on the butter and it stuck to his slipper. After George had got it off his slipper, he and Harris tried to put it in the kettle. It wouldn’t go in, and what was in wouldn’t come out. The narrator scrapes it out at last and put it down on a chair. Then Harris sat on it, and it stuck to him, and they went looking for it all over the room.
“I’ll take my oath I put it down on that chair,” said George, staring at the empty seat. George finally noticed it behind Harris’s back from where it was removed and put inside the teapot. Hence, the butter episode created a lot of nuisance and became the funniest episode in the story.
Question 2. Of the three, Jerome, George and Harris, who do you think is the best or the worst packer? Support your answer with details from the text.
Answer
According to me, Jerome is the best at packing. Although Jerome, George and Harris are equally disorganised as packers, Jerome is not as clumsy as his two friends, Harris and George. While Jerome takes a lot of time to pack the bag, George and Harris damage a lot of things while packing the hamper. Jerome, who considers himself a skilled packer, is able to arrange the items to be packed in the bag neatly and in order.
However, there is a lot of delay because he first forgets to pack his boots and then forgets having pack his toothbrush. After unpacking twice, he again packs in his spectacles absentmindedly. On the other hand, both Harris and George messed up everything. They began by breaking a cup.
Then, Harris packed the strawberry jam on top of a tomato and squashed it. George stepped on the butter, then Harris sat on it. They spread salt all over the place. Of course, Montmorency constantly got in their way and made things worse. Once the hamper was packed and closed, Harris sat on the lid of the hamper, and said he hoped nothing “would be found broken,” to which George replied that “if anything was broken it was broken.” Thus, we can easily conclude that Jerome and George and Harris bungled equally. However, Jerome did not cause as much breakage or chaos as George and Harris.
Question 3. How did George and Harris fare with the packing of the hamper?
Answer
After Jerome’s display of expert packing, George and Harris thought that they’d better pack the food and supplies. They had the “big hamper” to pack with these items. They started by breaking a cup, and then squashing tomatoes with the jam. Then they packed the pies and “smashed the pies in” with heavy things on top. They spilled salt everywhere then, in turns, stepped on the butter, tried to cram it into the kettle, sat on the butter, hunted for the now missing butter, and finally shoved it into the teapot.
Montmorency played his role during the packing incident by assuming his cold nose was what Harris’s and George’s hands were reaching for. He sat on the very item that was to be packed next, upset the spoons, put his leg into the jam and attacked the lemons in the hamper. Once the hamper was packed and closed, Harris sat on the lid of the hamper, and said he hoped nothing. “would be found broken,” to which George replied that “if anything was broken it was broken.”
Question 4. Briefly describe Jerome’s attempt at packing.
Answer
Right in the beginning Jerome volunteered to pack, because, according to him, he was especially good at it and George and Harris agreed readily. What Jerome of course had meant was that he would supervise the packing while they packed. They of course meant he’d pack while they watched from lounging positions. Jerome packed all their personal belongings, from boots to toothbrushes. When he had finished, Harris pointed out whether he wanted to leave the boots out.
Once the boots were packed, Jerome realised he needed his toothbrush out for the morning, so the entire bag had to be unpacked and the toothbrush searched. It was found in a boot. The bag was again repacked when Jerome discovered he had packed his spectacles in. Once again, the bag was unpacked to take out the spectacles and then repacked. After going through several unpleasant rounds of unpack, repack, unpack, repack, the job was done, with only the soap having been forgotten.