Chapter 6: Mijbil the Otter Fog

Mij invented a game of playing with the ping-pong ball. One of the author’s suitcases was damaged and had a slope on the lid. Mij would put the ball on the high end of the sloping lid and run to catch the ball as it slid down towards the lower end.

Compulsive habits usually refer to strange behaviour repeated by a person without a clear reason. For example, a kid may jump over a fence, instead of taking the normal passageway. Usually, children express compulsive behaviour as they are mischievous by nature.

(i) As per the story, Maxwell expresses compulsive habits such as the rituals of children who, on their way to and from school, must place their feet squarely on the centre of each paving block; must touch every seventh upright of the iron railings, or pass to the outside of every second lamp post.

(ii) Similarly, even Mijbil, while on his way home, would jump over the boundary wall railing and gallop the full length of its thirty yards, to the hopeless distraction both of pupils and staff within.

Otters belong to a relatively small group of animals known as Mustellines. The other animals of this group are badger, mongoose, weasel, stoat, mink and others.

According to Maxwell, Londoners do not recognize otters easily as they are not found in England. Hence, they made the wildest possible guesses about Mijbil. Some people’s guesses ranged from a baby seal, a squirrel, a walrus, a beaver, a bear cub, a leopard, a hippo to a brontosaurus.