Beehive The Bond of Love - CBSE Revision Notes
CBSE Class 09 English Language and Literature
Revision Notes
Beehive Chapter-9
The Bond of Love
Revision Notes
Beehive Chapter-9
The Bond of Love
This is a beautiful story about the bonding between a human being and a sloth bear.The author rescued it from a sugarcane field near Mysore.People were shooting the wild pigs away from the fields when a black sloth bear suddenly popped up in their way.One of the author's companion shot it and it instantly fell on the ground.In a moment ,they saw the black fur moved back from the body.To their surprise , they found it to be a baby bear ,who was riding on its mothers back .The little creature moved around its dead mother making a pitiful noise.The author ran after it and tried to grab it and finally caught its hold and put it in a gunny-bag.
On his return to Bangalore, the author gifted it to his wife.She was delighted to hold the baby bear in her hands and put a red ribbon around its neck.She named him Bruno.Soon Bruno was familiar with the family ,started drinking milk and eat food.He was fed everything like fruits ,vegetables,rice, bread, eggs and anything liquid.
One day , an accident befell him.The author had put barium carbonate, a poison to kill rats and mice,in his library.Bruno entered the library and ate some of that poison.Bruno fell sick and felt paralyzed. He was taken to the vet immediately.The Dr. referred to his book and started his treatment and injected medicine into Bruno's body. Bruno was vomiting and breathing heavily.After few hours Bruno sat up healthy and was eating his food.
Now ,as many months had passed, Bruno had grown to a much bigger size.He was getting much closer to the author's wife, who had now changed his name to 'Baba'.Like small children,Baba would also follow commands to show off acts like boxing or wrestling.But he had to be put in chains because of his size.Everybody suggested them to hand over Bruno to zoo authorities.Finally after so much convincing,she agreed to the suggestion and zoo authorities were called to take him away.
Everything went off smoothly but the author's wife was inconsolable.She missed Bruno badly.She would write letters to zoo curator seeking Bruno's well being. Initially Bruno would also not eat and looked sad and worried.
But she could not resist too long and wished to go to see him.They thought that Bruno must have forgotten them but when he saw them in front of his cage , he howled with happiness.The author's wife spent a good time with Bruno there and fed him all his favorite food.Finally it was the time to go .She requested the zoo curator to give Bruno back to her.He replied in negative as Bruno was now Government's property.But he suggested that if the zoo superintendent agrees then only he can hand over Bruno to them.The family then went to Bangalore to meet him. She pleaded in front of him and the superintendent being a kind-hearted person, gave his consent.
The zoo curator was ordered to send Bruno back to the family, securely in a cage.
At home, a special island ,twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide, was created in their compound.The author's wife and Baba were delighted to be together again and spent hours together, playing and Bruno would lie with his head on her lap and take a nap.Looking at their affection for each other who can say that a sloth bear does not have sense of affection for human being.
