About the Poet

 Carolyn Wells was an American poet, writer, and humorist who wrote
over 170 books. In the first decade of her writing, she focused on poetry,
humour and children’s books. Later, she began writing novels, especially
of the mystery genre.

Poem in Detail
Stanza – 1
If ever you should go by chance
To jungles in the east;
And if there should to you advance
A large and tawny beast,
If he roars at you as you’re dyin’
You’ll know it is the Asian Lion...
Interpretation
• The poet give tips to identify an Asiatic lion.
• It can be found in the jungles of eastern countries.
• It is a huge beast with dull yellowish-brown coloured skin, which will
come up to you.
• If it roars as you lie dying, you can be sure it is an Asian lion.
Stanza – 2
Or if some time when roaming round,
A noble wild beast greets you,
With black stripes on a yellow ground,
Just notice if he eats you.
This simple rule may help you learn
The Bengal Tiger to discern.
Interpretation
• The poet describes the Bengal tiger as a ‘noble wild beast’.
• It has black stripes on a yellow body.
• One can identify if it is a tiger by seeing if it eats them.

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• The poet comes up with funny rules to identify different animals.
Stanza – 3
If strolling forth, a beast you view,
Whose hide with spots is peppered,
As soon as he has lept on you,
You’ll know it is the Leopard.
’Twill do no good to roar with pain,
He’ll only lep and lep again.
Interpretation
(1) A leopard is covered with spots throughout its body.
• If it leaps on you, you will identify that it is the leopard.
• There is no point in crying out in pain.
• The leopard will only ‘lep’ and ‘lep’ at you again and again.

•
•
•

Dictionary
Word Meaning Synonyms Antonyms
Advance move forward proceed, push on back off, retreat
Tawny yellowish-brown color tanned, dusky fair, light coloured
Noble aristocratic, titled high-born, humble, common
patrician

•
•
•

How to Tell Wild Animals 3

 OBJECTIVE Type Questions
[ 1 mark ]
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Choose the option that depicts the special quality of a chameleon.
(a) It changes its skin color according to its surroundings.
(b) It shed tears.
(c) It laughs.
(d) It shed its skin in danger.
Ans.(a) it changes its skin color according to its surroundings.
Explanation: The unique quality of a chameleon is that it is able to
change its color according to its surroundings. That helps it to hide from
predators. Hence, (a) is the right answer.

EXTRACT Based Questions

[ 5 marks ]

2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
If strolling forth, a beast you view,
Whose hide with spots is peppered,
As soon as he has lept on you,
You’ll know it is the Leopard.
’Twill do no good to roar with pain,
He’ll only lep and lep again.
(A)Given below are four examples of activities that Jasmeet does.
Choose the option that correctly demonstrates ‘strolling’.
(a) Jasmeet runs with a great speed on spotting a dog.
(b) Jasmeet walks in the garden, relaxing while listening to her
favourite song.
(c) Jasmeet skids sharply on the icy skate rink.
(d) Jasmeet rushes to switch off the water pump in the backyard.
(B)Comment on the tone of the poet in this stanza when she describes
a leopard Answer in about 40 words.

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 (C)The repetition used in “he’ll only lep and lep again” is an example
of .................... . [Mod. CBSE Question Bank 2021]
Ans.(A) (b) Jasmeet walks in the garden, relaxing while listening to her
favourite song.
Explanation: The term ‘strolling’ means to walk in a relaxing manner.
Here, option (b) correctly demonstrates the meaning of the term
‘strolling’. Hence, (b) is the right answer.
(B)The poet has an ironic tone as she describes the leopard. She makes
a play on the words 'leap' and 'leopard' informing us that a leopard
will not stop attacking if it catches us. The tone also comes across as
matter of fact and knowledgeable, which further adds to the irony
and humour.
(C)poetic licence
Explanation: Poetic license is a poetic device that gives the poet
a liberty to alter language such as, change the spelling or violate
grammatical rules for rhyming the words. Here, the term ‘lep’ is wrong
spelling of ‘leapt’ but the poet has used to rhyme it with the leopard.

SHORT ANSWER Type Questions (SA)

[ 3 marks ]
Answer the following questions in 40-50 words:

3. What contrasting emotions does the writer suggest are characteristic

of hyenas and crocodiles? Give evidence for your answer.
[British Council 2022]
Ans. The writer suggests that hyenas reflect happiness from their ‘merry
smiles’ while the crocodiles reflect sorrow as they ‘weep’ while eating
their prey.
4. What is so weird about the hyena and the crocodile? [CBSE 2014]
Ans. Both hyena and the crocodile show their natural instincts while
devoring their prey. Hyenas laugh or smile while eating their prey
whereas crocodiles shed tears while swallowing their prey. The hyena’s
laughter is famous as it resembles that of a man. It seems like a hyena
is laughing but it doesn’t. In the same way, crocodile tears are also

How to Tell Wild Animals 5

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 famous but in reality, it doesn’t cry out of emotion. Its tears are a part of
the process of swallowing its prey.

LONG ANSWER Type Questions (LA)

[ 6 marks ]
Answer the following questions in 100-120 words:
5. ‘Appearances are deceptive.’ Cite examples from the poem, ‘How to
Tell Wild Animals’, to corroborate this statement.
[Delhi Gov. QB 2022]
Ans. In the poem, 'How to Tell Wild Animals', the poet gives us physical
descriptions of the animals in the wild to better identify them. In the case
of chameleon, she says that if we do not see anything on the tree, there is
probably a chameleon on it. By using such logic , she intends to highlight
the ability of the chameleon to camouflage itself by changing the
colour of its skin. She also means to say that appearances are deceptive
because a chameleon would never look the same in two different
situations. It would change its colour depending on its surroundings.

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